old coloured books [illustration: the revd. doctor syntax] old coloured books by george paston with sixteen coloured plates methuen & co. 36 essex street w.c. london _first published in 1905_ contents i page rudolf ackermann 3 thomas rowlandson 5 william combe 9 ii the cruikshank brothers 16 david carey 21 charles molloy westmacott 23 pierce egan and theodore lane 26 george cruikshank 28 iii henry alken 32 charles james apperley 35 robert smith surtees 39 iv the _pickwick_ illustrators robert seymour 41 robert william buss 43 hablôt knight browne 45 list of illustrations page the rev. dr. syntax _frontispiece_ from _the tour of dr. syntax in search of the picturesque_ dr. syntax in the glass house 8 from _the second tour of dr. syntax in search of consolation_ quæ genus officiating at a gaming house 9 from _johnny quæ genus_ by gamblers linked in folly's noose 13 from _the dance of life_ subscription room at brooks 14 from _the microcosm of london_ vauxhall gardens 15 from _the microcosm of london_ death's dance 19 from _the dance of death_--volume i. hunting the slipper 20 from _the vicar of wakefield_ tom and jerry in the saloon at covent garden 25 from _life in london_ adventures in a whiskey parlour 28 from _real life in ireland_ race horse 34 from _the national sports of great britain_ a new hunter 36 from _the life of john mytton_ mr. ridgeway's good health 38 from _the life of a sportsman_ "o, gentlemen, gentlemen!" 39 from jorrocks' jaunts and jollities mr. jorrocks' lecture on 'unting 40 from _handley cross_ coloured title page 41 from _the analysis of the hunting field_ some old illustrated books i it is an unromantic fact, but one which cannot fail to be of interest at the present time, that the remarkable development of the graver's art in england during the latter part of the eighteenth century was due, in a measure at least, to--protection. in the middle of the century our trade in engravings was still an import one, english print-sellers being obliged to pay hard cash for the prints they bought in france, since the french took none in exchange. but with the accession of george iii. a better prospect dawned for the artist and engraver. the young king, unlike his immediate predecessors, desired to patronise native talent; no budding hogarth should draw unflattering comparisons between himself and the king of prussia as an "encourager of the arts." and in spite of the gibes of peter pindar, in spite of the royal preference for ramsay over reynolds, it is probable that george iii. was sincere in his desire to stimulate the growth of british art. in 1769 the long-talked-of royal academy was founded; while, for the benefit of the rising school of english engravers, bounties were granted on the exportation of english prints, and heavy duties imposed on the importation of french prints. politics and patriotism were not without their influence upon the trade, many a good courtier being willing to help the cause by the purchase of an inexpensive print, though he was not yet prepared to patronise a british painter. immense sums were cleared by john boydell over woollett's engravings after west and copley; illustrated books, more especially of travel, were eagerly bought up; illustrated magazines flooded the market; print-shops multiplied, their windows "glazed with libels" in the shape of coloured caricatures; and foreign artists, engravers, and miniaturists flocked to the english eldorado. in 1790 it was stated in a trade pamphlet that the prints exported from england at that time, as compared with those imported from france, were in the proportion of five hundred to one! rudolf ackermann the french revolution, and the wars that followed, temporarily ruined our foreign trade in prints, the great fortune that boydell had made by his judicious speculation in the talents of his countrymen, melting away under these adverse influences, and leaving him a ruined man by 1802. but as boydell's star sank, that of another art-publisher, presumably less dependent on foreign trade, rose above the horizon. rudolf ackermann (1764-1834), the son of a saxon coachbuilder, came to london about 1775, and after ten years spent in making designs for coachbuilders, set up for himself in the strand as an art-publisher and dealer in fancy goods. ackermann proved himself a man of really remarkable energy and initiative, with a mind always open to the reception of new ideas, and a spirit of commercial enterprise that was based upon artistic taste and sound judgment. he was also one of the few men who have ever successfully combined business and philanthropy on a large scale. during the years that followed the reign of terror, he was the chief employer of the french _emigrés_ in london, finding occupation for no fewer than fifty nobles, priests, and ladies, in the manufacture of screens, card-racks, and other articles for his "fancy department." irrespective of his business as an art-publisher, this extraordinary man patented an invention for rendering cloth and paper waterproof, made experiments in air-balloons for the dissemination of news in war-time, designed nelson's funeral-car, introduced lithography for the purposes of art-illustration into this country, raised and distributed a large sum for the relief of sufferers after the battle of leipsic, undertook the same good offices for the prussian soldiers after waterloo, and was a generous employer to the spanish exiles who took refuge in england in 1815. his wednesday evening conversazione at the repository of arts, 101 strand, became quite a feature in the literary and artistic world after 1813, while he played the part of protector and adviser to the more unpractical of the authors and illustrators who were employed upon his various undertakings. turning to ackermann's numerous and valuable art-publications, we find that very early in his business career he was one of the chief employers of rowlandson, the caricaturist, to whom he eventually became a kind of "foster-publisher," just as humphrey was the foster-publisher of gillray. thomas rowlandson thomas rowlandson (1756-1827) had received his artistic training partly in the academy schools, and partly, thanks to french connections, in parisian studios, where, in addition to a brilliant technique, he acquired a taste for gaming and all kinds of dissipation. a brief attempt to succeed as a portrait-painter was abandoned for caricature, as soon as he perceived the success that had been won in that field by his contemporaries gillray and bunbury, to say nothing of the easy triumphs of such minor workers in the grotesque as collings and woodward. the exhibition at the royal academy in 1784-87 of such admirable studies in social comedy as _vauxhall gardens_, _the serpentine_, _french barracks_, _an italian family_, and _grog on board_, speedily established his reputation, and his future seemed secure. but his temperament made havoc of his career. he threw away, not only his earnings, but more than one substantial legacy, over the dice, remaining at the tables sometimes for a day and a night together. though he had a horror of debt, and his i.o.u. was reckoned as good as sterling coin, his losses troubled him but little. "i have played the fool," he was accustomed to say when he came home with empty pockets, "but," holding up his famous reed-pen, "here is my resource." and for many years his faith in his own powers was abundantly justified. but as time passed on, his amazing rapidity of production began to spoil his market; while his facile but not profound imagination showed signs of wearying. the print-shops were flooded with his hasty sketches, and though his admirers were numerous and his patrons liberal, the demand failed to keep pace with the supply. at this juncture it became apparent to the keen eye of rudolf ackermann that some effort must be made to turn this fine talent into new channels, and to organise its output. he had noted the popularity of such connected series of comic designs as woodward's _eccentric excursion_ and bunbury's _academy for grown horsemen_, and it occurred to him that humorous works illustrated with coloured etchings by rowlandson, and issued in monthly parts, or in volume form at a moderate price, would have more chance of success than a multitude of detached plates. _the loyal volunteers_, published in 1799, seems to have been the earliest result of the connection between artist and publisher, and this was followed by a series of popular productions, including the well-known _miseries of human life_. but the most sensational success was made with _the tour of dr. syntax in search of the picturesque_, which appeared in the _poetical magazine_ in 1810 and in book-form in 1812. the idea of a series of designs representing the adventures and misadventure of a ridiculous old pedagogue during a tour among the lakes, appears to have been suggested to rowlandson by his friend john bannister, the comedian, but the subject was versified by william combe, then an inmate of the king's bench. combe has described how every month "an etching or drawing was sent to me, and i composed a certain proportion of pages in verse, in which, of course, the subject of the design was included; the rest depended on what would be the subject of the second, and in this manner the artist continued designing, and i continued writing, till a volume containing nearly ten thousand words was produced." a contemporary states that combe used to pin up the sketch against the screen of his room, and reel off his verses as the printer wanted them; but, owing to his dilatory habits, only one etching was sent to him at a time. the success of this not very promising system of collaboration astonished the authors and delighted the publisher. the fortune of the _poetical magazine_ was made, new editions being called for so rapidly that the old plates were worn out and new ones had to be etched. dr. syntax hats, coats, and wigs became fashionable, while the old schoolmaster, his scolding wife and his ancient steed, were among the most popular of public characters. the many inferior imitations to which this success gave rise induced ackermann to commission sequels from the same collaborators, and these appeared under the titles of _dr. syntax in search of consolation_ (the hero having lost his wife), _dr. syntax in search of a wife_, and _johnny quæ genus_, between 1820 and 1823. the popularity of these works was doubtless mainly due to rowlandson's designs, in which british breadth of humour was combined with french lightness of touch; but combe's versified account of the adventures of the long-suffering doctor, though it has lost much of its savour for the present age, seems to have been completely to the taste of his own generation. [illustration: dr. syntax in the glass house] [illustration: quæ genus officiating at a gaming house] william combe william combe (1741-1823) was a literary "bravo" of a type that was common enough in the eighteenth century. if he had not the truculence of john churchill or the coarseness of peter pindar, he was little less unscrupulous in his use of the pen. the son of a bristol merchant, he was educated at eton and oxford, and after making the grand tour he was called to the bar. but "duke" combe, as his friends nicknamed him, was too fine a gentleman to work at his profession. he set up an expensive establishment, kept a retinue of servants and several horses, and, thanks to his good looks and attractive manners, obtained an entrance into the most "exclusive circles." at the end of two or three years, having squandered a small fortune left him by his godfather, combe disappeared from his fashionable haunts, and, if tradition may be believed, underwent strange vicissitudes of fate. he is said to have enlisted as a private, first in the english and afterwards in the french army, and to have figured as a teacher of elocution, a waiter in a restaurant, and a cook at douai college, where he made such excellent soup that the monks tried to persuade him to join their order. in 1772 he returned to england, and was induced to marry the _chère amie_ of an english nobleman by the promise of a handsome annuity. the annuity not being forthcoming, he wrote a versified satire called _the diaboliad_ (1776), dedicated to the worst man in his majesty's dominions, who has been variously identified as lord irnham and lord beauchamp. the satire having a _succès de scandale_, was followed by _the diablo-lady_, and other lampoons in the same style. combe now settled down to literary work--of a kind--and produced the spurious _letters of the late lord lyttelton_ (which deceived many of the elect), and the equally spurious _letters of sterne to eliza_. he had made the acquaintance of sterne during his travels in italy, and used to boast that he had supplanted the sentimental divine in the good graces of eliza. in 1789, combe took service under pitt as a political pamphleteer, with a pension of £200 a year. this salary ceased when addington came into office in 1803, but he then obtained a post on the staff of the _times_. crabb robinson, who met him in the _times_ office, said that he had known few men to be compared with combe, and states that he was chiefly employed in consultation, important questions being brought to him to decide in walter's absence. combe's connection with ackermann began when he was about sixty years of age, and it is remarkable that his greatest successes should have been won when he was nearing seventy. that he was able to produce so much popular work at his advanced age, was probably partly due to the fact that, unlike most of his contemporaries, he was a confirmed water-drinker, and that his life within the rules was free from anxiety and responsibility. the rules were jokingly said to extend as far as the east indies, and it is certain that they extended as far as ackermann's hospitable table in the strand. combe stoutly refused to allow his friends to make any arrangement with his creditors, and no formal contract regulated his dealings with his publisher. "send me a twenty-pounder," or "send me a thirty-pounder," he wrote when funds were low, and his employer knew his value too well to neglect his demands. besides contributing numerous articles to ackermann's monthly, _the repository of arts, literature, fashions, and manufactures_ (1809-28), combe wrote the descriptive letterpress for several of the large illustrated books published by the same firm, _the history of the thames_, _the history of westminster abbey_, and the third volume of the splendid _microcosm of london_, illustrated by rowlandson and augustus pugin (1762-1832),[1] the former being responsible for the figures, the latter for the architecture. the first and second volumes were written by w. h. pyne, author of _wine and walnuts_, who is perhaps better known by his pseudonym of "ephraim hardcastle." combe is seen to most advantage, however, in _the english dance of death_, which was published in 1815, with illustrations by rowlandson, and followed the succeeding year by _the dance of life_. footnote 1: father of the more celebrated augustus welby and edward welby pugin. [illustration: by gamblers link'd in folly's noose, play ill or well, he's sure to loose.] "the infamous combe," as walpole unkindly dubbed him, was the author of over a hundred books; but as he only put his name to one, there is considerable doubt about the identity of his literary offspring. though nominally confined in a debtors' prison, combe, on the death of his first wife in 1814, married a sister of mrs. cosway's, but this union was no happier than the first, and the couple were soon separated. in his old age he appears to have amused himself with a platonic love-affair with a young girl,[2] and in the composition of his autobiography. if this was a truthful record of his career, it must have been a more exciting document than all his other books put together; but, unfortunately, in a fit of resentment at the marriage of his adopted son, he burned the manuscript leaf by leaf. footnote 2: his letters to her were published the year after his death. before quitting the subject of the triple alliance between ackermann, rowlandson, and combe, a word is due to the method in which the delicately-tinted illustrations to their joint-productions were executed. according to delaborde, the copperplate engravings printed in colour at the close of the eighteenth century, were usually printed from one plate, done in stipple, and the various tints were rubbed in by the printer, who used a sort of stump for this purpose instead of the ordinary dabbing-brush. this was a lengthy process, and not always satisfactory, since so much depended on the discretion of the printer. a more common method was to print broadly with three tints of printing ink, and afterwards to complete the colouring by hand with water-colours. mr. grego has described in some detail the manner in which the etchings of rowlandson were produced by the conscientious ackermann. the artist would saunter round to the repository from his lodgings in the adelphi, and call for reed-pens, drawing-paper, and saucers of vermilion and indian ink, which last he proceeded to combine in his own inimitable fashion. "for the book-illustrations a finished drawing was first made, and then rowlandson etched the outline firmly and sharply on the copperplate, an impression from the bitten-in outline was printed upon drawing-paper, and the artist put in his shadows, modelling of forms and sketchy distance in the most delicate handling possible. the shadows were then copied in acqua-tint on the outlined plate, sometimes by the designer, but in most cases by an engraver. rowlandson next completed the colouring of his own indian-ink shaded impression in delicate tints harmoniously selected. this tinted impression served as a copy for ackermann's famous staff of colourists, who, having worked under his supervision for many years, attained a degree of perfection and neatness never arrived at before, and almost beyond belief in the present day." the result of this elaborate care may perhaps best be seen in _the microcosm of london_, _the dance of death_, and the charming edition of _the vicar of wakefield_, published in 1817. [illustration: subscription room at brooks] [illustration: vauxhall gardens] ii robert and george cruikshank in the early years of the nineteenth century, when gillray was fast drinking himself into imbecility, and rowlandson had turned his attention to book-illustration, english caricature, that once vigorous plant, showed signs of premature decay. in the opinion of all lovers of pictorial satire, the promise displayed in the as yet immature designs of a couple of youthful brothers, robert and george cruikshank, held out the best hopes for the future. the two boys were the sons of a lowland scotchman, isaac cruikshank (_c._ 1756-_c._ 1811), who came to london with his highland wife some time in the "eighties," and made a modest mark as a water-colour painter and caricaturist. he produced a large number of political caricatures in the style of gillray, which were coloured by his wife and later by his two boys, who enjoyed but little schooling, and only so much artistic training as he could give them. it was owing, probably, to isaac's passion for scotch whisky, which is said to have hastened his end, that the little household in duke street, holborn, had a hard struggle to make both ends meet, and george (1792-1878), while yet a child himself, was set to illustrate children's books for the trade. before he was out of his teens he was producing coloured caricatures, of which the arrest of sir francis burdett is the earliest important example, and contributing etchings to _the scourge_ (1811-16), a scurrilous publication, edited by "mad mitford." the principal subjects of his somewhat crude satire were the regent, buonaparte, and a certain number of too notorious personages in "high life." in 1814, george illustrated a _life of napoleon_ in hudibrastic verse, by dr. syntax, not our friend combe, but some anonymous admirer of his hero. young cruikshank's talent attracted the attention of william hone of _table-book_ fame, who employed him to illustrate a series of radical squibs, including _the political house that jack built_, _the political alphabet_, and _the queen's matrimonial ladder_. it was for hone that george designed his famous bank-note "_not_ to be imitated," which, he fondly believed, put a stop to hanging for the forgery of one pound notes. hone seems to have been a very poor paymaster, but his custom brought the young artist great notoriety, and by 1820 "the ingenious mr. cruikshank" was firmly established as a popular favourite. after his father's death, george continued to keep house with his mother, sister, and brother, and we are told that the wild ways of her two boys gave the thrifty, serious mrs. cruikshank a great deal of anxiety. she is reported to have chastised george with her own hands when he came home tipsy o' nights, and she was accustomed to say, with more than maternal candour, "take the pencil out of my sons' hands, and they are no better than two boobies." however, it was probably owing to their familiarity with "the haunts of dissipation" that they became acquainted with pierce egan (1772-1849), the pet of peers and pugilists, an accomplished professor of cockney slang, and the greatest living authority on questions relating to boxing, bull-baiting, cock-fighting, and all such "manly sports." pierce, who handled a pen much as he might have handled a quarter-staff, had already won fame as a sporting reporter, and as the author of _boxiana, or sketches of modern pugilists_, published in 1818. in 1821 he conceived, or had suggested to him, the idea of a book on life in london as seen by a young man about town, and he engaged the brothers cruikshank to illustrate it. it has been claimed that the idea originated with robert cruikshank, who drew the characters of corinthian tom, jerry hawthorn, and bob logic, from himself, his brother, and pierce egan. george iv. gave permission for the proposed work to be dedicated to himself, and in july 1821 it began to appear in monthly numbers, under the title of _life in london; or the day and night scenes of jerry hawthorn, esq., and his elegant friend corinthian tom, accompanied by bob logic the oxonian, in their rambles and sprees through the metropolis_. the work was illustrated by fifty-six hand-coloured etchings by the two cruikshanks, as well as numerous engravings on wood. the very first number took the town by storm, and the colourists were unable to keep pace with the demand. scenes from the tale were painted on fans, screens, and tea-trays, numerous imitations were put forth, even before the book was issued in volume form, and more than one dramatised version appeared on the stage. every street broil was transformed into a "tom and jerry row," the methodists distributed tracts at the doors of the theatres in which the piece was played, and it was declared that egan had turned the period into an age of flash. but all protests were speedily drowned in a general chorus of admiration, to which the _european magazine_ put the climax with its public declaration that "corinthian tom gives finished portraits; with all the delicacy and precision of gerard douw, he unites the boldness of rubens with the intimate knowledge of teniers!" thackeray, in a charming essay, has recalled his early delight in the book, in those far-off days when every schoolboy believed that the three heroes were types of the most elegant and fashionable young fellows the town afforded, and thought their occupations and amusements those of all high-bred english gentlemen. twenty years later, thackeray describes how he went to the british museum to renew his acquaintance with his old favourite, and was disillusioned by the letterpress, which he found a little vulgar, "but the pictures," he exclaims, "the pictures are noble still!" [illustration: death's dance] [illustration: hunting the slipper] david carey the earliest imitation of _life in london_ was called _real life in london, or the rambles and adventures of bob tallyho, esq., and his cousin the hon. tom dashall. by an amateur._ this book, which some have supposed to be the work of egan in rivalry with himself, was illustrated by rowlandson, alken, and dighton. a year later, in 1822, came _life in paris, comprising the rambles, sprees, and amours of dick wildfire and squire jenkins_, by david carey; while _the english spy_, by bernard blackmantle, appeared in 1824. david carey (1782-1824) was a young scotchman, son of a manufacturer at arbroath, who began his career in constable's publishing house in edinburgh but presently came south, and devoted himself to literary journalism. he attracted some attention by means of a satire, called the _the ins and outs_, and also wrote some long-forgotten novels and sketches. in 1822 he went to paris, where he wrote his account of life in that city; and then, his health breaking down, returned to his native town to die of consumption. it was claimed for the illustrations to his book, which were from the pencil of george cruikshank, that "to accuracy of local delineation is added a happy exhibition of whatever is ludicrous and grotesque in character." now george had never been in france, and therefore was obliged to take his local colour from the "views" of other artists, but the ludicrous and grotesque side of french life and character came only too easily to his john bullish imagination. to him, as thackeray points out, all frenchmen were either barbers or dancing-masters, with "spindle shanks, pig-tails, outstretched hands, shrugging shoulders, and queer hair and moustaches." in his regenerate days, george was wont to assert, _à propos_ of _life in london_, that, finding the book was a guide to, rather than a warning against, the vicious haunts and amusements of the metropolis, he had retired from the alliance with egan, leaving about two-thirds of the plates to be executed by his brother robert. if this be true, he showed some inconsistency in consenting to illustrate carey's book, which is a frank imitation of egan's, though in a french setting. charles molloy westmacott a more ambitious book in the same genre was _the english spy; an original work, characteristic, satirical, and humorous, comprising scenes and sketches in every rank of society, being portraits of the illustrious, eminent, eccentric, and notorious_. the author, charles molloy westmacott, _alias_ bernard blackmantle, editor of _the age_, has been described as a typical editor of the rowdy school of journalism. he claimed to be the son of sir richard westmacott, the royal academician, by a certain widow molloy, who kept the king's arms at kensington. the system of journalistic blackmail was brought to a higher degree of perfection by westmacott than by any other free lance of the time. for the _pièces justificatives_ relating to a certain scandalous intrigue in which various exalted personages were implicated, westmacott is said to have received nearly £5000. with his ill-gotten gains he fitted up a villa near richmond, where for a time he lived in luxury, though not, it would appear, in security. in 1830 he was soundly horsewhipped by charles kemble for an insulting allusion to his daughter fanny in _the age_, and he was threatened with the same punishment by bulwer lytton. in his portrait by daniel maclise he is represented with a heavy dog-whip, probably a necessary weapon of defence. in his later days westmacott took refuge in paris, where he died in 1868. in 1823, westmacott published his _points of misery_, illustrated by george cruikshank, and in 1825 he brought out a _roman à clef_ called _fitzalleyne of berkeley_, in which various scandals relating to the berkeley family were introduced. the book was eagerly bought and read, and westmacott, who had vainly tried to extort money for its suppression, must have made a handsome sum by its publication. _the english spy_ was brought out in two volumes, and contained seventy-two large coloured plates as well as numerous vignettes on wood, the majority being from the designs of robert cruikshank, who figures in the book under the pseudonym of "robert transit." two of the coloured plates were contributed by thomas rowlandson, notably a sketch of the life academy at somerset house, with the r.a.'s of the period busily engaged in drawing from a female model. most of the social celebrities of the time are introduced into the book, beau brummell, colonel berkeley, pierce egan, charles matthews, "pea-green" hayne, and "golden" ball; while life at the university, in sporting and fashionable london, and at the popular watering-places, is vividly described. on the last page is an interesting little vignette representing the author and artist in the act of handing the second volume of their work to an eagerly expectant bookseller. the success of this book, and of many other imitations of _life in london_, induced egan to compose a sequel to his work, which appeared in 1828 under the title of _the finish to the adventures of tom, jerry, and logic, in their pursuits through life in and out of london_, illustrated by robert cruikshank. in this curious book an attempt is made to propitiate the nonconformist conscience of that day by bringing the majority of the characters to a bad end. corinthian tom breaks his neck in a steeplechase, corinthian kate dies in misery, bob logic is also killed off, and splendid jem becomes a convict; but jerry hawthorn reforms, marries mary rosebud, a virtuous country maiden, and settles down at hawthorn hall as a justice of the peace and model landlord. [illustration: tom and jerry, in the saloon at covent garden] pierce egan and theodore lane in 1824, egan had started a weekly newspaper called _pierce egan's life in london_, which, being sold to a mr. bell, enjoyed a long period of popularity as _bell's life in london_. in the same year pierce published his _life of an actor_, dedicated to edmund kean, and illustrated by theodore lane. lane, who was born at isleworth in 1800, was the son of a drawing-master in poor circumstances. at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to john barrow, an artist and colourer of prints, who was living in st. pancras. thanks to the encouragement of his master, lane early came into notice as a miniaturist and painter in water-colours, and he exhibited works of that class at the academy between 1819 and 1826. but his real talent lay in the direction of the quaint and the humorous. in 1825 he made a series of thirty-six designs representing scenes in the life of an actor, which he took to egan and begged that popular author to write the letterpress. after some hesitation, egan undertook the task, chiefly, as he says, with the idea of introducing a meritorious young artist to the public. for his designs lane received £150 from the publisher, and the book really proved a stepping-stone, not to fortune, but to regular employment. his work was praised by the two cruikshanks, and a writer in _the monthly critical gazette_ declared that his designs would not discredit the pencil of hogarth. lane illustrated egan's _anecdotes original and selected of the turf, the chase, the ring, and the stage_ in 1827, and also published two or series of humorous designs. in 1825 the young artist, though left-handed, took up oil-painting with success, and attracted favourable notice by his pictures _the christmas presents_ and _disturbed by nightmare_, which were exhibited at the academy in 1827 and 1828. his best work, however, was _the enthusiast_--a gouty angler fishing in a tub of water--which is now in the national gallery. on 21st may 1828 poor lane's promising career was cut short in most tragical fashion. while waiting for a friend at the horse repository in the gray's inn road, he stepped upon a skylight, and, falling through, his brains were dashed out upon the pavement below. he left a widow and two children, for whose benefit egan published a little work in verse called _the show folks_, with illustrations by lane, as well as a short memoir of the unfortunate artist. of egan's numerous other works it is only necessary to mention his _book of sports and mirror of life_ (1832), and _the pilgrims of the thames in search of the national_ (1838), illustrated by his son, and dedicated by express permission to the young queen victoria. "the fancy's darling child," as he has been aptly named, died at his house in pentonville in 1849, "respected by all who knew him"--_vide bell's life_. george cruikshank to return to george cruikshank, who was now in the full tide of success and overwhelmed with commissions. it would be impossible here to give a complete list of his productions, but mention may be made of his illustrations to _peter schlemihl, the man without a shadow_, and to grimm's _popular stories_ (1824), which were so much admired by ruskin; of his illustrations of _phrenology_ (1826), which marks his first appearance as an independent author; the famous _mornings at bow street_ (1815); the _comic almanac_, which began in 1835; the series of etchings for the _sketches by boz_ (1836), and those for _oliver twist_ in _bentley's miscellany_ (1839), which led to his claim that he had originated the story--a claim that naturally put an end to his connection with dickens. in 1839 began a long series of illustrations for the novels of harrison ainsworth (1805-82), the editor of _bentley's miscellany_. ainsworth was born at manchester, and bred up to "the law," but on coming to london to finish his legal studies, he neglected his law books for literature. he attained his first success with _rookwood_ in 1834, and in 1839 became editor of _bentley's miscellany_, in which his novel _jack sheppard_, with illustrations by cruikshank, first appeared. in 1842 he started _ainsworth's magazine_, and engaged cruikshank, who had quarrelled with bentley, as illustrator-in-chief, at a salary of £40 a month. the engagement proved a fortunate one, resulting in the excellent designs to _the tower of london_, _the miser's daughter_, _windsor castle_, and other novels, which cruikshank himself described as "a hundred and forty-four of the very best designs and etchings i ever produced." the connection came to an end with the usual quarrel, cruikshank claiming to have suggested the plot and characters of both _the miser's daughter_ and _the tower of london_. [illustration: adventures in a whiskey parlour] in 1847, cruikshank was converted to teetotalism, and thenceforward laboured in the cause with almost fanatic zeal. it was in this year that he executed his famous group of eight designs called _the bottle_, which was reproduced in glyphography, and circulated at a cheap price by temperance societies. in 1850 he was employed to illustrate the second edition of smedley's successful novel _frank fairlegh_. frank smedley was born at great marlow in 1818, and, being crippled by a malformation of the feet, he was educated at a private tutor's instead of at a public school. he contributed his first story, _the life of a private pupil_, to _sharpe's magazine_ in 1846-48, and a couple of years later it was published under the title of _frank fairlegh_. the book, in which smedley's love of open-air life and sympathy with outdoor sports are strongly manifested, made a decided hit, and was followed during the next few years by _lewis arundel_ and _harry coverdale's courtship_. smedley has left an amusing account of his first interview with george cruikshank, who, on seeing a cripple in a wheeled chair, could not conceal his wonder, but kept exclaiming, "good god! i thought you could gallop about on horses." smedley, who died of apoplexy in 1864, was editor of the ill-fated _cruikshank's magazine_, started in 1853, which only reached its second number. george cruikshank's last years were taken up in great measure with his work in the cause of temperance reform, and though he still occupied himself in book-illustration, it became increasingly evident that he had outlived his public. his large oil-painting, _the triumph of bacchus_, did not attract the multitude when exhibited at exeter hall in 1863, though he had devoted three years to its execution. thanks to the kindness of his friends, and the grant of two small pensions, actual poverty was kept from his door, and he lived to a green old age, bright-eyed and alert, the best of good company over his glass of cold water, dancing a hornpipe at past eighty, or dressing up and singing _the loving ballad of lord bateman_, which he had illustrated in 1839. he was taken ill early in 1878, and died on 1st february, finding his final resting-place in the crypt of st. paul's cathedral. george cruikshank, his biographer blanchard jerrold tells us, always worked with great care and deliberation, thinking out his subject thoroughly before beginning to realise his conception. "he made, to begin with, a careful design upon paper, trying doubtful points upon the margin. the design was heightened by vigorous touches of colour. then a careful tracing was made, and laid, pencil side down, upon the steel plate. this was carried to the printer, who, having placed it between damp paper and passed it through the press, returned it, the black-lead outline distinctly appearing on the etching ground. and then the work was straightforward to the artist's firm hand." iii henry alken the books illustrated in colour at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century may be classed under certain well-defined headings--narrative, topography, costume, and sport, the last being by no means the least important. although neither gillray nor rowlandson ignored the sport of kings, it was bunbury who, drawing upon his own personal experiences, set the fashion for hunting and "horsey" books, which were most commonly conceived in a vein of broad humour. of such was bunbury's _geoffry gambado, or the academy for grown horsemen_, of which several editions appeared between 1788 and 1808. the most distinguished of bunbury's immediate successors was henry alken, an artist whose origin seems wrapped in mystery. it has been rumoured that he began his career as stud-groom or trainer to the duke of beaufort in the opening years of the nineteenth century. his early drawings were produced under the pseudonym of "ben tallyho," and the first work to which he signed his own name seems to have been _the beauties and defects in the figure of the horse, comparatively delineated_, which appeared in 1816. this was followed by some sets of humorous etchings in frank imitation of bunbury, such as _specimens of riding_, _symptoms of being amazed_, _a touch at the fine arts_, and, in 1821, by a folio volume, _the national sports of great britain_. in 1824 we find a most complimentary allusion to alken's work in an article on the fine arts in _blackwood's magazine_, probably written by christopher north. the writer, after observing that george cruikshank failed in one subject only--the gentlemen of england--proceeds: "where cruikshank fails, there, happily for england and for art, henry alken shines, and shines like a star of the first magnitude. he has filled up the great blank that was left by the disappearance of bunbury. he is a gentleman--he has lived with gentlemen--he understands their nature both in its strength and its weakness.... in this work [_a touch at the fine arts_] there is a freedom of handling that is really delightful. yet i am not sure but i give the preference to my older favourite, _the symptoms_. the shooting parties--the driving parties--the overturning parties--the flirting parties--the fighting parties in that series are all and each of them nearly divine. positively you must buy a set of alken's works--they are splendid things--no drawing-room is complete without them." alken, it will be seen, had already made his mark, but it was his connection with mr. apperley, _alias_ "nimrod," that was to bring him his largest meed of fame. [illustration: race horse] charles james apperley charles james apperley was born at plasgronow, herefordshire, in 1778, and educated at rugby. his father, a man of literary tastes, who corresponded with dr. johnson and read greek before breakfast, had been tutor and bear-leader on the grand tour to sir william watkin wynn. young apperley, who refused to be turned into a scholar, was gazetted cornet in 1798 in sir w. wynn's regiment of yeomanry, and served in ireland during the rebellion. on his return to england in 1801, he married a miss wynn, a cousin of sir william's, and settled at hinckley hall in leicestershire, where he hoped to add to his income by selling the hunters that he trained. three years later he moved to bilton hall, near rugby, once the property of joseph addison, where he hunted regularly with the quorn and the pytchley, till another move took him to bitterly court, in shropshire, where he became intimate with that amazing character john mytton, of halston house, whose life and death he was afterwards to record in a book that made both subject and biographer famous. here we may suppose that apperley was witness of some of those escapades that are now familiar to every student of sporting literature: the midnight drive across country, when a sunk fence, a deep drain, and two quickset hedges were successfully negotiated; the attempt to leap a turnpike gate with a tandem, when leader and wheeler parted company; and the gallop over a rabbit warren to see whether the horse would fall, which it very naturally did, and rolled upon its rider. it was perhaps just as well for apperley that he left this too exciting neighbourhood after a few years, and moved to beaurepaire house, in hampshire. the loss of money in farming operations brought him into difficulties, and at this time he seems to have conceived the idea of writing a book on hunting. he produced nothing, however, till some years later, when he was persuaded by pittman, editor of the _sporting magazine_, to become a contributor, and his first article, on "fox-hunting in leicestershire," appeared in 1822. this was followed by accounts of other hunting tours, which proved so popular that the circulation of the magazine was soon trebled. apperley is said to have received £20 a page for his work,--the highest price ever paid to a journalist at that time,--but apparently this splendid remuneration had to cover his working expenses, which included a stud of hunters. "nimrod" soon became a celebrity in the sporting world, and masters of hounds trembled at his nod. the news of his arrival in a country set every member of the local hunt in a flutter; the best horses were brought out, and the best covers drawn, in the hope of a favourable notice from the great man. [illustration: a new hunter--tallyho! tallyho!] in 1830 the _sporting magazine_ came to grief, in consequence of the death of the editor, and apperley, who had borrowed large sums of pittman, was obliged to take refuge from his creditors at calais, where he spent the next twelve years. here, a year later, arrived john mytton, also a fugitive, having run through a splendid property, and ruined a magnificent constitution by drink, before he was thirty-five. apperley seems to have done his best for his old friend and comrade, who, having exchanged old port--of which his daily allowance had been from four to six bottles a day--for brandy, was rapidly drinking himself to death. mytton, who seems to have been practically a madman in his last years, returned to london in 1833, and was promptly thrown into the king's bench, where he died of delirium tremens in the following year. apperley occupied himself during his exile in writing sporting memoirs and reminiscences, and contributing to ackermann's _new sporting magazine_. in 1835 he was invited by lockhart to write three articles on hunting, racing, and coaching for the _quarterly review_, and these, which represent some of his best work, were republished under the title of _the chase, the turf, and the road_, with coloured etchings by henry alken. lockhart was so much impressed by the powers of his new contributor, that he told john murray, "i have found a man who can hunt like hugo meynell and write like walter scott,"--a criticism that did more credit to his sporting than his literary acumen, though apperley's style is greatly superior to that of pierce egan and other of his sporting contemporaries. in 1837 he published his _memoirs of the life of john mytton_, which had appeared serially in the _new sporting magazine_, and was illustrated with plates drawn by alken and etched by rawlings. this was followed by _the life of a sportsman_, illustrated by the same artist, which has become one of the classics of hunting literature. apperley returned to london in 1842, and died in pimlico the following year. [illustration: mr. ridgeway's good health--now!] [illustration: "oh gentlemen! gentlemen! here's a lamentable occurrence"] robert smith surtees the death of apperley was preceded by the rise of another famous sporting writer, robert smith surtees (1803-64), the second son of anthony surtees, of hamsterley hall, durham. robert was educated at durham grammar school, and afterwards articled to a solicitor. a partnership was bought for him in london, but this proved unsatisfactory, and the young man, turning his back upon the law, started upon his literary career as contributor to the old _sporting magazine_. in 1831, in connection with rudolf ackermann, the son and successor of rowlandson's employer, he started the _new sporting magazine_, which he edited down to 1836, and in the pages of this periodical the celebrated mr. jorrocks, humorist, sportsman, and grocer, made his first bow to the public. these papers were collected under the title of _jorrocks' jaunts and jollities_ in 1838, with illustrations by "phiz"; but a later edition, that of 1843, contains fifteen coloured plates by alken. in the same year surtees succeeded to the family estate, but in spite of this change in his circumstances he did not lay aside his pen. lockhart had once remarked to apperley _à propos_ the creator of jorrocks, "that fellow could write a good novel if he liked to try"; and the compliment, being promptly repeated to surtees, resulted in the composition of _handley cross_ (1843), in which mr. jorrocks makes his appearance as a country squire and master of hounds. a later edition of the book was illustrated by a new sporting artist, john leech. _handley cross_ was followed by _hawbuck grange_, _ask mamma_, and the ever-popular _mr. sponge's sporting tour_, which contained numerous coloured plates and woodcuts by leech. "the yorkshireman," as surtees was nicknamed, presumably because he was born in durham, also contributed papers to _bell's life_, some of which, commemorative of the fine open winter of 1845-46, were afterwards published as _the analysis of the hunting field_, with illustrations by alken, who now disappears from our view, though he left two or three sons in the same "line of business," with whom he has sometimes been confused, while the popular name of alken became a general patronymic for a whole school of sporting artists. surtees, who died at brighton in 1864, was a fine horseman and a keen observer of social types, though, so far from being the rollicking sportsman suggested by his books, he is described as a man of rather reserved and taciturn nature. the remarkable character of mr. jorrocks was evolved during long, lonely journeys, when the shrewd ex-grocer, or rather his imaginary conception, stood his creator in the stead of a travelling companion. [illustration: mr. jorrocks' lecture on "unting"] [illustration: coloured title page] iv the _pickwick_ illustrators robert seymour the success of the _jaunts and jollities_, and of egan's _finish to life in london_, suggested, it is said, to messrs. chapman and hall the idea of a work which should deal with the adventures of a club of cockney sportsmen, and serve as a vehicle for the humorous designs of robert seymour. leigh hunt and theodore hook were asked, in the first instance, to supply the letterpress; but, on their refusal, the young charles dickens, then (1835) just three-and-twenty, and only known as the author of some amusing sketches, was chosen to act as the literary illustrator of the work. dickens rejected the idea of a sporting club, though he so far deferred to the publishers' suggestions as to create the immortal pickwick club, into which mr. winkle was introduced expressly for the exploitation of seymour's peculiar talent. the young author also stipulated that, instead of being expected to "write up" to the artist's designs, he should be allowed a free hand with the letterpress, the illustrations being allowed to arise naturally out of the incidents described in the text. on 26th march 1836 it was announced that the first number of _the posthumous papers of the pickwick club_ would be published on the 30th, the work to be issued in shilling monthly parts under the editorship of "boz," each part being illustrated with four etchings on steel by seymour. robert seymour (1800?-36) had already made his name as a caricaturist and book-illustrator. he had published a volume of humorous sketches (mostly dealing with sporting misadventures), and had been employed to illustrate _bell's life_ and _figaro in london_. for _pickwick_ he prepared seven illustrations, of which four appeared in the first part. whether from overwork, or from the fact that his often hasty sketches did not invariably give satisfaction to his employers, seymour was in a depressed state of mind at this time, and on 20th april, just before the publication of the second number of _pickwick_, he committed suicide by shooting himself through the head with a fowling-piece. robert william buss in consequence of this catastrophe, the second number came out with only three plates, and an apology to the public. in their dilemma the publishers invited robert william buss (1804-75), a young artist of some promise, to take up seymour's work. buss, who was the son of an engraver, had studied under george clint, a.r.a., and had been employed to illustrate cumberland's _british theatre_. he was also an exhibitor at the royal academy, where his most successful works had been in a humorous genre. buss consented to lay aside his academy picture and undertake the illustrations to _pickwick_: but as time pressed, and he was ignorant of the art of etching, he put the two first designs into the hands of a professional etcher. the result was unfortunate, since, although the technical part of the work was well executed, the free touch of the original was entirely wanting, and buss's name appeared to designs, not one stroke of which was on the plates. while the artist was busy designing other, and, as he hoped, more successful illustrations, he received his dismissal from the publishers, who were dissatisfied with the specimens already submitted to them. although he admitted that his first two plates were "abominably bad," buss was much aggrieved at this treatment, having been promised every consideration from the publishers on account of his ignorance of etching, and the haste with which the earlier designs had to be prepared. later he became known as a popular book-illustrator, executing plates for the novels of mrs. trollope, captain marryatt, and harrison ainsworth; while, towards the end of his career, he issued an elaborately-illustrated work on english graphic satire. hablôt knight browne in consequence of these early misfortunes, there was so poor a demand for the first three numbers of _pickwick_, that the publishers had serious thoughts of stopping the publication of the work. however, on the dismissal of buss, several illustrators came forward to offer their services, including "alfred crowquill" (alfred forrester), leech, and thackeray, the last-named going himself to call on dickens in furnival's inn, and submitting his drawings to him. needless to say, not one of the three was successful in his candidature, the choice of the publishers falling upon a very young artist, hablôt knight browne (1815-1882), who had served his apprenticeship to finden, the line-engraver, and gained some experience as a book-illustrator. he had already illustrated a pamphlet by dickens, called _sunday under three heads_, and was engaged in executing plates for chapman and hall's _library of fiction_. the choice, as every one knows, proved a happy one, browne, who took the pseudonym of "phiz" to correspond with the editorial "boz," throwing himself heart and soul into the spirit of the work, and proving an ideal collaborator from the author's point of view. the ill-luck which had dogged the early days of _pickwick_ turned out a blessing in disguise for dickens, since he was no longer expected to exploit the talent of his illustrator, and was enabled to impress his own ideas and wishes upon "phiz," his junior by three years. with the fourth number, which saw the first appearance of samuel weller, the circulation of the work began to go up by leaps and bounds; a pickwick boom ensued, and many of the designs had to be etched in duplicate, as the plates showed signs of wear and tear. owing to the lack of harmony between the illustrations in the first three numbers and those that followed, browne was employed to redraw seymour's plates, and to substitute two new designs for the despised buss plates. the latter, which only appeared in about seven hundred copies of the original edition, are now as eagerly sought by collectors as if they were miniature masterpieces, while the untouched designs of seymour rank far above those that were redrawn by phiz. the authorised illustrations to the _pickwick papers_ have been supplemented by several series of "illegitimate" designs, chief among which are the famous onwhyn plates, published in 1837, when the book was in the full tide of success. these consisted of thirty-two etchings on steel, the majority of which were executed by thomas onwhyn (died in 1886), and are signed "samuel weller," though a few have onwhyn's initials. the plates were published by e. grattan in eight monthly parts at a shilling each, and were afterwards sold in volume form at nine shillings. onwhyn, who was the son of a bookseller, seemed determined to make a _specialité_ of dickens' illustrations, for in 1838 he issued through grattan no less than forty designs for _nicholas nickleby_, signed "peter palette"; while in 1848 he executed a second set of _pickwick_ plates, which, in consequence of the republication of the earlier set, were not brought out till 1894, eight years after the artist's death. though his technique was somewhat weak, onwhyn's work shows considerable humour, and his uninvited designs now add great lustre, in the eyes of collectors, to an "extra-illustrated" copy of _the posthumous papers of the pickwick club_. _printed by_ morrison & gibb limited, _edinburgh_ the illustrated pocket library of plain and coloured books _fcap. 8vo,_ 3s. 6d. _net each volume_ messrs. methuen are publishing a series in small form of some of the rare and famous illustrated books of fiction and general literature, faithfully reprinted from the first or best editions without introduction or notes. the particular and attractive feature of these books is the reproduction of all the illustrations which appeared in the original issues: illustrations which are part and parcel of the books, and which, from their beauty or skill or humour, had often as great a share in their success as the text itself. most of these books had coloured illustrations, and they are here similarly given. wherever it is possible the books are contained within one volume. of the coloured books there is also a large paper edition on japanese vellum, limited to 50 copies, the price of each copy being 30_s._ net per volume. methuen & co. 36 essex street, w.c. the following volumes are nearly all ready:- coloured books 3/6 each old illustrated books. by george paston. with 16 coloured plates. _fcap._ 8_vo._ 2_s._ net. this little book serves as an introduction to the illustrated pocket library, gives notes of the authors and artists of the famous books illustrated in colour which were produced in great numbers in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and describes the best known of them. interesting biographical touches are given concerning rowlandson, cruikshank, alken, leech, pierce egan, combe, surtees, and the great publisher of such books, rudolph ackermann. the life and death of john mytton, esq. by nimrod. with 18 coloured plates by henry alken and t. j. rawlins. the vicar of wakefield. by oliver goldsmith. with 24 coloured plates by t. rowlandson. handley cross. by r. s. surtees. with 17 coloured plates and 100 woodcuts in the text by john leech. mr. sponge's sporting tour. by r. s. surtees. with 13 coloured plates and 90 woodcuts in the text by john leech. jorrocks' jaunts and jollities. by r. s. surtees. with 15 coloured plates by h. alken. ask mamma. by r. s. surtees. with 13 coloured plates and 70 woodcuts in the text by john leech. the tour of doctor syntax in search of the picturesque. by william combe. with 30 coloured plates by t. rowlandson. the tour of doctor syntax in search of consolation. by william combe. with 24 coloured plates by t. rowlandson. the third tour of doctor syntax in search of a wife. by william combe. with 24 coloured plates by t. rowlandson. the history of johnny quæ genus: the little foundling of the late doctor syntax. by the author of "the three tours". with 24 coloured plates by t. rowlandson. the english dance of death. with 76 coloured designs of t. rowlandson, with metrical illustrations by the author of "doctor syntax". _two volumes._ 7_s._ net. the dance of life: a poem. by the author of "doctor syntax". illustrated with 26 coloured engravings by t. rowlandson. the life of a sportsman. by nimrod. with 35 coloured plates by henry alken. life in london: or, the day and night scenes of jerry hawthorn, esq., and his elegant friend, corinthian tom. by pierce egan. with 36 coloured plates by i. r. and g. cruikshank. with numerous designs on wood. real life in london: or, the rambles and adventures of bob tallyho, esq., and his cousin, the hon. tom dashall. by an amateur (pierce egan). with 31 coloured plates by alken and rowlandson, etc. _two volumes._ 7_s._ net. real life in ireland: or, the day and night scenes of brian boru, esq., and his elegant friend, sir shawn o'dogherty. by a real paddy. with 19 coloured plates by heath, marks, etc. the life of an actor. by pierce egan. with 27 coloured plates by theodore lane, and several designs on wood. the analysis of the hunting field. by r. s. surtees. with 7 coloured plates by henry alken, and 43 illustrations on wood. the old english squire: a poem. by john careless, esq. with 20 coloured plates after the style of t. rowlandson. the adventures of a post captain. by a naval officer. with 24 coloured plates by mr. williams. the military adventures of johnny newcome. by an officer. with 13 coloured plates by t. rowlandson. the adventures of johnny newcome in the navy. with 16 coloured plates by t. rowlandson. the national sports of great britain. with descriptions and 50 coloured plates by henry alken. this book is completely different from the large folio edition of "national sports" by the same artist, and none of the plates are similar. the english spy. by bernard blackmantle. with 72 coloured plates by r. cruikshank, and many illustrations on wood. _two volumes._ 7_s._ net. life in paris: comprising the rambles, sprees and amours of dick wildfire, etc. by david carey. with 21 coloured plates by george cruikshank, and 22 wood engravings by the same artist. gamonia: or, the art of preserving game; and an improved method of making plantations and covers. explained and illustrated by lawrence rawstorne, esq. with 15 coloured plates by t. rawlins. an academy for grown horsemen: containing the completest instructions for walking, trotting, cantering, galloping, stumbling and tumbling. illustrated with 27 coloured plates, and adorned with a portrait of the author. by geoffrey gambado, esq. plain books 3/6 each illustrations of the book of job. invented and engraved by william blake. these famous illustrations--21 in number--are reproduced in photogravure. 100 copies are printed on large paper, with india proofs and a duplicate set of the plates. price 15_s_. net. the grave: a poem. by robert blair. illustrated by 12 etchings executed by louis schiavonetti from the original inventions of william blake. with an engraved title page and a portrait of blake by t. phillips, r.a. the illustrations are reproduced in photogravure. 100 copies are printed on japanese paper, with india proofs and a duplicate set of the plates. price 15_s_. net. windsor castle. by w. harrison ainsworth. with 22 plates and 87 woodcuts in the text by george cruikshank. the tower of london. by w. harrison ainsworth. with 40 plates and 58 woodcuts in the text by george cruikshank. frank fairlegh. by f. e. smedley. with 30 plates by george cruikshank. handy andy. by samuel lover. with 24 illustrations by the author. the compleat angler. by izaak walton and charles cotton. with 14 plates and 77 woodcuts in the text. this volume is reproduced from the beautiful edition of john major of 1824. the fables of æsop. with 380 woodcuts by thomas bewick. the pickwick papers. by charles dickens. with the 43 illustrations by seymour and phiz, the two buss plates and the 32 contemporary onwhyn plates. this is a particularly interesting volume, containing, as it does, reproductions of very rare plates. london: methuen & co. transcriber's notes: punctuation has been standardized. other changes made: added 't' to 'straighforward': ...the work was straightforward... changed 'quae' to 'quæ' in list of illustrations and advertisement, for consistency with text and illustration. changed 'racehorse' to 'race horse' for consistency with title of illustration. changed 'jorrocks's' to 'jorrocks'' for consistency. note: possible word missing after 'or' in original: ...published two or series... engraving for illustration reproduction by r. j. everett & sons' "ink-photo" process [illustration: frontispiece. engraving for illustration.] engraving for illustration _historical and practical notes_ by joseph kirkbride with two plates by ink photo process and six illustrations london scott, greenwood & co. 10 ludgate hill, e.c. new york d. van nostrand co. 23 murray street 1903 [_all rights remain with scott, greenwood & co._] contents page chapter i its inception. a theory of evolution--a distinct progress 1 chapter ii wood engraving. rise and progress--block books--durer's influence--hans holbein--a renaissance--comparison and justification--the illustrator 5 chapter iii metal engraving. the invention--early engravers--national characteristics--a progressive review 18 chapter iv engraving in england. introduction of metal engraving--notable british engravers--summary 26 chapter v etching. early records--descriptive--rembrandt's influence--wenceslaus hollar 38 mezzotint. invention--description--artistic qualities--dilettanti art--a modern mezzo engraver 38 chapter vi the engraver's task. inartistic work--constructive elements--outline--extraneous matter--composition--light and shade--expression--perspective--execution 48 chapter vii photo "process" engraving. a progressive process--commercial and artistic features--"line" process--"half tone"--artistic restoration--tri-chromatography--photogravure 57 chapter viii appreciative criticism. an educative principle--an analysis--realism in art retrospect 66 index 70 list of illustrations fig. plate i. _frontispiece_ 1. old wood engraving (erenburg castle) _facing p._ 10 2. modern wood engraving (the goose fountain, nuremburg) " 14 3. old wood engraving " 28 4. modern wood engraving " 54 5. cross section of cyanide furnace _page_ 59 6. process engraving _facing p._ 60 plate ii. " 64 preface a philosopher and writer has declared that "in our fine arts, not imitation, but creation, is the aim." it is to emphasise a distinction between an imitative and a creative art that the following chapters are offered. "engraving for illustration" is pre-eminently a creative art by which the work of the artist is _translated_, "in order to render the effect of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective reproduction." it is, moreover, a popular art with a well-defined educative principle underlying the numerous phases of its manifestation; while, at the same time, its historical and general interest will commend this brief record of its progress and influence to many who are lovers of art for art's sake. j. k. london _june 1903_. engraving for illustration chapter i _its inception_--a theory of evolution--a distinct progress "in proportion to his force the artist will find in his work an outlet for his proper character."--emerson. =its inception.=--it was the dawn of a new sense when primitive man first ornamented his weapons, utensils, and the walls of his cave dwellings with incised drawings,--pictorial representations which enabled him to record events or suggest and illustrate thoughts and ideas when his somewhat limited vocabulary failed him. it was a severely utilitarian epoch of the world's history, and the crude yet intensely realistic manifestations of man's artistic desires were the more remarkable that they were wholly dependent upon stern necessity for their realisation. childlike in their simplicity, yet both graphic and vigorous in expression, these ancient drawings bear testimony to the intense desire of primeval man for some suitable and satisfying form of pictorial expression. such incised drawings were undoubtedly the earliest forms, which the mind of man suggested and his skill attained, of conveying information and displaying pictorial or ornamental art. they were but crude conceptions of the untutored art of a savage race, yet, with a characteristic quaintness of expression, they abundantly prove the existence of an innate, imitative, and artistic faculty, inspired by an insatiable craving for illustrative delineation. =a theory of evolution.=--the antiquity of the engraver's art, then, is exceedingly remote, and its earliest records display frequent evidences of manipulative skill and artistic perception--evidences which are still more convincing when the environment and scanty resources of its exponents are fully appreciated. it was a most unique phase of that process of evolution whereby the social education of the human race was advanced, and through countless ages it has indicated the same onward roll of progressive intelligence. responsive to the ever-changing conditions of life, the necessities of mankind were constantly increasing. his higher intelligence also created a greater diversity of interests, and consequently demanded a fuller and more expressive vehicle of communication for his thoughts. no longer content with what was only needful for the maintenance of social or commercial intercourse, he sought to add to the archaic simplicity of his drawings, skilful arrangement, and a certain degree of artistic feeling and interpretation. it was as though some transitory flashes of artistic power in the minds of prehistoric artists were struggling with an inability to give adequate expression to their inceptions. their productions, some of them dating from the palæolithic and neolithic periods, were not pretentious works of art. their primary purpose being representative, their merit was, of course, decided by the success or failure of such representation, apart from any artistic qualities they might possess. =a distinct purpose.=--the evident care with which many of the ancient incised drawings or engravings were executed and preserved, together with the permanent character of the materials employed, seems to indicate that these simple yet graphic representations were produced with the distinct purpose of perpetuating a memory as well as for the amplification of a meagre language,--a purpose which considerably enhances their interest, and suggests that the primeval engraver appreciated some at least of the possibilities of his art. moreover, they frequently possess an intense veracity and directness of imitation which renders them of inestimable value as reliable historical records. had caprice alone directed the artist's efforts, they would not in so many instances have merited the interest and approval which they now receive. such, then, were the beginnings of an art that subsequently reached its maturity only by a slow growth of gradual development, and "which, in the modesty and seriousness of its earlier manifestations, is at least as interesting as in the audacity of its later and more impressionistic phases." engraving as a reproductive as well as an ornamental art was at different periods modified in accordance with ever-changing conditions produced by the exigencies of national and industrial policy. its frequent adaptation to the various circumstances with which it was indissolubly associated, and the fluctuations of an enthusiasm which was more or less dependent upon national as well as social prosperity, fully justifies the statement that "its history is the mirror of a nation's progress." the rude methods of ancient artists can be distinctly traced through egyptian, assyrian, and grecian history. hieroglyphic and symbolic figures, engraved on ancient egyptian monuments, bear testimony to a vast progress both in expressive and inventive power. assyrian antiquities disclose an art which is even more suggestive and picturesque, while the ancient greeks developed the highest qualities of pictorial power, and raised the art to a marvellous pitch of excellence. beyond this brief epitome of the early history of engraving we need not venture. the idea of taking impressions from any form of incised drawings was not suggested until many centuries later. chapter ii _wood engraving_--rise and progress--block books--durer's influence--hans holbein--a renaissance--comparison and justification--the illustrator "it is therefore beautiful because it is alive, moving, reproductive. it is therefore useful because it is symmetrical and fair."--emerson. =wood engraving.=--the most animating event in the whole history of engraving was the development of engraved wood blocks. wood engraving did not receive the impetus of a new discovery as did metal engraving at a later period. it was to some extent a purely commercial enterprise, the success of which was assured by an ever increasing interest in pictorial art. engraved wood blocks were used for purposes of reproduction several centuries before their introduction into europe. historians claim that it can be traced back to a.d. 930, when a form of playing card was known to the chinese, and printed by them from rough wood engravings. the commercial intercourse of the venetians with eastern nations would suggest a probability that their navigators brought home some of these playing cards, and described the method of their production to their countrymen. the further we pursue our investigations, the more remarkable does this tardy recognition of the utility of wood engraving appear to be. it is true that somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth century legal documents were stamped, and merchant marks made with engraved wood blocks, but no extensive use was made of this method of reproduction until a much later period. the low countries claim credit for the first employment of engraved wood blocks for commercial purposes. many dispute this claim, but the amount of credit at stake is so infinitesimal that it renders the contention of little value. until the time of that immense progress which wood engraving made in germany about the middle and towards the end of the fifteenth century, no work of any artistic merit whatever had been produced. the older prints may possess a certain historical or antiquarian value, but otherwise are both crude and uninteresting. =block books.=--the mediæval block books were the most important of the early pictorial reproductions from engraved wood blocks. they also may be traced to china, where, as early as the ninth century, they were used for decorative as well as illustrative purposes. they retained their primitive form for a long period after their first introduction to western civilisation, and it is interesting to note that the blocks, and not the prints, were supplied to the monks,--the scholars of the day,--the impressions being made by them as required. towards the end of the fourteenth century dutch merchants, like the venetians, paid frequent visits to chinese ports, when they too were impressed with the novelty and utility of pictorial reproduction as practised in the east. at any rate, pictorial sheets or cards, very similar in character to the chinese playing cards, were published in holland about that period. they bore pictures of the saints with the titles or legends engraved alongside. the production of such prints was evidently a recognised business during the early part of the fifteenth century, for there are numerous entries in the civic records of nuremberg concerning the wood engraver "formschneider" and cardmaker "kartenmacher." it has been ingenuously suggested that, for convenience, collections of these cards were pasted into books; and the books available being chiefly of a religious character, the idea of illustrating religious matter with such pictures was readily suggested. the next step was the application of block engraving and printing to the production of volumes of a more pretentious character, the most noteworthy of which were _the apocalypsio sue historia sancti johannis_, the _biblia pauperum_, and the _historia virginis ex cantico canticorum_. in another of these books, the _speculum humanæ salvationis_, the titles were not engraved on the plates, but were printed with movable types. this volume was published at haarlem, and was composed of fifty-eight plates--a very considerable production with the materials then at the disposal of the publishers. =durer's influence.=--in 1490 albert durer, who possessed a spirited imagination and deep enthusiasm for his work, marked out a distinct era of substantial progress, and impressed the art of wood engraving with that expressive power of delineation which his truly remarkable genius ever manifested. durer was an artist of somewhat variable characteristics, but the diversity and amplitude of his productions afford conclusive evidences of a remarkable industry and skill. like other artists of his time, and even of much later periods, he did not engrave his own drawings. he may, of course, have engraved a few blocks, but most, if not all of the wood engravings signed by durer, were executed by jerome rock. perhaps the most peculiar characteristic of durer's designs was the portrayal of scenes and figures of ancient history and myth in well-defined imitation of his own surroundings and the conditions of life then existing. apropos of this, it was said that he turned the new testament into the history of a flemish village. hans holbein was another of the early artists who prepared their drawings for the express purpose of reproduction by means of wood engraving. that he fully appreciated the resources of his art there can be no doubt, for he imbued his work with an expressive individual force which was distinctly progressive and influential. his best known production consists of forty-one engravings representing "death--the king of terrors," in association with nearly every phase of human life. each one of these designs is a picture parable of remarkable power and suggestiveness. the characteristic drawing and quaint expressiveness of holbein's illustrations merit unqualified admiration, and his graphic use of pure line for pictorial expression stands almost unrivalled. hans litzelburger engraved holbein's designs. towards the end of the fifteenth and during part of the sixteenth centuries wood engraving still received enthusiastic attention, and then, for sheer lack of interest, fell rapidly into decay. metal engraving was absorbing the attention of the artistic world, and for many years wood engraving was regarded as only fit for the reproduction of pictures which may be charitably described as inartistic, and too often perhaps discreditable. as far as our own country was concerned, it was not until the advent of thomas bewick that this decadence received any effective check. =a renaissance.=--the renaissance of wood engraving in england may be dated from 1775, when bewick engraved a picture entitled "the hound," and received a prize offered by the royal society for the best engraving on wood. thomas bewick was born in 1753, and fourteen years later he was apprenticed to a metal engraver. it was indeed a fortuitous circumstance which caused him to transfer his energies and his talents to wood engraving, in which he displayed a rare skill and inimitable directness of expression. he was probably the first wood engraver to adopt level tinting in place of complicated and laborious cross hatching which was then practised by his continental contemporaries. he usually preferred to develop his drawing rather than attempt the production of extraneous effects, and the subtle effectiveness of his pictures affords incontrovertible proofs of the advantage of such substitution. their humour and pathos, vigour and fidelity, remain to this day as memorials of the consummate, artistic skill and perceptive capacity of a truly remarkable man. bewick was a self-contained genius whose rugged emotions would admit of but one form of pictorial expression, and that peculiarly his own. his work was pregnant with masterly good sense, and ever manifested a charming simplicity of purpose. he had but a modest estimate of his ability as an engraver, and consequently rarely engraved any other than his own drawings. the exact measure of bewick's influence on the art of wood engraving for pictorial illustration and reproduction would be difficult to satisfactorily determine. this much is certain, however, that through it wood engraving was verified and popularised, and illustrated literature received a stimulus which subsequent developments combined to maintain and emphasise. [illustration: fig. 1.--old wood engraving (erenburg castle). "colour values and perspective can only be expressed by thick and thin lines at varying distances apart." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "illustrated london news."_] =a comparison.=--there is a vast difference between the effects procurable in an impression from a wood engraving and the print from an engraved metal plate. in the former, colour values and perspective can only be expressed by thick and thin lines at varying distances apart, the ink on the prints being of the same density throughout, no matter how thick or thin the lines may be. in metal engraving intermediary values may be obtained by lines of the same thickness, if need be, but of varying depth. the result is a strong, intense effect produced by the greater body of pigment held by such portions of the lines as are cut deeply, and the comparatively grey appearance of the shallower parts. it is largely due to this that prints from engraved metal plates possess a peculiar richness and depth of tone. the commercial advantages generally claimed for engraved wood blocks are the ease and rapidity with which impressions can be made from them as compared with the metal plates, and also the fact that they can be printed with type, _i.e._ letterpress, without any unusual preparations. granting the validity of these claims, it must follow that, owing to the larger number of impressions made from wood engravings, their intrinsic worth will be correspondingly less than the limited number of prints made from engraved metal plates, and their commercial value will be estimated accordingly. =a justification.=--the somewhat sweeping assertion that wood engraving affords a medium of expression only for the blunter minds is not the whole truth. its strikingly bold conceptions and broad expressive effects certainly appeal to the untrained eye or untutored mind more than the artistic qualities of design and execution displayed in metal engraving; but there is yet in the art of the wood engraver a well-nigh inexhaustible store of artistic as well as pictorial effects. the forcible character and charm of its productions are chiefly due to the disposition and combination of the lines employed, and a variety of texture which is thereby introduced. it affords also an exceptional facility of execution, and an almost limitless power of realisation, which gives to it a deservedly high place among the pictorial and reproductive arts. the whole matter may be summed up in a statement once made by a well-known artist and illustrator: "there is no process in relief which has the same certainty, which gives the same colour and brightness, and by which gradations of touch can be more truly rendered. few of our great artists, however, can be prevailed upon to draw for wood engraving, and when they do undertake an illustration, say of a great poem, the drawing, which has to be multiplied 100,000 times, has less thought bestowed upon it than the painted portrait of a cotton king." what wonder, then, at the retrogression of this facile and graphic art of pictorial illustration. [illustration: fig. 2.--modern wood engraving (the goose fountain, nuremburg). "the forcible character of wood engraving chiefly due to the disposition and combination of the lines employed." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "religious tract society."_] =the illustrator.=--the employment of wood engravings in conjunction with literature created a new phase of artistic work. the task of the illustrator or designer is peculiar. he sketches out his design on the wood block, and then passes it on to the engraver. his drawing is not intended as a permanent form of pictorial art, but as a suggestive sketch, which, while perfectly intelligible to the engraver, will be free from such intricacies in its composition as might interfere with its effective interpretation. the old wood engravers produced, line for line, an exact facsimile of the artist's design. his work, no doubt, required considerable skill and unremitting patience, but it was almost devoid of independent thought or artistic feeling. the engraver to-day must _translate_ the work of the illustrator so as to render the effect of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective reproduction. the possibilities of the wood engraver's art, therefore, are manifold. the artist's sketch may give a suggestion of light and shade, and possibly some idea of its tone. the execution and elaboration of the drawing is left almost entirely in the hands of the engraver. whether it will gain or lose by its translation will, to some extent, depend upon his artistic perception as well as his manipulative skill. chapter iii _metal engraving_--the invention--early engravers--national characteristics--a progressive review "the influence of the graver is so great and extensive that its productions have constantly been the delight of all countries of the world and of all seasons of life." =metal engraving--the invention.=--the engraving of metal plates for pictorial reproduction was a direct development of ornamental engraving. the italian niello work of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was chiefly applied to the embellishment of metal ornaments and utensils with elaborate engravings. to intensify their effect, the designs were filled in with a black pigment known as _niello_, l. _nigellus_--black. hence the name by which the process was generally known. niello work was practised chiefly by gold and silversmiths, and it is recorded that one of these, finiguerra by name, was filling up the lines of the engraving with black composition in the usual way when he accidentally spilled some hot wax over the plate. it rapidly cooled and hardened, and on scaling off bore a distinct black impression of the engraving. quick to perceive the importance of his discovery, finiguerra promoted a few experiments which ultimately led to a full realisation of his hopes. there is yet another account of the metamorphosis of metal engraving which, if true, reflects much more credit upon finiguerra than the accidental discovery already described. to obtain a _proof_ of their work, the florentine metal-workers covered the ornamentation with some fine plastic material. it was then a simple matter to convert the impression into a mould, which they filled with melted sulphur. the casts, when hard, formed exact replicas of the engravings, and afterwards, when the incised lines were filled with a black pigment, probably niello, they presented an effective record of the original work. it is not by any means improbable that finiguerra made his discovery when making such a cast. it is a noteworthy fact that the idea of producing impressions from engraved metal plates was not, as might readily be imagined, a development of wood engraving or of the then well-known method of printing from engraved wood blocks. it was a fortuitous discovery, and probably the direct result of an accident. the true importance of this transition, _i.e._ niello work to engraving as a reproductive art, is seldom fully appreciated. it was a momentous change, bristling with possibilities, which subsequent developments amply proved. the time was peculiarly propitious. the beneficent influence of the renaissance was at its flood, and a feverish spirit of progress swept over europe. the imitative instinct inherent in mankind reasserted itself with an irresistible intensity, and new forms of pictorial expression were eagerly sought after. the art of engraving provided a medium for the extension of the artist's fame and the popularising of his creations. it rapidly gained favour, and its ultimate development and expansion fully justified the interest it aroused. =early engravers.=--baccio baldine, another florentine goldsmith, quickly realised the value of finiguerra's discovery, and endeavoured to produce engraved plates for printing purposes. being a somewhat indifferent designer, his first efforts were not very successful. he was afterwards assisted by sandio botticelli, and this partnership was the first clear indication of progress in the art. these two engravers undertook the illustration of an edition of dante's works, in which the chief feature was to be an original headpiece for each canto. they accomplished some meritorious work in connection therewith, but never quite fulfilled their task. some impressions from engraved plates were exhibited in rome about this time, and attracted the attention of the painter andrea mantegna. he was so impressed with these examples of the new art that he determined to reproduce some of his own pictures in a like manner. mantegna's engravings were not in any way remarkable, yet they were received with considerable enthusiasm by his countrymen and by artists in various parts of europe. marc antonio raimondi was another famous italian engraver of this period. he first became notorious through copying some of a. durer's designs in the exact style affected by that great artist. he also added durer's signature to his piracies, and in other ways emphasised the imitation. it is doubtful whether he ever realised the gravity of the deception he was guilty of, for he took no pains to conceal the fact from his fellow artists. apart from this, however, raimondi was a fine engraver. he reproduced a number of raphael's pictures under that artist's direct supervision, all of which show distinct traces of the great master's influence. raimondi engraved between three and four hundred plates. it is a remarkable coincidence that the art of engraving in italy, and printing in germany, should each receive the stimulus of a new discovery about the same period. the art of printing was known to the ancient chinese, but movable types were first used by gutenberg about 1454. =national characteristics.=--engraving is almost as old as the human race, yet its full value as a reproductive art was not discovered until 1452, when finiguerra made his discovery. for at least half a century after this discovery engraving was held in the highest esteem in italy. from that country it passed to germany, and thence into france. in each of these countries it flourished for a time, until at last it claimed a place, and that a high one, amongst the fine arts of our own country. the leading characteristics of italian art, and particularly italian engraving, were beautiful outlines and excellent drawing. "nothing in any stage of italian art was carelessly or incompletely done. there is no rough suggestion of design, no inexact record of artistic invention." the lines, and especially the outlines, of the early italian engravings are indisputably exquisite in their expression of grace and beauty, though perhaps weak and unsuitable for the portrayal of vigour and strength. the german engravers reached another extreme. their drawings were frequently deficient, and even grotesque; but this was more than compensated for by a mingled force and freedom of delineation which, added to a rich imaginative symbolism, was in every respect remarkable. by means of flowing lines they indicated every fold of draperies, emphasised the varied contour of features, or produced an intricate and almost perplexing perspective in their pictures. they frequently sacrificed artistic power for a mere show of dexterous execution, and consequently the engravings of this period were rarely ever sublime in their conceptions. remarkable for their technique, they were yet productive of a bewildering confusion of ideas and mannerisms. it was undoubtedly this superiority of technique which attracted so much attention to the old german engravers. their portrait engravings display abundant insight into human character, and in this respect at least exhibit a rare power of pictorial expression. indefatigable enthusiasm, one of the racial characteristics of the french nation, was exemplified in the reception accorded by her artists to the art of metal engraving. french engraving was distinguished by a felicitous combination of good drawing, skilful execution, and "an aptitude to imitate easily any impression." outlines were frequently suggested rather than delineated, and although somewhat unconventional in style, french engravings of the seventeenth century displayed few traces of a perfunctory art. certain vagaries of style, due no doubt to a natural vivacity, indicated an artistic quality of design and execution which was their peculiar inheritance. of modern french engravers on metal, the audran family were by far the most notable. for four or five generations that remarkable family showed artistic talent of a high standard of excellence. gerard audran, who was born in 1640, was the best known and most gifted member of this family. his productions were everywhere admired. his historical pictures especially were very fine. he was appointed engraver to louis xiv. died 1703. =a progressive review.=--for a long period engraving was of the simplest possible character. about the beginning of the sixteenth century an effort was made to introduce perspective into the productions of both brush and graver, and until this important development obtained complete recognition, even the most skilful artists were guilty of faulty draughtsmanship. aërial perspective, or the suggestion of distance, quickly followed this adoption of linear perspective. it is claimed for lucas van leyden, a dutch engraver, that he was the first to thoroughly appreciate and give true value to foreground and distance; in other words, to fully recognise the artistic value of perspective. it has been frequently suggested that the fame of durer, van leyden, and others of the same school, was so widespread as to create an artistic bias, which other engravers, who were their equals in technical skill, if not in fertility of design, found it difficult to overcome. one of these engravers, henry goltzius, was determined to obtain recognition of his merits, and engraved five plates in as many different styles, copying the mannerisms and artifices of durer and others. they were at once accepted as productions of the great artists, and not until goltzius had heard the unqualified praise of art critics and patrons did he reveal his purpose. his countrymen generously forgave him this deception, and he certainly gained much credit thereby. these pictures are now known as goltzius' masterpieces. during the seventeenth century rembrandt's influence developed much of that technique which modern engravers have copied, and in some instances claimed to improve. he is also credited with the introduction of more expressive gradations of tone, for the production and emphatic suggestion of light and shade. the character of this, too, has been retained in present day engravings. rembrandt was more directly associated with etching than with line engraving, but his influence was far from exclusive. encouraged by the influence of his example, the line engraver endeavoured to add to the expressive power of his pictures by the introduction of more daring perspectives, more suggestive form, and infinitely greater diversity of texture. chapter iv _engraving in england_--introduction of metal engraving--notable british engravers--summary "when applied to objects of their proper destination, the arts are capable of extending our intellect, of supplying new ideas, and of presenting to us a view of times and places, whatever their interval or difference."--dallaway. engraving as a decorative art was well advanced in this country during the reign of alfred the great, when the anglo-saxon metal-workers were known to be skilful engravers. the art was still further developed under the norman rule, and during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. wood engravings were printed by william caxton in 1481, but there is no proof that they were the work of english engravers. =introduction of metal engraving.=--the exact date of the introduction into england of metal engraving as a reproductive art is doubtful. there is a record of a book published in this country in 1545, which was illustrated with copper engravings, cut by thomas gemeni. it was a work on anatomy by vesalius, and was at first printed in latin. in the preface to a translation of this work the following quaint note appears: "accepte, jentill reader, this tractise of anatomie, thankfully interpreting the labours of thomas gemeni the workman. he that with his great charge, watch and travayle, hath set out the figures in pourtrature will most willingly be amended, or better perfected of his own workmanship if admonished." it was probably not until queen elizabeth's reign was well advanced that metal engraving obtained any substantial recognition as a fine art which might be practised with some hope of commercial success. archbishop parker, a powerful prelate of this time, extended his patronage to the art, and for a time, at least, kept a private staff of engravers. a portrait of this archbishop was executed by remigus hogenberg, and is the first record of an engraved portrait produced and printed in england. for about a century the work of english engravers was uninteresting, and almost devoid of artistic feeling. their pictures possessed but little merit, either as works of art or as pictorial records of that eminently progressive period. during the seventeenth century engraving became intimately associated with literature, and then, as now, the combination was a felicitous one. another fortunate circumstance was the settling of the passe family in this country. they came from utrecht, and were engravers of considerable skill and repute. the elder passe was a friend and admirer of the famous painter reubens, whose style he, to some extent, copied. john payne--the first english artist to distinguish himself with the graver--was a pupil of passe. payne was an undoubted genius, and, but for his indolence and dissipated habits, might have accomplished a great work. his most noteworthy engraving was a picture of "the royal sovereign," made on two plates, which, when joined together, measured 36 in. × 26 in. vertue succeeded payne. his engravings were chiefly of historical value; as works of art they displayed no unusual merit. many were portraits of personages of high degree, in which vertue evidently copied the style of houbraken, a dutch artist, who some time previously engraved a similar series of portraits, the commission being given to him because "_no english engraver was capable of executing it_." vertue's writings on english art were profuse and thoughtful. they were afterwards collected and published by horace walpole. [illustration: fig. 3.--old wood engraving. "horace walpole, the historian of the graphic arts." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "illustrated london news."_] hogarth, "the inimitable hogarth," "whose pictured morals charm the eye, and through the eye correct the heart," was a brilliant exponent of the expressive power of the engraver's art. possessing a profound knowledge of human nature, and a keen sense of all that is humanely interesting, he expressed in his pictures a wonderful creative fancy, and a well directed humour. he almost invariably represented character rather than scenes, and while displaying immense fertility of design, he retained sufficient realism in the composition of his pictures to render them valuable as records of the manners and customs of his times. they, moreover, describe their incidents in the most direct and piquant fashion. his somewhat defective drawing was redeemed by a wealth of suggestion and an endless variety of grotesque conceptions. he possessed the happy art of seizing a fleeting impression from which he would evolve a caricature full of peculiar and quaint humour. hogarth's place in the art annals of this country is undoubtedly assured, for it has been said that he _represented_ his characters with more force than most men could _see_ them. his career may be dated from 1724, when he produced the illustrations for _hudibras_ and _la mortray's travels_. there is a most extraordinary story related in connection with hogarth's last engraving. while spending a merry evening with some friends he was heard to say: "my next undertaking will be _the end of all things_." "if that is so," remarked one of his companions, "there will soon be an end of the artist." "yes, there will be," hogarth replied, "and the sooner my task is finished the better." the engraving was executed under the impulse of an intense excitement. "finis," he exclaimed, as he finished that most remarkable design, "all is now over," and, strange to relate, this was actually his last work, for he died about a month later. robert strange, who was contemporary with hogarth, was a native of the orkney islands. he was an art student in edinburgh when prince charlie landed, and his jacobite sympathies led him to throw aside his work and join the young chevalier. when the remnant of the army of 1745 was flying before duke william after the battle of culloden, strange, closely pursued by a number of soldiers, sought shelter in the house of the lumsdales. miss lumsdale was sitting with her work by one of the windows, and at once offered to conceal the young soldier underneath the folds of her skirt. ladies' skirts of the crinoline period were of such proportions as to render the concealment easy, and miss lumsdale, to lull the suspicions of the pursuing soldiers, continued her sewing, and affected considerable surprise and indignation at their intrusion. they shamefacedly withdrew upon finding the lady alone, and strange afterwards made good his escape to france. gratitude to his deliverer, intensified by the romantic situation which saved his life, quickly ripened into love, and, it is needless to add, a good old-fashioned love match. strange settled in london about 1750, when, by his zeal and skilful work, he added much to the fame of historical engraving in this country. he engraved over eighty plates during his lifetime, and displayed a literary talent of no mean order. he was not a brilliant draughtsman, but the tone and texture of his engravings are almost perfect. he was knighted in 1781. there is yet one other engraver of this period whose career merits a share of attention and interest. james gilray was born in 1757, and, like hogarth, commenced at the bottom rung of the ladder as a letter engraver. he also became a notable caricaturist, and some idea of his skill in this branch of pictorial art may be gleaned from the fact that over 1200 designs were the product of his inventive fancy. though not by any means indolent, his habits were dissipated, and unfortunately for him he, for many years, resided with his publisher, who gratified his passions so long as his art was sufficiently productive. gilray's designs were not all caricatures. a number of illustrations for goldsmith's _deserted village_ were designed and engraved by him. he also engraved a few of northcote's pictures. his style was free and spirited, and he was one of the first english engravers to prove the merits of stipple engraving. the stipple manner of engraving was a curious development of the art. it appeared as though line engraving could not keep pace with the ever-growing demand for pictures, and was therefore combined with stipple to facilitate production. in capable hands very fine results were obtained with this combination. english engraving was still in its infancy, however, and continental productions were favoured by the art patrons of this country, until a stimulus was given to native art by the painters reynolds, wilson, and west. profiting by this renewed interest, woollet entered upon a career of unqualified success, and eventually succeeded in obtaining full recognition for the merits of english engraving. as a boy woollet showed his artistic proclivities in a strange manner. his father, it is stated, won a £5000 prize in a lottery, and bought an inn, glorying in the name of "the turk's head," a title which the embryonic artist endeavoured to express pictorially on a pewter pot. the father, struck by some quality in the drawing, apprenticed young woollet to an obscure london engraver. from an artistic point of view this apprenticeship was of little value. woollet was a born artist, and although his early training may have intensified the natural bent of his genius, it did little to cultivate it. he possessed versatile talents. his historical pictures were, in every respect, equal to his landscapes, and these will long remain as lasting and convincing monuments of his skill. the boldness of contrast and accuracy of execution displayed by woollet in his landscape engravings far surpassed all previous efforts to express pictorial effects with the graver. raimbach was a miniature painter of some note, who, like many other artists, turned from creative to reproductive art, and became a successful engraver. in 1812 he became associated with david wilkie, and it is generally supposed that he was retained by that artist for the reproduction of his pictures. raimbach's translations of wilkie's works were in every sense artistic productions and faithful representations. he was said to be so careful and conscientious in his work that he employed no assistants, but this was not entirely true. careful and conscientious he undoubtedly was, but he frequently employed assistants to engrave the less important parts of his commissions. raimbach was born in 1776, and died 1843. f. c. lewis was a progressive engraver contemporary with raimbach. his most notable productions were after landseer and lawrence. he was appointed engraver first to george iv., then william iv., and afterwards to queen victoria. samuel cousins was another most influential engraver. a brief sketch of his artistic career is given in another chapter. c. g. lewis was both a line and mezzotint engraver. he was probably landseer's favourite engraver, and his name is best known in association with that artist's pictures. born 1808; died 1880. when john pye engraved his first turner picture, "pope's villa," in 1811, that famous artist expressed his unqualified approval when he said, "if i had known there was anyone in this country who could have done that, i would have had it done before," and on more than one occasion he mentioned pye's engravings as "the most satisfactory translations of my colour into black and white." an adequate interpretation of turner's pictures requires a masterly appreciation of the gradations and balance of tone which suggest both colour and space; and to merit such expressions of satisfaction from the great artist himself was proof of john pye's artistic power and skill. he began his career as an engraver about the year 1800 after a short apprenticeship with james heath, a clever and practical man, who was quick to perceive the ability of his apprentice. john pye was a recognised authority on the pictorial effect of colour, and it was said that during his long and eminently useful life "no engraver did more than he to spread a knowledge of the sound principles of landscape art." he was frequently consulted by his fellow artists, and without even a suggestion of professional jealousy, he was ever ready with his advice and, if need be, practical help. the following copy of a letter--now in the swansea art gallery--gives some idea of the esteem in which his opinion was held by contemporary artists:- _monday._ _to j. pye, esq._ thursday night, at half-past five, if you please. i hope that day will be convenient to you. i should like, if possible, to see you here by daylight, as your opinion is always valuable to me, and i have some few things to show you.--your faithful servant, ed. landseer. pye was long known in art circles as the "father of landscape engraving," and he certainly succeeded, as no other engraver has done, in his translation of colour values and suggestion of aërial perspectives. turner's paintings were his favourite subjects, and his interpretations of them are brilliant in expression, and charged with the very essence of artistic feeling. his life and work indicated a progress as distinct as it was far reaching. "and still the work went on, and on, and on, and is not yet completed. the generation that succeeds our own perhaps may finish it." it has been through the efforts of these men and others who, though less influential, were not less skilful perhaps, or less earnest, that english engraving, in its daring innovations and substantial improvements, has far outstripped that of other countries. by them its reputation has been built up and enhanced, so that "its influence is conspicuously visible in the principles and history of art." chapter v _etching_--early records--descriptive--rembrandt's influence--wenceslaus hollar. _mezzotint_--invention--description--artistic qualities--dilettanti art--a modern mezzo engraver "by its very character of freedom, by the intimate and rapid connection which it establishes between the hands and the thoughts of the artists, etching becomes the frankest and most natural of interpreters."--lalanne. it has been asserted, and not without some show of reason, that of all the reproductive arts etching stands pre-eminent as a medium of pictorial expression wherein perfect freedom of drawing is retained. it has found considerable favour with artists, because it enables them to reproduce their own works with ease and rapidity, and without any perceptible loss of expressive power. =early records.=--the first account of the art of etching comes from dutch sources, but whether or not it had its birth in holland is a matter of pure conjecture. it was certainly cradled in the low countries, and finding the time and conditions of art congenial there, flourished abundantly. a book bearing the title, _a book of secrets_, was published in england in 1599. it was a translation from the dutch, and described "a method of engraving with strong waters on steel or iron." the art of etching must have been known in holland some time previous to the date of this publication. it was an unfortunate tendency which led the early etchers, or at any rate etchers of the latter part of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to practise a style of execution in direct imitation of the work of the graver. their productions were robbed of their peculiar character and charm, their directness and completeness of representation. =descriptive.=--the practical phase of the etcher's work claims a more than passing interest from the earnest reader. a carefully polished sheet of copper is covered with an acid resist in the form of a thin coating of wax or some similar composition. when this has been blackened by the smoke of a candle, or by any other suitable means, the drawing is made with steel points. the bright sheen of the copper exposed by each stroke of the point or etching needle will show the progress of the work very distinctly. the etching mordant is poured over the drawing thus made, when the exposed parts of the plate will be corroded or etched away until sufficient depth is obtained. these are, of course, but the bare outlines of the process, yet they will suffice to illustrate the facility and simplicity of its operations. because it is so admirably adapted for light and sketchy drawings, etching has been described as a kind of summary of pictorial expression, and in some respects such a description fits it perfectly; yet, for a just appreciation of its merits, it will be needful to put aside the idea that it is little more than a sketchy framework. it is true that some of the finest etchings have been executed with the fewest possible lines and without any pretence of elaboration, yet tone and texture may be fully expressed though not actually realised. hence the term sometimes so aptly applied to etching when it is referred to as "the stenography of artistic thought." it is upon this principle of limitation that the chief merits of the etcher's art rests,--a system of pictorial representation which does not always produce illogical and inartistic interpretation or the imperfect transcription of light and shade. it may be frequently characterised by a certain amount of caprice in its execution, but it is nevertheless capable of producing form and expression of a very high character. albert durer, who possessed a most remarkable artistic versatility, etched a number of plates; but they can scarcely be regarded as successful examples of his work, for, like other artists of his time, he endeavoured to imitate the productions of the graver with his etching needle. it was altogether a futile experiment, if indeed it can be regarded as an experiment, and durer's etchings show but little of that rare power and technical skill for which he was justly famous in other phases of graphic art. =rembrandt's influence.=--rembrandt, who was said to be "the greatest artistic individuality of the seventeenth century," manifested a deep and lasting enthusiasm for the art of etching,--an enthusiasm which was abundantly displayed in the marvellous diversity of form by which he reproduced the characteristic grace and delicate modelling of his pictures. his graver and etching needle possessed the same spirited touch as his brush, and when "with his own hand he presented his bold principles of light and shade," he almost invariably combined strength of expression with great facility of invention. there is one notable etcher whose chequered career may well be regarded with interest, for it reveals a depth of artistic enthusiasm almost unparalleled in the art annals of this or any other country. =hollar.=--wenceslaus hollar was a bohemian by birth, and came to england under the patronage of the duke of arundel in 1637. during a lifetime of peculiar misfortunes and vicissitudes, he etched something like 2700 plates. as an ardent royalist, he was drawn into the civil war of 1643-44. he also passed through the great plague and the fire of london. difficulties and hardships ever beset his path, yet his industry and fond attachment to art never flagged. the very fact that ever-recurring misfortunes and privations never impaired his power as a most remarkable and ingenious illustrator is ample proof, if such be required, of his genius. hollar's etchings are distinguished by an intense fidelity. they abound in historical interest of a reliable and fascinating kind, and though never showy they possess a wealth of artistic beauty and artistic expression. it is difficult to understand how an artist with hollar's gigantic, productive energy should end his days in abject poverty. mezzotint engraving is the art of engraving on metal _in tones_. it dates back to about the middle of the seventeenth century. its history is interesting if only for the fact that it has been developed chiefly in this country, the high degree of perfection to which it attained being chiefly due to english artists. so much so, indeed, that it has frequently been referred to as _la manaire anglais_. =invention.=--the invention of mezzotint engraving was the result of an every-day circumstance which attracted the attention of a soldier more thoughtful than his fellows. ludwig von sigen was a lieutenant-colonel in the army of the landgrave of hesse cassel when he observed the corrosive action of moisture on the stock of a musket. the metal work had been ornamented with an engraved design, and the ground formed by corrosion in conjunction with the engraved lines suggested an idea from which von sigen subsequently developed the mezzotint process. this story of von sigen's discovery is regarded by some authorities with a suspicion of doubt, and a suggestion is made that his purpose was to invest this introduction of a new reproductive art with a romantic as well as an artistic interest. in any case, the gallant colonel's credit is maintained, and it is interesting to note that the principle of his invention remains still unchanged. the chief purpose of later developments was to facilitate the production of a perfectly even ground. on the presentation of his first print to the landgrave of hesse, von sigen declared, "there is not a single engraver, or a single artist, who knows how this work is done." about twelve years afterwards the inventor divulged his secret to prince rupert, by whom it was brought to england. it is generally supposed that prince rupert carefully preserved the secret of this new process for some time, and then in a generous mood he imparted it to vallerant valliant, who fortunately for english art made his knowledge widespread. when mezzotint engraving was first introduced into england, the famous artists, reynolds and gainsborough, had reached the summit of their fame. the time was indeed auspicious. line engraving failed to give a faithful reproduction of the peculiar style of painting then so much admired, while mezzotint engraving, with its soft gradations and attractive qualities of expression, translated with a vivacity and facility that could not fail to please and satisfy. then, again, a somewhat abrupt change manifested itself in the pictorial art of this period. representations of incidents and portraits of famous personages, which were in themselves interesting, took the place of the severely artistic productions of the past. the natural result was an intense interest, which embraced the art and the process by which it was popularised. =description.=--the mezzotint process of engraving may be described in a very few sentences. the plate of metal is first covered with a ground or _tone_. to accomplish this, a tool with a serrated edge is passed over the surface in various directions. the myriads of microscopic indentations thus produced constitute a _tooth_ or roughness similar to the grain of a coarse sandstone. this grain holds a certain proportion of printing ink, and gives a rich, velvety black impression. on such a ground the engraver works up his design, and, by the skilful use of scraper and burnisher, obtains a series of tones or almost imperceptible gradations. he removes just so much of the grain as may be required for the lighter tones, and by burnishing or polishing, after the scraper has been used, secures the high lights. in one respect, at least, this form of reproductive art is peculiar, and unlike any other types of engraving. the artist works from black to white, and produces, on the plate, the lights instead of the shadows. =artistic qualities.=--although capable of most charming effects, the mezzotint process never became a really serious menace to line engraving, with its firm and expressive outlines and peculiarly lustrous textures. yet it is not at all surprising that a process, offering the artistic qualities of reproduction which mezzotint possesses, should prove successful in the interpretation of such light and shade as, for example, turner painted into his pictures. turner was engaged upon the series of pictures for his _liber studiorum_ when he suddenly realised the value of mezzotint engraving. he consulted with charles turner, an eminent engraver, who afterwards executed twenty-three of the _liber studiorum_ plates, and eventually decided to adopt a combination of etching with mezzotint for the reproduction of that famous series of pictures. the leading or essential lines of each picture were etched, probably by turner himself, and the mezzotint added by other engravers. it is perhaps to some extent true that prints from mezzo plates lack somewhat in dignity of effect and fidelity of representation. they are suggestive rather than representative; yet, when the character of the work is suitable, this lack of dignity is more than compensated for by the soft and harmonious effects of light and shade already referred to. the peculiar beauty and brilliancy of these effects, when artistically rendered, impart to the prints an alluring charm, which appeals to the inartistic as well as the accredited artistic eye. the fact that sir joshua reynolds, west, romney, and other famous artists allowed their paintings to be reproduced by the mezzotint process, is sufficient proof of their appreciation of its power. it was, as already stated, to english engravers that mezzo engraving owed its development and fame as a reproductive art, and for very many years after its invention it was practised chiefly in england and holland. it is a remarkable fact that germany, the birthplace of this art, had but a slight connection with its subsequent history; and equally remarkable that french engravers, who excelled in line engraving when mezzotint was at the zenith of its fame, should almost entirely neglect to appreciate its possibilities. another curious fact concerning mezzotint engraving is that it has ever been the art of the dilettanti. it was first of all invented by von sigen, who followed the fine arts for pleasure rather than with any serious purpose. prince rupert brought it over to england with an enthusiastic, but certainly not a professional, interest, and at several periods of its history it has received encouragement and substantial help from like sources. one of the earliest and most ardent mezzo engravers in this country was francis place, a well-known yorkshire country squire. h. lutterel was another such exponent of the art. he was the first engraver to make any decided improvement in laying the ground. he evidently realised the importance of a good ground, and constructed a tool to ensure its evenness and regularity. another irishman, captain baillie, a retired cavalry officer, adopted a style of engraving similar to rembrandt's, and copied some of that great artist's productions. he was one of the most enlightened art critics of his time. =a modern mezzo engraver.=--a brief outline sketch of the life of samuel cousins, one of the most successful of modern mezzotint engravers, will form a fitting conclusion to this chapter. samuel cousins was born in 1800. the story of his precociousness in artistic matters is certainly extraordinary. sir thomas ackland, an enthusiastic patron of the fine arts, saw the boy cousins standing before a picture dealer's window, and sketching with all the eagerness and verve of a born artist. even while yet a child of eleven years his exceptional ability manifested itself, for he won the silver palette, presented by the society of arts, and again the silver medal when twelve years. his rapid progress, both as an artist and engraver, was undoubtedly due to the influence and encouragement of his patron and friend, sir thomas ackland. he engraved about two hundred plates, including pictures by reynolds, lawrence, landseer, and millais. cousins died in 1887, after a most brilliant and purposeful career. chapter vi _the engraver's task_--inartistic work--constructive elements--outline--extraneous matter--composition--light and shade--expression--perspective--execution "the highest art is undoubtedly that which is simplest and most perfect, which gives the experience of a lifetime by a few lines and touches." =the engraver's task.=--engraving, by whatever process it may be accomplished, is not by any means a secondary art. even when it descends to mere copying, which its commercial associations unfortunately encourage, it requires for its effective execution exceptional skill, unremitting patience, and a more than average degree of artistic feeling. it is almost impossible to appreciate the true value of the engraver's work without some consideration of the labour it entails. each one of the multitudinous lines of an engraving is cut with a definite purpose and deliberate care, and may be operated upon again and again to increase the depth or width in various places. even the dots of a stipple are not made in that aimless fashion which their appearance might at first suggest. a mechanical effect is sedulously avoided, consequently each dot must be cut with scrupulous care, and may require two or three touches with the graver to produce the desired effect. the proportionate reduction of pictures for engraving also demands exquisite skill and accurate draughtsmanship in which the eye and hand of the artist may be distinctly traced. thus, by a laborious yet picturesque and harmonious interpretation of the artist's creations, the engraver renders their reproduction possible, widens the sphere of their interest and influence, and in many instances procures for them a world-wide reputation. such an art may be both erudite and comprehensive in its information, for it is executed with a purposeful patience which omits nothing, forgets nothing, and maintains a convincing directness of expression. outline, light and shade, variety of style and representation of surfaces, are all within the engraver's control, and a vast diversity of expression will be requisite for their realisation. it is quite within his power also to interpret the artist's thoughts as well as imitate his style, and this involves not only a judicious balancing of tone and texture, but a knowledge of the principles of art embodied in the picture--his copy. =inartistic work.=--owing to an insatiable craving for pictorial illustration, there is an ever-growing tendency on the part of the artist engraver to seek after sensational or entertaining effects which are not artistic productions. intensely interesting and attractive they may be, and yet signally deficient in the true elements of fine art. it is quite possible to make any art popular, however crude its conception and manifestation may be, so long as its expression is sufficiently striking or pleasing. such products of the graver or brush may be elaborate compositions and effective forms of pictorial expression, inasmuch as they provide interesting information concerning past or current events. they may even possess a certain value as historical records, and yet not manifest that subtle power of suggestive beauty and intensity of thought which are _primá facie_ evidences of masterly genius and artistic power. when the energy and skill of the artist are thus devoted to expressive delineation in place of artistic completeness, he becomes satisfied with an inferior degree of excellence, provided only that it pleases; and the result will almost assuredly be an incomplete, if not vitiated, production. in these days of invention and advancement, when the resources of mankind are almost limitless, conditions of life favourable, and opportunities for the acquirement of knowledge and skill always abounding, there can surely be no valid excuse for this dead level mediocrity in the engraver's art,--a result which might possibly arise from the insiduous fever of display, of notoriety, and of commercialism which is ever seeking fresh victims in this as in every other phase of human life and effort. =constructive elements.=--an engraving may be an imitative or representative interpretation of a picture or drawing in _black_ and _white_. in such an interpretation, whatever its character may be, integrity of form is of paramount importance, and essential to the attainment of any degree of excellence in engraving. it imparts to the work a distinctive character, and endows it with that delicacy and precision of execution for which engraving is so justly famous. =outline.=--in the early engravings the constructive element consisted almost entirely of pure outline, which was rarely monotonous, but frequently suggestive of form and character. is it not almost marvellous, this suggestive power of outline, for is it not in reality but an imaginary boundary? an actual outline is a thing unknown in nature, and the very fact that it has its existence only in the imagination of the artist makes our reconciliation to it and our admiration of it the more wonderful. the astonishing elasticity of the human imagination makes it quite easy to fill in the details of a picture if only the outline be sufficiently suggestive. the primary function of the outline is, of course, to represent; but its secondary or suggestive purpose is scarcely of less importance, and can only be fully realised when the imagination is so stimulated as to perceive more than is actually exhibited. the completeness and truthfulness of the outline must be an engraver's first point. an art critic once stated that "he had finished the picture who had finished the outline." to some extent such a statement may be perfectly true; but just as in elocution, or even in ordinary conversation, emphasis is requisite, so in pictorial art the emphasis of concise expression, modulation, and delicate or vigorous accentuation are equally necessary and effective. =extraneous matter.=--in other words, an artist's ideas may be decisively portrayed in outline, yet for lack of suitable extraneous matter appear both crude and impoverished. the amount of characteristic form expressed by constructive elements in the drawing, other than the outlines, is strikingly illustrated in old german portrait engravings. they are simply overflowing with details of the most minute description. nor can such details be regarded as altogether superfluous, for they each help to _build up_ the character of the picture. in portrait engraving a mere likeness may easily be portrayed by a simple outline. not so, however, with character. considerable amplification will be necessary to show that; and this, perhaps, is the most difficult task of the engraver--to introduce a satisfactory amount of essential detail without detracting in any way from a pleasing general effect in the picture. =composition.=--in its broadest sense composition in graphic art refers to the putting together or combination of the various details into a pleasing and effective picture. it may comprise--(1) the choice of a subject; (2) the most effective moment of its representation; (3) the choice of such circumstantial matter as will best intensify the interest of the picture, and enhance its artistic value. nor is one part much less important than another, for interest in the subject must necessarily be influenced by effective grouping, and the choice of harmonious surrounding for both. it is in this that the _finesse_ of the artist becomes available, and, by clever contrasts and agreeable combinations, enables him to emphasise the expressive power of his pictorial art. =light and shade.=--the importance of light and shade in the composition of a picture is a fact too well established to require much further recognition here. if skilfully arranged and distributed it may in some measure compensate for any lack of cohesion in the design, and thus become a redeeming feature in what would otherwise prove to be an ineffective composition. it is chiefly by a dexterous arrangement of light and shade that the artist engraver can produce a faithful and intelligible translation of his subject. it adds considerably to the force and vigour of pictures, and produces effects which please the eye and successfully appeal to the imagination. there are, of course, other qualities and conditions which materially affect the engraver and his work, and these will now be briefly indicated. =expression.=--"expression is the representation of an object agreeably to its nature and character, and the use or office it is intended to have in the work." it is, in fact, the very essence of a picture. without it there can be no character, no emotion, and therefore no faithful delineation. =perspective.=--linear perspective in engraving represents the position or magnitude of the lines or contour of objects portrayed, and suggests their diminution in proportion to their distance from the eye. aërial perspective, on the other hand, represents the diminution of colour value of each object as it recedes from the eye. it is, in reality, a degradation of tone, suggesting the relative distances of objects. either may be the direct product of light and shade as well as of accurate drawing. =execution.=--the execution of an engraving admits of almost any degree of variety--the display of individual skill, and knowledge of technique. execution, as the term implies, is the direct result of individual dexterity; the ability to interpret colour, tone, and texture of a picture by an arrangement of lines of varying depth and fineness; the ability also to imitate, or even create, pictorial expression. the work of the engraver, like many other phases of reproductive art, is a fruitful source of mannerisms; yet even these will produce excellent results if they create innovations which will be afterwards approved and recognised as healthy, independent, and entirely original methods. [illustration: fig. 4.--modern wood engraving. "an interpretation of tone and texture by an arrangement of lines." _block supplied by the london electrotype agency ltd., from the "religious tract society."_] chapter vii _photo "process" engraving_--a progressive process--commercial and artistic features--"line" process--"half tone"--artistic restoration--tri-chromatography--photogravure "it is not knowledge itself which is power, but the ability to use and apply knowledge." =a progressive process.=--photo process engraving is a method of graphic reproduction which comes into direct contact with art in its most popular phases. it is a distinctly progressive process which possesses immense advantages and represents an effective and by no means inartistic aspect of the graphic arts. the lavish, and in many instances extravagant, employment of process engraving for purposes of pictorial illustration is a substantial proof of its popularity and illustrative value. it may not always reach a high standard of artistic realisation, but it is almost invariably realistic and attractive in its varied forms of representation. the idea of pictorial illustration, whether as the translation of an artistic conception or an actual representation of current events, has ever been a fascinating one; and its evolution, from a photo-mechanical standpoint, has been one unbroken record of remarkable progress. to enter upon a detailed exposition of any of the many photo-mechanical processes is somewhat beyond the purpose of this short treatise, and to attempt anything but a full and comprehensive description on such lines would be both unwise and valueless. let it suffice, then, to indicate their more salient points, their illustrative and artistic value, and the manner in which they may be most successfully applied. =commercial and artistic features.=--the commercial advantages of photo-engraving may be summed up in a very few words:-1. the plates can be produced quickly and economically. 2. the impressions can be made at a high rate of speed, and in some of the processes without perceptible deterioration. 3. the prints will be more or less facsimiles of the original. from an artistic point of view, photo-engraving possesses equally important features. it translates the artist's work with extraordinary facility and accuracy, retaining a satisfactory proportion of its expressive feeling, and reproducing subtleties of drawing and texture which it would be difficult, if not quite impossible, to obtain by any other process. of the many photo-mechanical engraving processes, all of which are more or less associated with pictorial illustration, three at least merit further consideration. [illustration: fig. 5.--cross section of cyanide furnace. the "line process."] (_a_) =the "line" process.=--the "line" process is applicable only to the reproduction of line drawings or prints, in which the design is represented in simple black and white, with only such gradations of tone as may be suggested by lines or dots. for the reproduction of pen-and-ink drawings, it has found considerable favour with illustrators, and many even of the more conservative artists are compelled to appreciate its merits and acknowledge its value. an interesting account of the compulsory acceptance of process engraving by the famous illustrator "du maurier" is suggestive of at least one valuable peculiarity of this method of reproduction. owing to failing sight, du maurier found it increasingly difficult to introduce into his drawings on the wood block that amount of detail which he considered necessary for the adequate expression of his ideas. eventually he was compelled to make pen-and-ink drawings on a much larger scale than was his wont, and to have them reproduced as photo-line-blocks, the reduction being made as required. (_b_) =half tone.=--"half tone" process engraving, as distinguished from the "line" process, is the reproduction of a design or copy which has in its composition gradations of tone in the form of flat tints. wash drawings and photographs present characteristic examples of such copies. [illustration: fig. 6.--process engraving. _block by the arc engraving co. ltd., london._] the true relative value of these medium or half tones can only be retained in the half tone engraving by breaking up the picture into most minute sections, and thereby producing a grain or series of dots of varying size and contiguity according to the requirements of the drawing. this grain or "screen" effect is produced by the interposition of a network of finely ruled lines in the form of a screen between the lens and the sensitive plate when photographing. the optical principle involved is beyond the sphere of this work, but the effect produced is a matter of vital importance, and requires careful consideration. the coarser the ruling of a screen, consistent of course with the class of work for which it is required, the more vigorous and consequently more effective the reproduction will appear. the variety of tones will be greater, and the textures will appear richer. small prints are naturally subjected to a close inspection; the screen effect, therefore, should be less obtrusive than in larger ones. it may also be useful to know that a finely ruled screen will reproduce the minute details of a copy. =artistic restoration.=--it is somewhat doubtful if the half tone engraving, pure and simple, would ever have any real artistic value for pictorial illustration but for some method of restoring those qualities which are so considerably reduced when copying a picture through the line screen. the pure half tone consists of a grain of varying gradations over the whole design. there are, therefore, no pure whites even in the highest lights. the use of the roulette and graver for accentuating light and shade is therefore not only permissible but decidedly advantageous, for the monotony of a mechanical grain is thereby relieved, and the print produced will be an effective and accurate translation of the artistic sketch. "a true half tone will be best obtained by not relying entirely on the mechanical means, but assisting them with some hand work, either in the shape of re-etching or engraving, or both." the application of hand engraving to photo-mechanical work has been chiefly due to american process workers, who applied the technique of the wood engraver's art to the amplification of their half tone blocks. =tri-chromatography.=--the "three colour process" is more or less an application of half tone engraving to chromo-typography. the colours, each in their relative value, are produced by purely photo-mechanical methods--the colours of the original copy being dissected by means of specially prepared colour screens. half tone blocks are made from each of the three negatives, and superimposed in accurate register in the subsequent printing, when, of course, the primary colours, red, blue, and yellow, are used. the process possesses brilliant and effective illustrative power, offers ample scope for the ingenuity and manipulative skill of artist, engraver, and printer, and promises well-nigh unlimited possibilities as a medium of pictorial expression. (_c_) =photogravure.=--photogravure may be very briefly described. it is a photo-mechanical process, in which rich, soft tones of surpassing delicacy and undeniably artistic effect are striking peculiarities. unlike "line" and "half tone" engraving, it is an intaglio process, in which the printer as well as the etcher must possess a profound artistic perception. [illustration: reproduction by r. j. everett & sons' "ink-photo" process. plate engraving for illustration within a mile of edinburgh town.] a polished copper plate is grained by dusting resin or asphalt powder on its surface, and afterwards fixing it by the application of heat. a _tissue_ negative print is made, squeezed on to the grained plate, and developed in the usual way. the plate is etched through the tissue. the action of the etching mordant--perchloride of iron--being in exact proportion to the light and shade of the developed print. the printing is a necessarily slow, and therefore costly, item. this limitation to their production, however, enhances the value of photogravure prints. =ink photo.=--what is known as the ink photo process of reproduction is interesting chiefly on account of the remarkable fidelity with which engravings of the finest and most intricate texture can be reproduced by its agency. it is essentially a photo-mechanical process, but differs from others of a similar character, inasmuch as the vigour and expressive power of the original is to a considerable extent preserved. colour values also, as far as they can be expressed by the engraver's art (see p. 11), are reproduced by ink photo methods with surprising accuracy, and the intensity of impression, that peculiar feature of prints from engraved plates, is almost invariably well sustained. a careful criticism of the appended illustration and frontispiece done, this process will reveal many other interesting points of practical value. chapter viii _appreciative criticism_--an educative principle--an analysis--realism in art--a retrospect "yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts, we must end in a frank confession that the arts, as we know them, are but initial. he has conceived meanly of the resources of man who believes that the best age of production is past." =appreciative criticism.=--the art of engraving, and particularly wood engraving, has fully justified its existence, and the eminently popular position which it has long held amongst the fine arts of the world. through the medium of the pictorial press it has diffused a knowledge of the noblest principles of art, and has ever exerted a refining influence even over inartistic minds. for this reason the lack of knowledge concerning some of the essential qualities of engraving as a pictorial art is somewhat remarkable. even more so when it is considered that never before in the history of the world has such a wealth of illustrative art been produced and brought well within the reach of its humblest patrons. it is perhaps too much to expect, nor is it at all desirable, that individual preference should be moulded to one common and fixed standard. to some minds the picturesque, though perhaps undignified paintings of the old dutch masters, would appeal with greater success than the wondrous light and shade of turner's pictures. or, again, the astonishing technicalities and intricacies of german wood engraving may stir up a deeper interest and enthusiasm than the simple yet expressive productions of thomas bewick. yet such a difference of opinion may exist only in individual appreciation or taste. the appreciative faculties in mankind are in the main identical. =an educative principle.=--there is in human life an omnipotent and omniscient educative principle which may, to some extent at least, be rendered subservient to the human will, but which in other respects is as certain in its results and impulses as the course of the planets. those who surround themselves with the beautiful in nature and in art, whose minds are constantly in communion with the grand and noble purposes they suggest, are infinitely more sensible to their manifold beauties than those of their fellows who persistently disregard, and even repel, artistic influences. their appreciation of the full significance of any artistic production is deeper, more sincere, and more equable than is that of those who neglect the aspirations of the finer fibres of their beings, and thus allow their higher faculties to become blunted, and their judgments warped. "verily unto him that hath shall be given," etc. the most independent and most penetrative imagination is not by any means a free agent. environment, mental culture, and natural temperament are each controlling influences of variable power; yet there is much truth in the philosophy which declares that "it is as easy to excite the intellectual faculties as the limbs to useful action." =the artist's purpose.=--a misconception of the artist's aim almost invariably leads to a condemnation of his work. first of all discover his purpose, and then decide upon the success or non-success of his conceptions. the _style_ of their execution, _i.e._ the manner in which various surfaces and textures are reproduced, is but a means to an end. it is infinitely easier to assimilate a style once its objective has been clearly comprehended. =an analysis.=--for obvious reasons, then, an analysis of the merits and demerits of the engraver's art is not always a simple matter. his work may be an acceptable pictorial record, though not in any sense a picture from an artistic point of view. on the other hand, it may possess artistic qualities in abundance, and yet be far from a truthful record of an incident or scene. =realism in art.=--it is frequently claimed for graphic art that when it cannot faithfully imitate it is permissible for it to interpret. quite so; and it is in just such a light that engraving is or ought to be regarded. a picture, whether illustrating a story or recording an artistic impression, is never so great as when it enchants the imagination with an ideal presence. absolute realism is not always desirable either in pictorial art or pictorial expression. no matter how realistic it may be, it is a doubtful gain to introduce into the composition of a picture a mass of detail which might only prove disconcerting, and distract attention from the main issues of the subject. the partial or complete isolation of a central idea often adds to the vigour and general effectiveness of the whole. rarely, indeed, does it render it less picturesque. after all, it is not nature so much as nature's expression which should be represented. its infinity of secondary effects, its superabundance of detail, may, often with advantage, be left out. =a retrospect.=--while in this critical mood, it may be worth while noting that the sincere and painstaking work of the old-time engravers is deserving of some praise and an ever tolerant criticism. it manifests incongruities and exaggerated metaphors which are at times painfully unconventional or grotesque, yet they have a directness of representation which admits of no doubt as to their meaning, and bear few traces of a perfunctory art. "our arts are happy hits. we are like the musician on the lake whose melody is sweeter than he knows, or like a traveller surprised by a mountain echo whose trivial word returns to him in romantic thunders."--emerson. index ackland, sir thomas, 47. analysis, 68. ancient drawings, 1. antiquity of engraving, 2. _apocalypsio sue historia_, 7. art representative, 3. artistic purpose, 68. artistic restoration, 63. arundel, duke of, 41. assyrian antiquities, 4. audran family, 4. baillie, captain, 46. baldine, baccio, 20. bewick, thomas, 9, 67. _biblia pauperum_, 7. block books, 6. botticelli, sandio, 20. cave dwellings, 1. caxton, william, 26. character, building up of, 52. chinese playing cards, 5. clever contrasts, 53. colour dissection, 64. commercial advantages, 13. comparisons, 12, 13. composition, 52, 53. concise expression, 52. constructive elements, 51. controlling influences, 68. cousins, samuel, 47. criticism, appreciative, 66. dallaway, 26. dante, 20. degradation of tone, 54. details, combination of, 52. du maurier, 60. durer, albert, 8, 21, 24, 40. dutch masters, 67. educative principle, 67. egyptian monuments, 4. emerson, 1, 5, 69. engravers, early, 20. engravers, interpretation, 49. engravers, task, 48. engraving, english, 26. etching, 38. etching, dutch records, 38, 39. etching, a summary, 40. etching, description, 39. etching, a stenography, 40. etching, pictorial and artistic value, 40. etching, light and shade in, 41. etchings, hollar's, 41. evolution theory, 2. execution, 54. expression, 53. extraneous matter, 52. finiguerra, 18, 19, 21. formschneider, 7. french engravers, 46. french engraving, 23. gainsborough, 43. gemeni, thomas, 26, 27. german wood engraving, 6, 67. german engravers, 22. german portraits, 52. gilray, james, 33. goldsmith's _deserted village_, 33. goltzius, henry, 24. greek art, 4. gutenberg, 21. half tone process engraving, 60, 61, 62. heath, james, 36. hieroglyphic figures, 4. _historia virginis_, 7. historical records, 3, 50. hogarth, 28, 31, 32. hogenberg, remigus, 27. holbein, hans, 8. houbraken, 28. hound, the, 9. hudibras, 31. illustrator, the, 14. imaginary boundary, an, 51. imaginative instinct, 20. imaginative symbolism, 22. inartistic work, 49. inception of engraving, 1. incised drawings, 1, 2. intermediary values, 13. ink photo, 65. ink photo, expressive power, 65. ink photo, intensity of, 65. italian art, 22. italian engraving, 22. italian niello, 18. jacobite sympathies, 32. justification, a, 66. kartenmacher, 7. king of terrors, the, 9. lalanne, 38. landscape engraving, 36. landseer, 35, 36, 47. lawrence, 35, 47. lewis, f. c., 35. leyden, lucas van, 24. light and shade, 53. line process engraving, 59, 60. litzelburger, hans, 9. louis xiv., 23. ludwig, von sigen, 42. lutterell, 46. mannerisms, 22, 54. mantegna, andrea, 20. merchant marks, 6. metal engraving, 9. metal engraving, invention of, 18. metal engraving, another account, 19. mezzotint engraving, invention, 42, 43. mezzotint engraving, qualities, 43, 44. mezzotint engraving, popularised, 43, 44. mezzotint engraving, described, 44. movable types, 7. national characteristics, 21. nation's progress, mirror of, 4. nature's expression, 69. neolithic period, 3. new testament, 8. northcote's pictures, 33. nuremberg records, 7. outline, 49, 51-52. ornamental engraving, 18. palæolithic period, 3. parker, archbishop, 27. passe family, 27. payne, john, 28. perspective, 24. perspective, aërial, 54. perspective, linear, 54. photo process, 57. photogravure, artistic features, 64. photogravure, description, 65. photogravure, pictorial cards, 7. place, francis, 46. pope's villa, 35. prehistoric artistic power, 3. prehistoric art, purpose of, 3. primeval engraver, 3. primeval man, 1. prince rupert, 43, 46. process engraving, amplification of, 64. process engraving, artistic, 58. process engraving, commercial features, 58. process engraving, value of, 57, 58. progressive review, 23. progressive process, 57, 58. pye, john, 35. queen elizabeth, 27. raimbach, 34, 35. raimondi, marc antonio, 21. raphael, 21. realism, 68, 69. religious illustrations, 7. rembrandt, 24. rembrandt's influence, 41. renaissance, 19. retrospect, 69. reynolds, 34, 43. rock, jerome, 8. romney, 45. royal sovereign, 28. screen effect, 60, 61. society of arts, 47. _speculum humanæ salvationis_, 7. stipple engraving, 33. strange, robert, 32, 33. style, 68. symbolic figures, 4. technique, 22, 23. thirteenth century documents, 6. three colour process, 64. tone and texture, 49. translation, 17. tri-chromatography, 64. turk's head, 34. turner, 35, 36, 37, 45, 67. untutored art, 2. vallerant valliant, 43. venetian navigators, 5. vertue, 28. vesalius, 26. walpole, horace, 28, 30. west, 34, 45. wilkie, david, 35. wilson, 34. wood blocks, 5. wood engraving, 5. wood engraving, combination of lines, 14. wood engraving, justification of, 13. wood engraving, power of realisation, 14. wood engraving, pictorial and artistic effects, 14. wood engraving, renaissance, 9. wood engraving, variety of texture, 14. * * * * * _printed by_ morrison & gibb limited, _edinburgh_ the essentials of illustration a practical guide to the reproduction of drawings & photographs for the use of scientists & others by t. g. hill reader in vegetable physiology in the university of london, university college london william wesley & son 28 essex street, strand 1915 printed by the westminster press, london, w. contents page intaglio printing 1 intaglio plates 2 line engraving 2 etching 5 soft-ground etching 6 mezzotint 7 photogravure 8 plane surface printing 15 lithography 15 chromolithography 20 photolithographic processes 23 collotype 23 the preparation of illustrated pages 26 relief printing 33 woodcuts and engravings 33 the half-tone process 37 the half-tone three-colour process 46 photomechanical line blocks 49 the drawing of microscopic details 67 the drawing of diagrams and apparatus 72 the drawing of maps 76 the drawing of graphs or curves 79 the swelled gelatine process 84 the relative cost of blocks and plates by various processes 89 literature 95 illustrations 1. plates plate 1 an original lithograph by mr. harry becker. 2 chromolithograph. messrs. gerrards, ltd. 3-5 collotype. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. 6 half tone. swan electric engraving co., ltd. 7 half tone. \ | 8 photogravure. | | 9 collotype. | messrs. andré, sleigh & > anglo, ltd. 10 half tone. | | 11 half tone. | | 12 half tone three colour. / 2. text figures tailpiece, p. 11. electrotype from the original wood engraving by bewick. tailpiece, p. 30. line block. messrs. bourne & co. fig. 1. wood engraving. messrs. edmund evans, ltd. fig. 2. wood cut. mr. g. n. oliver. figs. 3-6. line blocks. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. figs. 7 and 8. line blocks, reproductions of a wood engraving. mr. c. butterworth. fig. 9. line block. figs. 10-13. line blocks, reproductions of wood engravings. fig. 14. line block. fig. 15. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 16. line block. swan electric engraving co., ltd. fig. 17. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. figs. 18-20. line blocks. figs. 21-23. line blocks. messrs. bourne & co. figs. 24 and 25. line blocks. fig. 26. line block. messrs. bourne & co. fig. 27. line block. figs. 28 and 29. line blocks. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 30. line block. mr. c. butterworth. fig. 31. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 32. line block. mr. c. butterworth. figs. 33 and 34. line blocks. figs. 35 and 36. line blocks. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. fig. 37. line block. messrs. bourne & co. fig. 38. lithograph reproduced by the swelled gelatine process. artists illustrators, ltd. tailpiece, p. 86. line block. messrs. andré, sleigh & anglo, ltd. preface modern scientific publications, although they may in some or even many cases equal in their scientific quality the memoirs of earlier workers, do not, on the average, reach a high standard as regards illustration. for instance, in great britain botany is pre-eminent in its morphological aspects; it should therefore follow that the illustrations, which form so important a part of such papers, should be beyond reproach. this is not always so, a fact which must be patent to anyone with the slightest critical knowledge who looks through a typical journal. this is a fact much to be regretted, since many of the earlier scientists were accomplished draughtsmen and, indeed, often artists; in this connection the hookers and professor daniel oliver may be mentioned. the implication is not intended that there are no good amateur draughtsmen nowadays; there are, and in some cases possessed of great ability. the beautiful work of church in his floral mechanisms may be cited as an example. it may, of course, be argued that any picture which serves to illustrate the particular feature is good enough; this is the contention of one who takes an insufficient pride in his work. a feature worthy of an illustration deserves the best the author can produce, more especially as a literary form is still, fortunately, preserved or, at any rate, aimed at. the reason for indifferent illustrations is primarily due to bad or mediocre drawings, or to their unsuitability for the kind of reproduction in view. with regard to the first point: this lack of draughtsmanship often obtains; when education entirely replaces mere instruction, it is to be hoped that all students of science will be trained in the rudiments of drawing. meanwhile the difficulty can be partly overcome, as will be seen later on, by the simple means of drawing on an enlarged scale, in order that in reproduction reduction can be made. the second reason, the onus of which also falls on the authors, is a lack of knowledge regarding the kind of drawing suitable for the different modes of reproduction; this is a very important point, for "technical conditions govern even genius itself." authors, however, are not always to blame; it would appear that even editors sometimes are wanting in the requisite knowledge, for we have known straightforward line drawings reproduced by half-tone; in other cases the paper used is unsuitable for the reproduction and, at other times, the printers are at fault. with a view to remedying, at any rate in part, these deficiencies, a course of lectures, arranged by the board of studies in botany of the university of london, was delivered in the lent term of 1913 in the department of botany of university college, london. in gratifying the wish expressed by some that these lectures should be given a more permanent dress, the author feels that some apology is necessary, for he can lay no claim to authoritative knowledge of much of the subject-matter; questions relating to the graphic arts and to illustrations, however, have always been of interest to him, so that he has tried various experiments, often with disastrous results, and thus has gained some experience. in these matters the author has benefited much through his association with professor f. w. oliver, who, characteristically, has been ever ready to discuss these problems with, and to place his knowledge and experience at the disposal of the author. the outline of the ways and means of illustration contained in the following pages is primarily intended for ordinary working scientists, not for artists, professional draughtsmen or skilled amateurs. the point of view is mainly botanical, primarily because the present writer is a botanist and also because the requirements of modern botany in the way of illustrations are more extensive than those of any other science; the requirements of other sciences, however, have not been overlooked. with regard to other branches of knowledge, the principles considered will, it is hoped, prove of some value to the workers therein. the details of technique have been kept as brief as possible; in fact, sufficient only has been said to indicate the main principles involved. in the literature cited, to which the author is indebted particularly for matters relating to technique, will be found full, and sometimes exhaustive, accounts. with regard to the illustrations, these have been selected to illustrate the various methods of reproduction described or to demonstrate the points raised. in those instances where the source has not been acknowledged or the draughtsman or photographer mentioned by name, the figure is by the author: and since the actual making of plates and blocks is of considerable importance, the firms, when known, responsible for their making are mentioned in the table of illustrations. in this connexion the author desires to express his appreciation of the skill shewn and care taken by messrs. andré, sleigh and anglo, limited, who prepared the majority of the new illustrations which appear in the following pages. the author is indebted to many who have helped in various ways in the production of his work; particularly is he desirous of expressing his warmest thanks to miss o. johnston for the charming drawing of _geranium columbinum_ (plate 2) and to mr. harry becker for his beautiful lithograph (plate 1). to miss s. m. baker, dr. w. g. ridewood, and miss winifred smith thanks are due for the loan of original drawings; also to mr. edward hunter and mr. hugh hunter for information regarding matters of technique and cost. the number of illustrations would have been less but for the generosity of messrs. chapman and hall, the editors of the "annals of botany," "the imprint," and the "new phytologist," professor f. w. oliver and mr. g. n. oliver in lending blocks. recognition also must be made of the kindness of mr. richard g. hatton in consenting to the use of certain blocks from his admirable "craftsman's handbook," of the delegates of the clarendon press for permission to reproduce figure 14, and of messrs. frederick warne and co. for permission to make use of the wood engraving by messrs. edmund evans, ltd., of kate greenaway's charming milkmaid. finally, the author desires to express his sincerest thanks to mr. gerard t. meynell, of the westminster press, for the keen interest he has taken in the work, for his help with the illustrations, and for the great care he has taken in the production of the book. university college, london _january, 1915._ intaglio printing in the biological sciences the massing of illustrations into plates is still the favourite method of illustration, although text-figures have recently become more numerous. this is partly due to innate conservatism, for most of the earlier memoirs were so illustrated, doubtless because it saved time, since if wood engravings were used with a view to text-figures, the compositor had to wait for the blocks, whereas in the case of plates the compositor and the engraver worked independently. also the possibilities of plates are enormous; they may be very beautiful indeed besides being biologically satisfactory, for much finer results can be obtained by engraving metal than by engraving wood. then again there are many different processes available for the making of plates, so that if one proves unsuitable for a subject an excellent reproduction may be obtained by another. before passing on it is desirable to point out the essential differences in the three ways of printing. _intaglio printing._ if the finger-tips be examined, many ridges and furrows will be seen on their under surfaces; if now a thick ink be well rubbed into these so as to fill well the furrows, and the superfluous ink be wiped off from the general surface, an impression will be obtained of the furrows on pressing the fingers on to a piece of smooth white paper. better still, if the copper plate of a visiting card be examined, the name will be found cut into the surface. if an intimate mixture of tallow and lamp-black be well rubbed into these depressions and the excess of ink wiped off the surface of the plate, an impression can be obtained by placing a piece of damp paper on the plate and passing both through the domestic mangle--the kind with rubber-covered rollers. in each case the principle is the same, the pressure forces the paper into the depressions of the plate so that it takes up the ink. _plane surface printing._ this is characteristic of lithography and allied processes. writing or a design well chalked on a blackboard can be transferred on to a smooth piece of paper merely by a little vigorous rubbing on the back of the paper placed in position over the drawing. the transfers of childhood provide a further simple illustration, so also does the hectograph (jellygraph). _relief printing._ in this case, the design is raised above the general surface of the substance. a rubber stamp is an obvious example. it will be noticed that intaglio and relief are the reverse one of the other, whilst plane-surface printing is intermediate between these extremes. in intaglio, the ink is taken from a depression; in relief from an elevation; and in flat printing from a plane surface. intaglio plates. there are several methods of making intaglio plates, but only a few are used in the illustration of scientific papers; attention however may be drawn to the others, not only for their own sake, but also on account of their influence on some modern photo-mechanical processes. line-engraving. line engraving, by which is meant cutting lines into copper, steel, or other suitable material with a burin or graver, is a very ancient art. its employment for illustrative purposes is an outcome of the art of the metal workers--particularly the florentine goldsmiths of the fifteenth century--who filled up the lines cut in the metal with a black enamel of silver and lead sulphides (niello) which was made by heating together a mixture of these metals with sulphur. this enamel when once in was very hard to remove, so that in order to see how their lines were progressing, the artists rubbed well into the metal, in order to fill up the lines, a sticky ink. the superfluous ink was then wiped off the general surface of the metal and a piece of paper was placed in position and pressed sufficiently hard to make it enter the depressions, which alone contained the pigment, and take up the ink. a print was thus obtained of the work and so its state was ascertained. metal engraving is carried out in the same fashion at the present time. a flat plate of copper or steel is well polished and is worked upon with a graver or burin, so that the picture is represented by lines cut into the metal. any line, however fine, will give an impression on printing, hence it is hardly surprising that engraving has long been a popular means of expression by artists, since force, depth and delicacy are possible of attainment. the printing is carried out in exactly the same way as by the early metal workers: the plate is covered with a thick ink which is forced well into the lines and then the superfluous ink is removed. the plate is now ready for printing; to do this, the plate is placed in the bed of a copper-plate press and over it is laid a sheet of damped paper which is covered with two or three layers of blanket. the whole is then passed under the roller which forces the paper into the incised lines, so that not only is the ink picked out, but a mould of them is taken on the paper, hence the very finest lines will give an impression. having passed through the press the paper is carefully peeled off, and thus the print is obtained. with regard to the metal employed, copper is commonly used, since it is soft and easy to work; its softness however is, in a sense, a disadvantage, since the plate will soon wear, the finest lines being the first to go, so that a limited edition of good impressions only is possible. to overcome this difficulty, the plate may be faced with steel, by which means it is rendered very durable. steel, although once popular, is not much used nowadays owing to its hardness and the rapidity with which it rusts. as compared with copper engravings, steel gives a somewhat harder line, whilst copper gives a soft line, but this, of course, does not mean that steel engravings are harsh; the finest work can be done on steel and of remarkable delicacy. at the present day line engraving is seldom or never used as a means of illustrating scientific work. it is obvious that the average scientist has not the time and he certainly does not possess the skill to make his own plates; the engraver must translate the originals into lines, so that much consultation would be necessary. further, a line engraving takes a long time to make, and most publishers would certainly look at the expense. in the past, however, the line engraving was much used, and very beautiful work was often accomplished. the following works contain outstanding examples. bojanus: _anatome testudinis europaeæ_, vilnae, 1819-1821. the plates are beautiful engravings by lehmann after the drawings by the author. chatin: _anatomie comparée des végétaux_. good steel engravings illustrating the structure of various plants. curtis: _flora londinensis_, london, 1777. the illustrations are hand-coloured copper engravings by sowerby and others, many of which, particularly the earlier ones, are of outstanding excellence. the engraving is often nothing more than the mere outline of the plant, whilst in cases where the structures are more massive, a certain amount of shading is used. the colouring is very good indeed, and it is obvious that much care was taken not only in the actual painting but also in the choice of pigments which, as far as can be judged, are as fresh now as when first used. _curtis's botanical magazine_ and _edwards's botanical register_ contain some excellent examples of hand-coloured copper engravings. levaillant: _histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'afrique_. paris, 1805-8. this work contains beautifully coloured engravings by feesard. the original drawings were by reinold. lyonet: _traite anatomique de la chenille_. la haye, 1762. the plates are amongst the best illustrative of zoological science. martius: _flora brasiliensis_. the earlier volumes, _e.g._, vol. 13, part i, contain excellent engravings. passæus: _hortus floridus_. arnheim, 1614-17. sowerby and smith: _english botany_. london, 1790-1866. the illustrations are hand-coloured copper engravings. thuret et bornet: _etudes phycologiques_. paris, 1878. this work contains the finest plates ever published in a botanical work. riocreux drew from the preparations, and his drawings were engraved on steel by picart, thomas and others. etching. etching is a term very loosely used; strictly speaking it consists in corroding a metal plate or a flat stone with acid, or other substance possessed of a kindred action, so that depressions are formed. a pen and ink drawing, although usually so termed, is not an etching. briefly the method is this: a well polished copper, steel or zinc plate is covered with a substance, known as the etching ground, consisting commonly of a mixture of asphaltum, white wax and pitch, which resists the action of the acid. the ground may be laid in more than one way; the simplest, perhaps, is to dissolve the etching ground in some solvent such as chloroform, which readily volatilises, and to pour the solution on to the plate, which is tilted this way and that until the liquid is evenly distributed; the excess is poured off and what remains is allowed to dry, the plate being kept level during the process. the plate is then warmed until the ground is softened, when it is held over a smoking candle and is rapidly moved here and there so that if properly done the fine soot is evenly incorporated in the ground. when the plate is cold, the drawing may be made by cutting through the etching ground, so as to expose the underlying copper, with needles of various sizes. the work is then etched by means of dilute nitric acid. when this is satisfactorily accomplished, the ground is cleaned off, the plate well inked with copperplate ink, and the surface ink removed by coarse muslin. the plate is then gone over with fine muslin, but the ink must not be removed from the depressions; finally the damped paper is placed in position and impressions obtained by the use of the copper-plate press. etching, although suitable, especially when natural-printed,[a] for the illustration of many scientific subjects, is but seldom employed at the present time for this purpose; the preliminary announcement of warburg's _die pflanzenwelt_, however, states that some of the illustrations are etchings. [footnote a: a plate is said to be natural-printed when all the ink is removed except from the depressions; in artificial printing some ink is allowed to remain on the flat parts. artists frequently, after removing the superfluous ink, lightly dab the plate in order to make the pigment spread slightly beyond the actual limits of the depressions; this is known as _retroussage_.] soft-ground etching. this is a somewhat rare method of reproduction nowadays; it may, however, be described briefly, for it would appear to be suitable for scientific purposes, since it should not prove a matter of great difficulty for an author who is a sufficiently skilled draughtsman to make his own plates. the polished copper plate is laid with ordinary ground to which is added lard in a quantity according to the warmth of the weather. over the plate is then placed a sheet, larger than the plate by an inch or two, of damp, thin, grained paper, the edges of which are folded over and pasted to the back of the plate. when the paper is dry it will be well stretched and in close contact with the plate. with the hand resting on a bridge, in order to avoid inadvertent touching of the plate, the drawing is made on the paper with a pencil of a hardness suited to the softness or otherwise of the etching ground. when the drawing is finished the paper is carefully removed; wherever the pencil has been used, the etching ground will adhere to the paper, so that in such places the metal will be exposed. the plate is then etched and printed as in the normal process. no reproductions of drawings of scientific subjects apparently have been reproduced by this method. examples can conveniently be examined in _the seven lamps of architecture_ by ruskin. mezzotint. the characteristic feature of mezzotint is that the subject is translated into tones rather than lines as in the preceding intaglio methods. the surface of a smooth metal plate--usually copper--is raised into innumerable and minute projections by going over it in all directions with a curved steel tool, known as a rocker, the edge of which is finely toothed. an impression taken of the plate in this condition will give a deep rich tone. the high lights are obtained by scraping and burnishing away the elevations so that there are no pits left to hold the ink, and, similarly, intermediate tones are produced by partly removing the pile so that the pits are made of varying degrees of shallowness and consequently will print in tones according to their depth. impressions are taken in the same way as in the case of etchings. mezzotint apparently has never been used for the reproduction of scientific subjects. indeed, in a sense, this process is much too artistic for the purpose. at their best, illustrations reproduced by this method have mystery and depth and give the imagination much employ; in a word, they are subjective rather than objective, qualities unsuited for our purpose. photogravure. photogravure may next be considered, for although it is a photo-mechanical process, it corresponds to mezzotint. excellent results may be obtained by its use provided the drawings--usually executed in monochrome such as sepia--be really good, otherwise they are hardly worth reproducing by this relatively expensive method.[a] [footnote a: this account refers only to plates made and printed entirely by hand, not to photogravure for printing on a rotary machine.] photogravure is particularly suitable for the reproduction of drawings showing a large amount of detail and made up of a variety of tones rather than lines or stipple. the photographic part of the process is essentially the same as making a carbon print from a photographic negative. this consists in exposing under the negative the carbon tissue, which is a mixture of gelatine, in which is dissolved bichromate of potash, and a suitable pigment. such a film of bichromate gelatine is, when dry, sensitive to light. if no light gains access to it, the gelatine is readily soluble in warm water; if light acts upon it, the gelatine becomes insoluble in proportion to the degree of its exposure. obviously, the pigment will be retained in varying degrees according to the relative insolubility of the different parts of the gelatine. the carbon tissue having been exposed, is rolled down on a wet sheet of paper covered with some adhesive and is dried under pressure. the paper is then soaked in warm water when the basis of the carbon tissue easily peels off; the picture is developed by laving in warm water, which will dissolve the gelatine in proportion to its exposure to the light. the print when dry is remarkably permanent and, from the picturesque point of view, is infinitely superior to the ordinary silver print. the method of making the photogravure plate is, in outline, as follows: the original drawing is photographed, and it is very important that the negative should be as perfect as possible. from the negative, a positive is made upon transparency carbon tissue which is mounted upon a sheet of plate glass. the procedure is, in essentials, exactly the same as described above for the making of a carbon print. this positive when dry may be touched up; after which a negative, which also may be touched up, is made from it upon an ordinary sheet of carbon tissue. the negative so obtained is transferred to a prepared plate of copper, developed with warm water and dried. the copper plate is prepared as follows: after being well polished until quite free from all scratches, the surface is dusted over with finely powdered resin or, more usually, bitumen. the plate is then heated until the dust adheres. after the carbon negative has been stuck on to the plate, developed and dried, the margins and back of the copper are protected with an acid-resisting varnish. when dry, the plate is placed in the etching bath of nitric acid or, more generally, of ferric chloride. the etching fluid will pass through the thinnest parts of the negative first, so that the surface of the copper will be etched to a degree corresponding to the thickness of the gelatine. the high lights on the negative obviously will be represented by thick coatings of gelatine, consequently such parts will be but slightly etched and vice versâ. if the plate had not been laid with resin, the surface after etching would show more or less extensive depressions and elevations; but the grains of resin protect the copper immediately beneath them from the action of the acid, which consequently can only dissolve the exposed parts of the metal between the resinous particles. the result is, therefore, that the plate is covered over with numberless fine pits of varying depths. the deepest ones will, on printing, give the darkest tones, since they will hold more ink, the shallower ones will give the lighter tones, whilst the shallowest and those parts unetched will give the high lights. the plate is usually etched three or four times successively in varying strengths of fluid, after which the etching ground and gelatine is cleaned off. a strong copper-plate ink is then well rubbed in by means of a dabber, after which the ink from the surface is removed, first with a coarse piece of muslin and finally, with fine muslin. the ink must not be removed from the pits. the first pull is then taken as in a line engraving with a copper-plate press, and its appearance shows what corrections are necessary. the plate nearly always requires a certain amount of engraving; the high lights may be improved by means of a burnisher, the shadows by means of a rocker or a roulette--a small steel wheel the rim of which is beset with fine teeth--and so on. finally, if a large edition is required, the plate is steel faced. although much used for the reproduction of pictures, photogravure is too rarely employed for scientific purposes; this is to be regretted, for the process is admirably suited to the reproduction of photographs and drawings with delicate tones. as compared with the usual half-tone, the cost is high, and this no doubt militates against its use. examples of outstanding excellence will be found in the _new phytologist_, vol. xi, 1912, plates 5 and 6. these are absolute facsimiles of the original drawings by mr. mclean, both as regards colour and reproduction of tones. plate 8 may also be examined and compared with plates 9 and 10 which are reproductions of the same subject in collotype and half-tone respectively. plane surface printing [illustration: plate 1.--an original lithograph by mr. harry becker.] plane surface printing lithography. of these methods of printing, lithography is the outstanding example: it is a method of reproduction possessed of great possibilities, for by its employment a facsimile of any drawing can be obtained. as a means of artistic expression it ranks high amongst the graphic arts, and, for the reproduction of drawings of a scientific nature, it is very popular, since it meets most requirements and is comparatively inexpensive. the art, which was discovered by senefelder towards the end of the eighteenth century, depends on the fact that grease and water are immiscible: a drawing made with a greasy pigment upon a suitable surface adheres very strongly, whilst those parts free from it retain water, so that when damped and rolled up (_i.e._, inked), the ink used will stick only to the lines, etc., of the drawing, but not to the other parts. clearly the surface is all important, and this is provided by lithographic stone, a limestone occurring in germany, france, england and canada. the best stones occur at solenhofen near munich, those from other localities being inferior in quality. incidentally it may be mentioned that zinc and aluminium plates are not infrequently used in place of stone. lithographic stones vary in hardness, colour and grain. for the best work the stone should be homogeneous and of a hardness suitable for the subject; the colour affords an indication of the hardness, the lighter-coloured stones, which are much the commoner, being softer than the darker. there are two modes of procedure; the drawing may be made direct on the stone with lithographic ink or crayon--both being mixtures of tallow, wax, soap and shellac, with a sufficiency of pigment to render the drawing visible to the artist--or else the drawing may be made upon transfer paper. the former method, although the more satisfactory and often used by artists, is seldom pursued in scientific drawings except when professional draughtsmen are employed. in such cases it may be necessary to reverse the drawing, which is conveniently done by viewing it in a mirror, and, of course, all lettering must be reversed. the majority of amateur draughtsmen make their drawings in pencil or ink and these the lithographer traces upon lithographic transfer paper and transfers them to the stone; he, the lithographer, may merely trace the salient features and work the drawing up on the stone. the transfer papers are coated with gelatine, starch or gum, or mixtures of these substances, the idea being to interpose between the real paper and the pigment--in the form of lithographic crayon or ink--some substance soluble in water which will hold the pigment and prevent it soaking into the paper, so that a transfer has only to be damped through the back, pressed on to the stone and peeled off. the work, together with more or less of the film, will thus be transferred on to the stone and, of course, will be reversed, since the part uppermost on the stone will be the back of the original drawing. the original drawings may be made upon the transfer paper direct, and in so doing mistakes in tracing will be obviated. suitable papers are made for various purposes, e.g., smooth for ink work and variously granulated for crayon (see plate 1, which was drawn by mr. harry becker on transfer paper). another advantage in drawing directly upon the transfer paper is that the draughtsman can make corrections pretty easily for, if needs be, a bad piece of work can be entirely cut out and a fresh piece of paper inserted. assuming that the transfer method has been employed, the stone must be prepared according as the drawing is made with ink or with crayon. the stone is first thoroughly ground, in order to rid it of all traces of previous work, and then polished for ink work or grained--_i.e._ roughened--for crayon work, the small points produced taking up the crayon in proportion to the amount present on the transfer and the pressure used. the transfer is then damped with water, sometimes with a dilute solution of nitric acid, and placed in position on the stone, which is then passed two or three times through the lithographic press until dry. then the back of the paper is damped and the sheet peeled off. the stone is next proved, _i.e._, prepared for printing. it is first carefully examined for broken lines and other blemishes, which are touched up with ink or crayon. the stone is then painted over with a solution of gum in water which is allowed to dry, it is then washed in water and rolled up with ink. the drawing will now be clearly visible, for if properly inked the clear parts of the stone will not take the pigment, so that any parts which require cleaning up may be deleted. this is accomplished by means of a pencil of snake stone, a piece of pumice stone, an acid stump--a rod of hard wood, the sharpened end of which is dipped into nitric acid--or with a scraper. the stone is again washed and rolled up strongly with ink and etched with a dilute solution of nitric acid which is applied with a sponge; then the surface is again gummed and the stone allowed to dry. it is sometimes necessary to re-etch the stone; if so, the damp stone is rolled up with thin ink and allowed to dry, it is then dusted over with finely powdered resin, the superfluous resin is removed by means of a wet sponge, and the surface is painted over with a solution of gum arabic mixed with dilute nitric acid. if the resin is well incorporated with the ink, the work will suffer no damage in the process. the acid gum is then dabbed off with a rag, the stone is cleaned up with turpentine, rolled up once more, gummed and finally set aside to dry. all this appears complicated, but it is very necessary to get a good surface for printing. the action of the gum does not appear to be clearly understood, the nitric acid obviously will etch the stone, so that the gum will easily penetrate. it is sometimes supposed that the arabic acid of the gum enters into a chemical composition with the calcium carbonate, making a film which is the real ink-resisting surface. this film has not a long life, so that in printing it is necessary to renew it periodically by the application of gum solution. if possible, the stone should be allowed to rest for a day or two after proving, in order that the ink may sink well in. before printing, the gum is washed off and the stone allowed to remain in the press-room until its temperature is the same as its surroundings. the stone is then thoroughly and evenly damped all over, placed in the press, and rolled up with lithographic ink; the paper is then laid on, and the whole passed through the lithographic press. after the first few pulls it will be seen whether all is well. the essentials of a good impression are these: the lines must be black and not grey, provided black ink is used; the lines must not be wider or blacker ("smutty") than those on the stone, nor must they be ragged or broken ("rotten"). in printing, the stone must be damped and inked before each impression is taken, and occasionally re-gumming is required. good printing requires a considerable amount of ability, especially in the case of crayon drawings. the paper used is a very important matter, the selection of which can be safely left to the lithographer, provided he be a good one, unless the author possesses the necessary technical knowledge. if a smooth paper is required, and the paper is not to be damped before printing, india paper is best and plate paper next best. all coarse or grained papers must be damped before printing. as has already been remarked, lithography is a good process for scientific work; but, unfortunately, considering the number of lithographic plates published, really first-class examples are rare. this is largely due to the original draughtsman; it is unreasonable to expect a lithographer, in all probability ignorant of the subject of the plate, to turn out first-class reproductions of drawings which are obviously bad. on the other hand, lithographers vary greatly in their capabilities, and indifferent plates may be entirely due to their ability not being first rate. as drawings have to be traced, mistakes are apt to occur; the proofs should, therefore, be carefully examined, for a certain amount of correction can be made on the stone. the following works contain excellent lithographs, which should be studied by those interested in the subject. bornet et thuret: _notes algologiques_. paris, 1876-1880. this contains some of the best work, illustrative of science, known to the present author. the original drawings mostly were made by bornet, and the lithography was carried out by riocreux--one of the best if not the greatest of botanical artists--arnoul, picart and pierre. davis and thurnam: _crania britannica_. london, 1865. mirbel: _sur le cambium_, paris, 1842. the plates provide excellent examples of ink lithography by laplante. von mohl: _schriften botanischen inhalts_. tübingen, 1845. good examples by federer. the first volumes of the _annales des sciences naturelles_ (paris) may be referred to for lithographic work earlier than the above (1820). for more modern examples the following may be consulted: blackman and welsford: _fertilisation in lilium_, annals of botany, vol. 27, 1913. gravis: _recherches anatomiques sur les organes végétatifs de l'urtica dioica_, bruxelles, 1885. this memoir contains both good and indifferent plates. keibel: _normentafeln zu entwicklungsgeschichte der wirbeltiere_, jena, 1904. reed: _a study of the enzyme-secreting cells in the seedlings of zea mais and ph[oe]nix dactylifera_. annals of botany, vol. 18, 1904. semon: _zoologische forschungsreisen in australien_, jena, 1904. vaizey: _on the morphology of the sporophyte of splachnum luteum_, annals of botany, vol. 5, 1890. woodburn: _spermatogenesis in blasia pusilla_, annals of botany, vol. 27, 1913. several memoirs in the _fauna und flora des golfes von neapel_ (berlin) are illustrated by excellent lithographic plates. many good examples of chromolithography also will be found there. chromolithography. lithography is much used for the reproduction of coloured pictures and illustrations, the process being termed chromolithography. the principles involved are the same as for ordinary work, but it is necessary to print from several stones, one for each colour. it is obvious that much skill is required, for the employment of different colours will give a large number of secondary and tertiary tints when printed one above the other in various combinations. thus, by printing part of a design in yellow and the other part in blue, the finished product would show three colours--yellow, green and blue, and by the use of three primary colours a large number of different tints may be obtained. as already mentioned, each colour is printed by a separate stone, there is thus no limit--excepting that of expense--to the number of different colours which can be obtained. in practice it is usual to make an outline of the essential parts of the composition on a stone, known as the keystone, which is not necessarily used in printing the picture. an impression of this outline is taken upon a sheet of paper, which is used to transfer the design on to the stones, on each of which the artist will draw only those parts which he desires to be printed in one particular pigment. although the sequence of colours is generally blue, red and yellow, it is obvious that various changes in this order must be made according to the colours used and the exact tint required. for instance, a body colour such as cadmium yellow would precede a glaze such as madder-lake; again, two distinct tints may be obtained from red and blue, for example, according to the order of printing--red upon blue will give a mauve, whilst blue upon red will give a purple. a knowledge of pigments is thus all important, and in printing, the superposition must be perfect. plate 2 is an example of a chromolithograph. miss o. johnston first drew the outline of the plant, which was phototransferred on to the stone. an impression was then pulled and tinted by the artist, and from this tinted impression the colour stones were made by the lithographer. it may be added that only three colours were used in printing the plate. examples: baur: _einführung in die experimentelle vererbungslehre_ (plate 1). berlin, 1911. bruce and others: _a note on the occurrence of a trypanosome in the african elephant_. proceedings of the royal society of london, b. vol. 81, 1909. cropper: _the development of a parasite of earthworms_. _id._ vol. 85, 1912. oliver: _on sarcodes sanguinea_. annals of botany, vol. 4, 1889-1891. rubbel: _ueber perlen_ ... zoologische jahrbuecher, vol. 32, 1911-12. biometrika, 1906-7, vol. 5, plate 23. mention has been made of the value of a knowledge of colours. the subject is much too extensive to be considered adequately on the present occasion even if it were desirable; its importance, however, warrants a few passing remarks.[a] [footnote a: see ridgway: _color standards and color nomenclature_.] no two people will describe in the same way the colour of, say, a rose petal; both will have a different conception of the colour "crimson." the majority have but a limited sense of colour, and even when this faculty is possessed, the personal equation looms large; further, the ordinary names of colours are quite inadequate for descriptive purposes. for these reasons the importance of a scientific system of colour nomenclature and colour standards is all important. by the use of such a scheme, the exact colour of an object can be found by comparison with an adequate chart, and the name there given will convey to others exactly what colour is described or desired. the plumage of a bird or the colour of a flower can thus be described correctly, and an author can indicate exactly the colour desired in certain parts of a chromolithograph or other reproduction in colour. [illustration: plate 2.--geranium columbinum. a chromolithographic reproduction of a drawing by miss o. johnston] photolithographic processes.--of these methods of reproduction there are several, their value lying in the fact that the originals can be reduced or enlarged with the greatest of ease. the general principles are as follows. a photographic negative is taken of the original drawing and a positive made on a film of bichromate gelatine. wherever light reaches the film, the gelatine is rendered more or less insoluble according to the intensity of the light acting upon it; through the dark parts of the negative but little light will pass, so that the gelatine will remain soluble. the exposure of the positive having been made, the film, which may be mounted on paper, is inked with lithographic ink in the dark room and then washed. the pigment will adhere to those parts acted on by light, but will wash away from those regions unacted upon; obviously the half-tones will retain ink in direct proportion to their density. the developed positive is then transferred to a stone or zinc plate and impressions taken as in pure lithography for the dark parts are resistant to water and will take the ink, whilst the high lights will retain water and so will not be inked. the intermediate tones will take the pigment according to their density. in distinction to the previous methods, corrections cannot be made except in so far as the negative can be touched up. collotype.--of the various photolithographic methods which have from time to time been employed, collotype is the one in most general use at the present time, especially for the reproduction of photographs. collotype is a simple process which does not require so extensive a technical knowledge and ability as some of those previously described. but notwithstanding this, the results are sometimes unsatisfactory and unequal; faults due to indifferent originals and to unsatisfactory conditions obtaining in the work rooms. the great drawbacks to good collotype are cold and dampness, and it is for these reasons that continental firms, blessed with a more stable climate, often produce much the best work. provided the workshops are properly heated, the collotypers of this country ought to be able to turn out good work at all times of the year; indeed, the best firms do. for this and for other processes in which photographs form the originals to be reproduced, authors should send the negative to the collotyper; if this be impossible, positives of the best possible quality, printed on ordinary p.o.p. paper, toned to various shades of purple, and also on smooth bromide paper, in ordinary black tones, should be provided in order that the collotyper can choose the print he most prefers to work with. also, it is usual to glaze the prints. the method is as follows. a piece of british plate glass, about half-an-inch in thickness, is ground on one side with fine emery powder, and then thoroughly washed and dried. the plate is covered with a filtered mixture of the colloids sodium silicate and dextrine or albumin, and placed in a warm oven to dry. if metal plates are used, such as zinc or copper, this preliminary coating is unnecessary; glass plates, however, must have the substratum in order that the sensitised gelatine--which is next put on--may stick. when the plate is dry, it is thoroughly washed with water in order to remove any free silicate; it is then dried and put away until required for use. the sensitising solution is made up of gelatine and bichromate of potash dissolved in water; before use it is filtered, freed from air bubbles and heated to not more than 120° f. the plate is now placed on a stand, which is provided with levelling screws, in the oven, and, when the temperature has reached 120° f., an amount of the bichromate gelatine solution sufficient to make a thickness of film proper for the mode of printing to be employed is poured upon the plate. the oven is kept at a constant temperature, 120° f., until the gelatine is dry, when it is allowed to cool gradually. whilst the gelatine is setting, precautions against vibration must be taken else the plate will be spoilt. when dry, the collotype plate is sensitive to light and moisture; its surface shows a more or less regular series of convolutions which resemble those of the outer surface of the human brain, although, of course, very much smaller. the character of the grain is very important, for if it be too fine it will not take up a sufficiency of ink, and, on the other hand, if too coarse it will yield coarse impressions. a reversed negative, of a quality beyond reproach, must be made of the original; if the subject is dark or has heavy shadows the negative is frequently slightly over exposed so as to soften them. the collotype plate is then exposed under the negative and washed in cold water until the yellow bichromate no longer comes away. it is then dried. in printing, the plate is damped and rolled up with ink as in lithographic printing; the amount of ink adhering to the film depends on the extent to which the different parts have been acted on by the light, as has already been mentioned. the moistening of the plate--mis-termed etching--is best done with dilute glycerine containing 75 per cent. of water, which when first applied should be allowed to remain on for about half-an-hour. the excess of moisture is taken up with a sponge or a ball of rag, and then the plate is inked and printed in a lithographic or a collotype press. the picture is usually masked with tin foil in order that its edges may be quite clean. of the faults which may occur, the following may be alluded to. a mottled appearance may obtain in the high lights; this is due to the coating of gelatine being too thick. more commonly, the reproductions may appear flat owing to the degradation of the high lights; this is a sign that the sensitive film has been acted upon by moisture during its critical existence between the drying and the washing out of the potassium bichromate, or that the temperature has been too low. the following contain good examples of collotype. karsten and schenck: _vegetationsbilder_, jena. oliver: _notes on trigonocarpus and polylophospermum_. new phytologist, vol. 3, 1904. semon: _zoologische forschungsreisen in australien_. jena. 1912. thompson: _the anatomy and relationships of the gnetales_. annals of botany, vol. 26, 1912. see also plates 3, 4, 5 and 9 in the present work. the preparation of illustrated pages. of the processes dealt with, photogravure lithography and collotype are those most generally used at the present day for the printing of plates or insets. half-tone also is employed, a process which will be considered later since it is essentially relief printing. this, therefore, is a convenient opportunity to make a few general observations on plates. plates should only be employed for the reproduction of subjects of such complexity that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by figures in the text. a plate or page made up of several illustrations should look well as a whole; in other words, it should not outrage all the canons of composition, it should have some pictorial effect. at the same time, for facility of reference, the individual figures should run in a convenient sequence. this latter point is so important that a plate composed really well is distinctly rare, for a compromise nearly always has to be made. at the same time there are, apparently, comparatively few authors who pay much attention to plate design. although it is not desired to write of the laws of pictorial composition, attention may be drawn to a few points which are amongst those generally neglected. the figures should not be crowded together; a reasonable amount of margin should be left around each. they should be arranged, as far as possible, in such a way that a sense of balance is maintained. as to how this is to be accomplished will depend upon the nature of the illustrations; if they are all about equal in tone, the largest ones should preponderate towards the base of the plate, and not _vice versâ_. the difference which this makes will be obvious if the two accompanying illustrations (figs. 1 and 2, plate 3) be compared. the first is a reduced copy of the plate as it was published: it will be noticed that it has a top-heavy appearance, which is corrected in the second figure by the simple device of turning it upside down. [illustration: plate 3.] if, on the other hand, the figures are some lighter and others darker, the latter should form the base, since low tones give the idea of solidity; this is so marked that in cases where the figures vary much in size and tone, the darker ones may nearly always be situated at the base or at any rate low down on the plate unless they are very much smaller than the lighter toned ones.[a] [footnote a: if, of course, the reader understands chiaroscuro, he will take no notice of this paragraph, but arrange his plates in accordance with his ability.] an examination of the figures on plates 4 and 5 will roughly illustrate these points. the upper figure of plate 4 is well designed, and no improvement could be made, bearing in mind the compromise alluded to above. the lower figure is, however, not so good, it was obviously a difficult one to arrange; it would have been improved if figs. 23, 26 and 28 could have been placed in the top tier, but this would have seriously disturbed the sequence. the first illustration on plate 5 is well designed; it would, however, have been improved by interchanging 8a and 11b. [illustration: plate 4.] [illustration: plate 5.] we may now pass on to the individual figures; these should shew the essential features, together with some surrounding and comparatively extraneous matter; often there is included too much of unimportance and its retention means a waste of valuable space. the first thing to do, therefore, is to trim, if needs be, the figures; their shape is more or less immaterial, provided that in cases where there are a large number of illustrations on one plate, they are not all alike. the american fashion of circular figures is particularly displeasing, at any rate to the author. having trimmed the figures, the next point to decide is whether any require reduction; if they do, cut out pieces of paper (referred to as patterns below) of the size which the figures will ultimately appear: on the whole, it is better to avoid reduction of the originals, for without a good deal of experience it is very difficult to judge exactly what the result will be; a good idea, however, may be gained by the use of a diminishing glass. the size of the available surface of the plate should now be ruled on a white sheet of fairly thick cardboard, and the figures, or their patterns, arranged so as to be easy of reference, to compose as well as may be, and spaced in such a way that, in the case of a quarto plate to be folded vertically, no figure is placed so that the fold will pass through its centre. nothing is more irritating than having an illustration spoilt in this way. all this may be done by arranging in different ways until a satisfactory result is obtained, a process which may take an hour or two. the figures should then be pasted down, covered with several sheets of blotting paper and placed in a press. a press is seldom available; when such is the case, a number of heavy books serve equally well. the lettering must next be attended to. the individual figures are usually designated by numbers; this is a bad method, since it involves referring to the description of the plate. the best way is to use a number, and after it to add the name of the plant or animal, and, if needs be, a description as short as may be. if the author can "print" or write reasonably well, well and good; if not, it is better to attach a slip to the plate with full directions relating to lettering, and to write in pencil on the plate the titles, etc., required in the proper places for the guidance of the craftsman. the typewriter is sometimes employed for this purpose by authors; it is purely a matter of taste, but some readers feel a slight shock when this method is resorted to. in some cases a key to the plate printed on tough translucent tissue paper and having the necessary information, guide lines, etc., is inserted with the plate.[a] [footnote a: see kerner and oliver: _natural history of plants_ (first edition) london, 1894.] in the case of glossy chromolithographs this practice is best avoided, for the key is apt to stick to the plate if too much pressure is used when the book is bound. with regard to the "catch letters" used to indicate different parts: these should be as obvious as possible, and the guide lines should be either in black or in white ink, according to the general tone of the illustration. these lines should be conspicuous without being heavy. not infrequently they, together with the lettering, are printed on the plate by a second impression in red ink. the foregoing is primarily the business of the author; with regard to editors and publishers, all plates should be mounted in a manner to facilitate reference and should be printed on suitable paper; the former is seldom or never done. all plates which must be constantly referred to in reading the text should have a selvedge as broad as the book, so that when unfolded the whole plate is visible, no matter what page is being read. this would, no doubt, prove an additional expense, but this should not militate against the suggestion here made, not by any means an innovation, for in many cases it would save the expense of mounting on guards, and, further, the additional expenditure could be saved several times over in other ways. with regard to paper, this generally is satisfactory; unfortunately, highly glazed paper, mis-termed art paper, with an enamelled or chromo surface, and consisting chiefly of china clay and size, is generally used for printing the best half-tone reproductions. for this purpose a paper with a suitable surface, obtained by means other than those mentioned and not too costly, is highly desirable, since art paper has the reputation of being not at all permanent, owing to the deleterious action of moisture, and is somewhat brittle. when used, art paper, if folded, should have a proper paper hinge along the fold. half-tones are occasionally printed on a kind of vegetable parchment, a paper which should be more extensively used since it will sometimes, but not always, give as good a reproduction as art paper, and the final result is more pleasing from the artistic point of view. [illustration: g. oliver, del.] relief printing [illustration: little maid, little maid, whither goest thou? down in the meadow to milk my cow. fig. 1.--a wood engraving, by edmund evans, from the original drawing by kate greenaway. reproduced by permission of the publishers, fredk. warne & co.] relief printing in order that illustrations may be incorporated in the text, the blocks used must be in relief the same as the type; a mixture of intaglio and relief is impossible, for the whole surface must be level in order to be inked by the rollers, which deposit the pigment evenly, so that only one tone of colour--that of the ink--is possible. up to quite recent times wood cuts and engravings were the only means available for text-illustrations, so that this method may next be considered.[a] [footnote a: see treviranus, c.l.: _die anwendung des holtzschnitts zur bildlichen darstellung von pflanzen_. leipzig, 1855.] wood cuts and engravings. the invention of illustrating by means of wood blocks followed closely on the heels of the use of moveable types for printing. the chinese were the first, as far as is known, to use these methods of printing and illustration; in the western world the first wood blocks date from the beginning of the fifteenth century. all the earlier cuts were made, commonly on pear wood, on the longitudinal face of the wood, in technical language "on the plank," and seemingly, in many instances, were made from drawings in ink. by cutting on the plank, the craftsmen were enabled to make large blocks, but were prohibited from doing anything more than relatively simple and straightforward work. such blocks are known as wood cuts; wood engravings were not made until the possibilities of a hard wood like box carved upon the transverse section were discovered at a much later date. this is, strictly speaking, wood engraving, an art which almost entirely, if not quite, superseded the older craft, on account of its great possibilities; indeed, wood engravers imitated metal engraving so closely as to deceive many. but such work was enormously laborious; for instance, in the case of a fishing net, if the string were to be printed black, the engraver would have to cut out hundreds of small diamond-shaped pieces of wood in order that the string of the net should be in relief. but few artists would do this of their own free will, and generally such laborious work will only be found in wood-engravings which were intended for the reproduction of ink drawings or other kinds of pictures where the lines, shading, etc., had to be faithfully copied. this point may be illustrated by the accompanying cut (fig. 2), which was made by my friend mr. geoffrey oliver, who at the time was totally uninstructed in the art and knew nothing of its literature. it will be seen that he, quite unconsciously, treated his wood in the same way as an engraver would his metal; the result, of course, is just the opposite to metal engraving since the printing of the wood block is the reverse to intaglio. [illustration: fig. 2.] in fact, the cut illustrates the three fundamentals of wood engraving; the white line made by cutting out the wood so that no impression will be obtained when printed; the white space which is similarly obtained; and the black space, which is made by leaving the wood untouched. it was, however, necessary to employ the black line, otherwise the tape with which the two men--the artist and his father--are measuring the trunk of the tree would be invisible where it crosses the sky. in a word, the little picture illustrates very nicely the legitimate use of wood in the graphic arts. as already remarked, the majority of the earlier wood cuts and engravings are reproductions of line drawings, so that although we may admire and often marvel at the technical ability of the engraver, the credit for what artistic merit such illustrations may possess must, in the majority of cases, go to the draughtsman. the work of the earlier wood engravers may be conveniently studied in _a lyttel booke of nonsense_, by r. d., london, 1912. (see also the relevant works cited under literature, p. 94). bewick, of course, is an outstanding example of an artist who used wood engraving for illustrating natural history; the methods he pursued may be studied in the tailpiece on p. 11, which was printed from an electrotype of the original block. wood engraving, up to quite recent times, was the method of reproducing text figures; not only for scientific books and periodicals, but also for general literature and journals. much of this work is of outstanding excellence; for scientific work the following may be studied: duchartre: _eléments de botanique_. paris, 1867. the drawings were made by riocreux and engraved by leblanc. baillon: _histoire des plantes_, paris, 1887. this work contains some beautiful wood engravings, reproductions of drawings by faguet. bentham: _handbook of the british flora_, london, 1865. the engravings are from drawings by w. h. fitch. deschanel: _natural philosophy_, london, 1890. the engravings, many of which are of excellent quality, are by laplante, rapine and others. in many cases, notably in the representation of the rays of light passing through lenses and also in the illustrations of snow crystals, the use of the white line is admirably demonstrated. kerner: _pflanzenleben_, leipzig, 1888. this contains some excellent engravings by winkler and others. le maout et decaisne; _traité général de botanique_, paris, 1876. this work contains splendid examples by riocreux and steinheil (see fig. 8). oliver: _first book of indian botany_, london, 1869. this contains some characteristic work of w. h. fitch. it does not appear to be generally known that excellent reproductions in colour may be obtained from wood blocks by superposed printing in a manner comparable to that followed in chromolithography although, of course, in the present instance, the blocks are in relief (fig. 1). from the foregoing account it is obvious that the engraving even of a small illustration, except it be in mere outline, involves a considerable amount of labour; in fact, if the subject were large it was usual to cut it up into areas and distribute between several engravers, the finished blocks finally being joined together to make the block of the whole picture. hence it is not surprising to find that when the photo-mechanical processes were perfected, the older methods of reproduction were ousted by the newer, more especially since they are much less expensive; these, therefore, may next be considered. the half tone process.--for the making of a relief block by photo-mechanical means, the main difficulty is the proper rendition of the tones intermediate between black and white; this has been solved, at any rate in part, by the discovery of the half-tone process. if an ordinary photographic negative be highly magnified, it will be seen that the high lights, the low lights, and the intermediate tones are made by the varying density of the reduced silver. in the lighter parts the small black particles are surrounded by colourless areas, whilst in the dark regions small colourless patches are surrounded by black areas owing to the closeness of the particles of silver (plate 5, fig. 2). what is required, therefore, is a relief block which will print a number of dots of equal density but of unequal size. vervasser illustrates the point in an ingenious way: a plate, covered with a number of cones, is supposed to be acted upon by light in such a way that the cones are truncated in varying degrees according to intensity of the light falling upon them. the section of such a plate would therefore shew a curve (fig. 3); now if the truncated cones be brought down to one level and a print taken from them, the high lights would be represented by black dots surrounded by white areas and so on. [illustration: fig. 3] this illustrates the principle which obtains in the making of half-tones in which the image is made up of a large number of dots varying in size but all equally dense, so that when viewed from a suitable distance the dots are individually invisible but compose to give gradations of light and shade. in other words, the structure obtaining in a photographic negative is, in a sense, realised by optical chemical means, although the dots in a half-tone block are much coarser than those in a negative (plate 5, fig. 3). this result is obtained by interposing between the diaphragm of the camera and the negative--for the half-tone process is a photo-mechanical one--a glass screen covered with intersecting engraved lines (fig. 4). as a matter of fact, each screen consists of two plates of glass similarly ruled and cemented face to face so that the lines intersect. [illustration: fig. 4] it may at first be thought that the effect of such a screen placed in front of the negative would be to produce merely a cross hatching on the reproduction; this, however, is not the case; if the screen be placed in a proper position relative to the negative and the size of the diaphragm of the camera, the picture will be reproduced in a series of dots of varying size. the optical and other reasons for this phenomenon must be sought elsewhere,[a] but the following brief consideration will serve to illustrate what happens. the rays of light which ultimately reach the sensitive plate are acted upon by two lenses, that of the camera and the meshes of the screen, each one of which acts as a lens on the principle of the pin-hole camera. each mesh, therefore, brings the image of the diaphragm to a focus on the negative, but the lens of the camera focusses the picture as a whole, thus the amount of light falling on the different pin-holes will vary in intensity, and hence the dots produced will vary in size, for it is assumed, with good reason, that each dot is built up from its centre and radially expands according to the amount of light acting upon it. [footnote a: see verfasser, _loc. cit._, p. 94.] it is obvious that the quality of the resulting picture will depend, other things being equal, upon the coarseness of the screen employed. screens are ruled with lines varying from 50 to 400 to the inch: the lower rulings give very coarse reproductions, and are only used for posters, whilst the higher rulings yield very fine impressions and are employed only for the best work. it is hardly necessary to remark that the finer the screen the better must be the skill of the printer. to illustrate the difference in the results obtained by the use of different screens, the two figures on plate 6 have been prepared; both were made from the same negative, but for the upper figure a 100-line screen was used, and for the lower a 200-line screen. it will be observed that there is more contrast in the former, and more detail in the latter. authors should therefore mention when sending in their original pictures the qualities they require in the reproduction; it must, however, be remembered that the blocks made from the finer ruled screens will not print satisfactorily except on more or less highly glazed paper, to the use of the "art" varieties of which there are objections on æsthetic and other grounds. [illustration: plate 6. half tone reproduction of a photograph by mr. w. rowan. part of a shingle beach shewing plants of sea blite (_suaeda fruticosa_) and a ring plover's nest with four eggs.] before passing on it may be mentioned that screens with patterns other than that represented in fig. 4 are sometimes employed; for instance, the wavy-line screen gives the impression of coarse collotype. the preparation of the blocks may now be briefly dealt with. a negative of the picture, using a screen suitable for the purpose, is taken on a special dry gelatine plate ("process" plates) or on some other form of negative, _e.g._, wet collodion which is most commonly employed. this negative requires very careful development in order to get the dots right. from the negative a positive is made upon a copper or zinc plate, suitably coated with a sensitive film. the usual practice is to coat the polished metal plate with a mixture of water, albumen, fish glue, ammonium bichromate, chromic acid and ammonia; the plate is then dried and, when cooled, exposed under the negative. the action of the light on such a film, the essentials of which are the albumen, the glue or gelatine and a chromate, has already been described. the mixture becomes more or less insoluble in water, according to the intensity of the light falling upon it. the positive is now rinsed in water, and is sometimes stained with an aniline dye in order to render the film more visible. next it is developed in a stream of water until the surface of the metal is visible between the dots, the last traces of the soluble gelatine being removed with warm water. after drying, the plate is evenly heated over a bunsen burner until the dots of gelatine mixture turn chocolate colour, when the plate is allowed to cool gradually. this is known as burning in. the plate, if necessary, is now touched up and the back, sides and margins varnished in order to protect them from the acid: when the varnish is dry, the plate is etched in a weak solution (about 2-1/2 per cent.) of nitric acid if the metal be zinc; if the plate be copper, it is usually etched with a solution of iron perchloride. on taking a proof, there is almost certain to be a lack of contrast, the plate is then fine etched, by which means a considerable improvement can be made; and, by covering certain parts with an acid-resisting substance ("stopping out"), it is possible to fine etch locally. incidentally it may be mentioned that machine etching, by which a fine spray of the etching fluid is distributed over the plate, has recently come into vogue, for it is claimed that the results print better and are in other ways an improvement upon the older method. the plate may now pass through the hands of an engraver, who removes any blemishes, as far as is possible, improves the high lights, and so on; in fact, a skilful engraver can improve the plate considerably. after the plate is trimmed, and the superfluous metal cut out by means of a routing machine, it is firmly tacked to a wooden mount, usually of oak, but sometimes of mahogany, especially if the plate is large. in order to obtain the best results, the printing, in a typographical machine, should be done on highly calendered paper--so-called "art" paper; in fact, this is absolutely essential if a fine screen has been used; it is only the blocks made with the coarser screens that will give fair prints on ordinary paper. for this reason reproductions made by the half-tone process are very generally treated as plates unless the glazed paper is used throughout the book. the process is used principally for the reproduction of photographs, and for pencil or wash drawings. with regard to photographs, it has already been mentioned that authors should send the negative or two or three prints differently toned, in order that the operator can choose the one most likely to give the best result. it is sometimes difficult in a photograph of a landscape to obtain a negative in which the particular feature it is desired to represent--_e.g._, in photographs of vegetation--stands out with the requisite contrast. this is due to the position of the sun at the time of exposure, or to the use of ordinary plates. the remedy for the first is to take the photograph when the proper light obtains; with regard to the second, the use of colour correct plates, together with a colour screen in front of the lens, will obviate the defect. since for scientific purposes the correct interpretation of the various tones of the vegetation, for example, may not be essential, variously coloured screens may be used in order to emphasise a particular feature. for instance, it will be noticed how well the bushes in plate 7 stand out. this effect was obtained by the use of a panchromatic plate in conjunction with a red colour screen. [illustration: plate 7.--half tone reproduction of a photograph taken by dr. mees through a red screen.] with regard to drawings in wash, charcoal or pencil, in which there are half-tones; these are better drawn on an enlarged scale, especially if the author is not a skilled draughtsman, for improper gradations in shading and other imperfections will not appear so noticeable in the reduced reproduction. originals should all be made in one colour; in the case of wash drawings, diluted indian ink (really chinese ink) will give excellent results. in making pencil drawings, a fairly stout hand-made paper with not too much grain should be used. if the drawing is to be of some size, the paper may be damped and pasted by its edges on to the drawing board, it will then be stretched quite flat and will not cockle when dry. the outline of the object may first be sketched in lightly with a soft pencil and then the shading may be proceeded with. to do this, broad-pointed soft pencils, 2 b, 3 b, or 4 b, should be used, and it is better generally to work from the high lights to the shadows. to avoid rubbing finished parts, the work should proceed from the top of the board downwards, especially in the case of large drawings. in order to obtain a nice gradation and a more smooth appearance--more especially when a very coarse paper has been used--the work may be gone over with paper stumps of appropriate size and softness, and, of course, india rubber may be employed where it is desired to reduce the density of the shading. when finished, the edges of the various parts may appear woolly owing to the rubbing of the lead; this may be cured by cleaning up the edges with a trimmed piece of india rubber, but in so doing there is always a risk of rubbing out part of the shading, especially if the outline be at all intricate. if preferred, all the shaded parts may be fixed by painting them over with a suitable solution, gelatine for instance, paying particular attention in following the correct outline. when dry, the application of soft india-rubber will soon clean up the blurred edges. if charcoal be used the same procedure may be followed. charcoal and pencil drawings should be fixed, in order to prevent rubbing, before sending to the block makers. a suitable fixative may be purchased or one may be made by dissolving white resin in alcohol and applying it to the paper by means of a scent spray or an atomizer. a very good fixative may be made by dissolving a little gelatine in hot water and applying it whilst hot by means of a broad, flat camel hair brush, or ordinary milk may be used in a similar way. after the fixative has been put on, the drawing should be pinned up by one corner--unless, of course, it was pinned up before the fixative was employed, which is the best way when the fixative is an alcoholic solution--and allowed to dry; it may then be placed under pressure in order to flatten it, for fixed drawings generally shew a tendency to curl, especially when the preparation used for fixing has only been applied to one surface of the paper. in making drawings for reproduction by means of the half-tone process, there are a few general points to which attention should be paid. it should be remembered that there is not infrequently a tendency towards flatness in the reproduction; it is therefore important that the originals should be "plucky," and, on the whole, it is better to exaggerate with regard to high light and shade, especially if there is much modelling or perspective. finally, with regard to lighting, it is better for the majority in drawing their objects--solid objects in relief are referred to--to use a more or less lateral illumination and to represent only the high lights, shades and shadows referable to this main direction of illumination. a high relief will thus be obtained, and the effect will prove more satisfactory than if minor sources of illumination are unsuccessfully dealt with. this is especially important in drawing complicated structures such as models of vascular tissues, embryos, etc. in cases where many such figures are to occur on one page, it is highly desirable that the lighting of each should be from the same direction. the use of the half-tone block is now almost universal, so that it is hardly necessary to mention examples, more especially as they are hard to judge without seeing the original picture. those in the present book are all of a high quality. excellent examples will also be found in tansley's _types of british vegetation_ (cambridge, 1911) and in the _journal of the royal horticultural society_. proofs should be carefully compared with the originals, particular attention being paid to the rendering of the tones; as already remarked, fine etching will clear up a block and will often prove a remedy to flatness. an author will naturally consider whether a photograph is to be reproduced by means of photogravure, collotype or half-tone. it is impossible to lay down any laws on the subject, but the following points should be considered. if it is essential to have the reproduction in the text, a half-tone block must be used; it must, however, be remembered that the paper used for the letterpress may be very unsuited for the printing of half-tones. on the other hand, if it be immaterial where the picture is placed, then the relative merits of photogravure, collotype and kindred processes and half-tone must be weighed. provided that expense need not be considered, photogravure will, in the majority of cases, give the best results; on the other hand, if this process is too costly, then the choice lies between collotype and half-tone. the latter method will often give a result with more contrast as compared with collotype, whilst collotype will give a truer interpretation of the tones. as has already been remarked, the best results with half-tone blocks only are to be obtained by the employment of a paper which seemingly has no lasting qualities; it therefore follows that if the reproduction forms an important record, the use of collotype is indicated, since many varieties of good paper are available. as a general rule photo-micrographs are best reproduced by collotype. in order that the respective qualities of these three processes--photogravure, collotype and half-tone--may be compared, plates 8, 9, and 10 have been made from the same photograph, a view taken by dr. f. f. blackman of the bouche d'erquy, a salt marsh in brittany, which was selected chiefly on account of the large number of tones it contains. [illustration: plate 8. photogravure] [illustration: plate 9. collotype] [illustration: plate 10. half tone] these three plates are not entirely comparable, since the heavy shadows in the right hand bottom portion of the photogravure have been touched up by the engraver. this was not intended by the author, but the plate was retained as it shews that directions regarding this point should not be omitted when sending the drawing or photograph to be reproduced. it also indicates that for critical work, when an exact a facsimile as possible is required, collotype should be used, for the plate cannot be touched up. with regard to the reproduction of drawings shaded by means of wash or pencil, the same remarks apply, with the addition that if it be possible to express what is desired by other means, suitable for reproduction by line block, these latter should be employed. to illustrate this point, figures 5, 6, and plate 11 have been inserted; all illustrate the vascular skeleton of a fern (_marattia fraxinea_), the first one is in outline and the second is shaded by lines of varying thickness; both of these are reproduced by means of the line block, whilst the third is a reproduction by half-tone of a pencil-shaded drawing. in order to obtain a fair comparison, the half-tone is reproduced as a plate, owing to the fact that it would not print satisfactorily on the paper used for the letterpress. [illustration: fig. 5] [illustration: fig. 6] [illustration: plate 11] the half-tone three colour process.--this process is much used for colour reproductions of various subjects; and, in view of the fact that the best results can only be obtained by the best photography, the object should, if possible, be sent to specialists for reproduction. in many cases, however, this is impossible, _e.g._, landscapes and animal and plant portraits amidst their natural surroundings, so that the scientist, if unable to make a water colour drawing, which will give by far the best result, must make his own negatives. the first thing to do is to purchase a set of colour-filters, adapted to the colour-correct plates to be used, from firms who specialize in these matters, messrs. paget or messrs. wratten for instance, and from them the inexperienced should obtain full information regarding exposure, etc., for it is essential that the exposure of the negatives should be correlated in order that all may have the same tone-value. the colour-screens, blue, green and orange, are made by dyeing gelatine with suitable stains; the films are stuck on to perfectly plane glass and are mounted in frames. in practice these screens are usually placed behind the lens, in which case a special camera is necessary, or they may be adapted to fit on to the front of the lens. in either case the procedure is the same; three negatives are taken one after the other through each colour filter, the exposure being modified in order that the tones in each case may be of equal value. there are thus obtained three negatives which, of course, yield positives which look very different one from the other. these prints may be sent to the block makers, but it is better, on the whole, to send the negatives with clear indications as to the colour of each. from each negative there is made by contact a transparency, and from these positives there are prepared a set of half-tone negatives from which are made the half-tone blocks. the reproductions are made by superposed printing of the three blocks, yellow being printed first, then red, and finally blue (plate 12). [illustration: plate 12.--three colour half tone.] as indicated above, it is hardly worth while to make negatives for this process unless the operator is a really skilful or at least an efficient photographer, and even then the final product may prove unsatisfactory. better results are generally to be obtained by sending to the block maker a lumiere colour photograph with full instructions regarding any corrections in the colours which may be necessary. examples:-bateson: _mendel's principles of heredity_, cambridge, 1909. church: _types of floral mechanism_, oxford, 1908. seward: _darwin and modern science_, cambridge, 1909. photo-mechanical line blocks.--the photo-mechanical line block, commonly known as a zinco, is in a sense the lineal descendant of the wood block. as a means of reproduction the possibilities of line blocks are very great, for not only is it possible to reproduce by their means all kinds of line drawings, but also drawings in charcoal and crayon, provided they be suitably executed on a proper grained surface. in fact, an artist or draughtsman who has a thorough knowledge of the process and its capabilities can obtain extraordinary results. the process has the further advantage of being both quick and inexpensive, a few hours only being required to make the finished product. their mode of manufacture is the same in principle as for half-tone blocks; in the case of the latter, the method known as the enamel process was described; in the present instance a different procedure may be dealt with. a photograph of the drawing is taken on a negative, the wet collodion process being generally followed, although dry process plates may be used. a highly polished zinc plate is sensitised with bichromate of potash and gelatine, or by other means, and, when dry, is exposed under the negative. the exposed metal plate is then taken into the dark room and evenly, but thinly, coated with etching ink. when the ink is dry, the plate is developed in water; the unexposed gelatine, and with it, the ink, will come away, its removal being helped by the judicious application of a dabber of wet cotton wool. the plate may next be "rolled over" with an ink which will more stoutly resist the action of the acid than that used in the first inking, but prior to this it is usual to soak the plate in a mixture of gallic acid, phosphoric acid and gum. this second rolling up must be carried out as if the plate were for lithographic reproduction; and, when dry, powdered resin may be applied, in order to make a better acid-resist, as in the preparation of a lithographic stone. the plate is now etched slightly in a weak solution of nitric acid; it is then rinsed, dabbed dry and placed upon a hot plate until the resin has stuck well to the ink. when cool, the margins, sides and back are protected from the action of the acid by means of a varnish and the plate is given its first real etch, which is a very slight one. after rinsing and drying, the plate is again heated until the ink and resin have melted and flowed down the exposed sides of the ridges of metal produced in the first etching. this application of ink and resin must be repeated in order that the exposed sides of the ridges may be well covered with the acid-resist and so will not be undercut. the plate is then given its second etch, and this is done with a stronger acid, after which the sides of the lines are again protected with resinous material in the same way as before. the third etch follows, after which the metal is thoroughly cleansed from all the ink, etc. in order to smooth the shoulders of the lines, the plate is given a finishing etch: the cleaned plate is warmed and rolled up with hard etching ink; the metal is then heated until the ink becomes glazed, and, when cool, is placed in the acid bath for the requisite amount of time. if necessary the plate, after cleaning, is touched up with a graver, and the superfluous metal is cut away. finally it is mounted on a block of wood, and after the corners and sides have been trimmed square, the block is ready for the press. to illustrate the enormous improvement which may result from the block passing through the hands of a skilful engraver, two line blocks of a wood engraving by riocreux (see p. 36) have been prepared. fig. 7 is the impression given by the block as ordinarily turned out, whilst fig. 8 is a precisely similar block which has been worked up by an engraver. [illustration: fig. 7] [illustration: fig. 8] there are several other methods of making the blocks, but the principles are the same as in the foregoing process. in examining the proofs it must be remembered that deletions are not the only alterations that can be made in the finished block; not only can lines be cut away, or their character altered by removing part of the metal from them, but additions can be made in reason. for instance, lines can be added across open spaces, and if part of the printing surface has been accidentally removed in cutting away the superfluous metal, the damage can be made good by building up with solder and working on this with the graver. if, however, the additions required are at all extensive or complicated, it is better to have a new block made. inasmuch as scientific illustrations are to describe and explain definite facts, the drawings must needs be materialistic rather than suggestive; in other words, a more or less conventional system must be employed. in making their drawings for reproduction by line blocks, authors have at their disposal the black line, the white line, the black space, the white space, the black dot and the white dot, all of which may be combined in various ways. no tones, other than black and white, are available; if it be desired to represent half-tones, they must be rendered by the above-mentioned means. in the majority of cases the originals should be made with black ink on white bristol board or smooth white paper; ordinary lead pencil drawings on smooth paper are useless, and lead pencil, black crayon or charcoal in combination with grained paper or board should not be employed unless the draughtsman has the requisite skill and knows exactly the limitations of the line block. for all ordinary folk black ink and bristol board cannot be improved upon. the drawing may be made first with a soft lead pencil, using the camera lucida or other optical aids to correct delineation. the pencil lines are then gone over with ink; for this purpose a good black ink is necessary. wolff's indian ink, higgins' waterproof ink and steuber's waterproof drawing ink are highly satisfactory, and there are many others. with regard to pens, a suitable implement is all-important; gillott's lithographic pens and brandauer's no. 515 are recommended. for straight lines of an even thickness a ruling pen is very useful, and these may be obtained fitted with an adjustment which enables the worker to rule a line of a definite thickness, _e.g._, .5 mm. and so on. all drawings should be made larger than it is intended the reproduction to be, for slight inaccuracies, ragged lines, and other blemishes will thus appear less obvious. this drawing on a large scale is often a stumbling block, because the work appears too open and the draughtsman is tempted to put in too much; this must be avoided, else the crowded lines may join together in the reduced reproduction. also it must be remembered not to draw too finely, else the work in parts may disappear entirely in the reproduction. in drawing on an enlarged scale a certain amount of exaggeration may be employed, in order that when reduced the drawing may not be quite spiritless. when representing a solid object, such as a plant or an animal, to shew the external morphology, it is to be borne in mind that form is the main thing to represent, and this can be expressed by outline drawing alone. in fact, more or less primitive methods must be employed, and better models cannot be followed than the best wood cuts. [illustration: fig. 9. the lesser celandine (_ranunculus ficaria_). by r. g. hatton. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_).] [illustration: fig. 10. the lesser celandine. after fuchs. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_.)] an examination of figures 10 and 12 will shew that fuchs[a] attained his object by simple outline drawings; he never employed local colour, and shading he used very sparsely indeed, and then only to give expression to the form of some thick part. fuchs's celandine (fig. 10) should be compared with the drawing of the same plant (fig. 9) by r. g. hatton. [footnote a: the methods followed by the illustrators of the herbals may be conveniently studied in hatton's "the craftsman's plant book," london, 1909, and arber's "herbals," cambridge, 1912.] [illustration: fig. 11. the apple (_pyrus malus_). after matthiolus. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_).] the methods of matthiolus (figs. 11 and 13) were somewhat more advanced, for he used shading not only to express form but also to give a certain amount of relief. it will be noticed that he shaded by lines which followed the moulding of the parts. the work of riocreux (fig. 8) should also be studied; it will be observed that he managed to get a very high relief in his drawings by the simple means of straight or curved lines, according to the shape of the part, of varying thicknesses. [illustration: fig. 12. charlock (_brassica sinapis_). after fuchs. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_)] there is no necessity for keeping all the lines of even thickness. for instance, provided the character of the form is not altered, the outline on the shaded side may be made thicker than on the illuminated side; also distance can be indicated by the use of thinner lines, for these, although really black, will give the impression of greyness. then again, a line may be drawn with local increases and decreases in thickness, as in ordinary writing, and such lines drawn by a skilled hand can be made to express a marvellous amount of modelling. [illustration: fig. 13. sea lavender (_statice limonium_). after matthiolus. (from hatton's _craftsman's handbook_.)] the draughtsman, however, is not restricted to lines; any marks which can be made with a pen and black ink may be employed, provided they be sufficiently firm and large. the accompanying figure (14) which is a reduction of an illustration in church's _floral mechanisms_, illustrates the use of lines of varying lengths for shading. [illustration: fig. 14. _viola odorata_: floral morphology. a reduction of a figure in church's _floral mechanisms_.] in shading, the effect of shadow may be obtained by increasing the thickness of the lines, but they must not be drawn too closely together; on the other hand, the lighter parts can be represented by thinner lines placed further and further apart, and the lightest parts by the white of the paper. cross hatching may also be employed (see fig. 15), but the crossed lines must not be too close together, for otherwise they will tend to thicken in the making of the block and so will print too black. [illustration: fig. 15. a seedling of _abronia villosa_.] for very delicate shading and tinting, stipple may be employed, but the dots must be quite definite, sufficiently large to stand reduction, and not too close together (figs. 18, 28c, and 32). a particularly good example of this method will be found in butler's paper on _allomyces_ in the annals of botany, 1911, vol. 25. dots have also been employed in fig. 28c (p. 69). with regard to local colour; this may be indicated by shading, by a white space, or by a black space. hitherto, drawing with black ink on white paper alone has been considered, but the reverse is equally available; much can be expressed by drawing with white ink on black paper. drawing in white upon a black ground is not frequently attempted, but an excellent example by miss janet robertson is shewn in figure 16, which is well worthy of study, since it illustrates to a nicety some of the means at the disposal of the draughtsman for line blocks. the black surface is best obtained by the use of a waterproof indian ink applied with a brush to a white surface, the drawing being made with a dense white ink, using a pen or a brush. the white ink may be made by diluting any good opaque white water-colour paint, or process white may be used. the composition of this should be zinc oxide or baryta, for these do not darken with age; the author once used for this purpose a white pigment which proved excellent at the time; the drawings, however, subsequently turned dark brown owing to the fact that the basis of the paint was apparently a compound of silver. [illustration: fig. 16. _neuropteris heterophylla_. a line reproduction of a drawing by miss janet robertson.] the top part of the drawing (fig. 16), shewing the general morphology of the plant, was drawn with a brush charged with white ink upon a black ground. in the simplest possible way relief has been obtained by representing the leaflets of the nearer fronds by white spaces, whilst those further away are represented by white outlines. an enlargement of a frond is shewn on the lower part of the picture, and here the parts are represented in black on a white ground. the leaflets are in black outline and the fruits are made to stand out, as in the upper part, by the use of local colour--in this instance black--their shape being indicated by the curve of the higher lights. in brief, a very effective drawing has been made by the simplest use of the white line, the white space, the black line and the black space. [illustration: fig. 17. _fucus volubilis_, var. _flexuosus_, a seaweed. (from a drawing by miss baker.)] this may be compared with figure 17, which was drawn by miss baker; the method pursued is entirely different to the last, it being a pure pen and ink drawing on white paper. no local colour has been employed, and the modelling has been expressed by the lines used for shading which have been made by short strokes with a fine pen. the result is suggestive of an engraving but this was not intentional; under no circumstances should an attempt be made to imitate in a relief block effects which can only be obtained by intaglio. from what has been said it is obvious that the photo-mechanical line block can be used for the reproduction of all kinds of drawings in pure black and white; to illustrate this figures 18-26 have been inserted. [illustration: fig. 18. the larkspur (_delphinium ajacis_). by r. g. hatton. (hatton, _craftsman's handbook_.)] [illustration: fig. 19. hollyhock (_althaea rosea_). by r. g. hatton. (hatton, _craftsman's handbook_.)] [illustration: fig. 20. a liverwort (_lepidozia reptans_). (evans, _annals of botany_, 1912, vol. 26.)] [illustration: fig. 21. a seedling of _bruguiera gymnorhiza_, a mangrove. drawn by mrs. f. e. fritsch. (tansley and fritsch, _new phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [illustration: fig. 22 a diagrammatic sketch by mrs. f. e. fritsch of _rhizophora conjugata_, a mangrove. (tansley and fritsch, _new phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [illustration: fig. 23 a shoot of _acanthus ilicifolia_, a mangrove. drawn by mrs. f. e. fritsch. (tansley and fritsch, _new phytologist_, 1905, vol. 4.)] [illustration: fig. 24 a longitudinal section of a fossil seed, _conostoma oblongum_. drawn by dr. e. j. salisbury. (oliver and salisbury, _annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25.)] [illustration: fig. 25 the meadowsweet (_spiraea ulmaria_), shewing four years' growth. (yapp, _annals of botany_, 1912, vol. 26.).] [illustration: fig. 26. the chesil bank. (oliver, _new phytologist_, 1912, vol. 11.)] the drawing of microscopic details. questions relating to the drawing of microscope sections may now be dealt with. usually these are drawn in pencil and reproduced by means of lithography; this is quite wrong, for in addition to its being an unnecessary expense, it is also an inconvenience to a reader, since the figures are necessarily divorced from the letterpress. there are very few histological details which cannot be represented by line blocks, and with a proper co-operation between the author, the block maker, the printer and the publisher, even the delicacies of karyokinesis could be reproduced in the text. for demonstration purposes, transverse sections of plant-structures may first be taken. the walls of the various elements may be represented by lines of more or less equal breadth, but in those cases where the walls are particularly thick, _e.g._, the elements of the wood, the thickening may be represented by an additional line. this is seen in fig. 27, in which it will be noticed that the middle lamellæ of the wood-elements are represented by black lines. [illustration: fig. 27. (from butler's paper on gummosis of _prunus_ and _citrus_. _annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25).] this is a particularly good drawing, but, unfortunately, it has been over reduced. on the other hand, the various tissues may be represented by lines of varying breadths, the thickest walled cells having the same double contour as in the above, but with the addition of local colour in the shape of diagonal shading. this is not uncommonly found in papers dealing with the anatomy of plants by french authors; it is illustrated in figure 28 _a_. if preferred, such thick-walled elements may be entirely represented by thick black lines as in figure 28_b_, and when such cells are relatively few in number, this method has much to recommend it since a greater relief is obtained. [illustration: fig. 28 _a_ _b_ _c_ a transverse section to shew the vascular cylinder of the root of the spinach, _c_ is somewhat older than _a_ and _b_.] finally, an attempt may be made to draw in a more detailed fashion as in figure 28_c_. here the thickness of the cells of the wood is represented by broad black lines, the middle lamellæ being left white. the lines marking the boundaries of the other cells vary slightly in thickness, but this is to a great extent masked by the representation of the cell contents, which consist entirely of dots in the case of the protoplasm, whilst the nuclei are represented by dark ovals--black relieved with small white areas. by varying the size of the dots and their distance apart, varying densities can be indicated. it has been mentioned above that it is possible to reproduce fine detail by means of the line block; this is illustrated in figs. 29 and 30. [illustration: fig. 29] fig. 29, which illustrates a stage in the division of a nucleus, was drawn with black crayon on a rough-grained piece of whatman's water-colour paper. the cytologist will, doubtless, criticize its coarseness, but it may be mentioned that the roughest paper at hand was designedly employed in order to illustrate the point raised. that a finer grained paper will give more delicate results is shewn by fig. 30, which is a reproduction of a drawing, kindly lent by dr. w. g. ridewood, made with ordinary lead pencil on grained bristol board. its delicacy is obvious, and at first sight it could easily be mistaken for a lithograph.[a] [footnote a: many similar examples will be found in ridewood's memoir _on the cranial osteology of the clupeoid fishes_, proc. zoo. soc., lond., 1904, vol. 11, p. 448.] [illustration: fig. 30] a half-tone can be put on to a line block during its manufacture. all that the draughtsman has to do, is to indicate by blue pencil lines those parts on which he requires the dots, which give the half-tone, to be placed, and to select the pattern of the stipple he desires to be used. the result may appear somewhat mechanical since the dots are regularly arranged, but a drawing sometimes may be considerably improved by this means if used with judgment. it is frequently employed in representing drapery, and many examples may be found on those pages of newspapers devoted to ladies' dress (fig. 31; see also fig. 32). [illustration: fig. 31. after a water-colour design by miss winifred pearse.] the drawing of diagrams and apparatus. much valuable information may be conveyed by diagrams; in fact, these could be used more freely than they are. [illustration: fig. 32] the principles to be borne in mind are the same as for other ink drawings. they should always be drawn upon an enlarged scale, and with as little detail as possible, which generally should be indicated in the most conventional ways--dots, black spaces, lines, and so on (figures 33 and 34). the main thing to be aimed at is clearness, so that it is often necessary to sacrifice true relative proportions in order to gain this end (fig. 34). [illustration: fig. 33. a diagram by mr. e. lee. (_annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25.)] [illustration: fig. 34 a diagram from the _annals of botany_, 1912, vol. 26.] in certain cases it is possible to combine detail and diagram in one drawing; this is shewn in fig. 32, taken from dr. ridewood's admirably illustrated memoir on the _gills of lamellibranchiata_ (transactions of the royal society of london, b. vol. 195, 1903). the shading employed was either done by the draughtsman (at _ch_ and in the cells with irregularly arranged dots), or else was put on the block during its manufacture (_af_). if a lens be used, the difference will at once be obvious. the finished drawing should be bold and neat, and all lettering should be very clear. if several figures are included in one diagram they may be separated one from the other by ruled lines, and in no case should one tier of figures--taking the frames as the boundaries--unevenly overlap another tier, otherwise the diagram, to use an expressive phrase, will look "like a pig with one ear." under the heading of diagrams must be included the representation of apparatus. there are two ways of drawing apparatus; the objects may be drawn as a study in still life, as, for example, in many of the figures illustrating deschanel's _natural philosophy_ (london, 1890) or they may be represented in a purely conventional fashion. the latter is the better way, and it is preferable to draw for the most part in section in order that all connections, inlets, outlets, etc., may be clearly shewn. a study of a good example is infinitely better than a written description, wherefore figure 35 has been inserted. [illustration: fig. 35] it will be observed that all glass vessels and tubing are represented in section, and in the thermometers, the fine capillary bores are represented by a single line in each case; corks by diagonal shading; wood by lines in imitation of its grain; metal parts by vertical shading or dead black; more or less still liquids by a series of lines broken below and continuous at the surface, and gradually becoming closer and closer together towards the surface. mercury, on the other hand, may be indicated by dead black relieved by a few white lines to represent its reflecting surface, also its free surface may be drawn convex. finally thumb screws may be shewn by a combination of black areas and vertical shading. these conventionalities need not all be followed; for instance, rubber connexions may be indicated by broad black lines and wood by diagonal shading. the drawing should be very bold and the different parts clearly and freely indicated by writing or "printing." the drawing of maps. in the drawing of maps for reproduction by the line block process, if an existing map serves the purpose, a tracing may be made in ink on translucent linen. if, on the other hand, the author has to make his own map, the problem becomes more difficult. for the obtaining of the data for map making information must be sought for elsewhere, since we are only concerned in the preparation of the map for publication. and as regards this, but few general rules can be laid down since the character of maps is so diverse. the amount of detail in the physical features represented depends to a great extent upon the scale. thus streams of a greater breadth than, say, 10 feet, may in large scale maps be represented by double lines, whilst no stream less than 2 feet in breadth will be shewn in low scale maps. [illustration: fig. 36 _a_ contoured. _b_ spot-levels. _c_ layered. these three figures illustrate in three different ways the varying levels of a piece of ground surveyed by prof. f. w. oliver and mr. a. g. tansley.] the indication of hills is always a problem; the most satisfactory way is by the drawing of contours (figure 36_a_), and this whenever possible should be followed, since it is scientifically the most correct method, inasmuch as when properly drawn the form of the hill is shewn exactly; further, contours obscure the detail to a much less extent than does shading, and but little artistic talent is required to draw them. if, however, contouring be impossible, the various heights above the datum may be shewn by spot levels (figure 36_b_) or the relative levels may be shewn by layers; that is to say, by a system of shading each kind of which indicates a certain level. thus dots may be used for all parts not more than 100 feet above sea level, vertical lines for regions between 100 and 200 feet, horizontal lines for parts between 200 and 300 feet, and so on (figure 36_c_). it is obvious that this method cannot be pursued if vegetation also is to be shewn. the last choice is to represent the hill by shading in much the same way as many of us did when children; the method referred to was known as "herring bones" or "hairy caterpillars." the sea or a broad expanse of water may be indicated by fine lines which follow the coast-line and which may be placed at gradually increasing distances apart. if geological strata are to be represented, the accepted symbols should be used; if the map is intended to represent the distribution of soils, convenient signs may be employed, _e.g._, large dots for shingle or gravels, small dots for sand, black areas for clay, and so on; finally, if the distribution of plants or of animals is to be shewn, symbols again may be employed. these, however, must be quite simple and as far as possible give an idea of the organism represented. this, in the case of animals, may be a difficulty, but, with regard to plants, simple signs are easily inserted which give a very good idea of the plant it is intended to represent. many of the signs used by the ordnance survey are ready to hand, and these can often be used to designate plant associations. the delimitation of areas should always be clearly shewn, and all names should be very clearly "printed" indeed, and if they must be placed on a dark portion of the map, they should have a good white border around them. the north should always be indicated. this may be done by drawing in its proper position a representation of a compass or merely an arrow pointing to the north. unless otherwise stated, the arrow is assumed to point to the magnetic north, and if no north be actually shewn it is taken for granted by an intelligent reader that one of the vertical sides is a true north and south line, with the north at the top. finally, under no circumstances should a scale be omitted--it is the first thing a reader should look for. for a map to look well two things are all-important, neatness and clearness; both of these may nearly always be secured by drawing on a large scale, bearing in mind what has been said about crowding the detail, etc., and carefully considering how much reduction the original can stand. this last point is of vital importance, for an over-reduced map is an abomination; we have seen really good maps absolutely ruined by this stupid error. the inexperienced author should study the methods pursued by prof. yapp in figure 37. for comparison, the simpler way adopted by mr. wilson may be studied (_annals of botany_, 1911, vol. 25). [illustration: figure 37. a map of the fenland by prof. yapp. (_new phytologist_, 1908, vol. 7)] graphs or curves. simple though it be, the plotting of a curve for reproduction requires thought and care. in the first instance, the curve is drawn on squared paper, and the question naturally arises--to what extent are the squares to be represented? if it be desired to reproduce all the lines, say the paper is ruled in millimetres, a half-tone may be employed, or all these lines can be ruled over in black ink where the reproduction by line block is possible. it is, however, seldom necessary to represent all the smallest squares; it will generally be found that the centimetre squares are sufficient. if the original be plotted on paper which is ruled in pale blue, it can be reproduced by line block without re-drawing, since the blue will photograph as white with the plates commonly used; all the essential lines and curves must, of course, be in black. if, however, the rulings of the squared paper are in red, yellow, or dark blue, a tracing must be made. the horizontal and vertical sides should be ruled with a broad black line, but the internal intersecting lines should be much thinner. the actual curve may be in a continuous line if one only be shewn on the graph; if more are drawn, then each must be different, the obvious variations being the thick continuous line ---the thin continuous line ----, dashes either thick or thin ----------, dots . . . . . , and finally combinations of dots and dashes ---. ---. ---. owing to the difficulty which some experience in drawing freehand a continuous line, the plot should be made twice the linear size of the intended reproduction. a good rule to follow in drawing lines is to keep the eye fixed on the point where the line is to end, the hand will then guide the pen in the right path, especially after a little practice. in many cases the ruler may be used, not only for straight but also for curved lines, for good curve rules may be purchased. in order that the figure may look neat, the lines should be of an even thickness throughout their length; this is easily accomplished by means of a ruling pen. it has been stated above that bristol board is the best material to use for the making of drawings for line blocks; other materials may, however, be employed, although they are not so nice to work upon. for instance, it may be necessary to reproduce a map; this, as has already been mentioned, may be conveniently done by pinning over the map a sheet of pale blue tracing linen, and tracing the map on this with indian ink. the fact that the linen is blue does not matter, for it will photograph as if it were white. then again, many subjects may be of so complicated a nature as to be beyond the skill of the author to draw. in such a case a good plan is to take a photograph of the object and make a positive on smooth bromide paper, which need only be developed sufficiently far to give a print which just shows the features. the print, when dry, can then be worked on with fixed indian ink. the finished drawing, when quite dry, may be immersed in any solution which will dissolve out the silver; a solution of iodine in potassium iodide answers sufficiently well. the print will turn very dark, but it must be allowed to remain in the bath until all the silver has dissolved; it is then removed, rinsed under the tap and placed in an ordinary fixing bath of hyposulphite of soda. all the colouration will be quickly removed so that the ink drawing will stand out well against the white paper. all that it now requires is a thorough washing in water; when dry it may be touched up and then placed under pressure in order to make it quite flat.[a] [footnote a: the chief disadvantage of iodine solution is its slowness of action; the following methods are much quicker. (_a_) to a solution of 4 oz. of hyposulphite of soda in one pint of water, add a 10 per cent. aqueous solution of potassium ferricyanide until the mixture is lemon coloured. when the silver image has quite disappeared, wash the print thoroughly in water. since the mixture does not keep, the ferricyanide solution should be added to the hyposulphite solution immediately before use. (_b_) mix 125 ccs. of a 10 per cent. alcoholic solution of iodine with 21 ccs. of a 10 per cent. aqueous solution of potassium cyanide, add to the mixture 1 litre of water. when the image has disappeared, which will be in less than a minute, wash for five minutes in water and dry.] this method of drawing over photographic prints will often save a considerable amount of time. for instance, it may be desired to reproduce a consecutive series of drawings to illustrate the microscopic structure of the subject. the ordinary way of doing this is to make camera lucida drawings of the sections, which is a lengthy and tiresome process; a photograph of each section will take much less time and will give quite as good results. before sending any line drawings to press they should be carefully examined; pencil marks may be rubbed out, lines touched up, unnecessary lines removed by painting them out with white or black ink according to the background, and, finally, a frame ruled around, if necessary. the amount of reduction, which should be marked clearly on the margin, requires very careful consideration since under reduction may cause the reproduction to appear too coarse whilst over-reduction may result in the loss of the finer detail and the drawing may, moreover, appear spiritless. it must also be remembered that a reduction of, say, 1/2 linear means that the reproduction will be a quarter the area of the original. the best way to indicate the reduction required is to draw a vertical or horizontal line, parallel to a side or the base of the picture, of the exact length; or, the line may be roughly drawn and its length indicated by figures thus ------------2-1/2"--------. the question arises as to when line drawings for reproduction by the zinc block should be employed. the answer is, whenever possible. the advantages to a reader of having the illustrations in the text has already been commented upon. it is about the only method commonly employed in which practically everything depends on the draughtsman; the author thus exercises the greatest control. finally the fact that it is very inexpensive will appeal to editors and publishers. as a matter of curiosity, the present writer picked out at random a recent volume of a scientific journal to examine the illustrations; although there were a number of text figures, an examination of the plates--chiefly lithographs and collotypes--showed that there were a large number of figures which ought to have been in the text. a more detailed inspection of the plates was therefore made, with the result that nearly 200 figures were found which with the minimum amount of alteration--merely drawing in ink instead of pencil in the majority of cases, and leaving out unnecessary shading in the others--could have been reproduced by line blocks. if this had been done, a saving of over 20 per cent. could have been effected on the plates. some of this would, of course, have been absorbed in the making of zincos, but not much, since line blocks of excellent quality can be obtained for 2-1/2d. and 3d. per square inch. the above relates only to the most obvious examples; the saving in plates would have been enormous if the authors had drawn for the line process. the swelled gelatine process. from the foregoing account of the line-block it may, perhaps, be thought that a drawing shewing the finest detail cannot be reproduced in the text by a relief block made by photo-chemical means. this is not the case; the swelled gelatine process is such that at its best the very finest work can be so reproduced. the method is not extensively used, chiefly owing to the remarkable amount of skill required to produce the best results and to the facts that the blocks take longer to make and are more expensive than the ordinary line block. this, however, should not militate against its use, for the increased cost is but very little, and the longer time in making, say two days, should not be of any consequence in a monthly or quarterly periodical. the great point in its favour is its great fidelity as compared with the ordinary photo-chemical relief blocks: for instance, a close cross-hatching reproduced by a line block will often come out as a series of white dots owing to the fact that at the points of intersection the black lines tend to thicken; hence, on printing, the white spaces, instead of being sharply cut and diamond-shaped, are rounded. this will not occur in a good block made by the swelled gelatine method. further, the process does not restrict the draughtsman to dead black ink; the drawings may be made in pencil, crayon, or in ordinary writing ink: it is even claimed that wash drawings and photographs can be reproduced satisfactorily by this method. in the case of pencil drawings, the best results will be given when the surface of the paper used by the draughtsman is slightly rough; a pencil drawing on bristol board, for example, will not be so well reproduced as one on ordinary smooth drawing paper. in brief, the process is as follows: a photographic negative of the drawing is made, and under it is exposed a bichromate gelatine plate. this plate is then developed in water. as already described, the gelatine will swell up in proportion to the amount of light to which it was exposed. the "positive" thus obtained will be in relief, the high lights being at a higher level than the shadows. a wax mould of the gelatine positive is then taken, covered with a thin layer of plumbago and electrically covered with copper. the "casting" so obtained is built up with metal and then mounted on wood in the same way as a zinco or a half-tone. the capabilities of the process may be judged by a study of fig. 38, which is an extremely faithful reproduction of a lithograph, by s. prout, by the swelled gelatine process. [illustration: fig. 38. a lithograph by s. prout reproduced by the swelled gelatine process.] [illustration] cost relative cost of blocks and plates the question of cost is one of very great difficulty; in all probability no two firms will agree in their quotations for different kinds of work, and the reason for this lies in the large number of factors involved, many of which are very difficult to compute exactly. with respect to line engravings, etching, mezzotint, wood cuts and wood engravings, it is impossible to give any idea of the cost. it depends entirely on the complexity of the subject and the artist employed. as regards lithographic processes for reproduction in one colour the cost varies with the nature of the work. if an artist be commissioned to make an autolithograph, the fee would be agreed upon beforehand. photolithography and collotype, on the other hand, are processes which do not require the hand of an artist, and these methods of reproduction are relatively inexpensive. the price quoted by the lithographer or collotyper is for printing so many copies, hence the relative cost per copy depends upon the run and on the quality of the paper used. lithography is cheaper than collotype; but if several illustrations are sent at the same time to be reproduced by collotype, the cost for each would be less than if sent separately. in chromolithography a separate stone is necessary for each colour, hence the cost depends upon the number of stones used, and as several may be necessary to obtain a first-rate reproduction, it is obvious that the process may prove very expensive. turning to photomechanical processes, the prices vary according to the grade of work required--the best possible, good, and, lastly, cheap work. by best possible is meant the best that can be made under existing conditions, the price being immaterial; in good work the cost will be a limiting but not a preponderating factor, hence the work will be open to criticism; finally, in cheap work, the price is all important, so that the result is a block or a plate which will print well but which must not be criticized as regards its being a faithful reproduction of the original. it is obvious that in the last two cases the quality of the work will depend upon the agreed price, whilst in the first case the cost will depend on the amount of time and skill required. it is obvious, therefore, that a comparison of cost cannot be made between these grades; it is, however, possible to draw up a scale of relative cost of the processes under consideration for work of the same grade. in the table given below, a represents the best possible work, b indicates good work, and c stands for cheap work. since the line block is the least expensive it is taken as the unit of price; that is to say, if a line block costs 3d. per square inch the cost of half tone, three colour half tone and photogravure would be 7-1/4d., 3s., and 1s. 2-1/2d. respectively. a b c line 1 1 1 half tone and swelled gelatine 2-1/2 2-1/4 2 half tone three colour (three plates required) 9 12 10-1/2 photogravure 4-1/2 4-3/4 5 it must not be thought that if the area of a block is 3 square inches, the cost will, therefore, be 9d. there is, for obvious reasons, a minimum size at which the block or plate is charged although it may be smaller. these minima vary; in general terms they may be taken as 12 inches for line, half tone and swelled gelatine blocks, and 20 inches for half tone three colour blocks and photogravure plates. the measurements are the areas of the etched surface, the actual plate or block may be larger, but for this margin no charge is made. with regard to cost of printing, nothing need be said about blocks which are set up with the type, namely line, swelled gelatine and coarse half tone blocks. the price of printing fine half tones and three colour blocks depends upon the quality of the paper used and the fineness of the work. photogravure plates must be hand printed (photogravure printing on rotary machines is not considered here), and skill is required; for ordinary printing on good plate paper the price would be 10s. to 12s. 6d. per hundred copies, whilst for india printing the cost would be about 25s. for the same number. literature barnes: _illustrating botanical papers_, botanical gazette, vol. 43, 1907. bock: _zincography_, london, 1910. cumming: _handbook of lithography_, london, 1904. cundall: _a brief history of wood-engraving from its invention_, london, 1895. gamble: _line photo-engraving_, london, n.d. hamerton: _drawing and engraving_, london, 1892. _etching and etchers_, london, 1880. _the graphic arts_, london, 1882. pennell: _lithography and lithographers_, london. richmond: _grammar of lithography_, london, 1909. robertson: _the art of etching_, london, 1885. verfasser: _the half-tone process_, london, n.d. wilkinson: _photo-mechanical processes_, london, n.d. * * * * * transcriber's note some extraneous headings on otherwise blank pages have been removed. each footnote has been indented and placed beneath the paragraph to which it refers. the plates, which were on un-numbered pages, and some of the figures, have been moved to (usually) below the paragraphs which first refer to them. page 35: 'revelant' corrected to 'relevant' ... "see also the relevant works cited under literature" page 90: the table of costings does not appear to make sense, but has been left as in the original. hyphenation is not consistent in this book. [illustration: from the original painting by r.c. minor. n.y. photogravure co. _evening_] a handbook of illustration by a. horsley hinton [illustration] with reproductions from photograms and sketches by the author and other artists new york, u.s.a. g. gennert, 24 and 26 east thirteenth st. london, eng. dawbarn & ward, limited contents. chapter i.--introduction.--primitive illustrations--art and illustration--influence in photography--illustrations from the author's aspect--some uses of illustration. chapter ii.--a neglected field. chapter iii.--theory and principles of illustration.--different kinds of illustration--maps or plans--scientific diagrams--topographical views--in fiction--author and illustrator--pictorial or artistic--decorative--the "two things." chapter iv.--reproduction by half-tone process.--processes other than photo-mechanical--the object of mechanical process--intaglio, relief, and separate printing process--description of half-tone process--the screen--printing on the gelatine--development--etching--inherent disadvantage of the screen--cutting out lights--comparative results. chapter v.--preparation of originals for reproduction by half-tone.--i.--photograms--the best kind of photograms for reproduction--negative and print--legitimate hand work--relieving the shadows--helping the high light and shadows--application of photograms--"stopping out"--backgrounds not essential--composition and arrangement--decorative initials, &c. chapter vi.--preparation of originals for half-tone. ii.--wash drawings, oil paintings, pencil and other drawings--character of wash drawing or grey surface--monochrome oil painting--painting on a photographic basis--mixed drawings--pencil drawings--coloured sketches for illustration--thin reproduction. chapter vii.--line process.--requirements of the process--the processes described: gelatine, albumen, and bitumen--copying, printing, developing, mounting--description of the copy negative--reduction--diminishing glasses--pencil marks, &c.--non-photographic methods. chapter viii.--methods of line reproduction. i.--pen-and-ink drawing--character of line drawings--"tone" interpreted into line--various styles of line--suggestion of colour, textures, &c.--the art of leaving out--what to copy and study--line shading--flat tints--outlines--reduction and thickening. chapter ix.--materials for simple line drawing.--papers and cardboards--inks and fluids--pens. chapter x.--comparison of line processes.--some characteristics of each described, and results in each compared--the roulette. chapter xi.--other methods for line reproduction. the materials required.--mechanical tints--their application--"splatter" work--how produced--grained clay surface boards or "scrape" boards--their use described--pencil and chalk drawing for line reproduction. chapter xii.--mechanical aids to drawing.--methods of tracing from a photogram--drawing on a photogram--drawing on a "blue" print--tracing on transfer paper--drawing from nature--conclusion. authors preface increased use of the =photographic reproduction= process and a prevailing ignorance of their nature and application, made desirable a simple practical =handbook of illustration methods= such a book it has been my endeavour to produce a.h.h. london november 1894 [illustration: pen drawing. (_original_ 9 x 5-1/8.)] a handbook of illustration chapter i. _introduction--the art of illustration._ introduced to this country, in round numbers, some fifty years ago, photography has progressed beyond its contemporaries of the present century. it has obtained a hold upon the people, entering equally into their work and their amusements; the speed, the reality, the brilliancy of it fit it peculiarly for the age into which it has been born. it has survived, and will survive, amidst the decay of other things, because of its extraordinary adaptability to changing circumstances, its readiness to meet altering tastes and requirements; versatile in aspect, elastic in its application. amidst all its adaptations of modern date, in none has it been more successful than in that to which this book is devoted: that wherein photography, directly or indirectly, is employed to introduce into our literature expressions of thought, which are better so conveyed than by written or printed words. be the language never so rich in words, or the writer's power in using them never so great, a clearer and a more lasting impression may be conveyed, even to the cultivated, and certainly to the popular mind, by the arrangement of lines and markings in such form as may be felt to actually represent the objects, and indicate the relative position and size of other objects or parts of the same. this may be said to be the primary and normal function of an illustration. throughout the pages of this book, and to whatever extent the student may practise the methods herein described, it may be well to keep very clearly in mind the legitimate function of an illustration, namely: to describe, to portray, and to do this _chiefly_ as an auxiliary to written language. to such a kind belongs the rude scratchings of the primæval man, whose limited powers of speech forbade his adequately describing the forms of those creatures whose pursuit meant life, whose disregard would mean death, and of such kind were the hieroglyphics of the east. nay, who shall say that the very forms of letters themselves are not the outcome of early effort to convey to the eye of another what might otherwise only have been imperfectly communicated through other senses: a means to an end; a servant, a tool, in the hands of him who would wield it. but in the beginning there was a making of drawings and designs which had another purpose. the gourd, or rough clay vessel, was graved and marked with devices and forms suggested by the curves and shapes in nature, but this was merely for decoration; to please the eye, and not to serve any purpose but to give pleasure. a means to an end in this sense perhaps, but note that the end was in the commencement of it, and went no further after completion; it gave pleasure to the beholder and no more, and nothing more was intended or asked. thus was art born--not to teach, nor to explain, nor to illustrate. nor is this distinction out of place in the present work. the tendency to-day is too often to make a pretty picture rather than a good illustration; to sacrifice accuracy to beauty; to strive rather after the æsthetic pleasure in art, than the truth and fidelity of illustration. the artist is what he is from the possession of certain instinctive attributes which he is powerless to teach to another, whereas the simpler and expressive forms of draughtsmanship _may be attained by almost all_. from confusing art with illustration we find a man saying "i cannot do this, or that, because i am no artist," and it is with a hope of placing in the hands of such, at least to some extent, a means of graphic expression, that the present book has been undertaken. [illustration: an essex landscape. _half-tone from oil sketch in monochrome._ (_original_ 10-1/8 x 6-1/2). [see p. 51.]] take also such a simple matter as a letter from a friend, and notice how often words alone fail to convey a correct impression, yet a few lines of simple form at once present a graphic description. mr. blackburn gives a capital example of such a case in his "art of illustration." he says: "a newspaper correspondent is in a boat on one of the italian lakes, and wishes to describe the scene on a calm summer day. this is how he proceeds: "'we are shut in by mountains,' he says, 'but the blue lake seems as wide as the sea. on a rocky promontory on the left hand the trees grow down to the water's edge and the banks are precipitous, indicating the great depth of this part of the lake. the water is as smooth as glass; on its surface is one vessel, a heavily laden market boat' (and so on). there is no need to repeat it all; but when half a column of word-painting had been written (and well written) the correspondent failed to present the picture clearly to the eye without these _four_ explanatory lines (no more) which should of course have been sent with his letter." [illustration] in the same way small sketch plans (no matter how roughly made) are of great assistance in describing the position of a fire, a murder, or anything else of public importance; not to mention the value such descriptive lines often are in private letters. whilst, then, art and illustration are distinct, and much of the latter may be within the reach of many to whom the former is impossible, there is no reason why either should needlessly offend the canons of the other. art--seeking, as it should, to awaken a sense of pleasure in the beautiful--adheres to truth, in idea if not in fact. illustration, which portrays fact truthfully, may yet do so in such manner as shall not annoy the cultivated and artistic senses; and this is the art of illustration. here, as in other matters, much depends on a knowledge and exercise of the mere technique or craftsmanship: the means to be employed, and the manner of employing them. with pen or pencil we might satisfactorily produce such a diagram or drawing as should _illustrate_ our speech, but the exigencies of such gigantic institutions of civilisation as books, magazines, and newspapers, demand that the same illustration shall be presented to thousands of readers at the same time. in former times the original drawing was copied by craftsmen on to wood or metal, and then carved so that a "block," containing the design in relief, might be set up in the printing press and printed in conjunction with the letterpress type. wonderful skill did the wood-engraver acquire in reproducing the original and in interpreting the artist's idea; but his work took time, which had to be paid for, and sometimes the artist found that in passing through the intermediary wood-engraver, his intention had been wrongly construed, and even a departure made from the accuracy of his drawing. then came photography, and it was found possible to photograph the original on to the surface of the block instead of drawing it. it was next found possible, under given conditions, to substitute for the engraver a purely mechanical means, whereby the surface of the block was suitably carved to print with ink the requisite design. thus a photographic and chemical _process_ supplants the hand-work of the engraver, and a perfect replica of the original, in no way dependent upon the personal ability of the engraver, is obtained. the same process, working blindly, produces a facsimile equivalent to the artist's own drawing; and does so with such speed, and at such small expense, that for one penny we may purchase to-day a newspaper filled with exact copies of drawings of events which happened only yesterday. thousands of books and papers, the world over, are now replete with illustrations: the expense of producing which by the older methods would have made impossible such welcome additions to the printed page. nor does it appear that the gigantic dimensions, and high state of perfection, which process illustration has reached, in any way represents the limit of its possibilities in either respect. it has been reasonably conjectured that in the near future every newspaper and periodical publication will be illustrated, and almost each day sees some advancement, some improvement, in the daily practice of the various processes of reproduction, so that in writing a book of the present kind it is difficult to keep the information therein contained fully abreast of the times. while it is in the hands of the printer some new thing may be found out, some new application of a method successfully attempted, which shall make the novelty of yesterday give place to the invention of to-day. the pride of the _littérateur_ may make him feel that the use of pictures, as an assistance to writing, indicates incapacity or feebleness on the part of the author. yet, able as is the description of such familiar characters as mr. pecksniff, pickwick, jingle, and others, how various would have been the idea conjured up by different readers, were it not for the inimitable drawings of cruickshank or "phiz." were not shakespeare's characters intended to be illustrated--not by drawings perhaps, but by "living pictures"? and, finally, out of the simple instruments for illustration there has been evolved a greater thing. the same means as are employed to reproduce the draughtsman's drawing, may also reproduce, and place in the hands of the multitude, reproductions of the works of great master artists; so that something of the treasures of the pitti, and the louvre, may be seen in english homes to-day. the same simple methods, used for mere illustration, have been wrestled with by those who possess art as a birthright from the gods, and through their efforts our books may now contain pictures (process reproductions) which are full of fine artistic feeling; not merely illustrating the text, but awakening a sense of pleasure and exaltation at the representation of nature's beauties. decorative pages, ornate with noble designs, brighten a book like gleaming crystals in a rich but dark mine, and relieve the monotony of too perfect a symmetry. a chapter heading, a tail piece, a decorated initial, and here and there a picture page, exert an influence like sparkling spring and smiling flowers, for joy and sweet refreshment by the way. [illustration] [illustration] chapter ii. _a neglected field._ a form of book illustration too much neglected, and one possessing peculiar advantages, is margina illustration. decorated or illustrated margins may be associated in idea with the early monastic work, when the solitude and gloom of the recluse's life was relieved by the little enjoyment which must have attended the illumination of holy books, but it is not quite the purely decorative to which i would refer. in some modern editions, in which an old style is affected, a wide margin on the top, bottom, and outer edge of the letterpress is preserved so wide that ample space might be found to introduce such trifling illustrations as would be amply sufficient to fix an impression or suggest to the imagination of the reader ideas which the mere letterpress might fail to awaken. [illustration: canto the second night wanes--the vapours round the mountains curl'd melt into the morn, and light awakes the world. man has another day to swell the past, and lead him near to little, but his last; but mighty nature bounds as from her birth. the sun is in the heavens and life on earth; flowers in the valley, splendour in the beam, heath on the gale, and freshness in the stream. immortan man i behold her glory shine, and cry exulting inly, "they are thine!" gaze on, while yet thy gladden'd eye may see, a morrow comes when they are not for thee; and grieve what may above thy sensless bier, nor earth nor sky will yeild a single tear; nor cloud shall gather more nor leaf shall fall, nor gale breathe forth one sigh for thee, for all; but creeping things shall revel in their spoil, and fit thy clay to fertilize the soil. 'tis morn--'tis noon--assembled in the hall, the gather'd chieftains come to otho's call; 'tis now the promised hour that must proclaim the life or death of lara's future fame. when ezzlin has charge may here unfold. line reproduction from pen sketch. (_original 13 x 9 inches._)] too often our illustrations in books are separated from the text to such a degree that a continuity of idea is all but impossible. we read, perhaps--"night wanes--the vapours round the mountains curl'd melt into morn, and light awakes the world. man has another day to swell the past," &c., &c., &c.; but long before we come to the page which illustrates this delightfully pictorial passage from one of lord byron's romantic works we read--"'tis morn--'tis noon--assembled in the hall. the gathered chieftains come to otho's call:" and not perhaps until we have passed the third or fourth stanza, and are trying to picture in our minds the brilliant assemblage of spanish chieftains, and the fierce challenge of the accused lara terminating with "demand thy life!" do we turn over a page and confront a dainty illustration of the opening lines "night wanes," &c.--an interruption as undesirable and distracting as when the lecturer, through some mistake in the arranging of his lantern slides, sees projected on the screen a photogram of the grim walls of newgate prison, when, with the words "i will now show you a picture of where some of england's heroes have found a resting-place," he expected his assistant to put up a slide of westminster abbey. it is not always possible even to get our book illustrations to face the matter which refers to it, and even if that can be arranged, or the illustration can actually come into the same page, the act of turning from text to picture means an interruption and severing the continuous thought. could our illustrations appear in the margin, between the lines, mingled with the letterpress, how smoothly we might _read_ the _illustrations_ along with the text, and how bright and pleasing would the pages appear! i have given a specimen page which may serve to better show the idea. we will suppose some book of travel or poetry be set up in type by the printer, and a proof copy be made up with broad margins under the direction of the illustrator, who then takes it in hand and decorates each page as desired; or the pages are pulled as proofs on two or three kinds of paper, smooth for pen work, rough for crayon, or medium for wash drawings--what delightful variety might be secured! when the artist has added his marginal and inter-paragraph illustrations the pages are photo-reproduced, the complete block including both letterpress and drawings. [illustration: penned by w.t. whitehead. (_original_ 15 x 12 _inches._)] of course the illustrations, if confined to the margins, could be reproduced separately, and set up with the type in the same form. in the example i have given on page 15, the letterpress was set up by the printer to occupy a given space, the type used being a clear, bold letter. this was printed from on two or three kinds of paper, and handed to me to add the illustrative matter. the proof used was about thirteen by nine inches, and this was subsequently reproduced by a simple zinco process to the size here shown. of course the amount of letterpress possible on each page is small if the illustrating be carried to any great extent. an edition of shakespeare's works treated in this fashion would of itself constitute a small library, but for smaller works, or for single plays or single poems, many a plain piece of reading might be by such means converted into a very delightful and beloved book. i have often thought that in fiction, when we read that the dainty little _billet doux_ slipped under the door, written in my lady's delicate and graceful style; or, the mysterious letter handed to the hero written in a strange handwriting "ran as follows," how much more forcible the thing would be if the author had given us a facsimile of the letter. i never read a letter in a story without feeling it was the author of the romance, instead of the character in the book, who composed the letter. thus an author might, in addition to feature, figure, and dress, give us a fine suggestion of his _dramatis personæ_ by showing a little bit of their handwriting. chapter iii. _the theory and principles of illustration._ here it will probably be well to consider the different classes into which illustrations naturally seem to fall, and this because it is the common custom to regard the contents of an illustrated book as all belonging to one. perhaps the simplest and most spontaneous form of illustration is seen when one is describing a position or locality, and takes pencil and paper to draw a rough plan showing this or that road, cross-road, turning, &c. we do this without any forethought, without any artistic ability, and never for a moment considering that we are fulfilling the first theoretical function of the illustrator, and we make this sketch-plan partly because we could not so graphically describe what we wish in words; and, again, the drawing will produce a more lasting impression upon the person appealed to, and that without so great an effort of memory on his part. "seeing is believing," and to _see_ is also to _remember_. it is the same with the diagrams which illustrate the problems of euclid, a tourist's map, an architect's plan; these are all illustrations of a diagrammatic kind. only a little higher in the scale are the illustrations in scientific and physiological books. i say _higher_, because of the difficulties attaching to the photographing of such objects, and their more complex forms, which sometimes necessitate their being drawn from the objects at first hand by one possessing some amount of skill as a draughtsman. but the intention is to explain the text, added to which is perhaps the special office of enabling the student to recognise and identify the particular animal or vegetable structure, or a certain rock formation or crystal, when found; for which purpose it is of primary importance that the essential and specific characters of the particular object are carefully portrayed, and the entire figure be of faultless accuracy. this same quality must also be secured in topographical views with which the book of travels, with its description of far-distant places and people, is illustrated; it is in this class of drawings that there is most danger of a desire to make a pretty picture--overwhelming the purely descriptive or explanatory function. the representation of the principal characters in a story, with which it is the custom to illustrate a novel or work of fiction, has often appeared to me to be one of the least successful departments of illustration. probably this arises from the fact that the artist has no actual models to work from; he creates, out of the author's description, imaginary beings, and portrays them accordingly. therefore, unless author and artist have been in very close communication, it is as likely as not that the artist may get a conception of certain characters quite remote from the author's intention. at least, it must have occurred to many a reader to find the pictures in a favourite novel often quite fail to realise the ideal which he had himself formed of the hero or heroine, of whom, at the very outset, he had conjured up an image and an environment. somewhat lately the experiment has been made of illustrating fiction with actual photograms from life, in which case the illustrator must select with great care individuals answering very exactly to the descriptions given, and use these as models grouped as required. obviously this method must be confined to such books whose plot is laid in comparatively recent times and in ordinary scenes of life; for the difficulties, which are in any case great, assume insurmountable proportions when one conceives the idea of illustrating by photograms such books as "robinson crusoe," "pilgrim's progress," or "don quixote." [illustration: pen drawing by w.t. whitehead. (_original_ 8 x 5.)] the ideal condition would be for the author to illustrate his own writings, then indeed should we be sure of getting a glimpse of the character intended; and we can imagine with what care he would fashion the child of his imagination. failing this, the author should control to a greater extent the work of the man who is to illustrate his writings, a point far too often overlooked in the making of a book. it will be seen that in this section of illustration the draughtsman draws upon his imagination, so that, to some extent at least, his art is _creative_. it must, however, be borne in mind that he is not at liberty to paint or draw his own unaided imaginings; he is merely interpreting another's words into a graphic representation; so that, be he never so fine an artist, his art, like pegasus in harness, is restrained under the yoke of the illustrator. we may, however, find illustration ascending a step higher towards the sphere of art proper and creative, and that is in the _edition de luxe_, in which, with or without printed matter, we have plates which are pictures in the best sense, and appeal chiefly, or exclusively, to the æsthetic sense. also in some dramatic works, in poetry, and in some prose, there is a much wider scope for the imagination of the artist, and we have high-class books of a real artistic merit. [illustration: pen drawing by w.t. whitehead. (_original_ 8 x 2.)] one other notable form of illustration remains, and that is the purely decorative. this is seen to advantage in the book-plates in which a device bears the name of the owner and is affixed to each book; to revive which custom an effort has happily been made of late. in allegorical figures and scrollwork on title-pages, at heads of chapters, in borders, in large initial letters, at the termination of a chapter, or a design interspersed with the type on a page, and in many other forms beyond the prescribed shape which its position determines, there is little to restrict the artist. some examples of designs for book-plates were recently given in that excellent magazine _the studio_; and some interesting and wholly praiseworthy "initials," formed on an actual photogram, appeared recently in _the photogram_. these are two instances out of the many which may be seen on every hand, and in this connection i have long felt that photograms from nature might be more largely applied to book illustration or decoration. [illustration] thus i have endeavoured to indicate the principal uses of illustrations. now in every work of art, its strength and its success are dependent in a great measure upon its composition and purpose possessing simplicity and unity, and i think that it cannot be too deeply impressed upon the illustrator that singleness of purpose will be a strong contributory to success. if the purpose of the illustration be to explain or to describe, then let it do that at the sacrifice, if need be, of all else; and if, at the same time, it be possible to introduce such qualities as will make it void of offence to the more cultivated eye, so much the better; but the particular aim and intention must be paramount. in like manner, if the illustration be for purely ornamental purposes, or purely pictorial, giving pleasure to the eye and the sense of beauty: then to attempt to make it fulfil the function of a teacher, to anything more than a subordinate degree, is to divide, and therefore to weaken, both capacities. an illustration, therefore, should be thought out, designed, and produced, with a definite and single purpose. speaking of the rise and development of newspaper illustration, in a lecture delivered before the society of arts, in november, 1893, mr. henry blackburn quoted from a discussion held at the same place in 1875, when the following conclusion was arrived at: "in the production of illustrations we have arrived at great proficiency, and from london are issued the best illustrated newspapers in the world. but our artistic skill has led us into temptation, and by degrees engendered a habit of making pictures when we ought to be recording facts. we have thus, through our cleverness, created a fashion, and a demand from the public, for something which is often elaborately untrue. "would it, then, be too much to ask those who cater for (and really create) the public taste, that they should give us one of two things, or rather _two things_, in our illustrated papers--the real and the ideal. "1st. pictorial records of events in the simplest and truest manner possible." "2nd. pictures of the highest class that can be printed in a newspaper." this, it appears, was said before the mechanical process block was much used or even known; but what was true in principle in the old wood-engraving days is as true now that we have new and rapid means of reproduction. having, in any given case, decided what is the purpose of the illustration required, it will next be necessary to determine by which of the methods at our disposal the scheme can best be carried out, both as regards the method of producing the original, and the method of reproducing it in print. and this naturally brings us to the subject of our next chapter. [illustration] chapter iv. _reproduction by half-tone process._ from the processes with which i propose to engage my reader's attention, wood and steel engraving, and kindred methods, stand apart. were we dependent upon these alone, not one-thousandth part of the illustration matter of to-day could ever have been produced, encumbered as the older methods are with the two things which, in the production of anything "for the million," are serious drawbacks, namely, time and expense of production. whilst these older methods undoubtedly possess characteristics which will always give them a peculiar value, and secure for them immunity from extermination (and make them, indeed, essential for certain purposes), there was long ago felt a need for a method of rapid reproduction unattended with individual artistic skill on the part of each worker employed, and, above all, free from heavy expense. such a need has been more than met by what we now know as the mechanical processes. i say more than met, because, gradual improvement in the processes themselves, and an increased knowledge of the particular requirements of these processes on the part of the draughtsmen or artists, has resulted in giving us a process which is not only rapid and cheap, but which produces prints of high quality and merit. it will of course be at once apparent that in order to get our illustration into the printed pages of book or newspaper we must first transfer the original to a plate, or block, and then so manipulate the surface that, like a printer's type, it shall take the printing ink in such manner as shall leave an exact imprint upon the paper, or other surface, upon which it is pressed. the transfer of the original is accomplished by photography. the preparation of the surface is effected by a chemical or mechanical process. correctly defined, these processes are "photo-mechanical," and such are generally understood by the literally ambiguous title "process," which is colloquially applied to all such methods. it is not the intention of the present book to give instructions whereby to work the processes, beyond a general outline which shall make the illustrator acquainted with the method in which his drawing or photogram is utilised. this knowledge will enable him, to some extent, to adapt himself and his work to its special requirements. photo-mechanical processes are of two kinds: those by which the image is _ingraved_, known as _intaglio_, and those in which the image is produced in _relief_, or _relievo_. in the first of these the result is more or less similar to an ordinary engraved copper-plate, which, being wiped after inking, retains the ink in the engraved or indented portions, and prints accordingly. the intaglio processes are confined to what is known as photogravure, or photo-etching, and modifications thereof. this will not engage our attention, for, beautiful as are its results, it is comparatively expensive, and lacks that characteristic of speed which has made the _relief_ processes so useful. the engraved plate must be printed _separately_; it cannot be set up with type and printed as letterpress. at the same time, in order to clear my reader's mind, and my own course, before proceeding further, mention may be made of other separate-printing processes, such as collotype.[1] (also known under many fancy titles), in which the image is printed on a machine or press from an inked gelatine surface. these can easily be distinguished by the image having a perfectly even appearance as though produced by a water-colour wash, without grain, reticulation, or lines. photo-lithography, in which, as the name implies, the picture is transferred on to stone, from which it is then printed as in ordinary lithography, may also be mentioned here. [illustration: half-tone from photogram; high lights strengthened with chinese white.] another beautiful process of reproduction is the woodbury-type, named after its inventor, walter b. woodbury, in which a bichromated gelatine film is exposed under a negative, and the soluble portions afterwards removed by hot water. the resulting gelatine relief, which contains a facsimile picture, is allowed to dry, when it becomes as hard as stone. it is next forced by hydraulic pressure into a sheet of polished lead, leaving therein an exact counterpart of its every elevation and depression. the lead plate (_intaglio_) is next placed in a handpress, and flowed with a pool of hot gelatinous colour; a piece of paper is next placed on top and pressure applied, when all surplus colour oozes from the sides. after a few moments, when the gelatine becomes sufficiently cool, the paper bearing its delicate gelatine print is pulled off and dried. [illustration: line reproduction from pen and ink. (_original 14 x 11 inches._)] beautiful as many of these are, they can only be applied where the expense attending them and the slower printing is not an objection, and where letterpress is not required on the same sheet at the same printing. printing matter can of course be afterwards introduced, but this must be by a second operation. we have now left for consideration the relief processes, in which the design to be printed is produced similar in character and appearance to that of the movable letterpress type used by printers. [illustration: feeding the chickens. (_half-tone from photogram. original 14 x 11 inches._)] these processes are roughly divisible into two sections, "tone" and "line," to understand which i will refer the reader to the accompanying illustrations. in these the image appears to be respectively composed of _lines_ of varying strength and proximity in the one, and of _tints_ ranging from grey to black in the other. if the latter be closely examined, however, or looked at through a magnifying glass, it will be found that what at first appears to be a flat even tint is composed of an infinite number of dots arranged in a reticulated or geometrical pattern. we will now see how this effect is produced, and what are the especial uses of this so-called "tone" or "half-tone" process. [illustration: the heron house. _half-tone from photogram._ (_original 14 x 11 inches._)] half-tone process. as has been already said, it is of course necessary to produce from the original a printing surface of such a kind as shall take ink and print an image therefrom. now it will of course be obvious that with ink and white paper we can only produce two things--black and white--and that therefore all the intermediate shades must be produced by a greater or less number of black dots. the process under consideration, in common with some others, is based upon the fact that gelatine or albumen sensitised with bichromate of ammonium or potassium, becomes _insoluble_ after being acted upon by light. a solution of bitumen in benzole also forms a light sensitive coating which is frequently used in these processes. if we were to expose such a sensitive film to light under (for example) a photographic negative of a figure taken against a light background and then washed it in a suitable solvent, those parts which had been protected from light by the opaque portions of the negative, such as the background, the face, hands, and white portions of the dress, would dissolve away, leaving the insoluble or light affected portions standing. [illustration: line reproduction from pen and ink. (_original 14 x 11 inches._)] if we were now to ink these portions, we could print a black image which would represent the general form of the portrait like the old-fashioned silhouettes, or shadow pictures; but the "half-tone" process provides for the breaking up of the solid black image, substituting for it black dots closer and more numerous where the darker greys are, and less so where the shading is lighter. a very considerable variation in apparent tint may thus be effected. the actual method is briefly thus:--what is known as a "screen" is first made by taking a photographic negative of a print from a copper-plate, on which has been ruled about 120 fine parallel lines to the inch. this is done with extreme care and exactness, so that the negative gives a clear transparent copy of the ruled lines of microscopic sharpness. in many cases the ruled copy is moved round a quarter of a circle during the exposure, thus resulting in the effect of double ruling, the lines intersecting each other at right angles. or two printings may be made from the copper-plate to produce the same result and the negative then taken. we shall thus have a negative having the appearance of a very fine lattice of transparent glass on an opaque ground. with this "screen" placed nearly in contact with an ordinary photographic plate, film to film, we proceed to make a copy negative, in the camera, of the original picture. this, when developed, will give the picture _and_ an image of the screen, which has been interposed, together on one plate. if this is now clear to my readers, they will probably at once see what will result when such a plate is used on a sensitised sheet of zinc or copper, and the soluble parts of the film washed away as before suggested. the parts of the film made insoluble from exposure to light will be reticulated all over by minute soluble dots or lines where the image of the screen has interrupted the light, and more so or less in proportion to the lightness or deeper shade of the original, and by this means what would have been unbroken blacks are sprinkled over, so to speak, with tiny white interstices, the ink when applied remaining on the alternating projections of undissolved film. suppose the film to have been of bitumen and spread upon a sheet of zinc, we should have a reticulated image in insoluble bitumen with interstices of plain zinc. this bitumen forms a protective coating, so that when immersed in a weak solution of nitric acid the acid only eats a way into the bare metal. gradually, and by subsequent acid baths, the parts covered by the film are left in strong relief, and in a fit condition to print from. the film which has thus resisted the acid is then washed away, leaving the zinc relief. to carry out the above process many details, which i have not thought it the office of this book to enter into, will be required. thus the solvent used for developing, or, in other words, washing away the soluble portions of a bitumen film, is turpentine; but water is used in the case of bichromatised albumen. an acid resisting preparation is finally applied to the plain zinc relief, and the whole block re-etched or "re-bitten," so as to strengthen the image; certain precautions, moreover, are taken to prevent the acid "under etching" the image--and a great deal more which, of course, would have to be clearly described were it intended to teach the process of block-making. in the variety of half-tone blocks, known as typogravure, a different method of breaking up the surface is adopted; no intervening screen is used, but the surface of the metal has imparted to it a preliminary roughness or grain, and the image is printed and etched on this rough surface. these blocks, when carefully printed from, yield exceedingly nice results, the grain having something of an "aquatint" character, which appears to be more discriminating than that derived through the use of the ruled screen. the softness of outline and freedom from anything like a mechanical texture is well seen in blocks made by this method. the remarkable difference obtained from the same block by different printers will at once suggest that a very great deal depends upon the printing quite irrespective of the quality of the block itself. many letterpress printers make a specialty of block-printing, the chief art being in the "making-ready" and "underlaying," by which terms is understood the careful adjusting of the block, so that its surface be at exactly the proper elevation to secure the proper amount of pressure, neither more nor less, when on the printing machine. some further remarks on this subject will be found in chapter x. [illustration] i trust, however, enough has been said to give a general idea to the uninitiated of how we arrive at the dotted ink print, which we recognise as a reproduction from a photogram, or wash-drawing, or indeed anything which is similarly made up of flat tints. [illustration: untouched half-tone from photogram. (_original 4 x 3._)] [illustration: half-tone from photogram--the block engraved on by hand. (_original 4 x 3._)] it will, of course, have been understood that the ruled "screen," which is interposed between the picture to be copied and the plate on which it is copied, will appear over _the whole_ of the copy negative, whether the image extend so far or not, so that, in the reproduction, even what should be blank whites will be covered with the fine black dots or grain, though more widely separated by little white spaces. if the accompanying reproductions be examined, this will be found to be the case. to any one who has given pictorial matters much thought, the disadvantage of this will be at once apparent. [illustration: on slapton ley, south devon. _photogram touched up by hand--block untouched._ (_original 4 x 3._)] in black-and-white pictures, white is the highest expression of light, and yet how far the whitest paper is from sunlight, and how much shorter the whole gamut of tones, from blackest ink to whitest paper, is when compared with the scale of nature, have often been pointed out and are now generally understood. but our half-tone process makes the range of tones still shorter by curtailing it at the top of the scale and cutting off the white: the pervading "tint," or "grain," reducing white to a light grey, and not even the deepest blacks and intermediate tones are nicely rendered except by very careful printing. the printing of half-tone process blocks has received great attention amongst better-class printers of late, with the result that marked improvement has taken place, and it is clearly seen that be a half-tone block ever so well made it is only admirable when special ink and special paper (notably a fine clay surface paper) are used, and more than ordinary knowledge and care expended in the machining. while the ideal process block is one in which, when the process is completed, the block is ready for the press (and many process houses pride themselves upon turning out "untouched" blocks), yet there are few houses who do not employ some hands who are constantly working with engraver's tools to "improve" the blocks after the last etching is done. much brilliancy of contrast and effect may be accomplished if the engraver cut away the grain altogether on that part of the surface of the block where it should print white; but this must necessarily be done by men of instinctive taste and good judgment, for immediately hand carving be admitted the essential character of an _automatic facsimile_ process is lost. the illustrator or artist will, therefore, unless he give careful and precise instruction as to what parts are to be cut away, or can superintend the work himself, feel considerable hesitation in entrusting such a delicate task to a stranger. one little touch in the wrong place, one bit of plain white too many, and the harmony of the whole illustration will be upset; so that many will reasonably prefer a weak flat print to the uncertainty which must attend the leaving of a block to a mechanic's mercies. in the accompanying three illustrations we have, first, an untouched "half-tone" block from an ordinary photogram; secondly, a block from the same original, "fine etched" or with the etching controlled so as to brighten the effect; and thirdly, a block made from the same photogram which, in order to compensate for any failings of the process, has been worked on _by the artist_, strengthening the shadows and brightening the lights. [illustration] this brings us to consider the subject of working on photograms by hand, and the preparation of illustrations generally, which is dealt with in a separate chapter. [illustration] chapter v. _the preparation of originals for reproduction by half-tone process._ i. photograms. it will be understood from the foregoing chapter that in every case where the original to be reproduced is of such a nature that before a print in ink can be made the image must be broken up, the reproduction will have to be effected by means of the half-tone process. of the various kinds of originals thus utilised, probably the two most common are photograms and wash-drawings. the rapidity, comparative ease, and absence of the draughtsman's skill, with which photograms can now be made, has placed a wonderful power in the hands of author or illustrator. but a short series of photograms of some subject of interest with a very little descriptive letterpress will often form an acceptable contribution to magazine or newspaper, and yet a thoughtful consideration of such illustrations can hardly fail to impress any one with the drawbacks and defects of the method. such illustrations too often strike us as dull, misty, grey, and lacking brilliancy, when compared with black and white reproductions of another kind. this dulness is attributable to a great extent to the gauze-like screen through which the copy is made, as described in our last chapter. the bright lights are grained over with fine dots reducing white to grey, and the soft finely graduated half-tones are often lost altogether. in order to counteract these defects, the process worker will often take upon himself to "doctor" the negative made from the original before proceeding to make the block, a practice to be condemned because such an operator is rarely possessed of artistic judgment, and his "touching up" may often produce a result unexpected and unacceptable to the artist. a similar "touching up" may also be effected on the block itself, as previously suggested, which is only preferable because the artist may more directly control the engraver's tool by giving definite instructions. as far as possible, however, the block should not be meddled with by any one, if the originals have been produced in such a manner as to ensure the best possible effect by the mere mechanical process. in making photograms especially for reproduction a clear, bright negative, with good strong contrasts, should be aimed at. probably the kind of negatives which it was customary to strive after in the older days of wet-plate photography would be the best; but, as wet-plate photography is hardly practicable for the illustrator of to-day, similar results with dry-plates should be sought. unhappily, the extreme softness and exquisite gradations of some of the most modern and artistic work of photographers is thrown away in the process of reproduction, and little more than a flat, meaningless smudge is the best the process block can make of it. for this reason our photograms for illustration should somewhat exaggerate the effect we wish to reproduce: a matter which has led to the working on photograms with the brush to heighten the effect, of which i shall have more to say anon. given the proper kind of negative the next care will be to make such a photographic print as shall not detract from the qualities secured in the negative, and shall in every possible way assist the "process." many of the best and most pleasing photograms of our day are printed upon coarse-grained, rough-surfaced paper, presenting a difficulty to the reproductive process almost certain to prove disastrous to the result; for if, whilst being copied, the original is not very skilfully lighted, the inequalities of the surface reproduce as little lights and shadows in a very unpleasing manner, and the texture of even a comparatively smooth paper seems remarkably exaggerated. almost as undesirable will be the very highly enamelled surfaces of some photographic papers, the surface gloss producing reflections which interfere with the copying. the best for general use will be the smoothest platinotype paper, or a not too highly-glazed _white_ albumenised paper, either of which are obtainable at most chemists and all photographic dealers. the print should be of a medium depth, not so dark as to give heavy solid shadows, nor so light as to omit all detail from the lightest portions. the various manipulations necessary for "toning" and "fixing" the print should be carried out carefully, especially avoiding staining or discoloration of the white paper. the print thus made, when mounted on card, is as far as an ordinary photogram can go for this purpose. it now remains to be seen, bearing in mind what we know of the method by which it is to be reproduced, what may be done to improve it, never forgetting, however, that the chief value of a photogram for illustrative purposes is its unimpeachable fidelity to truth. additional hand-work should not violate this truthfulness by the introduction of any fresh matter, or the painting out of any characteristic detail, unless, of course, the illustration is merely for pictorial or decorative purposes. the inscription "from a photogram" usually possesses a charm over the popular mind, inspiring confidence and carrying conviction, and if the hand-work be discreetly introduced, only to improve the effect and counteract the inherent defects of the final process, the legend may be honestly used. in the first place, a photogram in which there are some large very dark objects, which by reason of their dark colour are disagreeably heavy, or obtrusive masses of deep shadow, may be made to reproduce better if a thin transparent wash of blue be applied to such portions. the great photogenic power of blue is, of course, the reason of this, but until some experience be gained as to the proper amount of blue required, i should recommend that a duplicate untouched photogram be sent in as well, with a few words of explanation and instruction to the process man. if the photogram be upon a glossy surface paper, a few drops of ox gall, procurable in bottles from the artists' colourman, will make the water-colour wash flow readily over the slimy surface. for working with a brush upon the photogram, the materials are simple and few. our purpose is to strengthen the lights and deepen the darks, for which purpose chinese white and two or three water-colours respectively will be used. the surface and general character of a platinotype or matt paper print will be pleasantest to work on; with an albumenised paper, ox gall will again be essential. if a liberal amount of hand-work is intended, the print had better be a light one, and it can then be built up to any degree. chinese white, when applied thinly, has a bluish hue, and will consequently reproduce somewhat lighter than it appears. therefore to produce a grey, it will sometimes be better, instead of using thin chinese white, to make an admixture of chinese white and indian ink, or some suitable pigment, and apply it as a grey where grey is wanted. such portions of the chinese white which, when dry, appear harsh, may be softened with a clean almost dry sable brush; or the soft part of the finger, with little more than its natural moisture, carefully rubbed over the harsh parts may have the desired effect. by such and any tricks which may suggest themselves it is advisable to blend the hand-work with the actual photographic image. in applying pigment to the dark parts, to make them darker or sharper, it will be desirable to match the colour of the photographic print as nearly as possible. with platinotypes this may easily be done with indian ink, with a little blue added according to whether the print is a warm or cold black. the precise colour of a silver print, whether on matt or albumenised paper, is not so easy to match, but may be best accomplished with sepia and cobalt, with a trace of crimson lake; one or two other colours, such as burnt umber, vandyke brown, sienna, &c., being kept in reserve for emergencies. fine-pointed small sable-hair brushes will be found the best for all purposes. [illustration: "stopped out" photogram. (_original 6 x 4._)] in the process of reproduction the original may be enlarged upon or reduced. the former is not often attended with happy results, especially if there is much hand-work, but reduction may to some extent be relied on to clear away any trifling blemishes, should such exist. i should, however, lay emphasis upon making the original as perfect as possible; the "improving" effect of the process is an altogether too uncertain and unknown factor to be trusted. having thus given particulars as to the preparation of photograms for reproduction, we may now suggest some various applications thereof. there is a great charm about illustrations which possess a spontaneous and a suggestive character, and in this direction photograms are too often painfully deficient. on rare occasions only, and in the hands of a few artistic workers alone, does photography rise above a certain mechanical and laboured impression, and the rare exceptions are of a character ill-suited for "half-tone" reproduction. for complete whole-page illustrations a photogram has few drawbacks; but when inserted with letterpress, and required for chapter headings and odd corners, the fact that the picture occupies the whole space enclosed within the boundary lines, and includes a great deal of detail which is not required, makes them less attractive. their form and style is dull and monotonous. the accompanying illustration will suggest the manner in which i would recommend photograms to be sometimes employed--especially when the illustrator does not possess the requisite skill to produce the same thing with his brush. the "little gate-keepers" may be taken as an example of what i will call a "stopped-out" photogram; practically no hand-work has been employed upon it beyond the "stopping out" of the original negative. the figures of the children holding open the gate appear in the foreground of a large negative, a landscape near dunster castle; the background is composed of trees of an unpleasing form, and, beyond the topographical interest, the bulk of the subject has little to recommend it. the method of stopping-out is as follows:--the negative should be placed in such a position as to secure a strong transmitted light; it may be fastened to the window, so as to be able to look through it towards the sky, or may be placed in a retouching desk, as used by photographers, if very large plates. in my own practice i use an ordinary easel, sitting to it with my face to the window. on the film side of the negative carefully draw round the more critical outlines, such as figures, faces, trees, &c., with a very fine-pointed brush, or a pen, dipped in opaque black varnish, gradually broadening the line to about a quarter of an inch. now on the reverse, or glass side of the negative, paint out with black varnish all the rest as required; the effect of painting-out on the reverse side being to give a slightly softer or vignetted effect as is seen in the ground and gate-posts of the accompanying illustration. where it is desired to carry the vignetted effect to a greater length, some oil colour, red by preference (which may be thinned with copal varnish), may be used, and when partially dry the finger may be used as a dabber to remove just sufficient to admit of the plate printing very faintly. in such a practice as this a little resourcefulness and ingenuity will stand the operator in good stead, and many modifications and "dodges" will occur as the work proceeds. thus, for instance, if the whole of the painting out be done on the film side, the bare outline of the background and surroundings may be scratched in with a needle so as to give a sketchy appearance in the print; such sketched outline may adhere to the original form or may be entirely invented. some taste must be exercised to prevent the elaborate photographic image from appearing incongruous with the sketched outline. in the accompanying "boy gathering wortleberries," two children have been taken out of an unfortunately grouped trio, a badly developed transparent sky has been converted into a hill in the background, and some little details of landscape have been painted on to the print. a good deal has been said of the modern illustrator shirking or ignoring backgrounds in his illustrations, yet i am inclined to think that in such cases as these, and very many others, the background is best only suggested or omitted altogether. in an illustration which purposes to tell us some little fact, or is designed to beautify and enliven a page, we do not want a whole chapter from nature's book, but just such selected passages which the judgment of the artist illustrator shall select. in utilising photograms in this or any similar manner, it is difficult to place such methods in the hands of those unlearned in art matters without a word of caution and advice on the subject of composition and arrangement; but as it is not within the province of the present work to instruct my readers in art principles, such remarks must be of the briefest. it will be at once seen that whatever be the arrangement or "composition" of nature (as photographed), as soon as the illustrator commences stopping-out certain portions, the form or composition is at once entirely under his control, and the pleasing effect of the finished result will very greatly depend upon a nice arrangement of lines. thus in my "little gate-keepers" the upper outline of the gate forms a striking line running obliquely upward from left to right, and so, to counteract this, i have let the ground take an oblique form in an opposite direction. to have done otherwise and repeated the first-named line would have given the whole thing a one-sided, running-upwards, effect. as a general rule (subject, as all such rules must be, to numerous exceptions), strong oblique lines should converge towards an imaginary centre some distance outside the picture, with some lesser opposing lines to form contrast and promote a balance. neither should the sketched-in or created background repeat the form of the chief object. thus in the "boy gathering wortleberries" the figure forms a vertical line; there are no strong oblique lines, and therefore the middle distance takes the form of a horizontal line. the summit of the hill, had it come directly over the boy's head, would have too evidently repeated his outline, and is therefore placed a little to the right. these are matters of taste, rather than the obedience to prescribed rules, but the reader who desires guidance can hardly do better than read burnett's "essays on art." there are several handbooks to artistic photography which treat of this subject, such as "pictorial effect in photography" and "picture-making by photography," both by h.p. robinson; also "studies in photography," by j. andrews; and many books for the art student. [illustration: worked-up photogram. (_original 6 x 4._)] but, as already said, these are matters of individual taste and artistic instinct, and although i hope by this little book to make the path easy for those who have no especial artistic aptitude, yet, in such things as this, the possessor of such instinctive sense of form is at an advantage, lacking which the attentive study of other people's work and some amount of imitation seems to be the only possible substitute. much knowledge may be gained from analysing, to this end, illustrations which greet the eye on nearly every page of current literature. while many methods of illustration _may_ be learned and practised in a mechanical manner, the course is beset with difficulties and pitfalls, and, to the artistically unlearned, the alternative dangers of gross error and sheer imitation are ever present. mr. henry blackburn has justly said, "the illustrator's best protection against this tendency, his whole armour and coat of mail, is to be an artist first and an illustrator afterwards." yet men have won battles without armour, and when the stripling slew the giant it was the latter who wore the coat of mail. zeal and patient application will do much. in speaking of the application of the photogram to illustrative and decorative purposes, we can hardly leave the subject without making reference to the use to which they may be put for decorative initials, chapter headings, and the like. some very excellent examples of initials were given in mr. gleeson white's articles on "photographing the nude," published in _the photogram_, one of which we reproduce (see p. 48). the subject must be selected so as to harmonise in character and form with the letter required, and such letter may then be pasted, or painted, on the original negative, in which case it will print white; or it may be worked on the photogram with brush and pigment. in only a few cases would the initial, if represented in deep black, have any other than an overpowering and heavy effect. the "tail-piece" on page 56 is a further example which needs little explanation. photograms cut to certain form, and arranged suitably, may make a great variety of chapter headings or tail-pieces. in the example here given, the background or distance was painted out on the negative, and ink lines were drawn around the print before reproduction. in order to ensure a symmetrical and sharp outline, a paper mask may be attached to the negative, and a scroll design painted on the negative, details being drawn in ink on the resulting print. [illustration: the battle of alexandria; 42nd highlanders guarding french prisoners. _by permission of the proprietors of "the illustrated london news." engraved from a wash drawing in black and white by the meisenbach co., ltd., west norwood._] [illustration] chapter vi. _the preparation of originals for half-tone reproduction._ ii. wash drawings, oil paintings, pencil and other drawings. of the remaining methods, whereby originals for reproduction by half-tone process may be made, much less need be said. the same principles of avoiding too fine and delicate gradations of tone apply as when making a simple photogram, and the methods of brush and pencil appeal almost exclusively to the naturally artistic. the wash drawing, which is practically water-colour painting in monochrome, is the most popular, and, in the hands of those artists who have applied themselves to illustration for photo-reproduction, some very wonderful achievements are possible. avoiding blue, green, red, orange, or colours approaching thereto, it matters little what colour is used, but probably black, such as indian ink, or a good neutral grey or sepia, is the best to use. in any case, body colour reproduces better than transparent washes, the delicacy of which are wasted. hence a liberal use of chinese white to lighten the tints is preferable to making the colour thinner with water. lamp black and chinese white work well together and reproduce excellently. in using indian ink, or indeed any colour, successive washes should not be made until each preceding one is dry, thereby escaping a "messy" effect and securing greater vigour. the brush-work must be bold and strong, and, as was said with regard to photograms, include as little of the softer half-tones as possible, the contrasts of light and shade must be accentuated and effect exaggerated to compensate for the degradation of contrast brought about by the process. unless this be remembered, the result can hardly fail to give anything but a very flat poor copy of the original. the artist should hold himself under restraint, and instead of blending one tone with another keep them nicely distinct, limiting himself to some half-dozen different shades or tones between the extremes of white and black, and even then some portions of the white may require to be cut away on the block. many illustrations from wash drawings of to-day are of a daring, spirited style in which figures are drawn with or without backgrounds, and when _well_ done they are undeniably attractive, and may be abundantly met with in such publications as _the graphic_, _illustrated london news_, _sketch_, _in town_, _st. paul's_, and many others. were we considering the subject of art in illustrations, comment on this sort of work not wholly in approbation might be made, but that it is thoroughly up to date, effective, and in ready demand cannot be denied, and it should be carefully studied by the student, who will no doubt profit by the suggestions of technique without necessarily copying or being unduly influenced by the style. some capital effects may be obtained by making a wash drawing on grey-tinted paper and putting in the lights with white, an example of which is here given. decorative designs done in chinese white on dark-brown paper may be successfully produced, but should be made several times larger than required; the reduction in size usually improving the effect. painting in oil in monochrome will offer a welcome field for illustration work to those who are more accustomed to use this medium. a smooth surface canvas or board should be chosen, however, and the painting should be smooth, all _strong_ brush marks, especially in the whites, being omitted or softened out with a badger. in thus softening, however, care should be exercised not to graduate one tone into another, but leave everything firm and distinct, the same restriction of tones being observed as in the other methods referred to previously. in using oil colours, turpentine must be liberally used, or benzine, as this will destroy the excessive gloss on the surface, a feature not liked by the process worker. [illustration: on the river rother. _half-tone from indian-ink wash drawing on grey paper._ (_original 5-5/8 x 3-7/8._)] either water colour or oil may be worked upon a photographic basis in order to save labour or difficulties in drawing. in such cases the photographic print should be as faint as possible; any photographic paper may be used for water colour, but smooth platinotype will probably be the most pleasant. the surfaces to which oil colour may be applied will be naturally more limited, but ready-sized canvas for printing in bromide by artificial light is made, and is largely used for oil painting for the commoner kind of portraits. [illustration: design--chinese white on ordinary brown paper--half-tone. (_original 7-1/4 x 4-3/4._)] it will, however, sometimes be found desirable to economise labour by using a photogram to paint on, thus saving time in re-drawing and ensuring accuracy of elaborate details. moreover, paint may be put upon a photogram, and much matter that is not required, or which may be judged as injurious to the pictorial effect, can be omitted. after the painting is finished, the photographic basis or original will then require to be removed. almost any photographic print may be prepared to receive oil paint by giving it a coating of common "size," and drying it _slowly_ by a fire or otherwise. the painting-on being then proceeded with, and the paint dry, the _back_ of the print is to be sponged or brushed with the iodine solution mentioned on page 114. platinotype paper being already sized requires no further sizing, and by making a weak under-exposed print the subsequent reduction or bleaching of the image can be rendered unnecessary. [illustration: _by permission of the proprietors of "the english illustrated magazine"._ _engraved from pencil sketch by the meisenbach co., ltd., west norwood._] many illustrators are fond of making wash drawings and then strengthening them with pen or pencil. the advantage is not easy to see, a mixed and indifferent character being usually felt. pencil drawing with a reinforcement of a few ink lines, or pencil by itself, is a method which appears to me to be deserving of much more attention and cultivation than it has usually received. [illustration: evening at west mersea. _half-tone from pencil drawing._ (_original 4-1/2 x 3-1/2._)] average pencil drawing is inclined to be too weak, and wanting in those characteristics which have been already pointed out as essential in wash drawings, but if the drawing be vigorous, and the pencil strokes clean and distinct, some capital results may be obtained. in order to procure the grey of pencil work a very fine screen is used, and the printing carefully attended to, so that pencil sketches are hardly suitable for the cheaper and more rapid class of printing. the lights should be cut away on the block. the accompanying sketch of a cottage is simply torn from the leaf of a sketch-book in which it was made without any regard for the requirements of the process; the strong shadows were slightly reinforced with pen and ink, and the whole carefully reproduced. [illustration: cottage at herongate. _half-tone from pencil sketch slightly strengthened with pen and ink._ (_original 4-1/2 x 3-1/2._)] it seems scarcely necessary to refer to the use of water colour and oil paintings in colour as illustrations, inasmuch as if produced for purposes of reproduction, colour would hardly be employed. occasionally, however, one may require to make a photogram of a painting for some such purpose, in doing which it will be best to employ a professed photographer who is accustomed to copying, and this because the photographing of coloured objects possesses peculiar difficulties. plates known as "isochromatic" are used, these having certain dyes mixed with the sensitive film which makes them more sensitive to the least active colours, such as reds and yellows, and in addition a stained film of gelatine or glass is introduced into the lens to further correct the action of the colours. special care, too, in lighting the picture to be copied is requisite, some experts recommending the use of coloured reflectors. if the greens, reds, and yellows are not very pronounced, or the effect is not greatly dependent upon blue and such hues which by reason of their great light activity photograph as white, a fair copy photogram may be produced under ordinary circumstances; but where any doubt exists, i should recommend that the work be done by an experienced operator. throughout the foregoing remarks on the half-tone process, it will have been gathered that its inherent defects constantly stand in the way of our giving it unqualified approval. a recent writer on the subject, mr. c.g. harper, says of half-tone process that it is "inconstant and for ever incapable of rendering wash drawings as well as the wood-engraver." be this as it may--and it may not be possible to gainsay it--each day sees such improvements made in the processes, that even before these sheets are in my reader's hands circumstances may require a change of opinion, and prejudices may have given way under the convincing influences of modern improvements. we may now turn our attention to the more direct processes of reproducing in _line_, in which, more than in any other direction, the revolution which photography has brought about in the art of illustration is evident. [illustration] [illustration] chapter vii. _line process._ the methods of drawing for reproduction by, and in compliance with the requirements of, a line process, are numerous and varied. they include pen, pencil, and crayon, and modifications and combinations of all three. the information which i shall give is intended chiefly for such as know little or nothing of the manner in which such illustrations should be produced. having already mastered the primary methods, the more practised draughtsman, knowing what any special reproduction process requires, will, to some extent, invent his own methods and often resort to some "dodge" which may occur to him, thereby producing some delightful and original result. in describing the half-tone process we found the necessity of having an image in relief of such a character that we could print from it in ink, hence the intervention of a ruled screen, which broke up the flat even tints of the original picture into minute dots. line processes, as the term implies, are used to reproduce an illustration which, as in a pen and ink sketch, possesses no flat tints, and requires no screen, the actual lines being reproduced in relief and printed in facsimile. it will, of course, be remembered that a mechanical process block can only produce in simple black and white: that is, it either reproduces a line, to print black, or omits it altogether; so that a line drawn in grey ink, and another in black, would each reproduce exactly the same, namely black. whereas in wash drawing we were limited to a few varying tones, we are now restricted to two--white and black--and, as may be seen by looking at any good line drawing, various degrees of shade are produced by a multiplicity of lines in greater or less proximity and of varying thickness. before proceeding further, i will give an outline of the three principal processes used for producing drawing in line. these are the swelled gelatine, the albumen, and the bitumen processes;--other processes exist but are little practised, and offer no advantages over the above. the albumen and bitumen methods are processes of etching on zinc and familiarly known as "zinco" line process; not so the swelled gelatine, as will be seen from the following description of it. gelatine of a hard variety is melted in water with the addition of a small quantity of sugar and chrome-alum, and is then spread evenly upon a perfectly clean glass plate. this gelatine film is, when required for use, sensitised by immersion in a solution of bichromate of potassium, methylated spirits, and water. the effect of this is to render the film, to some extent, insoluble where acted upon by light; or, more correctly speaking, non-absorbent when affected by light. a negative, made from the original to be reproduced, is placed in contact with the sensitised film and exposed to light. the film, which it will be remembered is resting upon a glass plate, is then placed in cold water, with the result that those parts which have been protected from light absorb water and swell up, leaving the non-absorbent parts, which represent the image, sunk in. when this operation has been carried far enough, a plaster of paris cast is taken, and from this a wax mould is made, which is practically a duplicate of the gelatine mould from which the plaster cast was made. into the wax mould copper is deposited, precisely as in ordinary electrotyping, thus giving us a copper relief from a gelatine or wax mould made direct from the original.[2] this process, while a favourite with the artist, is not so readily used by the process worker because it is somewhat expensive, the average cost of a block being from 9d. to 1s. 6d. per inch. but the results are very fine, especially when a drawing has been made in ignorance or regardless of the requirements of process reproduction. the zinc etching processes, by which the great mass of newspaper blocks are made, are less regardful of delicacies of execution which the swelled gelatine often reproduces with astonishing fidelity.[3] in the albumen process the sensitive film is composed of egg albumen, bichromate of ammonium or potassium, and water, which is spread upon a _zinc_ plate. after exposure to light under the negative, the whole surface is inked over with transfer ink, and then immersed in cold water and gently rubbed. the ink will wash away from those portions which have been protected from light by the opaque portions of the negative, and will adhere to those affected by light. thus on a bed of zinc we have an ink image on a substratum of albumen, the exact copy of the original. the zinc has now to be etched with acid. with bitumen the procedure is somewhat similar. the bitumen is first treated with ether, which will dissolve out only those constituents which, not being sensitive to light, are not required. the residue is dissolved in benzole and spread upon a zinc plate, as with the albumen process. after exposure to light under the negative, the bitumen film is washed with turpentine, which takes away all except those portions acted upon by light. the film is next washed in water and placed in a very weak solution of nitric acid, which at once attacks those portions of the zinc unprotected by bitumen. if what now remains of the film be inked over we shall have, as in the last process, an ink image of the drawing on a zinc base, and the plate is now ready for etching. the etching is performed by successive baths of diluted nitric acid, gum and powdered resin being applied to the plate after each etching, and heated so as to run down the sides of the ridges of metal (which at each successive etching bath are gradually growing deeper) until the "biting" or etching be considered deep enough. the ink and substratum of albumen or bitumen are then cleaned off with american potash, and the plate is finally washed. rebiting, or still further etching, may be required before the zinc relief is ready to be mounted on a wood block "type high" for printing purposes. as in the half-tone process, i do not pretend to have given working instructions, but only such general particulars as may interest the artist or draughtsman whose work is to be reproduced. for either of these processes the average cost is 4d. to 6d. per square inch, with a minimum charge of 5s. for a single block. each process has its special uses and applications; the process craftsman (whom nothing delights so much as a sharp, brilliant line) will usually recommend the bitumen, but the albumen method will often give a more pleasing result. as a general rule, if your work is placed in good hands, the particular process to be used is best left to them to decide, and if a proof be submitted some little alterations may be suggested which can be carried out by an engraver. in the subsequent pages of this book i shall make little reference to these processes; enough has been said, and they are no part of the draughtsman's business, only it will be well to keep in mind throughout such general particulars as have just been given. little has been said with reference to the negatives used in reproduction; but as the draughtsman who also possesses some knowledge of photography may be tempted to copy his work himself, it may be well to point out that the negative image must be as sharp as it is possible to get it. the most trifling deviation in focussing, unnoticeable in ordinary photography, will tell seriously in making a reproduction; moreover the kind of negative one may have learned to make for ordinary photographic purposes will not do here. the function of the negative is, it will be remembered, to protect certain portions of the film from light, and to freely admit light where the image is, hence the denser portions of the negative must be very nearly, if not absolutely, opaque, and the image as nearly transparent as possible; thus giving what photography proper has taught us to abhor--a black and white print. with ordinary plates, the required amount of density is not always easy to get, and special photo-mechanical plates are supplied by mr. john carbutt, of wayne junction, philadelphia, pa., which give the desired result. these plates are slow, thickly coated, and capable of giving great density, all of which are characteristics peculiarly suitable to the purpose. but in the end the process man will not thank you for saving him the trouble of making a negative; he is accustomed to make negatives of a certain kind, and very properly prefers to do this himself. not the least contributory towards a good reproduction is the power which reduction from the original places in our hands. when making the copy negative it is most usual to make it much smaller, or, inversely, the original drawing is made a good deal larger than it is required to appear (see illustration on page 72). a somewhat ragged line of (say) one-eighth of an inch in width, would, if sufficiently reduced in size, come out as a fine line no thicker than a hair. though reduction carried to such a degree would be impracticable, a drawing twelve inches by nine inches, reduced to eight by six, will usually be advantageous. not only is a certain degree of coarseness and roughness thus removed, but the lines themselves become smoother and rounder; lines, however, which are very close together, are apt to close up into a solid mass, both from the reduction and because lines sometimes have a tendency to thicken in reproduction--a point to be guarded against when drawing. if a drawing be examined through a simple double concave lens, that is to say the reverse of a magnifying-glass, the effect of reproduction can be seen, and the result anticipated; such lenses, called "diminishing glasses," are sold expressly for the purpose. the reader need hardly be reminded that everything on the drawing will be reproduced, except perhaps _blue_ pencil lines, this colour being photographically white; hence all finger-marks, spots, and stains must be carefully avoided. no doubt these, and sundry faults in drawing, can be cut away by the engraver, but an ideal block is one which requires no such helps to perfection, but which comes from the etcher's hands ready for use, and to such an ideal even the tyro must work. the strong point and chief recommendation of a process block is that it reproduces in _facsimile_ the draughtsman's original; once introduce hand-work and it begins to lose this character; moreover expense and delay in production are incurred, again depriving the mechanical block of its distinctive and valuable features. sundry elemental methods of getting an image on to zinc for etching without the intervention of photography may perhaps suggest themselves to the reader. thus, for instance, an outline drawing may be made in transfer ink on transfer paper and at once laid down on the zinc and etched. a glass plate, coated with a soft opaque substance, may have a design scratched thereon and be used in place of a negative; but such methods are crude and limited, and need not be considered here. we will now pass to an examination of the various kinds of drawings suitable for reproduction by relief process blocks, describing as nearly as possible how they are made and with what materials. [illustration] chapter viii. _methods of line reproduction._ to those who have not previously given the matter attention, it will be a source of some astonishment to find a wide range of tones, that is varying degrees of light and shade, may be suggested by so simple and unpromising a means as black lines on a white ground. perhaps no better means exists for getting some insight of this than by careful and persistent study of the line illustrations constantly appearing in the better class periodicals, such as _the english illustrated_, _the strand_, _harper's_, _sketch_, _black and white_, and many others. in these we get frequent examples of the work of different men, and shall soon begin to realise not only the wide possibilities of line work, but the extremely different styles of various artists; and so long as the practice is not too long continued, or too much relied on, some advantageous exercise may be found in carefully copying such examples; being watchful in so doing that, quite independent of outline, our copy suggests the same materials, fabrics, &c., as are suggested in the original, and that this suggestion be arrived at by the same kind of treatment. in this kind of drawing there is obviously no such thing actually as "tone," everything being black or white, and yet it is possible to suggest every gradation and most delicate tonal relationships of colours by this elementary means; the varied textures of objects can also be most convincingly suggested.[4] probably one of the first things that will strike us, on inspecting many styles of drawing, is the fact that while some draughtsmen expend enormous labour in filling the whole design with multitudinous strokes of the pen, others obtain effect by a very few lines and great expanses of white paper. a great number of strokes rapidly put in, in the manner of shading with pencil, and a few bold lines slowly and deliberately drawn, constitute the two chief differences of style. in the latter, the principal study is perhaps to know _what to leave out_, and nowhere is the knowledge and skill of the artist better seen than when the subject is satisfactorily rendered with the least possible amount of labour, there being not one unnecessary or superfluous line. such powerful sketches, by mr. reginald cleaver, may be seen in _the daily graphic_, and by mr. phil may in _the sketch_. in these drawings a maximum of effect is attained with a minimum of work, and one feels that every line is essential and not one can be spared. in most cases, for all the purposes of illustration, a black coat need not be suggested by any more lines of shading than a white gown; but the artist who so determines may carry his work to a higher standard and, with greater labour, even succeed in giving a suggestion of colour in the objects portrayed. but, even in such elaborate work, there should be no more execution than is essential, and the finished drawing should in no case make its elaborate execution felt. the thing which must first impress the spectator is the success of the general effect; never should there be first awakened a feeling of astonishment at the extraordinary amount of patience bestowed, or labour expended. if the first remark called forth is one of admiration for the extraordinary _dexterity_, we may be pretty sure that the draughtsman has been betrayed into the commonly besetting sin of over-elaboration, and whatever success has been attained in the effect rendered it would have been probably better if produced with less effort. it would have been more forcible if not overwhelmed, as it were, with so much work. [illustration: drawing by mr. phil. may. _from "english illustrated magazine". an example of bold open drawing._] never, then, let the delight which we may feel in making a pretty "finished" drawing get the better of our judgment when drawing for reproduction. remember that "prettiness" comes very near to "pettiness," and delicacy and fineness are apt to become "niggling" and pedantic; coarseness is a lesser danger than excessive neatness. much of this, as already suggested, may be more clearly learned from the careful examination and comparison of good published drawings. imitate, and copy if you like, up to a certain degree, remembering always that you are thus copying merely _to ascertain by what means other men express their ideas in line, and not for your own practice_. in like manner etchings, engravings, and indeed every kind of print made up of _lines_, may be studied and, to some extent, copied; but only in order to familiarise oneself with what lines, and combinations of lines, may be made to do; but the danger of continuing such a practice cannot be too much emphasised. every artist or draughtsman, be he beginner or expert, must draw for himself and according to his own feelings and promptings. in every department of art the successful have had their imitators, and these again their imitators, and at each successive stage the further one gets from originality, the more trammelled, the more impotent and hopelessly beyond the possibility of really great work. that the drawing is not the end in view, but merely a means to an end (that end being the reproduction), is a matter to which i shall refer later on; but it should here be noted, and moreover the student may be reminded, that every line and every mark which he makes will be _similarly reproduced_ by the process. when drawing for wood engraving, the engraver could be instructed to strengthen this or leave out that; not so the mechanical block, which is to be regarded as normally an untouched and purely mechanical thing, only to be altered by hand on the rarest possible occasions, and then only when time and circumstances permit. this character of indiscriminating _facsimile_ is not to be considered as a disadvantage in any way; the good draughtsman is thankful for it, he knows what to reckon upon, and to all it must be an incentive to do one's best. it is the same difference as between a mirror and an average photographer's portrait: the mirror may show us all our faults and yet, if we have any beauty, it does not belie us; while we know how often the ordinary commercial _carte-de-visite_ is unreliable. in the course of studying various reproductions we shall probably have become aware that the same things may be very differently rendered by different hands. thus trees and foliage in landscape may be represented by an outline, and a few black patches and dots, or by numerous clearly drawn parallel lines, or yet again by irregular strokes crossing and recrossing each other; evidently, then, there is no intention here of _imitating_ nature. and so, throughout, the aim of the pen draughtsman is to _suggest_, rather than to portray things exactly as they are. lines, scratches, or dots, cannot pretend to imitate leafy foliage; and, be it noted, the same lines, scratches, or dots, may be similarly employed, in the same drawing, to suggest something quite different. it is in this employment of various pen marks, to suggest the composition of distinct objects, that individuality of style reveals itself; as does the discreet using of white blanks to express or suggest widely different things. i have presumed throughout these pages that i may be addressing many to whom the idea of drawing in pen and ink (or other material) for reproduction, is entirely a new one; hence it will be necessary to examine the pen strokes which go to make up a complete drawing. let it be well understood that many things are possible to the accomplished artist which must not be attempted by the beginner; later on we may learn, from our own experience, little freaks and tricks of our own, but we must first of all content ourselves with simple conscientious work. in the following examples of pen and ink shading we have first the kind of strokes which the pen would make if used rapidly, as in writing, and without any particular care. in bold sketchy work this sort of handling may be permissible, but the student should practise shading by such lines as in no. 2. these are drawn rapidly in succession, the wrist being rested firmly on the table and the hand quite free, as in rapid writing. commence at the top left-hand corner and work downwards; notice that each stroke is equidistant, parallel, and of the same thickness throughout its length. look at this from a little distance and it appears like a grey, flat, even tint. this simple "shading" should be tried many times until perfect ease and certainty is acquired, each stroke of the pen being firm, distinct, and black; each stroke intended and nothing uncertain about it. [illustration: no. i. no. ii. no. iii. examples of pen and ink shading. _reduced to about half the size of original._] a good exercise will be to draw a square, and practise filling it with a flat tint consisting of lines either in the same direction, or else of lines in varying directions, and then with lines crossing each other or "cross-hatching." having now discovered how a flat tint may be laid down, and how such may be made uniformly or gradually darker, we may apply such methods to simple objects as the cube and vase here shown. [illustration: (_original 1-1/2 x 1-1/4._)] by this time we may feel well on the road towards accomplishing any general subject which we are skilful enough to outline. of the various mechanical helps to drawing outline, for those who lack the required skill, i shall speak hereafter. [illusutration: (_original 4 x 2-1/4._)] it need hardly be pointed out that as there is, in nature, no such thing as outline: it is purely an arbitrary means of indicating form, and separating one space from another; whether such spaces be occupied with shading or not, but especially where there is no shading. at first it may perhaps be best to make a clear sharp outline of uniform thickness; but later we shall find we may often advantageously dispense entirely with outline, letting the shading only distinguish one object from another. notice the absence of outline in the hills in "near berry head," page 94. a little experience will show us that an imperfect outline, and one which varies in thickness with various objects, will greatly assist in the attractiveness of our sketches. a too rigid outline, as also a too close adherence to what has been said about the precision of the shading strokes, tends to a stiff formal appearance which is not to be desired, and destroys anything like originality and individuality of style. in the accompanying drawing notice these points--the irregularity of _outline_, in some parts its entire absence, the value of white spaces, and the suggestive little dots on the white foreground. i have already remarked that the drawing is only to be regarded as a means to an end, and must therefore be made not so as to give satisfaction in itself, but so as to produce a good mechanical reproduction. however irksome some artists may feel this working for process reproduction, it is not accompanied with any great difficulties, nor are its special requirements so very restricting, if only we understand what is wanted. two influences, for good or for evil, exist between the original and the reproduction (two influences to be taken into account, and reckoned with when we are drawing, so as to produce a definite effect in the reproduction), and these are reduction and thickening of the lines. a diminishing glass, used to examine any drawings, will at once show the effect of reduction or diminishing, and in rough and rapid drawing this reduction is depended upon to remove irregularities and coarseness.[5] [illustration: in harbour. _pen drawing._ (_original 7 x 6._)] it may be taken for granted that nearly every reproduction we see has been reduced from the original, some more, some less, and while generally speaking we may say that the effect of reduction is to refine and soften; the beginner, however, will sometimes be troubled by finding an increase in the thickness of the lines which is less agreeable, and is very fickle, and can only to a limited degree be counted upon as to the result. hence the need for keeping darkly shaded portions as open as possible: that is to say, when lines are very close together, or there is cross-hatching, see that the lines do not needlessly run into each other, but that the little white interstices are well preserved. keep the shading open (the rough net-like effect can be got rid of by reduction), and remember that not only do some lines thicken up, and so engulf the intervening white, but in reduction the white spaces reduce as well as the black lines, and may be reduced into invisibility. some definite rules have sometimes been suggested to guide the process man as to the amount of reduction best suited for average work; these, however, like many other rules of the kind, are quite arbitrary. on this subject mr. henry blackburn says, with an authority based upon the experience of reducing, to various scales, some thousands of drawings: "as to the amount of reduction that a drawing will bear in reproduction, it cannot be sufficiently widely known that in spite of rules laid down there is no rule about it." [illustration: _same size as original._] in some instances no reduction is required, and the reproduction is so exact a replica of the original that it can hardly be distinguished, yet, "on the other hand, the value of reduction for certain styles of drawing can hardly be over-estimated"; and again, "every drawing has its scale, to which it is best reduced." the effect of the reduction may be seen in the accompanying three examples, the first being the same size as the original, and the others reduced as marked. [illustration: (_original 4-3/4 x 4-1/4._)] until some experience has been gained in this direction, and apart from the exigencies of the space the illustration is required to fill, the process engraver will probably be the best authority for us to consult as regards the amount of reduction suitable to each individual drawing. a reduction of one-third is a very usual one, so long as the drawing is not unusually rough or clumsy. referring to the effect of reduction upon lines laid down to express a flat tint, mr. h.r. robertson gives some interesting notes upon the number of lines required to be drawn in an inch square to produce an even grey tint. i do not think too much importance should be attached to such calculations, as they are likely to embarrass the draughtsman and make him far too much concerned with the mere mechanism of his work; still, the matter is an interesting one. he says that from experiment he finds it will usually require about 108 to 120 lines within an inch to give to the naked eye the idea of a flat tint or wash, but that about 80 to an inch is as many as can be drawn to the inch by unaided vision; eighty lines to the inch gives 120 in 1-1/2 inches, which, if reduced in reproduction by one-third, will give the requisite number of 120 to the inch which mr. robertson finds desirable. the effect produced, however, by parallel lines of shading alters considerably when the direction of the lines alters, and i think it is only necessary for us to glance through "academy notes," or any similar collection of sketches made by artists who understand the importance of conveying suggestions with pencil or pen, to assure us that far fewer lines are in many cases quite capable of giving the idea of an even tint. such rules and figures are interesting, and perhaps useful, but they are certainly dangerous if the student places himself too much in subjection to their influence. the beginner in pen drawing is probably destined to meet with severe disappointments at first from the manner in which the process will reproduce his work, and the inclination is to blame the process as unsympathetic, or the process man as incompetent, whereas the fault lies with the drawing, which is unsuitable through a want of proper regard for the requirements of process. for instance, nothing is commoner with the student than to find such portions of our drawing as distance, sky, and the more delicate shading come up heavy and black--quite different to the original, and robbing such parts of it of all delicacy; or it may be that lines which we believed to be fine, smooth, flowing lines, reproduce as broken and irregular. [illustration: the willow harvest. (_original 7 x 14._)] the root of both these evils will probably be found in the fact that in our drawing we have been producing light and distant effects by _grey_ lines instead of fine black ones. drawing with the pen insufficiently charged with ink, or with ink diluted with water, will give these grey lines; but the line process, recognising nothing but black and white, either reproduces the grey lines as black, or reproduces them imperfectly as broken and irregular. here, then, will be another matter for the beginner to exercise himself in: namely, the drawing of good _black_ lines and an avoidance of _grey_ ones. with drawings made on a fairly large scale, so that every line can be made firmly and boldly, we are less likely to fall into making grey lines. with etchings, in which the image is in intaglio, gradation in the lines is possible; because, according to the depth of the etched line, a greater or less amount of ink is contained, and a grey line can be printed therefrom. and so, for this reason, etchings are misleading if used as copies or examples from which to draw in pen and ink. when the drawing has been first drawn in with pencil and inked over, every vestige of pencil marks must be carefully removed, otherwise the process reproduces them, not as soft grey marks, but as black as those made in ink, and some very unpleasant surprises will be the result. [illustration] [illustration] chapter ix. _tools and materials for line drawing._ to produce a line drawing which shall comprise such characteristics as have now been enunciated, three essentials will be required: a white surface, a black fluid, and a suitable instrument to convey the fluid at will. these we will take _seriatim_, in their conventional order--papers, inks, and pens. the material most largely used for drawing on is probably white bristol board, of four-sheet or six-sheet thickness, and this will answer better than anything else in almost all cases. some attention should be paid to the tint of the card, many cardboards having a tendency to turn yellow with age and exposure. a cardboard of a pure white, or a slight tendency to a bluish tint, is what we require, a blue card being in photographic reproduction practically the same as white. upon the surface of the cardboard will greatly depend the ease with which we shall get clean sharp lines. with many cardboards, in which the surface is apparently smooth, the pen finds irregularities and sometimes obstacles to its smooth and even progress, catching and "spluttering" over little particles of hard matter or hair. a good bristol board, such as is procurable at any artists' colourman, presents no such difficulties, and the making of a fine smooth line should be quite easy. messrs. reynolds and sons supply various kinds of boards equally suitable for pen work. the bank note bristol manufactured by f.w. devoe & co. is also especially adapted to this work. the process man will very likely recommend you to use a "clay surface" board, and no doubt in some instances these have their advantages. on these clay boards the pen strokes are remarkably clean and crisp, and have a good deal the appearance of having been produced mechanically rather than by hand; a very fine line, however, is difficult to produce, the result being rather like, but in a much less degree, drawing on an enamelled card on which the ink spreads; at the same time, however, there will be less liability to make grey lines. a further advantage of a clay surface is that the surface is easily removable with the blade of a penknife, so that faults may be scraped or cut away--a feature put to very important use in boards specially made for scraping, which are described on p. 96. for large, bold work a clay board is useful, but it should not be too often used on account of the hard, mechanical appearance of the drawing. whatman papers, or boards having a surface of whatman paper, are also much used, and these are procurable in two surfaces: h.-p., or "hot-pressed," the smoothest; and n., or "_not_ hot-pressed," the surface of which is sufficiently rough to make it very pleasant to work on, but not too much so. if using the h.-p., the surface must be wiped over with a clean wet sponge to remove a certain gloss which the process of hot-pressing imparts to it. there is no particular virtue in any special paper or board beyond whiteness, evenness, and purity; any paper having these qualities may be used with success. i should not recommend the beginner to experiment with too many kinds; he will in the end be probably no nearer satisfaction than at the outset. start on ordinary white bristol and persevere, attributing failures to your own incompetence rather than to any fault in the materials. some of the very best things have been produced on any scrap of notepaper or other white surface that has been at hand. of suitable black fluids there are many varieties, and the beginner may as easily concern himself a great deal too much about inks as about any other part of the necessary materials. cakes or sticks of dry pigment, or pans and tubes of moist colour, may be employed, but for general convenience a fluid black will be best. these are of two kinds: "fixed," which is not removable by water, and "ordinary"; and it may be well to consider beforehand the work we are going to do, and use the indelible, or fixed, ink if necessary. i mean by this that we may sometimes require to use chinese white over our black lines to produce whites, which could not easily be left as blanks, in which case it will be necessary to use a fixed black, else the chinese white would smear and spoil the black. the introduction of chinese white is, however, an exception rather than the rule, and when the use of an indelible ink is not important, stephens' ebony stain is admirable. it works easily, and although it dries with a slight gloss, which is usually a disadvantage, it reproduces well. it can be immediately thinned when becoming too thick by the addition of a little water, care being taken not to dilute it sufficiently to make it grey. it is sold in bottles at sixpence and a shilling, and is manufactured by the well-known makers of writing ink, but may be procured from the artists' colourmen. messrs. reeves and sons have introduced a fluid black, called artists' black; this is made both "indelible" and "not indelible." this has become very popular of late, and is largely used; the not indelible, with water, making fine greys for wash drawing. higgins' american "waterproof" india ink is also extensively used, and has received high commendation. fixed indian ink is sold in fluid form, and lampblack and ivoryblack in tubes and cakes. ordinary writing ink is quite unsuitable; it "runs" when fine lines cross, and is either too blue or too brown in colour. common indian ink is also too brown to reproduce well, so that the beginner will do wisely to use one of the above-named blacks, which are prepared for the purpose, and so diminish his chances of failure. all are sold in bottles at sixpence or one shilling. not taking account of eccentricities of accomplished artists, who may use some special medium to their fancy, and whose very mastership guarantees their success in whatever medium they may work, a dull intense black line on a pure white surface is the ideal to be attained. it may be mentioned that if for any exceptional purpose the reproduction is to be printed in coloured ink, the original had better be drawn in a like colour, always excepting blue or anything approaching thereto. but brown, green, red, and orange are permissible, and will photograph correctly. a black drawing, reproduced in brown or other colour, is apt to give a very different impression, and still more so if a colour be reproduced in black. chinese white has been referred to, and should certainly always be at hand. if applied fairly thickly with a fine brush it will efface any faulty ink marks, and may also be used to introduce lights into shading which has been worked up too solid. it is also useful for putting in small lights, as in windows, or longitudinal white streaks on water which has been shaded in dark. it should be of good quality, and kept well stoppered in a strong glass or stone bottle. with regard to the pen to be used there is more latitude for individual taste, as what one man can do with a given pen another cannot. the manufacturers who have given most attention to the requirements of draughtsmen are j. gillott and sons, the well-known makers of pens of all kinds. many kinds of brandauer's and blanzy poure and co.'s pens are also very good. it should not be supposed that a very fine-pointed pen is essential, for on the contrary a small tool often seems to lead to the making of small, niggling work. mr. c.g. harper finds a well-cut quill pen delightful for making pen studies, and says "it flies over all descriptions of paper, rough or smooth, without the least catching of fibres or spluttering. it is the freest and least trammelling of pens, and seems almost to draw of its own volition." a glass drawing-pen, such as is used by mechanical designers, &c., has its uses, but it is only capable of making a uniformly thick line. an assortment of one dozen of gillott's pens can be obtained for one shilling, and from these our selection can be made. brandauer's no. 515 and no. 342 e.f. are well spoken of, and have the advantage of not becoming scratchy with use. a flexible pen, capable of making fine as well as thick strokes, working evenly, and not soon worn out, is what should be sought, and having found two or three kinds to suit, stick to them, and make yourself thoroughly master of their capabilities. should any difficulty exist in obtaining a special pen, an ordinary "f" writing nib will not lead you far wrong, while for bold vigorous drawing i should prefer a gold "j"; it is clear from this that mere fineness of point is not an essential matter. the possibilities of a particular pen are not learnt all at once, it should be persevered with and understood. it has been recommended that two or three pens of different character should respectively be used on different portions of the same drawing. there may be advantages in this, especially if a drawing contain a very wide variation in quality of its lines. it may sometimes be that very bold thick work in foreground is associated with fine delicate work in distance and sky. some artists prefer to use a fine brush instead of a pen. a small sable brush, having the outside hairs cut away, or a long hair brush known as "tracer" or "rigger," is capable of making fine lines hardly to be distinguished from pen strokes. at first they are slow to work with, but considerable rapidity may be acquired with practice. the lines are rounder and not so harsh as those made with the pen, and it is said that an artist who has once accustomed himself to use a brush never goes back to pens. [illustration: a field path. _bitumen process._ (_original 7-1/2 x 6-1/2_). [_see p. 86._] ] the foregoing materials and pens are for the production of simple black line drawings on a white ground, and it is in this direction that i should advise the student to persevere and cultivate himself. all the beauty and expressiveness of lines is only realised after long practice; and, of the many ways of illustrating by line process, it is the best means of self-education, compared with which all others are flippant and inconsequent. [illustration: a field path. _swelled gelatine._ (_original 7-1/2 x 6-1/2._) [_see p. 86._]] still, with some truth it has been said that it is only by experiment that we learn to achieve distinction, and so after a while we may indulge in experiments in other directions, and try our hand at the various tricks which the ingenious have placed within our reach. these will be described in chapter xi. [illustration] chapter x. _comparison of processes._ the method of drawing in line referred to in the two preceding chapters may be regarded as traditional and of the normal character, and we shall next take under consideration various other methods of drawing equally suitable for reproduction by line process. in the meantime, we will see how the processes for producing blocks in relief may be applied and see by a few examples how the results compare. with the artist, the swelled gelatine process will probably rank as first favourite, and this because it is less exacting in its requirements. although only rendering the drawing in black and white, it is certainly more sympathetic, and does to some extent recognise the weaker impression of a grey line. by this process many ordinary black and white drawings, made without any regard for the demands of the process man, reproduce well, but would be impossible by the cheaper zinc etching; moreover, it is admirably suited to reproduce drawings in which a mixture of pen and pencil has been employed, an example of which will be given later. [illustration: moonlight. _example of medium tint._ (_original 4 x 7._)] the artist or draughtsman is not, however, usually master of the situation; the printer and publisher will use the cheaper methods, to suit which we must adopt, to a certain degree, a conventional manner. if a drawing be seriously studied, it is often surprising how much of the feeling of the draughtsman is conveyed to us through the strokes of his pen or pencil, and it is just this feeling which the gelatine process preserves in great measure, but which the commoner methods sift out and give us a mere mechanical translation. still, by suiting ourselves to these more ordinary processes, much may be done to compensate for the lack of sympathy which they display. i have given (pp. 82, 83) two reproductions from the identical drawing, in order that comparison may be made. the bitumen process is characterised by the crude, sincere, line given, ignoring many finer lines, and bringing others up black and hard. the albumen process is the one by which probably the greatest number of blocks are made in this country, and, when carried to a high degree of perfection, yields some very pleasing results which, though inferior to swelled gelatine, are better than the bitumen. ordinarily, however, there is not very much to choose between these two, and a very great number of examples would have to be examined in order to properly exhibit the differences. the comparison of results by these three processes is a subject which has given rise to some controversy. the artist, who has also usually been the author in this matter, has pronounced favourably for the swelled gelatine; but in this the process expert is in disagreement. after comparing carefully a variety of results, i am inclined to think that perhaps too much importance is attached to the supposed advantages of the swelled gelatine, and two powerful contributories to success are not sufficiently considered. swelled gelatine is not used for ordinary newspaper work, and is charged at a much higher rate; and for this reason, probably, greater care is taken in the block-making, and, being used in higher class publications, it is more carefully printed from than is possible in the vast majority of cases when the cheaper blocks are used. the use of zinc blocks in cheap, rapidly printed publications probably prohibits the process having full justice done to it, and we are apt to judge its possibilities by the examples we too often see. cheapness, short time, and rapid printing are factors calculated to spoil the reputation of any process. if bitumen and albumen could receive the same amount of care and attention as is customarily bestowed upon the more expensive swelled gelatine, there seems little reason why results should not be equal. [illustration: pen drawing. _three different shading media._ (_original 8 x 5-3/4._)] [illustration: untouched line block. (_original 7 x 6._)] in considering the application of such various methods, we are brought to that somewhat singular contest which seems to exist in every sphere of work wherein art is concerned, it is the disagreement and misunderstanding which exists between artist and craftsman. the enterprising endeavour of the process-block maker is to perfect his process to produce a clean, bright, faultless piece of technical work; a process which shall produce from all kinds of originals an equally brilliant print, so that, when he is called to reproduce a special effect which the artist may desire, he seems incapable of understanding as desirable anything which falls short of his own arbitrary standard. it is as though the artist's colourman said to the painter, you must varnish all your picture so as to show the full richness and gloss of the colours, no matter whether the painter reckoned on some degree of dulness to give a certain effect. [illustration: line block lightened by roulette. (_original 7 x 6._)] so the material maker will aim at supplying canvas or board of as fine and smooth a surface as possible, and it is at first difficult to persuade him that the artist is right in desiring a coarse, rough surface. the process man and material maker are ever on the side of polish, brilliancy, and fineness. execution and craft invariably seem to be at war with feeling and art, and i would strongly caution my reader against being too much concerned about the relative virtues of various processes, or too much prejudiced by what others may have to say. whatever your artist friend may advise is pretty certain to be discounted by your block-maker; and in course of time, and after experience, you will probably form your own individual opinion, which will be at variance with both. it is at this stage that more particular mention may be made of the use of the _roulette_ to correct by hand, on the zinc block, the misinterpretations of the process. the roulette consists of a sharp-edged toothed wheel of minute proportions, which is passed backwards and forwards across lines which have come up too black, thus breaking such lines into tiny dots, which therefore print greyer. it is well to know that such a revision of the block, as first turned out, is possible, and we shall sometimes be glad to make use of it. still, as before pointed out, such hand-work must not be relied upon. [illustration] [illustration] chapter xi. _other methods adapted for line reproduction._ when a large space is required to be covered with an even tint, an immense saving of labour and time may be effected by the use of "shading media"; but beyond a mere saving of labour they may, if discreetly used, be made to produce some very desirable effects. [illustration] if applied to the entire surface, the result is very like a half-tone process block in appearance. this is seen in the illustration on page 85, in which the shading medium has been applied everywhere except in the few white spots. such an application is particularly useful for evening or twilight subjects, but it is more usual to employ them locally, especially for skies. they are also largely used by some artists for figures, in the manner shown in illustration on page 65, in which the shading is so effectively used on the waistcoat and hat of the man. the pattern of the tint varies greatly, there being more than a dozen distinct designs, a few examples of which are given on page 91. [illustration: shading medium on pen sketch vignette. (_original 5 x 4._)] these shading media are introduced on to the zinc block after printing from the negative (see chap. vii.), for which purpose transparent sheets of gelatine, on which the required pattern has been engraved and previously inked, are used. by pressing these on to the albumen or other surface of the block, an ink impression is transferred, which accordingly protects the surface during etching in the same manner as the rest of the picture. the "shading" need not be restricted to the blank spaces only, but may be pressed on to any part or the whole of the block; and there is no reason why two or more different patterns should not be used in combination on the same subject. the gelatine sheets being transparent, the process worker can see exactly where to apply them, and can do so with considerably intricacy. in sending to the etchers a drawing in which a shading medium is to be introduced, the practice is to mark such portions as are to be shaded by scribbling over with blue pencil; this is at once understood better than written instructions. it had better be stated whether a dark or light tint be required; also whether it is to be vignetted or shaded all over. vignetting is the most usual, as seen in the accompanying block, page 92. it is usual for the process people to make a slight additional charge for the introduction of tints; especially if at all complicated. and, of course, if special experiments in the combination of various tints be intended, requiring special care, fair consideration must be made for the additional trouble and labour. like most mechanical aids to drawing, shading media must be adopted with discretion, and they can at best be considered as a poor substitute for pure hand-work; they economise time and are useful in an emergency, but i should certainly caution the beginner against the too frequent use of them. an ingenious method of imparting a certain greyness to some portions of a drawing is illustrated by the accompanying sketch "near berry head." this is known as "splatter work," and consists of sprinkling minute dots of the black drawing fluid wherever required. the drawing is first executed in the usual way, and all portions which are not to be "splattered" upon are covered over with pieces of paper cut to the necessary shape and size. a stiff bristle brush is then inked; nothing serving for the purpose better than an ordinary tooth-brush. holding the brush in the left hand, with the bristles downwards, the bristles are to be briskly stroked with any handy stick of wood; in this manner a spray of tiny dots of ink is splashed on to the paper beneath. [illustration: near berry head. _pen drawing--foreground dotted by "splatter" work._ (_original 6-1/4 x 5._)] perhaps a finer and more regular spray may be obtained by taking the brush in the right hand and brushing it over the fine teeth of a comb, by which means the splashes can be with more certainty directed to a particular spot. superfluous ink should be struck off the brush before sprinkling the drawing, and some portions of the protecting paper masks can be removed before others if some of the "splattering" be required to extend further. it will be best to use an indelible or fixed ink for this work, as, even after practice, some ugly splashes are apt to occur, which will have to be afterwards corrected with chinese white. splatter work is more largely practised in america, and is just one of those tricks which in dexterous hands is sometimes so peculiarly happy in its results, and yet so apparently unresponsive in others. we now come to consider an important group of drawing methods, known as "scratch boards." in speaking of white cardboards, reference was made to clay surface boards, and the possibility of removing any fault by scraping with a knife. we have now to do with a selection of boards in which the clay surface and the scraping-out possibilities are carried to the utmost practical extent, and made use of as a chief method of representation, not as a means to correct mistakes. these boards are of two principal kinds: 1st. white, on which are impressed white indented lines, giving the whole a ribbed appearance; and, 2nd, black reticulations, or lines printed at right angles to the impressed grain or ribs. canvas-like reticulations, irregular grain or "aquatint" dots, and diagonal or vertical lines, are the most useful patterns (of which there are many); they may be obtained at f.w. devoe & c.t. raynolds co. and most of the dealers in materials, and are known as scratch-out, scrape-out or stipple boards. both boards are of a somewhat similar description, differing only in the method of producing the pattern. in the white boards the marks are _impressed_; whereas in the black ones they are _printed_. taking the black patterns first, the grain printed thereon supplies us with a flat grey tint composed of numerous fine black lines; this for convenience we will call the _full_ tint. now if we gently scrape the clay surface with the sharp point of a knife, moving it _across_ the black lines, they will be removed from the top of the impressed ridges which cross at right angles, thus at once converting the _black lines_ into rows of _black dots_, and giving a lighter tint which we will call a half-tint. closely examine the accompanying series of specimens, and this will be at once recognised. [illustration: no. i. no. ii. dots. horizontal lines.] [illustration: no. iii. no. iv. diagonal lines. aquatint.] [illustration: the scraper.] examples of black grain "scrape boards." (_original size._) in no. 1 we have a board with parallel ruling, as supplied by the makers; in no. 2, a few strokes of the knife have converted some of the lines into dots; in no. 3, the knife has been used more vigorously, scraping away lines altogether and thus producing plain whites. this, then, gives us full tint, half-tint, and white. now if we work with pencil or pen on the full tint, building up the drawing precisely as if drawing on plain white card, and then scrape out, as just illustrated, it will be seen what a wide range of "tones" will be suggested. [illustration: no. i. no. ii. no. iii.] the drawing is to be put in first either with crayon, pencil, or ink, and the scraping done afterwards; by this means any mistakes can readily be scratched out; no small consolation to the unpractised. but, on the other hand, a faulty scratch or scrape cannot be rectified, hence the greater need for care. the manner of handling the knife (an ordinary penknife, or a specially constructed blade, may be used) differs a good deal in individual workers, but the safer manner is perhaps to keep the knife well up and nearly vertical. avoid outlines, allowing the different degrees of tint to separate one object from another, as one would do in a wash drawing, and proceed somewhat in the manner illustrated by the accompanying figures. [illustration: a misty moonrise. (_original 4 x 2-1/2._)] [illustration: (_original 4 x 2-1/2._)] one of the difficulties to be guarded against is the too great evidence of scraping, the knife marks often revealing themselves much more plainly in the reproduction than in the original, also the too sudden contrast between the full tint and the scratched half-tint. notice in the two accompanying sketches on diagonal grain boards, by mr. c.j. vine, how the full tint, when it meets the half-tint, is broken up by slight irregular scratches; especially is this seen in the sky of "a misty moonrise." in this sketch, sky, sea, and the sails of the two more distant boats, are almost entirely made up by the diagonal tint and the scraped half-tint. only in the hulls of the boats and the sails of the nearest boat is pen-work introduced, the lines being drawn diagonally from right to left, at right angles to the grain of the full tint.[6] [illustration: pen and ink on black line scrape board. first stage. (_original 5-3/4 x 3._)] [illustration: pen and ink on black line scrape board with white scraped out. (_original 5-1/2 x 3-1/4._)] a more rapid way of obtaining an effect can hardly be imagined than by these "scraped" boards, and in good hands, or with practice, the effects obtainable are often very charming. the drawings should, as a rule, be not greatly larger than the reproduction intended--a reduction of one-third or one-half being about the best. all the different kinds of black grain boards are treated in the same manner as above described. [illustration: pencil on vertical grain white scrape board. _by c.j. vine._ (_original 4 x 3._)] now the use of white grained boards is less a scraping method than pure line drawing, much of the "line" being almost mechanically produced by drawing upon the "ribbed" surface with pencil. we know if we place a piece of paper upon a rough, cloth-covered book and rub a blacklead pencil over it we get a mottled effect, the blacks and whites of which are reproductions of the projections and depressions on the book cover; so if we draw on a ribbed surface clay-board with pen and ink, the ink follows elevation and depression in one continuous pen stroke. if, however, we draw with a black pencil, without undue pressure, the pencil passes from one elevation to another, or from one "rib" to another, and thus forms a broken or dotted line, which, although in actual colour as black as an ink line, yet being broken and not solid, will reproduce lighter or greyer. a number of adjacent pencil lines would therefore produce a flat tint of dots, very similar to the tint of a "half-tone" block or a "shading medium," in addition to which, and upon which, ink lines may be made to produce deeper blacks. on the accompanying illustration are pencil marks and ink strokes drawn on a piece of grained white board, the grain or "ribs" being vertical. to the left, a single detached pencil stroke forming dotted lines; next are adjacent pencil lines constituting a grained tint, something very like the full tone of the black-grained blocks before considered, and coarser or finer in proportion as the pencil is pressed more or less heavily; next we have some pen and ink lines, the difference of which will at once be seen; and finally, a mixture of pencil and pen, on which the knife has subsequently been used to scratch some small lights. this exhausts the practical possibilities of white grained scrape boards. [illustration] the accompanying sketches will show somewhat the kind of things obtainable. [illustration: pencil and pen on vertical line white scrape board. _by c.j. vine._ (_original 4 x 3._)] reduction causes a very marked improvement, and the drawings should be looked at from time to time whilst in progress with a "diminishing" glass. an indelible ink should be used, or one that does not penetrate but rests on the surface: such as ivory-black, lamp-black, or indian ink. instead of pencil, a stick of lithographic chalk will be of advantage. in the first place, the greyness of pencil is deceptive, and reproduces blacker than we expect, moreover pencil rubs and smears; not so lithographic chalk, which does not rub, and is black. the scratching or scraping must be the final stage of a drawing, as only solid pen marks can be put on the white board after the grained clay surface has been removed. drawings in pencil or chalk on rough papers. by the foregoing description of pencil or chalk drawing on ribbed surfaces, we see how a pencil drawing may be translated by an ordinary line zinco block, instead of the more expensive half-tone process described in the earlier chapters. the pencil or crayon point, in passing over a rough or broken surface, forms a series of dots instead of a continuous line. the same thing occurs when pencil is used on a rough surface drawing paper. such pencillings, being examined, are found to be lead marks, interspersed with minute interstices of white paper, the whole giving a sort of grey tint of greater or less intensity. for broad sketchy effects such a drawing method is exceedingly valuable; some very delightful things may be done without the least appearance of the mechanical. [illustration: sewardstone marshes. _drawing on conté crayon on rough paper._ (_original 6 x 4._)] as may be readily understood from the accompanying examples, such drawings are best adapted for purely artistic impressions, and not for the portrayal of detail. practically any paper may be used which is white, and whose surface is sufficiently rough; some particular kinds, about to be mentioned, have proved especially successful under experiment. any material may be used to draw with, preference being given to a black substance which will not smear or rub on being touched. a good "b" blacklead pencil has the advantage of being pleasant to handle, and capable of being used with a sufficiently fine point to render some details; it has, however, the decided disadvantage of "rubbing" with a very little touching, and the strokes, although fairly intense, are not so black as crayon; hence, in reproduction, many portions which were expected to come out soft and delicate, reproduce much too black. we have, then, for our selection, hardmuth's or conté's crayons, made in several degrees, and also made into cedar-wood pencils--a cleaner and more handy form. neither of these is, unfortunately, free from the disadvantage of blurring when rubbed, and will hence require to be fixed before being sent away; the photo-engraver, in the press of his business, rarely failing to subject drawings to a severe test. fixing may be best effected by treating the drawing with a solution of one part pure gum mastic dissolved in seven parts methylated spirit. in lemercier's lithographic crayons we have a drawing medium which gives as satisfactory results as the conté or hardmuth, and does not blur; it therefore saves the trouble of fixing. being greasy, they should be used in a porte-crayon. they are made in three degrees as to hardness, the no. 1 being the hardest and best suited for drawing the limited amount of detail which is possible with crayons. so long as the drawing is not too heavily worked upon, a surprising improvement is secured by reducing. a reduction of one-half is not too much. as to the papers to be used, the following may be mentioned as only some which i have tested, and which others have spoken well of, but there must be a great many other rough surface materials well worth a trial. of the well-known whatman papers, both the "hot-pressed" and "not," the latter being, perhaps, preferable. a french paper, allongé, has a very pleasing surface grain, and may be used on the right or wrong side with different results; the right side being the rougher, and perhaps the better. [illustration: crayon drawing on allongé paper. _small whites in chinese white._ (_original 9 x 6._)] next, we have lalanne and michallet or ingres papers, and some examples of crayon drawing on these are here given. [illustration: crayon on pyramid paper no. 2. _small whites in chinese white._ (_original 7 x 6._)] the most noticeable feature in these will be the lines, or grain, formed by the texture of the paper; this grain is apparently more perceptible when vertical, but if the paper is turned round so that the lines come into a horizontal position, they are much less discernible in the finished sketch. in many respects the effect of these papers is a good deal similar to that gained by using the white lined clay-boards; the grain being, however, less mechanical. in like manner the crayon sketch may be effectively helped by the addition of pen and ink, or fine brush work. scraping out, however, is not within its capabilities; though chinese white, if applied fairly solidly, may successfully stop-out small lights or efface errors. [illustration: crayon on pyramid no. 1. (_original 9 x 6._)] other papers which may be attempted are arnold's drawing papers, rough surface cartridge, various crayon papers, &c. such houses as penrose & co., amwell street, e.c., london, or f.w. devoe & c.t. raynolds co., of new york, would probably supply patterns and information in this respect. a paper known as pyramid grained paper has a granulated surface, breaking the crayon marks into a succession of dots rather than broken lines, and often yields very pleasing results; it is made in two varying degrees, no. 1 having a grain of 15,000 "pyramids" to the square inch, and no. 2, 9,000. for a further variation in effect, a drawing may be executed in crayon or pencil on a fairly smooth paper previously pressed into close contact with any rough surface, such as sandpaper or canvas. the unsized side of a canvas for oil painting, or the cover of a book, will answer the purpose; openness of work, and the amount of ultimate reduction desirable, being depended upon and controlled accordingly. the following sketches, by mr. c.j. vine, on michallet and lallane papers (pp. 111, 113, 115, 117), are pure untouched crayon work, reproduced by zinc line etching, so that these drawings may be safely entrusted to this cheapest and least sympathetic process; though there can be little doubt that the swelled gelatine would render fuller justice to work of this class. [illustration] [illustration] chapter xii. _mechanical aids to draughtsmanship--drawing and sketching from nature._ the various methods whereby illustrations may be made for reproduction have now been reviewed, if not exhaustively, at least with sufficient completeness to enable the reader to start making those actual experiments in practice without which the most exact description is useless. but thus far, with the exception of such cases in which it is possible to use a photogram and reproduce it by "half-tone" process, some ability to draw, some certain amount of native artistry on the part of the student, has been taken for granted. now, while in wash drawings, crayon, or pencil sketches, "scrape" boards, and the like, there must be some amount of instinctive artistic ability, not only to guide the hand in execution but to govern taste, idea, and selection; yet in simple line drawing with the pen, without any art knowledge or technical ability, it may be possible to produce a perfectly reproducible drawing, fulfilling in every way the essential duty of an illustration. and if this be so, there is no reason why very many more writers should not illustrate what they have to say, making matters more intelligible and producing a more lasting impression. for the purpose we shall require a photogram to commence with, and here is a use and an application of photography not always fully realised or appreciated. a man may be possessed of considerable taste and judgment in the selecting of a view, or particular aspect of a building, and yet be utterly lacking in ability to put down on paper correctly what he sees; that is, he is not a good draughtsman. no particular taste in selecting a position may be needed, or possessed, and yet it may be desirable to portray an object, or scene, and it is to such men that the camera becomes so important as an indirect means to illustration. indirect because, as already pointed out, the reproduction of a photogram by half-tone process (the only way of reproducing a photogram for type machine printing) is attended with difficulties, and cannot always be resorted to. the half-tone block is not suitable for the most rapid printing in newspapers, &c.; its results are not all that could be wished; it is more expensive and takes longer to make, apart from such other drawbacks pointed out in an earlier chapter. therefore it is desirable to see how we can utilise a photogram so as to produce the simpler, and often more acceptable, line block from it, and do this by a more mechanical method than re-drawing, or copying from it. probably the first easy method that will suggest itself will be to make a tracing from it on tracing paper, and then with carbon paper transfer it to the desired card, &c. there is no objection to such a course, except that it is not always attended with equal satisfaction. to begin with, a photogram is often so dark in parts as to prevent our seeing many details through the tracing paper; also, however careful, if we are tracing a face, the slight deviation in tracing over the outlines and features, which is almost unavoidable, and further variations when afterwards transferring, will often seriously interfere with the likeness--presuming a likeness to be required. [illustration: study of trees. _crayon drawing on lalanne paper; vertical grain._ (_original 8 x 4-1/2._)] an avoidance of error and saving of time may be effected by making a fairly pale print and, having "fixed" it, cover the back with the scribble of a blue pencil or chalk. we can now place this down upon the card board or paper to be drawn upon, and carefully go over everything that is to be drawn with a sharp hard point, which will leave a blue outline sketch which can then be inked in, and the blue need not be rubbed out afterwards as it will not appear in reproduction. in the same way the original photogram can be used with a piece of _blue_ carbon paper instead of chalking the back of the print. no attempt should be made to draw in all the details of a photogram, but only such salient points as may be required for illustration. another method is as follows:--make the photogram in the ordinary way, but on "plain salted paper," or "matt silver sensitised paper," which has been previously prepared by immersion for a short while in a solution of ammonium chlorate, 100 grains; gelatine, 10 grains; water, 10 ounces. the photogram is to be fixed and washed, toning being unnecessary; when dry it can be drawn upon with a "_fixed_" or _indelible_ black ink, carefully putting in just what parts are needed and disregarding the rest of the picture. as soon as the ink is dry, the print is immersed in a bath of mercury bichlorate and alcohol, when the photogram will gradually disappear, leaving the black ink lines on plain white paper. nothing more is required beyond mounting on card to fit it for reproduction. of course corrections can be made and stains, &c., be removed with chinese white. should it be desired to restore the bleached photogram, it can be done by immersing in a weak solution of soda hyposulphite. the foregoing method is one given by mr. c.g. harper in his book "drawing for reproduction"; it appears, however, needlessly elaborate, and i presume mercury _bichloride_ is intended and not bichlorate. even with care the photographic image is sometimes slow to get rid of, and will often refuse altogether to leave the clear white blank we require. [illustration: advancing twilight. _crayon drawing on lalanne paper; horizontal grain._ (_original 10-1/2 x 6._)] a photographic print, however, on either albumenised or "matt" paper will certainly disappear utterly if subjected to the following bath, for which formula i am indebted to mr. e.j. wall:- iodine 1 grain iodide of potassium 10 grains cyanide of potassium 20 " water 102 " this is a similar solution as is used to remove ink-stains from linen, &c. the print may also be bleached by sponging over with the following preparation, recommended by w. ethelbert henry:- saturated solution iodine in alcohol 1 part " " cyanide of potassium in water 2 parts water 2 " after which the print is to be washed well for a few minutes. of course the reason for using a "fixed" ink in such processes is obvious. yet another method on similar lines, but even simpler in operation. a certain photographic printing paper called "ferro-prussiate" paper gives, on exposure to light, a _blue_ image, and only requires washing in water to "fix" or make it permanent. this blue print can now be used for drawing upon, as in the previous instance, only that the photographic image, being blue, does not need to be bleached, and will not interfere with the reproduction of the black lines drawn upon it. if for any reason it be desired to get rid of the blue print, this can be bleached by immersion in water containing a little common washing soda. [illustration: beachy head. _crayon drawing on michallet paper, right side._ (_original 8-1/2 x 5-1/2._)] thus from a photogram of even the most elaborate subject an absolutely correct drawing may be made fit for reproduction without the illustrator having any knowledge or skill as a draughtsman. by placing the unskilled in such a position, photography appears to have removed the last obstacle to the more frequent use of appropriate illustration; and the ease with which both pleasing and _accurate_ outlines can be made should render inexcusable the shamefully untruthful "sketches" which every day appear in newspaper and magazine. the method of drawing on thin transfer paper with transfer ink, and then placing the drawing direct on to a zinc block, hardly needs to be referred to here. such a simple means of placing the image on the zinc and then etching is necessarily of limited application, neither reduction nor enlargement is possible, and photography is not employed; it is merely a mechanical etching of the zinc in all parts not protected by the ink image, as transferred from the drawing in transfer ink, and is used for very rapid and imperfect portraits, &c., in the commoner class of newspaper work. and now, whatever be the special characteristics and advantages of the camera, it is by no means my intention to advocate its use where even only a moderate amount of native artistic ability exists; and, in all probability, the possessor of such ability will more frequently prefer to use his sketch-book than his camera--and this is as it should be. there is always something of freshness about a first original sketch, be it in whatsoever medium, a quality which the most careful copy fails to repeat. this brings us to consider whether it would not be well to make our first impressions or sketches in such a manner that they could be handed to the process worker right away; and we shall then have to consider what medium and what materials are suitable for "drawing from life." certainly the ordinary pencil sketch, as taken from the pocket sketch-book, would not do. in the first place such sketches would rarely be vigorous enough, and whatever vigour they possessed would be sadly diminished by rubbing and the pressure of the opposite page. [illustration: a sussex lane. _crayon drawing on michallet paper, wrong side of paper used._ (_original 9 x 4-1/2._)] very few have successfully drawn from life in pen and ink. some few well-known caricaturists and figure draughtsmen do so, and attain success purely through their splendid dash and spirit, but such things are forbidden the average man with whom the pen drawing is a matter of delicate care. but there seems no reason why the lithographic crayon on rough paper should not be thus utilised, and slight "touchings-up" added afterwards. in this way we might often have ready for immediate reproduction a sketch containing some of that spontaneous feeling which is so noticeable when glancing through the pages of an artist's sketch-book. i have noticed in some a very false idea existing with regard to draughting in a picture with pencil before using the pen and ink. now i do not hesitate to say that the careful sketching in of the subject in pencil is essential to all except the genius, and i am not writing for the genius, who knows more than i can tell him and can dispense with what he does not know. there is nothing to be ashamed of in drawing first in pencil; one might perhaps be able to draw in quite as correctly with the pen, but the advantage of a pencil outline as a guide is that it gives more time and leisure thought for carefully considering the pen work before putting it in. by this course there is less danger of confused hesitating lines. from the first let the ink lines be clear, distinct, and black; no "messing about," to quote mr. blackburn's expressive phrase; be decided as to the sort of shading you are going to put in a certain place and put it there, once for all, and don't touch it again. avoid, by constant self-restraint, over-elaboration or too much laboured detail; let each part of the drawing be _finished_ from the first, and do not return to it and work on it over and over again. and the first step to ensuring this precision will be by carefully pencilling everything, _indicating_ only where shading is to come. when the pen and ink drawing is completed, carefully erase the pencil marks with _bread crumbs_; do not use indiarubber, which will be sure to abrade the surface, and probably break the continuity of the ink lines. as we become more conversant with the possibilities of the zinco process, an intimacy which can only be brought by an experience built up of experiments and failures, we shall find it possible to sometimes leave in certain of the pencilling (allowing, of course, for their coming up as black as ink), but for the beginner such a practice is not recommended, as it is nearly sure to end in disappointment. there are many interesting modifications of recognised means which are possible to the experienced--especially the production of what may be termed "mixed drawings," either for reproduction in half-tone or line, drawings in which in order to produce less ordinary effects, wash, pen, and pencil are employed combinedly; but, by the time my gentle reader has reached a stage when he may advisedly attempt such excursions from the orthodox path, he will have passed beyond the sphere of this book and will be entitled to that liberty which art permits to its practitioners. in the meantime let me ask the student to repress for a time his more lofty aspirations, and content himself with patiently learning to produce--not a charming sketch, a delightful drawing, but--a drawing in which there is as much of artistic or pictorial merit as is compatible with the requirements of the process of reproduction. if you are drawing professedly for reproduction, no blame can attach to you if you "bear in mind during the production of your drawing the necessity of its making a good block, with as little sacrifice of artistic quality as may be." an exalted position as an art is not necessarily claimed for drawing or painting for reproduction; but how much of that difficult-to-be-defined quality which we call "artistic" exists in it, depends not so much upon the method, the means, or the application, as it does on those who work at it and their motive. apart from this, viewed from the lowest aspect, its utility is beyond question, and at the present time it is an application of fine art showing the most vitality of any. the books devoted to the subject which have already been written, have perhaps given too much attention to the actual processes of reproduction--they have not appealed to the illustrator; or else, while professing to be books of instruction in practice, have dealt rather with the theory of illustration and the comparison of styles. it seemed to me there was need for a simple description of methods for the enlightening of a beginner: an elementary guide; a first step; in short, a handbook of illustration. [illustration] higgins' american drawing inks [illustration] [illustration] [illustration] [illustration] (blacks and colors) the standard liquid drawing inks of the world they are used and endorsed by the leading illustrators, schools, colleges and institutes. three-fourths of the professional draughtsmen of this country use no other drawing ink. the manufacturers have never solicited a single testimonial, yet the merits of the inks have called forth endorsement from the most famous and experienced users of drawing inks in various professions, real masters of their arts. the following are a few commendations: jo. pennell, the celebrated pen artist of london, eng.--"there is no ink equal to it for half a dozen reasons. from the time you open the bottle until you have put all its contents on paper, you have no reason to find fault with it." a.b. frost, the famous american illustrator, convent, n.j., u.s.a.--"i use a great deal of it, and it is certainly the best." e.w. senior, c.e., sydney, australia.--"i cannot refrain from letting you know how i appreciate your 'american drawing ink.' it is an article long been looked for by us professional men. in my opinion, it is far superior to [_blank's_] liquid indian ink. i have been using it for 2-1/2 years now, and have during that time and up to the present ceased to have any other brand in the office--so pleased am i with it." t.b. norgate, patent attorney, victoria, b.c.--"i have used your inks for some years and find them first-class." jacob hauck, draughtsman, county surveyor's office, omaha, neb.--"i have used hundreds of your 'general inks,' and became a great admirer of your unequalled ink." the inks are as follows: blacks--two kinds. waterproof (insoluble when dry) and general (soluble). colors--carmine, scarlet, vermilion, brick red, blue, yellow, green, orange, brown, indigo, violet. prices--small bottles, 25 cents each; half pints, $2 each; pints, $3.75 each, and quarts, $7 each. users are cautioned to refuse untried and experimental inks, which may be claimed as being equal to the =higgins inks=. =higgins' american drawing inks= were first introduced in 1880, and have hence _stood the test of time_ unfailingly. every bottle is strictly guaranteed from first to last by the manufacturers. color cards showing actual inks sent free. * * * * * =for sale by dealers throughout the world= * * * * * =chas. m. higgins & co.=, originators and manufacturers inks and adhesives, =168 to 172 eighth street, brooklyn, n.y., u.s.a.= =london office, 106 charing cross road.= the folding montauk is the "ideal" artists' camera [illustration] it is fitted with a perfect lens for in or outdoor, snapshot or time exposures, and when examined and tested will show its superiority at once. when fitted with ross patent london-made lenses they are perfection itself, and will make perfect snapshots "on a gray day" prices from $25 to $150 send for catalogue and full description to the maker g. gennert, 24 and 26 east 13th st. new york photo-ceramics by w. ethelbert henry and h. snowdon ward photography applied to the decoration of china, porcelain, placques, art pottery and ceramic and metallic surfaces in general. illustrated...... prices: paper, 50c.; cloth, 75c. post paid, five cents extra g. gennert, publisher 24 & 26 east 13th st. new york photo lithography * * * * * by george fritz vice-director of the court and imperial state printing works at vienna * * * * * translated by e.j. wall fellow of the royal photographic society * * * * * containing six full page plates by the imperial state printing works at vienna this book treats of the preparation of collodions, etc., for negative work, preparation of stones and of zinc plates and the making of drawings for photo-lithographic work, and includes special detailed instructions for the various materials used, diagrams illustrating the best studios and work rooms, etc. illustrated.... cloth and gold, $1.50 g. gennert, publisher 24 & 26 east 13th st. new york [illustration] champion card and paper co. [illustration] east pepperell, mass. manufacturers of [illustration] surface-coated papers .... plain and coated blanks for printers & lithographers "this book is printed on our coated paper" [illustration] hume's [illustration] [illustration] cantilever enlarging apparatus in 30 sizes, various patterns. [illustration: the standard pattern ] 5½ in. condensers, for 3¼ 4¼ plate, without objective, $35; with objective, $45. 8¼ in. condensers, for 5×7 plate, without objective, $60; with objective, $80. fine screw motion, for use with non-racking lenses. price for all sizes, $5. goods tested thoroughly and packed free g. gennert sole american agent 24 and 26 east 13th st. new york adams [illustration] "brilliant" view finders [illustration] a perfect, bright and distinct image in direct sunlight, or in a room where objects are hardly discernible on the ground glass. style no. 1, for regular cameras style no. 2, for detective cameras * * * * * =j.a. leonard, civil engineer.= newburgh, n.y., oct. 2, 1895. the "adams" finder received this a.m., and i want to thank you for putting me in the way of getting such a perfect instrument. while the price seemed high, the results are so far beyond anything that i deemed possible, that i am more than satisfied. i find that in the brightest sunlight the finder gives a beautiful, clear and brilliant image, without any necessity of shading. very sincerely yours, (signed) j.a. leonard. * * * * * adams brilliant finders style no. 1. size no. 1, $4.50 size no. 2, $5.50 size no. 3, $6.50 style no. 2. size no. 1, 3.50 size no. 2, 4.50 size no. 3, 5.50 g. gennert, sole agent 24 and 26 east 13th street, new york the "gennert" "universal" hard rubber fixing box [illustration: no. 1.] [illustration: no. 2.] the "gennert" universal fixing box is a decided improvement over the well-known "gennert" hard rubber bath. the "gennert" universal fixing box is a substantial box with cover, made entirely of hard rubber, and has the following advantages over all other methods of fixing: it has ridges on all four sides, thus allowing any size plate to be fitted (see cut no. 2). the plate stands half an inch above the ridges, allowing the operator to remove it without touching the film, as the top of the box above the ridges flares out sufficiently to admit the fingers to reach the side of the plate. it fixes more plates. the cover prevents dust and light from entering the box. the hypo is always clean and fresh. all impurities sink to the bottom and the plate cannot touch them. it saves plates. no spots possible on your negatives. it saves spotting and retouching. it saves your temper. the "gennert" universal fixing box is made in two sizes: no. 1 allows of twenty 3-1/4×4-1/4, 4-1/4×5-1/2 or 4-1/4×6-1/2, or eleven 6-1/2×8-1/2 plates being fixed at one time: price, =$4.50=. no. 2 allows of twenty-two 4×5, 5×7 or 5×8, or eleven 8×10 plates being fixed at one time; price, =$5.00=. buy a "gennert" universal fixing box, made of pure hard rubber, and save your hypo, plates and temper, by sending an order to your dealer for a universal. g. gennert, manufacturer 24-26 east 13th street new york carbutt's half-tone process plates specially made for photo-etchers on copper, brass or zinc, giving negatives equal if not superior to wet collodion plates. [illustration: john carbutt manufacturer of dry plates, films and photographic specialties wayne junction philadelphia. ] price list--plain, orthochromatic and strippers sizes. |per doz. |per doz. |no. of |plain |strippers.|doz. |or ortho.| |in case. ----------------+---------+----------+-------- 3-1/4 × 4-1/4 | $0 45 | $0 70 | 36 4 × 5 | 0 65 | 0 90 | 36 4-3/4 × 6-1/2 | 1 00 | 1 25 | 24 5 × 7 | 1 10 | 1 45 | 24 5 × 8 | 1 25 | 1 65 | 24 6-1/2 × 8-1/2 | $1 65 | $2 20 | 12 8 × 10 | 2 40 | 3 20 | 12 10 × 12 | 3 80 | 5 00 | 4 11 × 14 | 5 00 | 6 65 | 3 14 × 17 | 9 00 | 12 00 | 2 =carbutt's fluid stripping medium= which has been arrived at after a series of exhaustive experiments, is destined to entirely supersede the old gelatine processes. it is supplied already prepared from the factory. it is applied _cold_, sets and dries quickly, forming a pellicle negative, _thin, tough and flexible_, and may be printed from either side. full particulars for use accompany each package. price: pint bottles, 75c.; quart bottles, $1.35; per gallon, $5. =testimonial= "we have been in the photo-engraving business over three years. used wet-plates for two years, and your process-plates for the last year on half-tone work. each lot seemed uniform with the others and worked well. have not had a wet-plate bath in the place, even for line work (or half-tone either), for over a year, and have turned out just as good half-tone work as can be done, so our customers say. it is as good as we could ever get with wet plates."--h.... eng. co., per g.c.a. write to factory for circulars =john carbutt,= keystone dry plate and film works =wayne junction, philadelphia= winsor & newton's waterproof indian ink =with patent stopper and quill feeder= this new preparation has been introduced to meet the requirements of those artists, architects and designers who wish to lay washes of color over drawings in ink. unlike many so-called "indelible" inks, messrs. winsor & newton's waterproof indian ink, after it has dried, will be found absolutely unaffected by subsequent wetting. the lines of the drawing, from the thickest to the thinnest, remain undisturbed, and the purity of the most delicate color-wash is retained in an unsullied condition. finally, it may be mentioned that messrs. winsor and newton's preparation is made from genuine indian ink, and not, as is frequently the case, from an imitative article. winsor and newton's waterproof ink is made in 21 different colors. sample card on application. [illustration] winsor & newton, limited 88 fulton street rathbone place new york and london. process illustration practical materials for practical workers * * * * * =angerer scraper boards= eight varieties. _sample packet, 1s. 6d._ =angerer lithographic grained papers= four varieties. _sample packet, 6d._ =gillot scraper boards= eight varieties. _sample packet, 1s. 2d._ =penrose's new stipple boards= _imitating the lithographic hand stipple_ two kinds. _sample packet, 6d._ =goodall's bristol boards= lithographic transfer papers tracing transfer papers =lemercier's inks and crayons= gillott's pens. fine sable brushes * * * * * t squares, set squares. tracing points, ruling pens, magnifying and diminishing glasses * * * * * _all materials, tools, chemicals, and appliances for every branch of photo-mechanical reproduction catalogue, sixpence, post-free_ * * * * * penrose & co. _the photo process stores_ 8a, upper baker st., clerkenwell, london f.w. devoe & c.t. raynolds co f.w. devoe & c.t. raynolds co manufacturers of =artists' materials= [illustration] supplies for =oil and water color painting= =pastel and miniature painting= =charcoal, crayon and lead pencil drawing= =etching, ornamenting and designing= =materials for tapestry painting= =pyrography and china painting= =materials for pen and ink drawing a specialty= liquid inks, crow quill pens, process papers, roulettes, f.w. devoe & co.'s superior liquid chinese white and indian ink, "pen and ink carton," "bank note bristol," best for black and white work, "scratch board," etc., etc. * * * * * =a complete line of ross's hand stipple process papers at wholesale and retail= * * * * * =fulton and william streets, new york, and 176 randolph street, chicago= gennert hard rubber [illustration] [illustration] photographers' developing and fixing dishes =the standard of excellence= * * * * * =each piece marked= "gennert" =manufacturer, new york= a.b. fleming & co. (limited) scottish printing ink manufactory =caroline park, edinburgh= _warehouse;_ 15 whitefriars st., london, e.c. _fine color department;_ 101 leadenhall st., london, e.c. manufacturers of every kind of black and colored inks =half-tone printing inks= =in black and art shades a specialty= (any shade made to order) =our half-tone inks will not fill up, do not contain earth-colors, and are permanent= =photochromic printing in three colors= the three neutral colors (=red, blue and yellow=) specially prepared and guaranteed absolutely permanent shades verified by lovibond's patent tintometer =high-class collotype inks= of all shades =the "brighton" camera= _patented 1881-89 and patent applied for_ [illustration: as a front focus.] the brighton is the first desired step forward in view cameras for several years, and can justly be called perfect, as it has all the features so highly prized by artists and view photographers, and is also adapted for studio use of the amateur or artist. 1st. it is a front focus camera. 2d. it is a back focus camera as well. 3d. it has more swing than any other camera. 4th. it has a self-centering, rising and falling front. 5th. it has rack and pinion (forward) and slide (backward) movement. 6th. it has a new front board feature, and an extra large front board. 7th. it can be used with an extremely short or long focus lens and no lens is so wide in its angle that it can take in any part of the bed. 8th. while no camera is more rigid when the back clamp is set, it can be taken entirely apart by reversing the tightening lever. 9th. it has an improvement which allows the bed to be raised without the screw catching. 10th. it can be set up and taken down quicker and easier than any camera. add to this absolutely perfect workmanship, materials and finish, and you have the brighton camera, the twentieth century product. [illustration: as a back focus.] price list.--leather bellows, double swing, including one "xtralite" plate holder and carrying case, 5×7, $24.00; 5×8, $26.00; 6-1/2×8-1/2, $28.00; 8×10, $30.00; 11×14, $40.00; 14×17, $60.00. =g. gennert, manufacturer= =24 & 26 east 13th street, new york= [illustration] ross lenses ross zeiss anastigmats ross-goerz double anastigmats [illustration] =the best photographic objectives for all purposes. several series especially adapted to reproductions.= [illustration] catalogue on application to g. gennert sole american agent =24 & 26 east 13th street, new york= [illustration] there are washing boxes and boxes =that are supposed to wash, but don't do it= [illustration] the gennert universal washing box [illustration] washes clean and quick no. 1 holds 22 plates 3-1/4 × 4-1/4 or 4-1/4 × 6-1/2--11 plates 6-1/2 × 8-1/2. price, $2.00. no. 2 holds 22 plates 4 × 5, 5 × 7, or 5 × 8--11 plates 8 × 10. price, $2.25. g. gennert, sole mfr., =24 and 26 east 13th st. new york= "the new york photogravure co., at 137 west 23d street, makes perfect pictures for artistic, scientific and commercial purposes, by special, inimitable photogravure, photogelatine, and half-tone block processes. it has a gallery fitted to produce negatives of all sizes up to 24 × 30, by the best orthochromatic methods. from this department to the packing room, there is not a phase of any work, however trivial apparently, not carefully attended with the most zealous supervision." =from king's handbook of new york city= * * * * * =photographs in colors= "mr. edwards spoke from the small stage at the end of the exhibition hall, and after an interesting résumé of the many 'processes' by which pictures and illustrations are now made with the aid of photography, the most important of which he explained in lucid and not too technical phraseology, he approached the most interesting part of his discourse, the modern method of three-color printing, which has, under the new york photogravure company, reached so high a state of perfection and resulted in such surprisingly attractive results." =from the mail and express, new york= * * * * * "sun and shade reproduces, not only the most notable paintings and portraits, but the best work of amateur and professional photographers. if it gave nothing but the latter work, it would be deserving of the most liberal patronage that it receives; but it is an admirable record of the greatest paintings at the metropolitan museum of art, of living american players, of portraits of celebrated americans, of great american painters, with reproductions of their work, and it is a monument of the new york photogravure co., which is a monument of artistic new york." footnotes: [1] our frontispiece, a collotype by s.b. bolas and co., is an excellent example of this process.] [2] the copper deposited by electro-deposition is little more than a thin skin of metal, which is then backed by a block of type-metal of the same thickness as the usual letterpress type.] [3] see remarks on printing in chap. x.] [4] the term "tone," as used here and elsewhere throughout this book, is a word universally employed in art to express varying degrees of lightness and darkness irrespective of colour. the word "shade," as commonly used and accepted, comes nearest to its meaning, but that shade refers rather to varying tint of local colour, as when one says "a beautiful shade of pink." "shade" is also used to express the reverse of "light," as "light and shade." objects in nature, when represented in correct relationship of lightness and darkness, are said to be in correct relative tone.] [5] refer to p. 72.] [6] here, with all due deference, i may draw attention to the unpleasing effect of an illustration of elliptical or "cushion" shape, especially when mixed with letterpress on a book page, the general scheme of which is square or rectangular. unless an irregular shape is for a special purpose desirable, it will be safer to keep the illustrations to a rectangular form.] +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | transcribers notes: | | | | fixed various commas and full-stops. | | p.16. 'astist' changed to 'artist'. | | p.32. 'ana' changed to 'and'. | | p.109. 'reveiwed' changed to 'reviewed'. | | add: camera: to 'be be raised', changed to 'be raised'. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ 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 art of illustration. [illustration: "the trumpeter." (sir john gilbert, r.a.) (_drawn in pen and ink, from his picture in the royal academy, 1883._) [size of drawing, 5-1/2 by 4-3/4 in. photo-zinc process.]] the art of illustration. by henry blackburn, _editor of "academy notes," cantor lecturer on illustration, &c._ with ninety-five illustrations. second edition. london: w. h. allen & co., limited, 13, waterloo place, s.w. 1896. printed by wyman and sons, limited, london, w.c. dedicated to sir john gilbert, r.a., one of the principal pioneers of book and newspaper illustration. [illustration: (pen-and-ink drawing from his picture, by mr. charles collins, 1892.) [photo-zinc process.]] preface. the object of this book is to explain the modern systems of book and newspaper illustration, and especially the methods of drawing for what is commonly called "process," on which so many artists are now engaged. there is almost a revolution in illustration at the present time, and both old and young--teachers and scholars--are in want of a handbook for reference when turning to the new methods. the illustrator of to-day is called upon suddenly to take the place of the wood engraver in interpreting tone into line, and requires practical information which this book is intended to supply. the most important branch of illustration treated of is _line drawing_, as it is practically out of reach of competition by the photographer, and is, moreover, the kind of drawing most easily reproduced and printed at the type press; but wash drawing, drawing upon grained papers, and the modern appliances for reproduction, are all treated of. the best instructors in drawing for process are, after all, the _painters of pictures_ who know so well how to express themselves in black and white, and to whom i owe many obligations. there is a wide distinction between their treatment of "illustration" and the so-called "pen-and-ink" artist. the "genius" who strikes out a wonderful path of his own, whose scratches and splashes appear in so many books and newspapers, is of the "butterfly" order of being--a creation, so to speak, of the processes, and is not to be emulated or imitated. there is no reason but custom why, in drawing for process, a man's coat should be made to look like straw, or the background (if there be a background) have the appearance of fireworks. no ability on the part of the illustrator will make these things tolerable in the near future. there is a reaction already, and signs of a better and more sober treatment of illustration, which only requires a _better understanding of the requirements and limitations of the processes_, to make it equal to some of the best work of the past. the modern illustrator has much to learn--more than he imagines--in drawing for the processes. a study of examples by masters of line drawing--such as holbein, menzell, fortuny or sandys--or of the best work of the etchers, will not tell the student of to-day exactly what he requires to know; for they are nearly all misleading as to the principles upon which modern process work is based. in painting we learn everything from the past--everything that it is best to know. in engraving also, we learn from the past the best way to interpret colour into line, but in drawing for the processes there is practically no "past" to refer to; at the same time the advance of the photographer into the domain of illustration renders it of vital importance to artists to put forth their best work in black and white, and it throws great responsibility upon art teachers to give a good groundwork of education to the illustrator of the future. in all this, education--_general education_--will take a wider part. the illustrations have been selected to show the possibilities of "process" work in educated, capable hands, rather than any _tours de force_ in drawing, or exploits of genius. they are all of modern work, and are printed on the same sheets as the letterpress. _all the illustrations in this book have been reproduced by mechanical processes, excepting nine_ (marked on the list), which are engraved on wood. acknowledgments are due to the council of the society of arts for permission to reprint a portion of the cantor lectures on "illustration" from their journal; to the editors of the _national review_ and the _nineteenth century_, for permission to reprint several pages from articles in those reviews; to the editors and publishers who have lent illustrations; and above all, to the artists whose works adorn these pages. h. b. 123, victoria street, westminster. _may, 1894._ contents. page chapter i.--introductory 1 chapter ii.--elementary illustration 15 diagrams--daily illustrated newspapers--pictorial _v._ verbal description. chapter iii.--artistic illustrations 40 education of the illustrator--line drawing for process--sketching from life--examples of line drawing. chapter iv.--the processes 102 "photo zinco"--gelatine process--grained papers--mechanical dots--"half-tone" process--wash drawing--illustrations from photographs--_sketch_, _graphic_, &c.--daniel vierge. chapter v.--wood engraving 182 chapter vi.--the decorative page 197 chapter vii.--author, illustrator, & publisher 211 students' drawings 223 appendix 233 list of illustrations. [_the copyright of all pictures sketched in this book is strictly reserved._] page "the trumpeter." sir john gilbert, r.a. (_process_) vi swans. charles collins " ix "ashes of roses." g. h. boughton, a.r.a. " 5 "badminton in the studio." r. w. macbeth, a.r.a. " 6 "a son of pan." william padgett " 11 "home by the ferry." edward stott " 12 man in chain armour. lancelot speed " 14 "greeting." the hon. mrs. boyle " 15 diagrams (5) " 19-32 view above blankenburg (_wood_) 38 the curvature of the world's surface " 39 "tiresome dog." e. k. johnson (_process_) 43 "frustrated." walter hunt " 44 "on the riviera." ellen montalba " 46 "landscape with trees." m. r. corbet " 47 "an odd volume." h. s. marks, r.a. " 49 "a select committee." h. s. marks, r.a. " 50 "the rose queen." g. d. leslie, r.a. " 52 "finding of the infant st. george." c. m. gere " 56 "a ploughboy." g. clausen " 59, 61 "blowing bubbles." c. e. wilson " 65 "cathedral, from ox body lane." h. railton " 69 "by unfrequented ways." w. h. gore " 70, 71 "adversity." fred. hall " 73, 75 "a willowy stream." maud naftel " 76 "twins." stanley berkeley " 79 "the dark island." alfred east " 80 "a portrait." t. c. gotch " 83 sir john tenniel. edwin ward " 87 the rt. hon. john morley. edwin ward " 90 "nothing venture, nothing have." e. p. sanguinetti " 92, 93 "on the terrace." e. a. rowe " 94 "for the squire." sir john millais, bart., r.a. " 97 "the stopped key." h. s. marks, r.a. " 100 nymph and cupid. henry holiday " 101 illustration to "_the blue poetry book_." l. speed " 102 a portrait. t. blake wirgman. " 103 "forget me not." henry ryland " 105 "baby's own." g. hillyard swinstead " 107 "a silent pool." e. w. waite " 108 "the miller's daughter." e. k. johnson " 111 "the end of the chapter." w. rainey. " 112 "in the pas de calais." j. p. beadle " 113 "golden days." f. stuart richardson " 114 "twilight." hume nisbet " 115 "le dent du géant." e. t. compton " 116, 117 landscape. a. m. lindstrom " 119 volendam. c. j. watson " 123 "old woman and grandchild." hugh cameron " 125 "an arrest." melton prior " 127 "sunrise in the severn valley." m. r. corbet " 129 "the adjutant's love story." h. r. millar " 131 illustrations from "_the blue poetry book_." l. speed " 134, 5, 7 "seine boats." louis grier " 138 "there is the priory." w. h. wollen " 139 from "_andersen's fairy tales_." j. r. weguelin " 141, 143 "two's company, three's none." h. j. walker " 147 illustration from "_black and white_." c. g. manton " 149 "a sunny land." george wetherbee " 150 decorative design. the late randolph caldecott " 151 sketch in wash (part of picture) from "_sketch_ " 155 "the brook." arnold helcké " 157 from a photograph from life. by mr. h. s. mendelssohn ("_sketch_") " 161 from a photograph from life. by messrs. cameron & smith ("_studio_") " 165 from a photograph from life ("_graphic_") (_wood_) 169 "proud maisie." lancelot speed (_process_) 173 from "_pablo de segovia_." daniel vierge " 177 drinking horn from "_eric bright eyes_." l. speed " 181 heading from "_grimm's household stories_." w. crane (_wood_) 182 photograph from life. "_the century magazine_" " 187 "driving home the pigs." john pedder (_process_) 193 joan of arc's house at rouen. samuel prout (_wood_) 195 heading from "_grimm's household stories_." w. crane " 197 decorative page. a. j. gaskin (_process_) 199 decorative page from "_the six swans_." w. crane (_wood_) 201 title page of "_the hobby horse_." selwyn image " 205 viking ship from "_eric bright eyes_." l. speed (_process_) 208 "scarlet poppies." w. j. muckley " 209 "take care." w. b. baird " 222 spanish woman. ina bidder " 225 children reading. estelle d'avigdor " 227 sketch from life. g. c. marks " 229 bough of common furze. william french " 231 [illustration] chapter i. introductory. there are, broadly speaking, two kinds of engraving for illustration in books, which are widely distinct--1. _intaglio_; 2. _relievo_. the first comprises all engravings, etchings, and photogravures in which the lines are cut or indented by acid or other means, into a steel or copper plate--a system employed, with many variations of method, from the time of mantegna, albert dürer, holbein and rembrandt, to the french and english etchers of the present day. engravings thus produced are little used in modern book illustration, as they cannot be printed easily on the same page as the letterpress; these _planches à part_, as the french term them, are costly to print and are suitable only for limited editions. in the second, or ordinary form of illustration, the lines or pictures to be printed are left in relief; the design being generally made on wood with a pencil, and the parts not drawn upon cut away. this was the rudimentary and almost universal form of book-illustration, as practised in the fifteenth century, as revived in england by bewick in the eighteenth, and continued to the present day. the blocks thus prepared can be printed rapidly on ordinary printing-presses, and on _the same page as the text_. during the past few years so many processes have been put forward for producing drawings in relief, for printing with the type, that it has become a business in itself to test and understand them. the best known process is still wood engraving, at least it is the best for the fac-simile reproduction of drawings, as at present understood in england, whether they be drawn direct upon the wood or transmitted by photography. there is no process in relief which has the same certainty, which gives the same colour and brightness, and by which gradation of tone can be more truly rendered. as to the relative value of the different photographic relief processes, that can only be decided by experts. speaking generally, i may say that there are six or seven now in use, each of which is, i am informed, the best, and all of which are adapted for printing in the same manner as a wood-block.[1] improvements in these processes are being made so rapidly that what was best yesterday will not be the best to-morrow, and it is a subject which is still little understood. in the present book it is proposed to speak principally of the more popular form of illustration (_relievo_); but the changes which are taking place in all forms of engraving and illustration render it necessary to say a few words first upon _intaglio_. we have heard much of the "painter-etchers," and of the claims of the etchers to recognition as original artists; and at the annual exhibition of the society of painter-etchers in london, we have seen examples in which the effects produced in black and white seemed more allied to the painter's art than to the engraver's. but we are considering engraving as a means of interpreting the work of others, rather than as an original art. the influence of photography is felt in nearly every department of illustration. the new photo-mechanical methods of engraving, _without the aid of the engraver_, have rendered drawing for fac-simile reproduction of more importance than ever; and the wonderful invention called _photogravure_, in which an engraving is made direct from an oil painting, is almost superseding handwork.[2] [illustration: no. ii. "_ashes of roses_," by g. h. boughton, a.r.a. this careful drawing, from the painting by mr. boughton, in the royal academy, reproduced by the dawson process, is interesting for variety of treatment and indication of textures in pen and ink. it is like the picture, but it has also the individuality of the draughtsman, as in line engraving. size of drawing about 6-1/2 x 3-1/2 in.] [illustration: "badminton in the studio." (from the painting by r. w. macbeth, a.r.a.) (_royal academy, 1891._)] the art of line-engraving is disappearing in england, giving way to the "painter-etchers," the "dry-point" etchers and the "mezzotint engravers," and, finally, to _photogravure_, a method of engraving which is so extraordinary, and so little understood (although it has been in constant use for more than ten years), that it may be worth while to explain, in a few words, the method as practised by messrs. boussod, valadon & co., successors to goupil, of paris. in the royal academy exhibition of 1882, sir frederick leighton's picture called "wedded" will be remembered by many visitors. this picture was purchased for australia, and had to be sent from england within a few weeks of the closing of the exhibition. there was no time to make an engraving, or even an etching satisfactorily, and so the picture was sent to messrs. goupil, who in a few weeks produced the _photogravure_, as it is called, which we see in the printsellers' windows to this day. the operation is roughly as follows:--first, a photograph is taken direct from the picture; then a carbon print is taken from the negative upon glass, which rests upon the surface in delicate relief. from this print a cast is taken in reverse in copper, by placing the glass in a galvanic bath, the deposit of copper upon the glass taking the impression of the picture as certainly as snow takes the pattern of the ground upon which it falls. thus--omitting details, and certain "secrets" of the process--it may be seen how modern science has superseded much of the engraver's work, and how a mechanical process can produce in a few days that which formerly took years. what the permanent art-estimate of "photo-engraving" may be, as a substitute for hand-work, is a question for the collectors of engravings and etchings. in the meantime, it is well that the public should know what a _photogravure_ is, as distinct from an engraving. the system of mechanical engraving, in the reproduction of pictures, is spreading rapidly over the world; but it should be observed that these reproductions are not uniformly successful. one painter's method of handling lends itself more readily than that of another to mechanical engraving. thus the work of the president of the royal academy would reproduce better than that of mr. g. f. watts or mr. orchardson. that the actual marks of the brush, the very texture of the painting, can be transferred to copper and steel, and multiplied _ad infinitum_ by this beautiful process, is a fact to which many english artists are keenly alive. the process has its limits, of course, and _photogravure_ has at present to be assisted to a considerable extent by the engraver. but enough has been done in the last few years to prove that photography will henceforth take up the painter's handiwork as he leaves it, and thus the importance of thoroughness and completeness on the part of the painter has to be more than ever insisted upon by the publishers of "engravings." a word may be useful here to explain that the coloured "photogravures," reproducing the washes of colour in a painting or water-colour drawing, of which we see so many in paris, are not coloured by hand in the ordinary way, but are produced complete, at one impression, from the printing-press. the colours are laid upon the plate, one by one, by the printer, by a system of stencilling; and thus an almost perfect fac-simile of a picture can be reproduced in pure colour, if the original is simple and broad in treatment. [illustration: no. iii. "_a son of pan_," by william padgett. example of outline drawing, put in solidly with a brush. if this had been done with pencil or autographic chalk, much of the feeling and expression of the original would have been lost. the drawing has suffered slightly in reproduction, where (as in the shadows on the neck and hands) the lines were pale in the original. size of drawing 11-1/2 × 6-1/2 in. zinc process.] [illustration: "home by the ferry." (from the painting by edward stott.) (_royal academy, 1891._)] one other point of interest and importance to collectors of engravings and etchings should be mentioned. within the last few years, an invention for coating the surface of engraved plates with a film of steel (which can be renewed as often as necessary) renders the surface practically indestructible; and it is now possible to print a thousand impressions from a copper plate without injury or loss of quality. these modern inventions are no secrets, they have been described repeatedly in technical journals and in lectures, notably in those delivered during the past few years at the society of arts, and published in the _journal_. but the majority of the public, and even many collectors of prints and etchings, are ignorant of the number of copies which can now be taken without deterioration from one plate. it is necessary to the art amateur that he should know something of these things, if only to explain why it is that scratching on a copper plate has come so much into vogue in england lately, and why there has been such a remarkable revival of the art of dürer at the end of this century. the reason for the movement will be better understood when it is explained that by the process just referred to, of "steeling" the surface of plates, the "burr," as it is called, and the most delicate lines of the engraver are preserved intact for a much larger number of impressions than formerly. the taste for etchings and the higher forms of the reproductive arts is still spreading rapidly, but the fact remains that etchings and _éditions de luxe_ do not reach one person in a thousand in any civilised community. it is only by means of wood engravings, and the cheaper and simpler forms of process illustration, that the public is appealed to pictorially through the press. [illustration: line process block.] footnotes: [1] all the illustrations in this book are produced by mechanical processes excepting those marked in the list of illustrations; and all are printed simultaneously with the letterpress. for description of processes, see _appendix_. [2] one of the last and best examples of pure line-engraving was by m. joubert, from a painting by e. j. poynter, r.a., called "atalanta's race," exhibited in the royal academy, 1876. the engraving of this picture was nearly three years in m. joubert's hands--a tardy process in these days. [illustration: "greeting." (by the hon. mrs. boyle.)] chapter ii. elementary illustration. the first object of an illustration, the practical part, is obviously, _to illustrate and elucidate the text_--a matter often lost sight of. the second is to be artistic, and includes works of the imagination, decoration, ornament, style. in this chapter we shall consider the first, the practical part. nearly twenty years ago, at a meeting of the society of arts in london, the general question was discussed, whether in the matter of illustrating books and newspapers we are really keeping pace with the times; whether those whose business it is to provide the illustrations which are tossed from steam presses at the rate of several thousand copies an hour, are doing the best work they can. in illustrated newspapers, it was argued, "there should be a clearer distinction between fact and fiction, between news and pictures." the exact words may be thought worth repeating now.[3] "in the production of illustrations we have arrived at great proficiency, and from london are issued the best illustrated newspapers in the world. but our artistic skill has led us into temptation, and by degrees engendered a habit of making pictures when we ought to be recording facts. we have thus, through our cleverness, created a fashion and a demand from the public for something which is often elaborately untrue. would it, then, be too much to ask those who cater for (and really create) the public taste, that they should give us one of two things, or rather _two things_, in our illustrated papers, the real and the ideal- 1st. pictorial records of events in the simplest and truest manner possible; 2nd. pictures of the highest class that can be printed in a newspaper? here are two methods of illustration which only require to be kept distinct, each in its proper place, and our interest in them would be doubled. we ask first for a record of news and then for a picture gallery; and to know, to use a common phrase, _which is which_." at the time referred to, drawing on the wood-block and engraving were almost universal--instantaneous photography was in its infancy, "process blocks," that is to say, mechanical engraving, was very seldom employed, and (for popular purposes) american engraving and printing was considered the best. the system of producing illustrations in direct fac-simile of an artist's drawing, suitable for printing at a type press without the aid of the wood engraver, is of such value for cheap and simple forms of illustration, and is, moreover, in such constant use, that it seems wonderful at first sight that it should not be better understood in england. but the cause is not far to seek. we have not yet acquired the art of pictorial expression in black and white, nor do many of our artists excel in "illustration" in the true sense of the word. it has often been pointed out that through the pictorial system the mind receives impressions with the least effort and in the quickest way, and that the graphic method is the true way of imparting knowledge. are we then, in the matter of giving information or in imparting knowledge through the medium of illustrations, adopting the truest and simplest methods? i venture to say that in the majority of cases we are doing nothing of the kind. we have pictures in abundance which delight the eye, which are artistically drawn and skilfully engraved, but in which, in nine cases out of ten, there is more thought given to effect as a picture than to illustrating the text. it has often been suggested that the art of printing is, after all, but a questionable blessing on account of the error and the evil disseminated by it. without going into that question, i think that we may find that the art of printing with movable type has led to some neglect of the art of expressing ourselves pictorially, and that the apparently inexorable necessity of running every word and thought into uniform lines, has cramped and limited our powers of expression, and of communicating ideas to each other. let us begin at the lowest step of the artistic ladder, and consider some forms of illustration which are within the reach of nearly every writer for the press. with the means now at command for reproducing any lines drawn or written, in perfect fac-simile, mounted on square blocks to range with the type, and giving little or no trouble to the printer, there is no question that we should more frequently see the hand work of the writer as well as of the artist appearing on the page. for example: it happens sometimes in a work of fiction, or in the record of some accident or event, that it is important to the clear understanding of the text, to know the exact position of a house, say at a street corner, and also (as in the case of a late trial for arson) which way the wind blew on a particular evening. words are powerless to explain the position beyond the possibility of doubt or misconstruction; and yet words are, and have been, used for such purposes for hundreds of years, because it is "the custom." [illustration] but if it were made plain that where words fail to express a meaning easily, a few lines, such as those above, drawn in ink on ordinary paper, may be substituted (and, if sent to the printer with the manuscript, will appear in fac-simile on the proof with the printed page), i think a new light may dawn on many minds, and new methods of expression come into vogue. this illustration (which was written on the sheet of ms.) is one example, out of a hundred that might be given, where a diagram should come to the aid of the verbal description, now that the reproduction of lines for the press is no longer costly, and the blocks can be printed, if necessary, on rapidly revolving cylinders, which (by duplicating) can produce in a night 100,000 copies of a newspaper. before exploring some of the possibilities of illustration, it may be interesting to glance at what has been done in this direction since the invention of producing blocks rapidly to print at the type press and the improvements in machinery. in the spring of 1873 a canadian company started a daily illustrated evening newspaper in new york, called _the daily graphic_, which was to eclipse all previous publications by the rapidity and excellence of its illustrations. it started with an attempt to give a daily record of news, and its conductors made every effort to bring about a system of rapid sketching and drawing in line. but the public of new york in 1873 (as of london, apparently, in 1893) cared more for "pictures," and so by degrees the paper degenerated into a picture-sheet, reproducing (without leave) engravings from the _illustrated london news_, the _graphic_, and other papers, as they arrived from england. the paper was lithographed, and survived until 1889. the report of the first year's working of the first daily illustrated newspaper in the world is worth recording. the proprietors stated that although the paper was started "in a year of great financial depression, they have abundant reason to be satisfied with their success," and further, that they attribute it to "an absence of all sensational news."(!) the report ended with the following interesting paragraph: "pictorial records of crime, executions, scenes involving misery, and the more unwholesome phases of social life, are a positive detriment to a daily illustrated newspaper. in fact, the higher the tone and the better the taste appealed to, the larger we have found our circulation to be." the great art, it would seem, of conducting a daily illustrated newspaper is to know _what to leave out_--when, in fact, to have no illustrations at all! in england the first systematic attempt at illustration in a daily newspaper was the insertion of a little map or weather chart in the _times_ in 1875, and the _pall mall gazette_ followed suit with a dial showing the direction of the wind, and afterwards with other explanatory diagrams and sketches. but, in june, 1875, the _times_ and all other newspapers in england were far distanced by the _new york tribune_ in reporting the result of a shooting match in dublin between an american rifle corps and some of our volunteers. on the morning after the contest there were long verbal reports in the english papers, describing the shooting and the results; but in the pages of the _new york tribune_ there appeared a series of targets with the shots of the successful competitors marked upon them, communicated by telegraph and printed in the paper in america on the following morning.[4] after this period we seem to have moved slowly, only some very important geographical discovery, or event, extorting from the daily newspapers an explanatory plan or diagram. but during the "transit of venus," on the 6th of december, 1882, a gleam of light was vouchsafed to the readers of the _daily telegraph_ (and possibly to other papers), and that exciting astronomical event from which "mankind was to obtain a clearer knowledge of the scale of the universe," was understood and remembered better, by three or four lines in the form of a diagram (showing, roughly, the track of venus and its comparative size and distance from the sun) printed in the newspaper on the day of the event. maps and plans have appeared from time to time in all the daily newspapers, but not systematically, or their interest and usefulness would have been much greater. many instances might be given of the use of diagrams in newspapers; a little dial showing the direction of the wind, is obviously better than words and figures, but it is only lately that printing difficulties have been overcome, and that the system can be widely extended. it remains to be seen how far the _daily graphic_, with experience and capital at command, will aid in a system of illustration which is one day to become general. thus far it would seem that the production of a large number of pictures (more or less _à-propos_) is the popular thing to do. we may be excused if we are disappointed in the result from a practical point of view; for as the functions of a daily newspaper are _primâ facie_ to record facts, it follows that if words fail to communicate the right meaning, pictorial expression should come to the aid of the verbal, no matter how crude or inartistic the result might appear. let me give one or two examples, out of many which come to mind. 1. the transmission of form by telegraph. to realise the importance of this system in conveying news, we have only to consider (going back nearly forty years) what interest would have been added to dr. russell's letters from the crimea in the _times_ newspaper, if it had been considered possible, then, to have inserted, here and there, with the type, a line or two pictorially giving (_e.g._) the outline of a hillside, and the position of troops upon it. it _was_ possible to do this in 1855, but it is much more feasible now. the transmission of form by telegraph is of the utmost importance to journalists and scientific men, and, as our electricians have not yet determined the best methods, it may be interesting to point out the simplest and most rudimentary means at hand. the method is well known in the army and is used for field purposes, but hitherto newspapers have been strangely slow to avail themselves of it. the diagram on the opposite page will explain a system which is capable of much development with and without the aid of photography. if the reader will imagine this series of squares to represent a portable piece of open trellis-work, which might be set up at a window or in the open field, between the spectator and any object of interest at a distance--each square representing a number corresponding with a code in universal use--it will be obvious, that by noticing the squares which the outline of a hill would cover, and _telegraphing the numbers of the squares_, something in the way of form and outline may be quickly communicated from the other side of the world. [illustration: code for transmitting form by telegraph.] this is for rough-and-ready use in time of war, when rapidity of communication is of the first importance; but in time of peace a correspondent's letter continually requires elucidation. next is an example, which, for want of better words, i will call "the shorthand of pictorial art." a newspaper correspondent is in a boat on one of the italian lakes, and wishes to describe the scene on a calm summer day. this is how he proceeds- [illustration] "we are shut in by mountains," he says, "but the blue lake seems as wide as the sea. on a rocky promontory on the left hand the trees grow down to the water's edge and the banks are precipitous, indicating the great depth of this part of the lake. the water is as smooth as glass; on its surface is one vessel, a heavily-laden market boat with drooping sails, floating slowly down" (and so on)--there is no need to repeat it all; but when half a column of word-painting had been written (and well-written) the correspondent failed to present the picture clearly to the eye without these _four_ explanatory lines (no more) which should of course have been sent with his letter. this method of description requires certain aptitude and training; but not much, not more than many a journalist could acquire for himself with a little practice. the director of the _daily graphic_ is reported to have said that "the ideal correspondent, who can sketch as well as write, is not yet born." he takes perhaps a higher view of the artistic functions of a daily newspaper than we should be disposed to grant him; by "we" i mean, of course, "the public," expecting _news_ in the most graphic manner. there are, and will be, many moments when we want information, simply and solely, and care little how, or in what shape, it comes. this kind of information, given pictorially, has no pretension to be artistic, but it is "illustration" in the true sense of the word, and its value when rightly applied is great. when the alterations at hyde park corner (one of the most important of the london improvements of our day) were first debated in parliament, a daily newspaper, as if moved by some sudden flash of intelligence, printed a ground-plan of the proposed alterations with descriptive text; and once or twice only, during stanley's long absence in africa, did we have sketches or plans printed with the letters to elucidate the text, such as a sketch of the floating islands with their weird inhabitants, at stanley's station on the congo river, which appeared in a daily newspaper--instances of news presented to the reader in a better form than words. "the very thing that was wanted!" was the general exclamation, as if there were some new discovery of the powers of description. as the war correspondent's occupation does not appear likely to cease in our time, it would seem worth while to make sure that he is fully equipped. the method of writing employed by correspondents on the field of battle seems unnecessarily clumsy and prolix; we hear of letters written actually under fire, on a drum-head, or in the saddle, and on opening the packet as it arrives by the post we may find, if we take the trouble to measure it, that the point of the pen or pencil, has travelled over a distance of a hundred feet! this is the actual ascertained measurement, taking into account all the ups and downs, crosses and dashes, as it arrives from abroad. no wonder the typewriter is resorted to in journalism wherever possible. a newspaper correspondent is sent suddenly to the seat of war, or is stationed in some remote country to give the readers of a newspaper the benefit of his observations. what is he doing in 1894? in the imperfect, clumsy language which he possesses in common with every minister of state and public schoolboy, he proceeds to describe what he sees in a hundred lines, when with two or three strokes of the pen he might have expressed his meaning better pictorially. i have used these words before, but they apply with redoubled force at the present time. the fact is, that with the means now at command for reproducing any lines drawn or written, the correspondent is not thoroughly equipped if he cannot send them as suggested, by telegraph or by letter. it is all a matter of education, and the newspaper reporter of the future will not be considered complete unless he is able to express himself, to some extent, pictorially as well as verbally. then, and not till then, will our complicated language be rescued from many obscurities, by the aid of lines other than verbal.[5] in nearly every city, town, or place there is some feature, architectural or natural, which gives character to it, and it would add greatly to the interest of letters from abroad if they were headed with a little outline sketch, or indication of the principal objects. this is seldom done, because the art of looking at things, and the power of putting them down simply in a few lines, has not been cultivated and is not given to many. two things are principally necessary to attain this end- [illustration: a study in perspective. (hume nisbet.) a. standpoint. b. point of sight. c. horizontal line. d. vanishing lines. e. point of distance. f. vanishing lines of distance. g. line of sight.] 1. the education of hand and eye and a knowledge of perspective, to be imparted to every schoolboy, no matter what his profession or occupation is likely to be. 2. the education of the public to read aright this new language (new to most people), the "shorthand of pictorial art." the popular theory amongst editors and publishers is that the public would not care for information presented to them in this way--that they "would not understand it and would not buy it." sketches of the kind indicated have never been fairly tried in england; but they are increasing in number every day, and the time is not far distant when we shall look back upon the present system with considerable amusement and on a book or a newspaper which is not illustrated as an incomplete production. the number of illustrations produced and consumed daily in the printing press is enormous; but they are too much of one pattern, and, as a rule, too elaborate. in the illustration of books of all kinds there should be a more general use of diagrams and plans to elucidate the text. no new building of importance should be described anywhere without an indication of the elevation, if not also of the ground plan; and, as a rule, no picture should be described without a sketch to indicate the composition. in history words so often fail to give the correct _locale_ that it seems wonderful we have no better method in common use. the following rough plan will illustrate one of the simplest ways of making a description clear to the reader. take the verbal one first:-"the young bretonne stood under the doorway of the house, sheltered from the rain which came with the soft west wind. from her point of vantage on the 'place' she commanded a view of the whole village, and could see down the four streets of which it was principally composed." [illustration] in this instance a writer was at some pains to describe (and failed to describe in three pages) the exact position of the streets near where the girl stood; and it was a situation in which photography could hardly help him. it may seem strange at first sight to occupy the pages of a book on art with diagrams and elementary outlines, but it must be remembered that plans and diagrams are at the basis of a system of illustration which will one day become general. the reason, as already pointed out, for drawing attention to the subject now, is that it is only lately that systems have been perfected for reproducing lines on the printed page almost as rapidly as setting up the type. thus a new era, so to speak, in the art of expressing ourselves pictorially as well as verbally has commenced: the means of reproduction are to hand; the blocks can be made, if necessary, in less than three hours, and copies can be printed on revolving cylinders at the rate of 10,000 an hour. the advance in scientific discovery by means of subtle instruments brings the surgeon sometimes to the knowledge of facts which, in the interests of science, he requires to demonstrate graphically, objects which it would often be impossible to have photographed. with a rudimentary knowledge of drawing and perspective, the surgeon and the astronomer would both be better equipped. at the university of pennsylvania, in philadelphia, where the majority of students are intended for the medical profession, this subject is considered of high importance, and the student in america is learning to express himself in a language that can be understood. in architecture it is often necessary, in order to understand the description of a building, to indicate in a few lines not only the general plan and elevation, but also its position in perspective in a landscape or street. few architects can do this if called upon at a moment's notice in a parliamentary committee room. and yet it is a necessary part of the language of an architect.[6] these remarks apply with great force to books of travel, where an author should be able to take part in the drawing of his illustrations, at least to the extent of being able to explain his meaning and ensure topographical accuracy. a curious experiment was made lately with some students in an art school, to prove the fallacy of the accepted system of describing landscapes, buildings, and the like in words. a page or two from one of the waverley novels (a description of a castle and the heights of mountainous land, with a river winding in the valley towards the sea, and clusters of houses and trees on the right hand) was read slowly and repeated before a number of students, three of whom, standing apart from each other by pre-arrangement, proceeded to indicate on blackboards before an audience the leading lines of the picture as the words had presented it to their minds. it is needless to say that the results, highly skilful in one case, were all different, and _all wrong_; and that in particular the horizon line of the sea (so easy to indicate with any clue, and so important to the composition) was hopelessly out of place. thus we describe day by day, and the pictures formed in the mind are erroneous, for the imagination of the reader is at work at once, and requires simple guidance. the exhibition was, i need hardly say, highly stimulating and suggestive. many arguments might be used for the substitution of pictorial for verbal methods of expression, which apply to books as well as periodicals. two may be mentioned of a purely topical kind. 1. in june, 1893, when the strife of political parties ran high in england, and anything like a _rapprochement_ between their leaders seemed impossible, mr. gladstone and mr. balfour were seen in apparently friendly conversation behind the speaker's chair in the house of commons. a newspaper reporter in one of the galleries, observing the interesting situation, does not say in so many words, that "mr. g. was seen talking to mr. b.," but makes, or has made for him, a sketch (without caricature) of the two figures standing talking together, and writes under it, "_amenities behind the speaker's chair_." here it will be seen that the subject is approached with more delicacy, and the position indicated with greater force through the pictorial method. 2. the second modern instance of the power--the eloquence, so to speak, of the pictorial method--appeared in the pages of _punch_ on the occasion of the visit of the russian sailors to paris in october, 1893. a rollicking, dancing russian bear, with the words "_vive la république_" wound round his head, hit the situation as no words could have done, especially when exposed for sale in the kiosques of the paris boulevards. the picture required no translation into the languages of europe. it may be said that there is nothing new here--that the political cartoon is everywhere--that it has existed always, that it flourished in athens and rome, that all history teems with it, that it comes down to us on english soil through gillray, rowlandson, hogarth, blake, and many distinguished names. i draw attention to these things because the town is laden with newspapers and illustrated sheets. the tendency of the time seems to be to read less and less, and to depend more upon pictorial records of events. there are underlying reasons for this on which we must not dwell; the point of importance to illustrators is the fact that there is an insatiable demand for "pictures" which tell us something quickly and accurately, in a language which every nation can understand. another example of the use of pictorial expression to aid the verbal. a traveller in the harz mountains finds himself on the zeigenkop, near blankenberg, on a clear summer's day, and thus describes it in words:- "we are now on the heights above blankenberg, a promontory 1,360 feet above the plains, with an almost uninterrupted view of distant country looking northward and eastward. the plateau of mountains on which we have been travelling here ends abruptly. it is the end of the upper world, but the plains seem illimitable. there is nothing between us and our homes in berlin--nothing to impede the view which it is almost impossible to describe in words. the setting sun has pierced the veil of mist, and a map of northern germany seems unrolled before us, distant cities coming into view one by one. first, we see halberstadt with its spires, then magdeburg, then another city, and another. "we have been so occupied with the distant prospect, and with the objects of interest which give character to it, that we had almost overlooked the charming composition and suggestive lines of this wonderful view. there is an ancient castle on the heights, the town of blankenberg at our feet, a strange wall of perpendicular rocks in the middle distance; there are the curves of the valleys, flat pastures, undulating woods, and roads winding away across the plains. the central point of interest is the church spire with its cluster of houses spreading upwards towards the château, with its massive terraces fringed with trees, &c., &c." this was all very well in word-painting, but what a veil is lifted from the reader's eyes by some such sketch as the one below. [illustration: view above blankenberg, harz mountains.] it should be mentioned that three photographic prints joined together would hardly have given the picture, owing to the vast extent of this inland view, and the varying atmospheric effects. the last instance i can give here is an engraving from _cassell's popular educator_, where a picture is used to demonstrate the curvature of the world's surface; thus imprinting, for once, and for always, on the young reader's mind a fact which words fail to describe adequately. [illustration: the curvature of the worlds surface.] this is "the art of illustration" in the true sense of the word. footnotes: [3] the quotations are from a paper by the present writer, read before the society of arts in march, 1875. [4] this system of reporting rifle contests is now almost universal in england. [5] it seems strange that enterprising newspapers, with capital at command, such as the _new york herald_, _daily telegraph_, and _pall mall gazette_, should not have developed so obvious a method of transmitting information. the _pall mall gazette_ has been the most active in this direction, but might do much more. [6] it has been well said that if a building can be described in words, it is not worth describing at all! chapter iii. artistic illustrations. in referring now to more artistic illustrations, we should notice first, some of the changes which have taken place (since the meeting referred to in the last chapter), and, bridging over a distance of nearly twenty years, consider the work of the illustrator, the photographer, and the maker of process blocks, as presented in books and newspapers in 1894; speaking principally of topical illustrations, on which so many thousand people are now engaged. it may seem strange at first sight to include "newspapers" in a chapter on art illustrations, but the fact is that the weekly newspapers, with their new appliances for printing, and in consequence of the cheapness of good paper, are now competing with books and magazines in the production of illustrations which a few years ago were only to be found in books. the illustrated newspaper is one of the great employers of labour in this field and distributor of the work of the artist in black and white, and in this connection must by no means be ignored. the post-office carries a volume of 164 pages (each 22 by 16 inches), weighing from two to three pounds, for a half-penny. it is called a "weekly newspaper," but it contains, sometimes, 100 illustrations, and competes seriously with the production of illustrated books. further on we shall see how the illustrations of one number of a weekly newspaper are produced--what part the original artist has in it, what part the engraver and the photographer. these are things with which all students should be acquainted. the first stage of illustration, where little more than a plan or elevation of a building is aimed at (as suggested in the last chapter), and where an author, with little artistic knowledge, is yet enabled to explain himself, is comparatively easy; it is when we approach the hazardous domain of art that the real difficulties begin. as matters stand at present, it is scarcely too much to say that the majority of art students and the younger school of draughtsmen in this country are "all abroad" in the matter of drawing for the press, lacking, not industry, not capacity, but method. that they do good work in abundance is not denied, but it is not exactly the kind of work required--in short, they are not taught at the outset the _value of a line_. that greater skill and certainty of drawing can be attained by our younger draughtsmen is unquestionable, and, bearing in mind that _nearly every book and newspaper in the future will be illustrated_, the importance of study in this direction is much greater than may appear at first sight. [illustration: no. iv. "_tiresome dog_," by e. k. johnson. this example of pen-and-ink work has been reproduced by the gelatine relief process. the drawing, which has been greatly reduced in reproduction, was made by mr. johnson for an illustrated catalogue of the royal water-colour society, of which he is a member. it is instructive as showing the possibilities and limitations of relief process-work in good hands. the gradation of tone is all obtained in pure black, or dotted lines. mr. dawson has aided the effect by "rouletting" on the block on the more delicate parts; but most of the examples in this book are untouched by the engraver. (_see appendix._)] [illustration: "frustrated." (from the painting by walter hunt.) (_royal academy_, 1891.)] referring to the evident want of training amongst our younger draughtsmen, the question was put very bluntly in the _athenæum_ some years ago, thus:- why is not drawing in line with pen and ink taught in our own government schools of art? the present system in schools seems to render the art of drawing of as little use to the student as possible, for he has no sooner mastered the preliminary stage of drawing in outline from the flat with a lead pencil, than he has chalk put into his hand, a material which he will seldom or never use in turning his knowledge of drawing to practical account. the readier method of pen and ink would be of great service as a preparatory stage to wood drawing, but unfortunately drawing is taught in most cases as though the student intended only to become a painter. since these lines were written, efforts have been made in some schools of art to give special training for illustrators, and instruction is also given in wood engraving, which every draughtsman should learn; but up to the present time there has been no systematic teaching in drawing applicable to the various processes, for the reason that _the majority of art masters do not understand them_. [illustration: "on the riviera." (ellen montalba.)] the art of expression in line, or of expressing the effect of a picture or a landscape from nature in a few leading lines (not necessarily outline) is little understood in this country; and if such study, as the _athenæum_ pointed out, is important for the wood draughtsman, how much more so in drawing for reproduction by photo-mechanical means? a few artists have the gift of expressing themselves in line, but the majority are strangely ignorant of the principles of this art and of the simple fac-simile processes by which drawing can now be reproduced. in the course of twenty years of editing the _academy notes_, some strange facts have come to the writer's notice as to the powerlessness of some painters to express the _motif_ of a picture in a few lines; also as to how far we are behind our continental neighbours in this respect. [illustration: "a light of laughing flowers along the grass is spread." (m. ridley corbet.)] [illustration: no. v. h. s. marks. an example of line drawing and "the art of leaving out," by the well-known royal academician. mr. marks and sir john gilbert (_see frontispiece_) were the first painters to explain the composition and leading lines of their pictures in the _academy notes_ in 1876. mr. marks suggests light and shade and the character of his picture in a few skilful lines. sir john gilbert's pen-and-ink drawing is also full of force and individuality. these drawings reproduce well by any of the processes.] [illustration: "a select committee." (from the painting by h. s. marks, r.a.) (_royal academy, 1891._)] it is interesting to note here the firmness of line and clearness of reproduction by the common process block; the result being more satisfactory than many drawings by professional illustrators. the reason is not far to seek; the painter knows his picture and how to give the effect of it in black and white, in a few lines; and, in the case of mr. corbet and miss montalba, they have made themselves acquainted with the best way of drawing for the press. there are many other methods than pen-and-ink which draughtsmen use,--pencil, chalk, wash, grained paper, &c, but first as to line drawing, because _it is the only means by which certain results can be obtained_, and it is the one which, for practical reasons, should be first mastered. line drawings are now reproduced on zinc blocks fitted for the type press at a cost of less than sixpence the square inch for large blocks; the processes of reproduction will be explained further on. it cannot be sufficiently borne in mind--i am speaking now to students who are not intimate with the subject--that to produce with pure black lines the quality and effect of lines in which there is some gradation of tone, is no easy matter, especially to those accustomed to the wood engraver as the interpreter of their work. sir john tenniel, m. du maurier, and mr. sambourne, not to mention others on the _punch_ staff, have been accustomed to draw for wood engraving, and would probably still prefer this method to any other. [illustration: "the rose queen." (g. d. leslie, r.a.) (_from "academy notes," 1893._)] but the young illustrator has to learn the newer methods, and how to get his effects through direct photo-engraving. what may be done by process is demonstrated in the line drawings interspersed through these pages, also in the illustrations which are appearing every day in our newspapers, magazines, and books--especially those which are well printed and on good paper. mr. george leslie's pretty line drawing from his picture, on the opposite page, is full of suggestion for illustrative purposes. but let us glance first at the ordinary hand-book teaching, and see how far it is useful to the illustrator of to-day. the rules laid down as to the methods of line work, the direction of lines for the expression of certain textures, "cross-hatching," &c., are, if followed too closely, apt to lead to hardness and mannerism in the young artist, which he will with difficulty shake off. on these points, mr. robertson, the well-known painter and etcher, writing seven years ago, says well:- "the mental properties of every line drawn with pen and ink should be original and personal ... this strong point is sure to be attained unconsciously, if an artist's work is simple and sincere, and _not the imitation of another man's style_."[7] when the question arises as to what examples a beginner should copy who wishes to practise the art of pen-and-ink drawing, the difficulty will be to select from the great and varied stores of material that are everywhere to his hand. all steel and copper-plate engravings that have been executed in line, and all wood engravings, are within the possible range of pen-and-ink drawing. i hold, however, that much time should not be occupied in the imitatative copying of prints: only, indeed, so much as enables the student to learn with what arrangement of lines the different textures and qualities of objects may be best rendered. there are, roughly, two methods of obtaining effect with a pen--one by few lines, laid slowly, and the other by many lines, drawn with rapidity. if the intention is to see what effect may be obtained with comparatively few lines deliberately drawn, we may refer to the woodcuts after albert dürer and holbein, and the line engraving of marc antonio. the engraved plates by dürer furnish excellent examples of work, with more and finer lines than his woodcuts [but many of the latter were not done by his hand]. "some of the etchings of rembrandt are examples of what may be fairly reproduced in pen and ink, but in them we find the effect to depend upon innumerable lines in all directions. in the matter of landscape the etched plates by claude and ruysdael are good examples for study, and in animal life the work of paul potter and dujardin." thus, for style, for mastery of effect and management of line, we must go back to the old masters; to work produced generally in a reposeful life, to which the younger generation are strangers. but the mere copying of other men's lines is of little avail without mastering the principles of the art of line drawing. the skilful copies, the fac-similes of engravings and etchings drawn in pen and ink, which are the admiration of the young artist's friends, are of little or no value in deciding the aptitude of the student. the following words are worth placing on the walls of every art school:-"proficiency in copying engravings in fac-simile, far from suggesting promise of distinction in the profession of art, plainly _marks a tendency to mechanical pursuits_, and is not likely to be acquired by anyone with much instinctive feeling for the arts of design." there is much truth and insight in this remark. [illustration: "the finding of the infant st. george." (charles m. gere.) (_from his painting in the new gallery, 1893._)] in line work, as now understood, we are going back, in a measure, to the point of view of the missal writer and the illuminator, who, with no thought of the possibilities of reproduction, produced many of his decorative pages by management of line alone (i refer to the parts of his work in which the effect was produced by black and white). no amount of patience, thought, and labour was spared for this one copy. what would he have said if told that in centuries to come this line work would be revived in its integrity, with the possibility of the artist's own lines being reproduced 100,000 times, at the rate of several thousand an hour. and what would he have thought if told that, out of thousands of students in centuries to come, a few, a very few only, could produce a decorative page; and that few could be brought to realise that a work which was to be repeated, say a thousand times, was worthy of as much attention as his ancestors gave to a single copy! on the principle that "everything worth doing is worth doing well," and on the assumption that the processes in common use--[i purposely omit mention here of the older systems of drawing on transfer paper, and drawing on waxed plates, without the aid of photography, which have been dealt with in previous books]--are worth all the care and artistic knowledge which can be bestowed upon them, we would press, upon young artists especially, the importance of study and experiment in this direction. as there is no question that "the handwork of the artist" can be seen more clearly through mechanical engraving than through wood engraving, it behoves him to do his best. and as we are substituting process blocks for wood engraving in every direction, so we should take over some of the patience and care which were formerly given to book illustrations. we cannot live, easily, in the "cloistered silence of the past," but we can emulate the deliberate and thoughtful work of mantegna, of holbein, of albert dürer, and the great men of the past, who, if they were alive to-day, would undoubtedly have preferred drawing for process to the labour of etching and engraving; and, if their work were to be reproduced by others, they would have perceived, what it does not require much insight in us to realise, that the individuality of the artist is better preserved, by making his own lines. to do this successfully in these days, the artist must give his best and most deliberate (instead of his hurried and careless) drawings to the processes; founding his style, to a limited extent it may be, on old work, but preserving his own individuality. but we must not slavishly copy sketches by the old masters, _which were never intended for reproduction_. we may learn from the study of them the power of line to express character, action, and effect, we may learn composition sometimes, but not often from a sketch. [illustration: "a ploughboy." (g. clausen.)] as to copying the work of living artists, it should be remembered that the manner and the method of a line drawing is each artist's property, and the repetition of it by others is injurious to him. it would be an easy method indeed if the young artist, fresh from the schools, could, in a few weeks, imitate the mannerism, say of sir john gilbert, whose style is founded upon the labour of 50 years. there is no such royal road. [illustration: no. vi. "_a ploughboy_," by george clausen. an excellent example of sketching in line. the original drawing was 7-3/4 × 5-3/4 in. i have reproduced mr. clausen's artistic sketch of his picture in two sizes in order to compare results. the small block on page 59 (printed in _grosvenor notes_, 1888) appears to be the most suitable reduction for this drawing. the results are worth comparing by anyone studying process work. the first block was made by the gelatine process; the one opposite by the ordinary zinc process. (_see appendix._) to return to illustration. the education of the illustrator in these days means much more than mere art training. the tendency of editors of magazines and newspapers is to employ those who can write as well as draw. this may not be a very hopeful sign from an art point of view, but it is a condition of things which we have to face. much as we may desire to see a good artist and a good _raconteur_ in one man, the combination will always be rare; those editors who seek for it are often tempted to accept inferior art for the sake of the story. i mention this as one of the influences affecting the quality of illustrations of an ephemeral or topical kind, which should not be overlooked. in sketches of society the education and standing of the artist has much to do with his success. m. du maurier's work in _punch_ may be taken as an example of what i mean, combining excellent art with knowledge of society. his clever followers and imitators lack something which cannot be learned in an art school. it should be understood that, in drawing for reproduction by any of the mechanical processes (either in wash or in line, but especially the latter), there is more strain on the artist than when his work was engraved on wood, and the knowledge of this has left drawing for process principally in the hands of the younger men. they will be older by the end of the century, but not as old then as some of our best and experienced illustrators who keep to wood engraving. [illustration: no. vii. "_blowing bubbles_," by c. e. wilson. this is an excellent example of drawing--and of treatment of textures and surfaces--for process reproduction. the few pen touches on the drapery have come out with great fidelity, the double lines marking the paving stones being the only part giving any trouble to the maker of the gelatine relief block. the skilful management of the parts in light shows again "the art of leaving out."] i am touching now upon a difficult and delicate part of the subject, and must endeavour to make my meaning clear. the illustrations in _punch_ have, until lately, all been engraved on wood (the elder artists on the staff not taking kindly to the processes), and the style and manner of line we see in its pages is due in great measure to the influence of the wood engraver.[8] this refers to fac-simile work, but the engraver, as we know, also interprets wash into clean lines, helps out the timid and often unsteady draughtsman, and in little matters puts his drawing right. the wood engraver was apprenticed to his art, and after long and laborious teaching, mastered the mechanical difficulties. if he had the artistic sense he soon developed into a master-engraver and illustrator, and from crude and often weak and inartistic drawings produced illustrations full of tone, quality, and beauty. from very slight material handed to him by the publisher, the wood engraver would evolve (from his inner consciousness, so to speak) an elaborate and graceful series of illustrations, drawn on the wood block by artists in his own employ, who had special training, and knew exactly how to produce the effects required. the system often involved much care and research for details of costume, architecture, and the like, and, if not very high art, was at least well paid for, and appreciated by the public. i am speaking of the average illustrated book, say of twenty years ago, when it was not an uncommon thing to spend £500 or £600 on the engravings. let us hope that the highest kind of wood engraving will always find a home in england. nobody knows--nobody ever will know--how much the engraver has done for the artist in years past. "for good or evil,"--it may be said; but i am thinking now only of the good, of occasions when the engraver has had to interpret the artist's meaning, and sometimes, it must be confessed, to come to the rescue and perfect imperfect work. [illustration: no. viii. illustration to "_dreamland in history_," by dr. gloucester. (london: isbister & co.) drawn by herbert railton. example of brilliancy and simplicity of treatment in line drawing for process. there is no illustration in this book which shows better the scope and variety of common process work. mr. railton has studied his process, and brought to it a knowledge of architecture and sense of the picturesque. this illustration is reduced considerably from the original drawing.] the artist who draws for reproduction by chemical and mechanical means is thrown upon his own resources. he cannot say to the acid, "make these lines a little sharper," or to the sun's rays, "give a little more light"; and so--as we cannot often have good wood engraving, as it is not always cheap enough or rapid enough for our needs--we draw on paper what we want reproduced, and resort to one of the photographic processes described in this book. [illustration: "by unfrequented ways." (w. h. gore.)] i do not think the modern illustrator realises how much depends upon him in taking the place, so to speak, of the wood engraver. the interpretation of tone into line fitted for the type press, to which the wood engraver gave a lifetime, will devolve more and more upon him. we cannot keep this too continually in mind, for in spite of the limitations in mechanically-produced blocks (as compared with wood engraving) in obtaining delicate effects of tone in line, much can be done in which the engraver has no part. [illustration: "the lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea." (w h. gore.)] i purposely place these two pen-and-ink drawings by mr. gore side by side, to show what delicacy of line and tone may be obtained on a relief block by proper treatment. one could hardly point to better examples of pure line. they were drawn on ordinary cardboard (the one above, 4-1/4 × 9-3/4 in.) and reproduced by the gelatine relief process. all this, it will be observed, points to a more delicate and intelligent use of the process block than is generally allowed, to something, in short very different to the thin sketchy outlines and scribbles which are considered the proper style for the "pen-and-ink artist." but "the values" are scarcely ever considered in this connection. mr. hamerton makes a curious error in his _graphic arts_, where he advocates the use of the "black blot in pen drawing," arguing that as we use liberally white paper to express air and various degrees of light, so we may use masses of solid black to represent many gradations of darkness. a little reflection will convince anyone that this is no argument at all. mr. ruskin's advice in his _elements of drawing_, as to how to lay flat tints by means of pure black lines (although written many years ago, and before mechanical processes of reproduction were in vogue) is singularly applicable and useful to the student of to-day; especially where he reminds him that, "if you cannot gradate well with pure black lines, you will never do so with pale ones." to "gradate well with pure black lines" is, so to speak, the whole art and mystery of drawing for the photo-zinc process, of which one london firm alone turns out more than a thousand blocks a week. as to the amount of reduction that a drawing will bear in reproduction, it cannot be sufficiently widely known, that in spite of rules laid down, there is no rule about it. [illustration: "adversity." (fred. hall.)] it is interesting to compare this reproduction with the larger one overleaf. there is no limit to the experiments which may be made in reduction, if pursued on scientific principles. [illustration: no. ix. "_adversity_," by fred. hall. this fine drawing was made in pen and ink by mr. hall, from his picture in the royal academy, 1889. size of original 14-1/2 × 11-1/2 in. reproduced by gelatine blocks. the feeling in line is conspicuous in both blocks, but many painters might prefer the smaller.] [illustration: "a willowy stream." (from the painting by maud naftel.) (_new gallery, 1889._)] mr. emery walker, of the firm of walker and boutall, who has had great experience in the reproduction of illustrations and designs from old books and manuscripts, will tell you that very often there is no reduction of the original; and he will show reproductions in photo-relief of engravings and drawings of the same size as the originals, the character of the paper, and the colour of the printing also, so closely imitated that experts can hardly distinguish one from the other. on the other hand, the value of reduction, for certain styles of drawing especially, can hardly be over-estimated. the last drawing was reduced to less than half the length of the original, and is, i think, one of the best results yet attained by the dawson relief process. again, i say, "there is no rule about it." in the course of years, and in the reduction to various scales of thousands of drawings by different artists, to print at the type press, my experience is that _every drawing has its scale, to which it is best reduced_. in these pages will be found examples of drawings reduced to _one-sixtieth_ the area of the original, whilst others have not been reduced at all. [illustration: no. x. "_twins_," by stanley berkley. sketch in pen and ink (size 8-1/4 × 5-1/2 in.) from mr. berkley's picture in the grosvenor gallery in 1884. a good example of breadth and expression in line, the values being well indicated. mr. berkley, knowing animal life well, and _knowing his picture_, is able to give expression to almost every touch. here the common zinc process answers well.] [illustration: "the dark island." (from the painting by alfred east.) (_royal academy, 1885._)] there is much instruction in these drawings by painters, instruction of a kind, not to be obtained elsewhere. the broad distinction between a "sketch" from nature and _a drawing made in a sketchy manner_ cannot be too often pointed out, and such drawings as those by mr. g. clausen (p. 59), fred. hall (p. 73), stanley berkley (p. 79), t. c. gotch (p. 83), and others, help to explain the difference. these are all reproduced easily on process blocks.[9] as to sketching in line from life, ready for reproduction on a process block, it is necessary to say a few words here. the system is, i know, followed by a few illustrators for newspapers (and by a few geniuses like mr. joseph pennell, raven hill, and phil. may, who have their own methods), and who, by incessant practice, have become proficient. they have special ability for this kind of work, and their manner and style is their capital and attraction. [illustration: no. xi. _a portrait_, by t. c. gotch. pen-and-ink drawing (size 7-1/2 × 6-1/2 in.); from his picture in the exhibition of the new english art club, 1889. mr. gotch is well known for his painting of children; but he has also the instinct for line drawing, and a touch which reproduces well without any help from the maker of the zinc block. the absence of outline, and the modelling suggested by vertical lines, also the treatment of background, should be noticed. this background lights up when opposed to white and _vice-versa_.] but to attempt to _teach_ rapid sketching in pen and ink is beginning at the wrong end, and is fatal to good art; it is like teaching the principles of pyrotechnics whilst fireworks are going off. and yet we hear of prizes given for rapid sketches to be reproduced by the processes. indeed, i believe this is the wrong road; the baneful result of living in high-pressure times. it is difficult to imagine any artist of the past consenting to such a system of education. sketching from life is, of course, necessary to the student (especially when making illustrations by wash drawings, of which i shall speak presently), but for line work it should be done first in pencil, or whatever medium is easiest at the moment. the lines for reproduction require thinking about, thinking what to leave out, how to interpret the grey of a pencil, or the tints of a brush sketch in the fewest lines. thus, and thus only, the student learns "the art of leaving out," "the value of a line." the tendency of modern illustrators is to imitate somebody; and in line drawing for the processes, where the artist, and not the engraver, has to make the lines, imitation of some man's method is almost inevitable. [illustration: no. xii. "_sir john tenniel_," by edwin ward. example of another style of line drawing. mr. ward is a master of line, as well as a skilful portrait painter. he has lost nothing of the force and character of the original here, by treating it in line. mr. ward has painted a series of small portraits of public men, of which there is an example on p. 90. size of pen-and-ink drawing 8-1/2 × 5-1/2 in., reproduced by common process.] let me quote an instance. the style of the late charles keene is imitated in more than one journal at the present time, the artists catching his method of line more easily than the higher qualities of his art, his _chiaroscuro_, his sense of values and atmospheric effect. i say nothing of his pictorial sense and humour, for they are beyond imitation. it is the husk only we have presented to us. as a matter of education and outlook for the younger generation of illustrators, this imitation of other men's lines deserves our special consideration. nothing is easier in line work than to copy from the daily press. nothing is more prejudicial to good art, or more fatal to progress. and yet it is the habit of some instructors to hold up the methods (and the tricks) of one draughtsman to the admiration of students. i read in an art periodical the other day, a suggestion for the better understanding of the way to draw topical illustrations in pen and ink, viz.: that examples of the work of daniel vierge, rico, abbey, raven hill, and other noted pen draughtsmen, should be "set as an exercise to students;" of course with explanation by a lecturer or teacher. but this is a dangerous road for the average student to travel. of all branches of art none leads so quickly to mannerism as line work, and a particular manner when thus acquired is difficult to shake off. [illustration: the rt. hon. john morley, m.p. (edwin ward.)] think of the consequences--vierge with his garish lights, his trick of black spots, his mechanical shadows and neglect of _chiaroscuro_--all redeemed and tolerated in a genius for the dash and spirit and beauty of his lines--lines, be it observed, that reproduce with difficulty on relief blocks--imitated by countless students; mr. e. a. abbey, the refined, and delicate american draughtsman, imitated for his method--the style and _chic_ of it being his own, and inimitable. think of the crowd coming on--imitators of the imitators of rico--imitators of the imitators of charles keene! it may be said generally, that in order to obtain work as an illustrator--the practical point--there must be originality of thought and design. _there must be originality_, as well as care and thought bestowed on every drawing for the press. the drawing of portraits in line from photographs gives employment to some illustrators, as line blocks will print in newspapers much better than photographs. but for newspaper printing they must be done with something of the precision of this portrait, in which the whites are cut deep and where there are few broken lines. it is the exception to get good printing in england, under present conditions of haste and cheapening of production, and therefore the best drawings for rapid reproduction are those that require the least touching on the part of the engraver, as _a touched-up process block is troublesome to the printer_; but it is difficult to impress this on the artistic mind. [illustration: no. xiii. "_nothing venture, nothing have_," by e. p. sanguinetti. pen-and-ink drawing from the picture by e. p. sanguinetti, exhibited at the nineteenth century art society's gallery, 1888. the large block is suitable for printing on common paper, and by fast machines. the little block is best adapted for bookwork, and is interesting as showing the quality obtained by reduction. it is an excellent example of drawing for process, showing much ingenuity of line. the tone and shadows on the ground equal the best fac-simile engraving. (size of original drawing, from which both blocks were made, 15 × 10 in.)] [illustration: "on the terrace." (e. a. rowe.) _from his water-colour in the new gallery, 1894._ size of pen drawing, 5-3/4 x 7-1/2 in.] some people cannot draw firm clean lines at all, and _should not attempt them_. few allow sufficiently for the result of reduction, and the necessary thickening of some lines. the results are often a matter of touch and temperament. some artists are naturally unfitted for line work; the rules which would apply to one are almost useless to another. again, there is great inequality in the making of these cheap zinc blocks, however well the drawings may be made; they require more care and experience in developing than is generally supposed. as line drawing is the basis of the best drawing for the press, i have interspersed through these pages examples and achievements in this direction; examples which in nearly every case are the result of knowledge and consideration of the requirements of process, as an antidote to the sketchy, careless methods so much in vogue. here we may see--as has probably never been seen before in one volume--what harmonies and discords may be played on this instrument with one string. one string--no "messing about," if the phrase may be excused--pure black lines on bristol board (or paper of the same surface), photographed on to a zinc plate, the white parts etched away and the drawing made to stand in relief, ready to print with the letterpress of a book; every line and touch coming out a black one, or rejected altogether by the process. [illustration: no. xiv. "_for the squire_," by sir john millais, bart., r. a. this is an example of drawing for process for rapid printing. the accents of the picture are expressed firmly and in the fewest lines, to give the effect of the picture in the simplest way. sir john millais' picture, which was exhibited in the grosvenor gallery in 1883, was engraved in mezzotint, and published by messrs. thos. agnew & sons. (size of pen-and-ink drawing, 7-1/4 × 5-1/2 in.) it is suitable for much greater reduction.] drawings thus made, upon bristol board or paper of similar surface, with lamp black, indian ink, or any of the numerous inks now in use, which dry with a dull, not shiny, surface, will always reproduce well. the pen should be of medium point, or a brush may be used as a pen. the lines should be clear and sharp, and are capable of much variation in style and treatment, as we see in these pages. i purposely do not dwell here upon some special surfaces and papers by which different tones and effects may be produced by the line processes; there is too much tendency already with the artist to be interested in the mechanical side. i have not recommended the use of "clay board," for instance, for the line draughtsman, although it is much used for giving a crisp line to process work, and has a useful surface for scraping out lights, &c. the results are nearly always mechanical looking.[10] on the next page are two simple, straightforward drawings, which, it will be observed, are well suited to the method of reproduction for the type press. the first is by mr. h. s. marks, r. a. (which i take from the pages of _academy notes_), skilfully drawn upon bristol board, about 7 × 5 in. here every line tells, and none are superfluous; the figure of the monk, the texture of his dress, the old stone doorway, the creeper growing on the wall, and the basket of provisions, all form a picture, the lines of which harmonise well with the type of a book. [illustration: "the stopped key." (h. s. marks, r. a.)] in this deliberate, careful drawing, in which white paper plays by far the principal part, the background and lighting of the picture are considered, also the general balance of a decorative page.[11] [illustration: "nymph and cupid." small bas-relief. (h. holiday.) (_from "academy notes."_)] footnotes: [7] no one artist can teach drawing in line without a tendency to mannerism, especially in art classes. [8] one of the most accomplished of english painters told me the other day that when he first drew for illustration, the wood engraver dictated the angle and style of cross-hatching, &c., so as to fit the engraver's tools. [9] special interest attaches to the examples in this book from the fact that they have nearly all been _drawn on different kinds of paper_, and _with different materials_; and yet nearly all, as will be seen, have come out successfully, and give the spirit of the original. [10] for description of the various grained papers, &c., see page 113, also _appendix_. [11] the young "pen-and-ink artist" of to-day generally avoids backgrounds, or renders them by a series of unmeaning scratches; he does not consider enough the true "lighting of a picture," as we shall see further on. the tendency of much modern black-and-white teaching is to ignore backgrounds. chapter iv. photo-zinc process.[12] in order to turn any of these drawings into blocks for the type press, the first process is to have it photographed to the size required, and to transfer a print of it on to a sensitized zinc plate. this print, or photographic image of the drawing lying upon the zinc plate, is of greasy substance (bichromate of potash and gelatine), and is afterwards inked up with a roller; the plate is then immersed in a bath of nitric acid and ether, which cuts away the parts which were left white upon the paper, and leaves the lines of the drawing in relief. this "biting in," as it is called, requires considerable experience and attention, according to the nature of the drawing. thus, the lines are turned into metal in a few hours, and the plate when mounted on wood to the height of type-letters, is ready to be printed from, if necessary, at the rate of several thousands an hour. [illustration: portrait. (t. blake wirgman.) (_from "academy notes."_)] [this portrait was exhibited in the royal academy in 1880. i reproduce mr. wirgman's sketch for the sake of his powerful treatment of line.] [illustration: no. xv. "_forget-me-not_," by henry ryland. (_from the "english illustrated magazine."_) an unusually fine example of reproduction in line, by zinc process, from a large pen-and-ink drawing. it serves to show how clearly writing can be reproduced if done by a trained hand. students should notice the variety of "colour" and delicacy of line, also the brightness and evenness of the process block throughout. this illustration suggests possibilities in producing decorative pages in modern books without the aid of printers' type, which is worth consideration in art schools. it requires, of course, knowledge of the figure and of design, and a trained hand for process. one obvious preparation for such work, is an examination of decorative pages in the manuscript department of the british museum. (_see appendix._) it would be difficult, i think, to show more clearly the scope and variety of line work by process than in the contrast between this and the two preceding illustrations. each artist is an expert in black and white in his own way.] [illustration: "baby's own." (g. hillyard swinstead.) (_from "academy notes," 1890._)] a wonderful and startling invention is here, worthy of a land of enchantment, which, without labour, with little more than a wave of the hand, transfixes the artist's touch, and turns it into concrete; by which the most delicate and hasty strokes of the pen are not merely recorded in fac-simile for the eye to decipher, but are brought out in sharp relief, as bold and strong as if hewn out of a rock! here is an argument for doing "the best and truest work we can," a process that renders indestructible--so indestructible that nothing short of cremation would get rid of it--every line that we put upon paper; an argument for learning for purposes of illustration the touch and method best adapted for reproduction by the press.[13] [illustration: "a silent pool." (ed. w. waite.) (_from "academy notes," 1891._)] gelatine process. by this process a more delicate and sensitive method has been used to obtain a relief block. the drawing is photographed to the required size (as before), and the _negative_ laid upon a glass plate (previously coated with a mixture of gelatine and bichromate of potash). the part of this thin, sensitive film not exposed to the light, is absorbent, and when immersed in water swells up. the part exposed to the light (_i.e._, the lines of the drawing) remains near the surface of the glass. thus we have a sunk mould from which a metal cast can be taken, leaving the lines in relief as in the zinc process. in skilful hands this process admits of more delicate gradations, and pale, uncertain lines can be reproduced with tolerable fidelity. the blocks take longer to make, and are double the price of the photo-zinc process first described. there is no process yet invented which gives better results from a pen-and-ink drawing for the type-press. these blocks when completed have a copper surface. the reproductions of pencil, chalk, or charcoal drawings by the zinc, or "biting-in" processes are nearly always failures, as we may see in some of the best artistic books and magazines to-day. [illustration: no. xvi. "_the miller's daughter_," by e. k. johnson. another very interesting example of mr. e. k. johnson's drawing in pen and ink. nearly every line has the value intended by the artist. the drawing has been largely reduced, and reproduced by the gelatine relief process.] [illustration: "the end of the chapter." (from the painting by w. rainey.) [_royal academy, 1886._] (_reproduced by the old dawson process._)] [illustration: "in the pas de calais." (jas. prinsep beadle.)[14]] grained papers. for those who cannot draw easily with the pen, there are several kinds of grained papers which render drawings suitable for reproduction. the first is a paper with _black lines_ imprinted upon it on a material suitable for scraping out to get lights, and strengthening with pen or pencil to get solid blacks. on some of these papers black lines are imprinted horizontally, some vertically, some diagonally, some in dots, and some with lines of several kinds, one under the other, so that the artist can get the tint required by scraping out. drawings thus made can be reproduced in relief like line drawings, taking care not to reduce a fine black grain too much or it will become "spotty" in reproduction. [illustration: "golden days." (f. stuart richardson.) (_black-grained paper._)] this drawing and the one opposite by mr. hume nisbet show the skilful use of paper with vertical and horizontal black lines; also, in the latter drawing, the different qualities of strength in the sky, and the method of working over the grained paper in pen and ink. [illustration: no. xvii. "twilight." (specimen of black-grained paper.) (_from "lessons in art," by hume nisbet, published by chatto & windus._)] [illustration: no. xviii.] "_le dent du géant_," by e. t. compton. another skilful use of the black-grained paper to represent snow, glacier, and drifting clouds. the original tone of the paper may be seen in the sky and foreground. the effect is obtained by scraping out the lighter parts on the paper and strengthening the dark with pen and pencil. it is interesting to compare the two blocks made from the same drawing. (size of drawing 7-3/4 × 4 in.)] [illustration: no. xix. _landscape_, by a. m. lindstrom. example of bold effect by scraping out on the black-lined paper, and free use of autographic chalk. this drawing shows, i think, the artistic limitations of this process in the hands of an experienced draughtsman. the original drawing by mr. lindstrom (from his painting in the royal academy) was the same size as the reproduction.] other papers largely used for illustration in the type press have a _white grain_, a good specimen of which is on page 123; and there are variations of these white-grained papers, of which what is known in france as _allongé_ paper is one of the best for rough sketches in books and newspapers. the question may arise in many minds, are these contrivances with their mechanical lines for producing effect, worthy of the time and attention which has been bestowed upon them? i think it is very doubtful if much work ought to be produced by means of the black-grained papers; certainly, in the hands of the unskilled, the results would prove disastrous. a painter may use them for sketches, especially for landscape. mr. compton (as on p. 116) can express very rapidly and effectively, by scraping out the lights and strengthening the darks, a snowdrift or the surface of a glacier. in the drawing on page 123, mr. c. j. watson has shown us how the grained paper can be played with, in artistic hands, to give the effect of a picture. the difference, artistically speaking, between sketches made on black-grained and white-grained papers seems to me much in favour of the latter. [illustration: no. xx. "_volendam_," by c. j. watson. example of white-lined paper, treated very skilfully and effectively--only the painter of the picture could have given so much breadth and truth of effect. this _white_ paper has a strong vertical grain which when drawn upon with autographic chalk has the same appearance as black-lined paper; and is often taken for it. (size of drawing 6 × 4-1/2 in.)] but at the best, blocks made from drawings on these papers are apt to be unequal, and do not print with the ease and certainty of pure line work; they require good paper and careful printing, which is not always to be obtained. the artist who draws for the processes in this country must not expect (excepting in very exceptional cases) to have his work reproduced and printed as in america, or even as well as in this book. [illustration: "and wee peerie winkie payed for a'." (from the painting by hugh cameron.) _example of a good chalk drawing too largely reduced._] [illustration: no. xxi. "_an arrest_," by melton prior. this is a remarkable example of the reproduction of a pencil drawing. it is seldom that the soft grey effect of a pencil drawing can be obtained on a "half-tone" relief block, or the lights so successfully preserved. this is only a portion of a picture by mr. melton prior, the well-known special artist, for which i am indebted to the proprietors of _sketch_. the reproduction is by carl hentschel.] the reproduction on the previous page owes its success not only to good process, paper, and printing, but also to _the firm, decisive touch of an experienced illustrator_ like mr. melton prior. a pencil drawing in less skilful hands is apt to "go to pieces" on the press. mr. c. g. harper, in his excellent book on _english pen artists_, has treated of other ways in which drawings on prepared papers may be manipulated for the type press; but not always with success. in that interesting publication, _the studio_, there have appeared during the past year many valuable papers on this subject, but in which the _mechanism_ of illustration is perhaps too much insisted on. some of the examples of "mixed drawings," and of chalk-and-pencil reproductions, might well deter any artist from adopting such aids to illustration. the fact is, that the use of grained papers is, at the best, a makeshift and a degradation of the art of illustration, if judged by the old standards. it will be a bad day for the art of england when these mechanical appliances are put into the hands of young students in art schools. for the purposes of ordinary illustrations we should keep to the simpler method of line. all these contrivances require great care in printing, and the blocks have often to be worked up by an engraver. _the material of the process blocks is unsuited to the purpose._ in a handbook to students of illustration this requires repeating on nearly every page. as a contrast to the foregoing, let us look at a sketch in pure line by the landscape painter, mr. m. r. corbet, who, with little more than a scribble of the pen, can express the feeling of sunrise and the still air amongst the trees. [illustration: "sunrise in the severn valley." (matthew r. corbet.)] mechanical dots. amongst the modern inventions for helping the hurried or feeble illustrator, is the system of laying on mechanical dots to give shadow and colour to a pure line drawing, by process. it is a practice always to be regretted; whether applied to a necessarily hasty newspaper sketch, or to one of daniel vierge's elaborately printed illustrations in the _pablo de segovia_. one cannot condemn too strongly this system, so freely used in continental illustrated sheets, but which, in the most skilful hands, seems a degradation of the art of illustration. these dots and lines, used for shadow, or tone, are laid upon the plate by the maker of the block, the artist indicating, by a blue pencil mark, the parts of a drawing to be so manipulated; and as the illustrator _has not seen the effect on his own line drawing_, the results are often a surprise to everyone concerned. i wish these ingenious contrivances were more worthy of an artist's attention. on the opposite page is an example taken from an english magazine, by which it may be seen that all daylight has been taken ruthlessly from the principal figure, and that it is no longer in tone with the rest of the picture, as an open air sketch. the system is tempting to the hurried illustrator; he has only to draw in line (or outline, which is worse) and then mark where the tint is to appear, and the dots are laid on by the maker of the blocks. [illustration: "the adjutant's love story." (h. r. millar.) (_example of mechanical grain._) no. xxii.] in the illustration on the last page (i have chosen an example of fine-grain dots; those used in newspapers and common prints are much more unsightly, as everyone knows), it is obvious that the artist's sketch is injured by this treatment, that, in fact, the result is not artistic at all. nothing but high pressure or incompetence on the part of the illustrator can excuse this mechanical addition to an incomplete drawing; and it must be remembered that these inartistic results are not the fault of the process, or of the "process man." but the system is growing in every direction, to save time and trouble, and is lowering the standard of topical illustrations. and it is this system (_inter alia_) which is taught in technical schools, where the knowledge of process is taking the place of wood engraving. the question is again uppermost in the mind, are such mechanical appliances ("dodges," i venture to call them) worthy the serious attention of artists; and can any good arise by imparting such knowledge to youthful illustrators in technical schools? wood engraving was a craft to be learned, with a career for the apprentice. _there is no similar career for a lad by learning the "processes;" and nothing but disappointment before him if he learns the mechanism before he is an educated and qualified artist._ mention should be made here (although i do not wish to dwell upon it) of drawing in line on prepared transfer paper with autographic ink, which is transferred to zinc without the aid of photography, a process very useful for rapid and common work; but it is seldom used for good book illustration, as it is irksome to the artist and not capable of very good results; moreover, the drawing has often to be minute, as the reproduction will be the same size as the original. it is one of the processes which i think the student of art had better not know much about.[15] that it is possible, by the common processes, to obtain strong effects almost equal to engraving, may be seen in some process illustrations by mr. lancelot speed, in which many technical experiments have been made, including the free use of white lining. mr. speed is very daring in his experiments, and students may well puzzle over the means by which he obtains his effects by the line processes. [illustration] the illustration opposite from andrew lang's _blue poetry book_, shows a very ingenious treatment of the black-lined papers. technically it is one of the best examples i know of,--the result of much study and experiment. [illustration: _from andrew lang's "blue poetry book."_ (lancelot speed.) no. xxiii.] [illustration: no. xxiv. "_the armada_," by lancelot speed. this extraordinary example of line drawing for process was taken from andrew lang's _blue poetry book_, published by messrs. longmans. in this illustration no wash has been used, nor has there been any "screening" or engraving on the block. the methods of lining are, of course, to a great extent the artist's own invention. this illustration and the two preceding lead to the conclusion that there is yet much to learn in _drawing for process_ by those who will study it. the achievements of the makers of the blocks, with difficult drawings to reproduce, is quite another matter. here all is easy for the reproducer, the common zinc process only being employed, and the required effects obtained without much worrying of the printer, or of the maker of the blocks. * * * * * thus far all the illustrations in this book have been produced by the common line process.] [illustration: "seine boats." (from the painting by louis grier.)] "half-tone" process. the next process to consider is the method of reproducing wash drawings and photographs on blocks suitable for printing at the type press, commonly known as the meisenbach or "half-tone process;" a most ingenious and valuable invention, which, in clever hands, is capable of artistic results, but which in common use has cast a gloom over illustrations in books and newspapers. first, as to the method of making the blocks. as there are no lines in a wash drawing or in a photograph from nature, it is necessary to obtain some kind of grain, or interstices of white, on the zinc plate, as in a mezzotint; so between the drawing or photograph to be reproduced and the camera, glass screens, covered with lines or dots, are interposed, varying in strength according to the light and shade required; thus turning the image of the wash drawing practically into "line," with sufficient interstices of white for printing purposes. [illustration: "there is the priory!"] thus, all drawings in wash, chalk, pencil, etc., that will not reproduce by the direct line processes, already referred to, are treated for printing at the type press; and thus the uniform, monotonous dulness, with which we are all familiar, pervades the page. the conditions of drawing for this process have to be carefully studied, to prevent the meaningless smears and blotches (the result generally of making too hasty sketches in wash) which disfigure nearly every magazine and newspaper we take up. there is no necessity for this degradation of illustration. the artist who draws in wash with body colour, or paints in oils in monochrome, for this process, soon learns that his high lights will be lost and his strongest effects neutralised, under this effect of gauze; and so for pictorial purposes he has to _force his effect_ and exaggerate lights and shades; avoiding too delicate gradations, and in his different tones keeping, so to speak, to one octave instead of two. thus, also for this process, to obtain brightness and cheap effect, the illustrator of to-day often avoids backgrounds altogether. in spite of the uncertainty of this system of reproduction, it has great attractions for the skilful or the hurried illustrator. [illustration: no. xxv. "helga rode without a saddle as if she had grown to her horse--at full speed." ("_hans andersen's fairy tales._")] [illustration: no. xxvi. "_the storks_," by j. r. weguelin. "and high through the air came the first stork and the second stork; a pretty child sat on the back of each." example of half-tone process applied to a slight wash drawing. the illustration is much relieved by vignetting and _leaving out_: almost the only chance for effect that the artist has by the screened process. it suggests, as so many of the illustrations in this book do, not the limits but the scope and possibilities of process work for books. this and the preceding illustration by mr. weguelin are taken from _hans andersen's fairy tales_ (lawrence & bullen, 1893).] that this "half-tone" process is susceptible of a variety of effects and results, good and bad, every reader must be aware. the illustrations in this book, from pages 138 to 165, are all practically by the same process of "screening," a slight difference only in the grain being discernible. the wash drawing on page 139 suffers by the coarse grain on it, but the values, it will be seen, are fairly well preserved. the lights which are out of tone appear to have been taken out on the plate by the maker of the block, a dangerous proceeding with figures on a small scale. mr. louis grier's clever sketch of his picture in wash, at the head of this chapter, gives the effect well. mr. weguelin's illustrations to _hans andersen's fairy tales_ have been, i understand, a great success, the public caring more for the spirit of poetry that breathes through them than for more finished drawings. this is delightful, and as it should be, although, technically, the artist has not considered his process enough, and from the educational point of view it has its dangers. the "process" has been blamed roundly, in one or two criticisms of mr. weguelin's illustrations, whereas _the process used is the same as on pages 149 and 157_. however, the effect on a wash drawing is not satisfactory in the best hands. so uncertain and gloomy are the results that several well-known illustrators decline to use it as a substitute for wood engraving. we shall have to improve considerably before wood engraving is abandoned. we _are_ improving every day, and by this half-tone process numberless wash drawings and photographs from nature are now presented to the public in our daily prints. great advances have been made lately in the "screening" of pencil drawings, and in taking out the lights of a sketch (as pointed out on page 127), and results have been obtained by careful draughtsmen during the last six months which a year ago would have been considered impossible. these results have been obtained principally by good printing and paper--allowing of a fine grain on the block--but where the illustration has to be prepared for printing, say 5,000 an hour, off rotary machines, a coarser grain has to be used, producing the "berlin wool pattern" effect on the page, with which we are all familiar in newspapers. let us now look at two examples of wash drawing by process, lent by the proprietors of _black and white_. [illustration: no. xxvii. this is a good average example of what to expect by the half-tone process from a wash drawing. that the result is tame and monotonous is no fault of the artist, whose work could have been more brightly rendered by wood engraving. that "it is better to have this process than bad wood engraving" is the opinion of nearly all illustrators of to-day. the artist _sees his own work_, at any rate, if through a veil of fog and gloom which is meant for sunshine! but the time is coming when the public will hardly rest content with such results as these.] [illustration: no. xxviii. _illustration from_ "_black and white_," by g. g. manton. this is a good example of wash drawing for process; that is to say, a good example from the "process man's" point of view. here the artist has used his utmost endeavours to meet the process half-way; he has been careful to use broad, clear, firm washes, and has done them with certainty of hand, the result of experience. if, in the endeavour to get strength, and the _best results out of a few tones_, the work lacks some artistic qualities, it is almost a necessity. mr. manton has a peculiar method of lining, or stippling, over his wash work, which lends itself admirably for reproduction; but the practice can hardly be recommended to the attention of students. it is as difficult to achieve artistic results by these means, as in the combination of line and chalk in one drawing, advocated by some experts. at the same time, mr. manton's indication of surfaces and textures by process are both interesting and valuable.] [illustration: "a sunny land." (from the painting by george wetherbee.) (_new gallery, 1891._)] [illustration: decorative design by randolph caldecott.] (the above design, from the _memoir of r. caldecott_, is lent by messrs. sampson low & co.) one of the many uses which artists may make of the half-tone process is suggested by the reproduction of one of mr. caldecott's decorative designs, drawn freely with a brush full of white, on brown paper on a large scale (sometimes two or even three feet long), and reduced as above; the reduction refining and improving the design. this is a most legitimate and practical use of "process" for illustrating books, architectural and others, which in artistic hands might well be further developed. of the illustrators who use this process in a more free-and-easy way we will now take an example, cut out of the pages of _sketch_ (_see_ overleaf, p. 155). here truths of light and shade are disregarded, the figure stands out in unnatural darkness against white paper, and flat mechanical shadows are cast upon nothing. only sheer ability on the part of a few modern illustrators has saved these coarse ungainly sketches from universal condemnation. but the splashes, and spots, and stains, which are taking the place of more serious work in illustration, have become a vogue in 1894. the sketch is made in two or three hours, instead of a week; the process is also much cheaper to the publisher than wood engraving, and the public seems satisfied with a sketch where formerly a finished illustration was required, if the subject be treated dramatically and in a lively manner. if the sketch comes out an unsightly smear on the page, it at least answers the purpose of topical illustration, and apparently suits the times. it is little short of a revolution in illustration, of which we do not yet see the end.[16] the bookstalls are laden with the daring achievements of phil may, raven hill, dudley hardy, and others, but it is not the object of this book to exhibit the works of genius, either for emulation or imitation. it is rather to suggest to the average student what he may legitimately attempt, and to show him the possibilities of the process block in different hands. it may be said, without disparagement of the numerous clever and experienced illustrators of the day, that they are only adapting themselves to the circumstances of the time. there is a theory--the truth of which i do not question--that the reproductions of rapid sketches from the living model by the half-tone process have more vitality and freedom, more feeling and artistic qualities than can be obtained by any other means. but the young illustrator should hesitate before adapting these methods, and should _never have anything reproduced for publication which was "drawn to time" in art classes_. one thing cannot be repeated too often in this connection: that the hastily produced blotches called "illustrations," which disfigure the pages of so many books and magazines, are generally the result of want of care on the part of the artist rather than of the maker of the blocks. [illustration: no. xxix. this is part of a page illustration lent by the proprietors of _sketch_. it does not do justice to the talent (or the taste, we will hope), of the illustrator, and is only inserted here to record the kind of work which is popular in 1894. (perhaps in a second edition we may have other exploits of genius to record.) it should be noted that this and the illustration on p. 149 are both reproduced by the same hal-ftone process, the difference of result being altogether in the handling of the brush. this sketch would have been intolerable in less artistic hands. artists will doubtless find more feeling and expression in the broad washes and splashes before us, than in the most careful stippling of mr. manton. students of wash drawing for process may take a middle course.] a word here on the influence of process-block makers on the young illustrator. the "process man," the teacher and inciter to achievements by this or that process, is not usually an "artist" in the true sense of the word. he knows better than anyone else what lines he can reproduce, and especially what kind of drawing is best adapted for his own process. he will probably tell the young draughtsman what materials to use, what amount of reduction his drawings will bear, and other things of a purely technical not to say businesslike character. let me not be understood to disparage the work of photo-engravers and others engaged on these processes; on the contrary, the amount of patience, industry, activity, and anxious care bestowed upon the reproduction of drawings and paintings is astonishing, and deserves our gratitude.[17] this work is a new industry of an important kind, in which art and craft are bound up together. the day has past when "process work" is to be looked down upon as only fit for the cheapest, most inferior, and inartistic results. [illustration: "the brook." (from a painting by arnold helcké.)] photographic illustrations. one result of hasty work in making drawings, and the uncertainty of reproduction, promises to be a very serious one to the illustrator, as far as we can see ahead, viz.: the gradual substitution of photographs from life for other forms of illustration. the "meisenbach" reproduction of a photograph from life, say a full length figure of an actress in some elaborate costume, seems to answer the purpose of the editor of a newspaper to fill a page, where formerly artists and engravers would have been employed. one reason for this is that the details of the dress are so well rendered by photography on the block as to answer the purpose of a fashion plate, an important matter in some weekly newspapers. the result is generally unsatisfactory from an artist's point of view, but the picture is often most skilfully composed and the values wonderfully rendered, direct from the original. in the case of the reproduction of photographs, which we are now considering, much may be done by working up a platinotype print before giving it out to be made into a block. much depends here upon the artistic knowledge of editors and publishers, who have it in their power to have produced good or bad illustrations from the same original. the makers of the blocks being confined to time and price, are practically powerless, and seldom have an opportunity of obtaining the best results. it should be mentioned that blocks made from wash drawings, being shallower than those made from line drawings, suffer more from bad printing and paper. a good silver print (whether from a photograph from life or from a picture), full of delicate gradations and strong effects, appears on the plate through the film of gauze, dull, flat, and comparatively uninteresting; but _the expression of the original is given with more fidelity_ than could be done by any ordinary wood engraving. this is the best that can be said for it, it is a dull, mechanical process, requiring help from the maker of the blocks; and so a system of touching on the negative (before making the block) to bring out the lights and accents of the picture is the common practice. this is a hazardous business at the best, especially when dealing with the copy of a painting. i mention it to show where "handwork" in the half-tone process first comes in. the block, when made, is also often touched up by an engraver in places, especially where spotty or too dark; and on this work many who were formerly wood-engravers now find employment. there is no doubt that the makers of process blocks are the best instructors as to the results to be obtained by certain lines and combinations of lines; but in the majority of cases they will tell the artist too much, and lead him to take too much interest in the mechanical side of the business. the illustrator's best protection against this tendency, his whole armour and coat of mail, is to be _an artist first and an illustrator afterwards_. this is the sum of the matter. perhaps some of the examples in this book may help us, and lead to a more thorough testing of results by capable men. "sketch." it will be interesting here to consider the material of which one number of an illustrated paper (_sketch_) is made up, and how far the artist and wood engraver have part in it. from an economic point of view it will be instructive. i take this "newspaper" as an example, because it is a typical and quite "up-to-date" publication, vieing, in circulation and importance, with the _illustrated london news_, both published by the same proprietors. in one number there are upwards of 30 pages, 10 being advertisements. there are in all 151 illustrations, of which 63 appear in the text part, and 88 in the advertisement pages. out of the text illustrations, 24 only are from original drawings or sketches. next are 26 _photographs from life_ (several being full pages), and 13 reproductions from engravings, etc., reproduced by mechanical processes--in all 63. some of the pages reproduced from photographs are undeniably good, and interesting to the public, as is evidenced by the popularity of this paper alone. in the advertisement portion are 88 illustrations (including many small ones), 85 of which have been engraved on wood; a number of them are electrotypes from old blocks, but there are many new ones every week. the reason for using wood engraving largely for advertisements is, that wood blocks print more easily than "process," when mixed with the type, and print better (being cut deeper on the block) where inferior paper and ink are employed. but this class of wood engraving may be summed up in the words of one of the craft to me lately:--"it is not worth _£_2 a week to anybody." [illustration: no. xxx. miss kate rorke. (from "sketch.") (_photographed from life by h. s. mendelssohn_. _reproduced by half-tone process_)] thus it will be seen that in the "text" part of this newspaper two-thirds of the illustrations are produced without the aid of artist or wood engraver! to turn to one of the latest instances where the photographer is the illustrator. a photographer, mr. burrows, of camborne, goes down a lead mine in cornwall with his apparatus, and takes a series of views of the workings, which could probably have been done by no other means. under most difficult conditions he sets his camera, and by the aid of the magnesium "flash-light," gives us groups of figures at work amidst gloomy and weird surroundings. the results are exceptionally valuable as "illustrations" in the true meaning of the word, on account of the clear and accurate definition of details. the remarkable part, artistically, is the good colour and grouping of the figures.[18] another instance of the use of photography in illustration. mr. villiers, the special artist of _black and white_, made a startling statement lately. he said that out of some 150 subjects which he took at the chicago exhibition, not more than half-a-dozen were drawn by him; all the rest being "snap-shot" photographs. some were very good, could hardly be better, the result of many hours' waiting for the favourable grouping of figures. that he would re-draw some of them with his clever pencil for a newspaper is possible, but observe the part photography plays in the matter. in america novels have been thus illustrated both in figure and landscape; the weak point being the _backgrounds_ to the figure subjects. i draw attention to this movement because the neglect of composition, of appropriate backgrounds, and of the true lighting of the figures by so many young artists, is throwing illustrations more and more into the hands of the photographer. thus the rapid "pen-and-ink artist," and the sketcher in wash from an artificially lighted model in a crowded art school, is hastening to his end. [illustration: no. xxxi. (_a photograph from life, by messrs. cameron & smith. reproduced by half-tone process._)] the time is coming fast when cheap editions of popular novels will be illustrated--and many in the following way. the artist, instead of being called upon to draw, will occupy himself in setting and composing pictures through the aid of models trained for the purpose, and the ever-ready photographer. the "process man" and the clever manipulator on the plates, will do the rest, producing pictures vignetted, if desired, as overleaf. much more the makers of blocks can do--and will do--with the photographs now produced, for they are earnest, untiring, ready to make sacrifices of time and money. the cheap dramatic illustrations, just referred to, which artists' models in america know so well how to pose for, may be found suitable from the commercial point of view for novels of the butterfly kind; but they will seldom be of real artistic interest. and here, for the present, we may draw the line between the illustrator and the photographer. but the "black and white man" will obviously have to do his best in every branch of illustration to hold his own in the future. it may be thought by some artists that these things are hardly worth consideration; but we have only to watch the illustrations appearing week by week to see whither we are tending.[19] the last example of the photographer as illustrator, which can be given here, is where a photograph from life engraved on wood is published as a vignette illustration.[20] it is worth observing, because it has been turned into line by the wood engraver, and serves for printing purposes as a popular illustration. the original might have been more artistically posed, but it is pretty as a vignette, and pleases the public. (_see_ opposite page.) there are hundreds of such subjects now produced by the joint aid of the photographer and the process engraver. it is not the artist and the wood engraver who are really "working hand-in-hand" in these days in the production of illustrations, but _the photographer and the maker of process blocks_. this is significant. happily for us there is much that the photographer cannot do pictorially. but the photographer is, as i said, marching on and on, and the line of demarcation between handwork and photographic illustrations becomes less marked every day. the photographer's daughter goes to an art school, and her influence is shown annually in the exhibitions of the photographic societies. [illustration: no. xxxii. (_a photograph from life, engraved on wood._)] this influence and this movement is so strong--and vital to the artist--that it cannot be emphasised too much. the photographer is ever in our midst, correcting our drawing with facts and details which no human eye can see, and no one mind can take in at once. on the obligations of artists to photographers a book might be written. the benefits are not, as a rule, unacknowledged; nor are the bad influences of photography always noticed. that is to say, that before the days of photography, the artist made himself acquainted with many things necessary to his art, for which he now depends upon the photographic lens; in short, he uses his powers of observation less than he did a few years ago. that the photographer leads him astray sometimes is another thing to remember. the future of the illustrator being uppermost in our thoughts, let us consider further the influences with which he is surrounded. as to photography, mr. william small, the well-known illustrator (who always draws for wood engraving), says:--"it will never take good work out of a good artist's hands." he speaks as an artist who has taken to illustration seriously and most successfully, having devoted the best years of his life to its development. the moral of it is, that in whatever material or style newspaper illustrations are done, to hold their own they must be of the best. let them be as slight as you please, if they be original and good. in line work (the best and surest for the processes) photography can only be the servant of the artist, not the competitor--and in this direction there is much employment to be looked for. at present the influence is very much the other way; we are casting off--ungratefully it would seem--the experience of the lifetime of the wood engraver, and are setting in its place an art half developed, half studied, full of crudities and discords. the illustrations which succeed in books and newspapers, succeed for the most part from sheer ability on the part of the artist; _they are full of ability_, but, as a rule, are bad examples for students to copy. "time is money" with these brilliant executants; they have no time to study the value of a line, nor the requirements of the processes, and so a number of drawings are handed to the photo-engravers--which are often quite unfitted for mechanical reproduction--to be produced literally in a few hours. it is an age of vivacity, daring originality, and reckless achievement in illustration. "take it up, look at it, and throw it down," is the order of the day. there is no reason but an economic one why the work done "to look at" should not be as good as the artist can afford to make it. the manufacturer of paperhangings or printed cottons will produce only a limited quantity of one design, no matter how beautiful, and then go on to another. so much the better for the designer, who would not keep employment if he did not do his best, no matter whether his work was to last for a day or for a year. the life of a single number of an illustrated newspaper is a week, and of an illustrated book about a year. the young illustrators on the _daily graphic_--notably mr. reginald cleaver--obtain the maximum of effect with the minimum of lines. thus caldecott worked, spending hours sometimes studying the art of leaving out. charles keene's example may well be followed, making drawing after drawing, no matter how trivial the subject, until he was satisfied that it was right. "either right or wrong," he used to say; "'right enough' will not do for me." [illustration: no. xxxiii. "proud mairie." (lancelot speed.) (_from "the blue poetry book." london: longmans._) pen-and-ink drawing by line process.] another influence on modern illustration--for good or bad--is the electric light. it enables the photographic operator to be independent of dark and foggy days, and to put a search-light upon objects which otherwise could not be utilised. so far good. to the illustrator this aid is often a doubtful advantage. the late charles keene (with whom i have had many conversations on this subject) predicted a general deterioration in the quality of illustrations from what he called "unnatural and impossible effects," and he made one or two illustrations in _punch_ of figures seen under the then--(10 or 15 years ago)--novel conditions of electric street lighting, one of which represented a man who has been "dining" returning home through a street lighted up by electric lamps, tucking up his trowsers to cross a black shadow which he takes for a stream. charles keene's predictions have come true, we see the glare of the magnesium light on many a page, and the unthinking public is dazzled every week in the illustrated sheets with these "unnatural and impossible effects." thus it has come about that what was looked upon by charles keene as garish, exaggerated, and untrue in effect, is accepted to-day by the majority of people as a lively and legitimate method of illustration. daniel vierge. one of the influences on the modern illustrator--a decidedly adverse influence on the unlearned--is the prominence which has lately been given to the art of daniel vierge. there is probably no illustrator of to-day who has more originality, style, and versatility--in short more genius--than vierge, and none whose work, for practical reasons, is more misleading to students. as to his illustrations, from the purely literary and imaginative side, they are as attractive to the scholar as drawings by holbein or menzell are to the artist. let us turn to the illustration on the next page, from the _pablo de segovia_ by quevedo; an example selected by the editor, or publisher, of the book as a specimen page. first, as to the art of it. nothing in its own way could be more fascinating in humour, vivacity, and character than this grotesque duel with long ladles at the entrance to an old spanish posada. the sparkle and vivacity of the scene are inimitable; the bounding figure haunts the memory with its diaphanous grace, touched in by a master of expression in line. in short, we are in the presence of genius. [illustration: no. xxxiv. example of daniel vierge's illustrations to _pablo de segovia_, the spanish sharper, by francisco de quevedo-villegas, first published in paris, in 1882; afterwards translated into english (with an essay on quevedo, by h. e. watts, and comments on vierge's work by joseph pennell), and published by mr. t. fisher unwin, in 1892. vierge was born in 1851, and educated in madrid, where he spent the early years of his life. since 1869 he has lived in paris, and produced numerous illustrations for _le monde illustré_ and _la vie moderne_, and other works. his fame was made in 1882 by quevedo's _pablo de segovia_, the illustrations to which he was unable to complete owing to illness and paralysis. about twenty of these illustrations were drawn with the left hand, owing to paralysis of the right side. his career, full of romantic interest, suggests the future illustrator of _don quixote_. these drawings were made upon white paper--bristol board or drawing paper--with a pen and indian ink; but vierge now uses a glass pen, like an old stylus. the drawings were then given to gillot, the photo-engraver of paris, who, by means of photography and _handwork_, produced metal blocks to be printed with the type.] but the whole effect is obviously untrue to nature, and the tricks--of black spots, of exaggerated shadows on the ground, of scratchings (and of carelessness, which might be excused in a hasty sketch for _la vie moderne_)--are only too apparent. in nearly every illustration in the _pablo de segovia_ (of which there are upwards of one hundred), the artist has relied for brilliancy and effect on patches of black (sometimes ludicrously exaggerated) and other mannerisms, which we accept from a genius, but which the student had better not attempt to imitate. to quote a criticism from the _spectator_, "there is almost no light and shade in vierge. there is an ingenious effect of dazzle, but there is no approach attempted to truth of tone, shadows being quite capriciously used for decoration and supplied to figures that tell as light objects against the sky which throws the shadows." and yet in these handsome pages there are gems of draughtsmanship and extraordinary _tours de force_ in illustration. in the reproduction of these drawings, i think the maker of the blocks, m. gillot, of paris, would seem to have had a difficult task to perform. the fact is, that vierge's wonderful line drawings are sometimes as difficult to reproduce for the type press as those of holbein or menzell, and could only be done satisfactorily by one of the intaglio processes, such as that employed by the autotype company in _éditions de luxe_. that vierge's drawings were worthy of this anyone who saw the originals when exhibited at barnard's inn would, i think, agree. it is the duty of any writer or instructor in illustration, to point out these things, once for all. that vierge could adapt himself to almost any process if he pleased, is demonstrated repeatedly in the _pablo de segovia_, where (as on pages 63 and 67 of that book) the brilliancy and "colour" of pure line by process has hardly ever been equalled. that some of his illustrations are impossible to reproduce well, and have been degraded in the process is also demonstrated on page 199 of the same book, where a mechanical grain has been used to help out the drawing, and the lines have had to be cut up and "rouletted" on the block to make them possible to print. of the clever band of illustrators of to-day who owe much of their inspiration (and some of their tricks of method) to vierge, it is not necessary to speak here; we are in an atmosphere of genius in this chapter, and geniuses are seldom safe guides to students of art. speaking generally (and these remarks refer to editors and publishers as well as draughtsmen), the art of illustration as practised in england is far from satisfactory; we are too much given to imitating the tricks and prettinesses of other nations, and it is quite the exception to find either originality or individuality on the pages which are hurled from the modern printing press; individuality as seen in the work of adolphe menzell, and, in a different spirit, in that of gustave doré and vierge. [illustration] footnotes: [12] the heading to this chapter was drawn in line and reproduced by photo-zinc process. (see page 134.) [13] the mechanical processes, neglected and despised by the majority of illustrators for many years, have, by a sudden freak of fashion, apparently become so universal that, it is estimated, several thousand blocks are made in london alone every week. [14] this excellent drawing was made on rough white paper with autographic chalk; the print being much reduced in size. it is seldom that such a good grey block can be obtained by this means. [15] the young artist would be much better occupied in learning _drawing on stone_ direct, a branch of art which does not come into the scope of this book, as it is seldom used in book illustration, and cannot be printed at the type press. drawing on stone is well worthy of study now, for the art is being revived in england on account of the greater facilities for printing than formerly. [16] the evil of it is that _we are becoming used to black blots_ in the pages of books and newspapers, and take them as a matter of course; just as we submit to the deformity of the outward man in the matter of clothing. [17] on the opposite page is an excellent reproduction of a painting from a photograph by the half-tone process. [18] "_'mongst mines and miners_," by j. c. burrows and w. thomas. (london: simpkin, marshall & co.) [19] both mr. cameron's and mr. mendelssohn's photographs have had to be slightly cut down to fit these pages. but as illustrations they are, i think, remarkable examples of the photographer's and the photo-engraver's art. [20] from the _graphic_ newspaper, 28th october, 1893. [illustration: from "grimm's household stories." (walter crane.)] chapter v. wood engravings. to turn to a more practical side of book illustration. the first principle of illustration is to _illustrate_, and yet it is a fact that few illustrations in books or magazines are to be found in their proper places in the text. it is seldom that the illustration (so called) is in artistic harmony with the rest of the page, as it is found in old books. one of the great charms of bewick's work is its individuality and expressive character. here the artist and engraver were one, and a system of illustration was founded in england a hundred years ago which we should do well not to forget.[21] we are fast losing sight of first principles and aiming rather at catching the eye and the public purse with a pretty page; and in doing this we are but imitators. in the english magazines it is strange to find a slavish, almost childish imitation of the american system of illustration; adopting, for instance, the plan of pictures turned over at the corners or overlapping each other with exaggerated black borders and other devices of the album of the last generation. this is what we have come to in england in 1894 (with excellent wood engravers still), and the kind of art by which we shall be remembered at the end of the nineteenth century! i am speaking of magazines like _good words_ and _cassell's magazine_, where wood engraving is still largely employed. it may be as well to explain here that the reasons for employing the medium of wood engraving for elaborate illustrations which, such as we see in american magazines, were formerly only engraved on copper or steel, are--(1) rapidity of production, and (2) the almost illimitable number of copies that can be produced from casts from wood blocks. the broad distinction between the old and new methods of wood engraving is, that in early days the lines were drawn clearly on the wood block and the part not drawn cut away by the engraver, who endeavoured to make a perfect fac-simile of the artist's lines. it is now a common custom to transfer a photograph from life on to the wood block (_see p. 167_), also to draw on the wood with a brush in tint, and even to photograph a water-colour drawing on to the wood, leaving the engraver to turn the tints into lines in his own way. in the very earliest days of book illustration, before movable type-letters were invented, the illustration and the letters of the text were all engraved on the wood together, and thus, of necessity (as in the old block books produced in holland and belgium in the fifteenth century), there was character and individuality in every page; the picture, rough as it often was, harmonising with the text in an unmistakable manner. from an artistic point of view, there was a better balance of parts and more harmony of effect than in the more elaborate illustrations of the present day. the illustration was an illustration in the true sense of the word. it interpreted something to the reader that words were incapable of doing; and even when movable type was first introduced, the simple character of the engravings harmonised well with the letters. there is a broad line of demarcation, indeed, between these early wood engravings (such, for instance, as the "ars moriendi," purchased for the british museum in 1872, from the weigel collection at leipsic, and recently reproduced by the holbein society) and the last development of the art in the american magazines. the movement is important, because the americans, with an energy and _naïveté_ peculiar to them, have set themselves the task of outstripping all nations in the beauty and quality of magazine illustrations. that they have succeeded in obtaining delicate effects, and what painters call colour, through the medium of wood-engraving, is well known, and it is common to meet people in england asking, "have you seen the last number of _harper's_ or the _century magazine_?" the fashion is to admire them, and english publishers are easily found to devote time and capital to distributing american magazines (which come to england free of duty), to the prejudice of native productions. the reason for the excellence (which is freely admitted) of american wood-engraving and printing is that, in the first place, more capital is employed upon the work. the american wood-engraver is an artist in every sense of the word, and his education is not considered complete without years of foreign study. the american engraver is always _en rapport_ with the artist--an important matter--working often, as i have seen them at _harper's_, the _century magazine_, and _scribner's_ in new york, in the same studio, side by side. in england the artist, as a rule, does not have any direct communication with the wood engraver. in america the publisher, having a very large circulation for his works, is able to bring the culture of europe and the capital of his own country to the aid of the wood-engraver, spending sometimes five or six hundred pounds on the illustrations of a single number of a monthly magazine. the result is _an engraver's success_ of a very remarkable kind. [illustration: xxxv. _a portrait_ engraved on wood at the office of the century magazine. example of portraiture from the _century magazine_. it is interesting to note the achievements of the american engravers at a time when wood engraving in england is under a cloud. this portrait was photographed from life and afterwards worked up by hand and most skilfully engraved in new york. (_photograph from life, engraved on wood. from the century magazine._)] a discussion of the merits of the various styles of wood engraving, and of the different methods of drawing on wood, such as that initiated by the late frederick walker, a. r. a.; the styles of mr. william small, e. a. abbey, alfred parsons, etc.--does not come into the scope of this publication, but it will be useful to refer to one or two opinions on the american system. "book illustration as an art," as mr. comyns carr pointed out in his lectures at the society of arts ten years ago, "is founded upon wood engraving, and it is to wood engraving that we must look if we are to have any revival of the kind of beauty which early-printed books possess. in the mass of work now produced, there is very little trace of the principles upon which holbein laboured. instead of proceeding by the simplest means, our modern artist seems rather by preference to take the most difficult and complex way of expressing himself. a wood engraving, it is not unjust to say, has become scarcely distinguishable from a steel engraving excepting by its inferiority." mr. hubert herkomer, r. a., who has had a very wide experience in the graphic arts, says:- "in modern times a body of engravers has been raised up who have brought the art of engraving on wood to such a degree of perfection, that the most modern work, especially that of the americans, is done to show _the skill of the engraver_ rather than the art of the draughtsman. this, i do not hesitate to say, is a sign of decadence. take up any number of the _century_ or _harper's_ magazines, and you will see that effect is the one aim. you marvel at the handling of the engraver, and forget the artist. correct, or honest, drawing is no longer wanted. this kind of illustration is most pernicious to the student, and _will not last_.... "america is a child full of promise in art--a child that is destined to be a great master; so let us not imitate its youthful efforts or errors. americans were the first to foster this style of art, and they will be the first to correct it." mr. w. j. linton, the well-known wood engraver, expresses himself thus strongly on the modern system, and his words come with great force from the other side of the atlantic:- "talent is misapplied when it is spent on endeavours to rival steel-line engraving or etching, in following brush-marks, in pretending to imitate crayon-work, charcoal, or lithography, and in striving who shall scratch the greatest number of lines on a given space without thought of whether such multiplicity of lines adds anything to the expression of the picture or the beauty of the engraving. how much of talent is here thrown away! how much of force that should have helped towards growth is wasted in this slave's play for a prize not worth having--the fame of having well done the lowest thing in the engraver's art, and having for that neglected the study of the highest! for it is the lowest and the last thing about which an artist should concern himself, this excessive fineness and minuteness of work.... in engraving, as in other branches of art, _the first thing is drawing, the second drawing, the third drawing_." this is the professional view, ably expressed, of a matter which has been exercising many minds of late; and is worth quoting, if only to show the folly of imitating a system acknowledged by experts to be founded on false principles. but there is another view of the matter which should not be lost sight of. whatever the opinion of the american system of illustration may be, there is, on the other side of the atlantic, an amount of energy, enterprise, cultivation of hand and eye, delicacy of manipulation, and individual industry, cleverly organised to provide a wide continent with a better art than anything yet attempted in any country. some fine engravings, which the americans have lately been distributing amongst the people, such, for instance, as the portraits (engraved from photographs from life) which have appeared in _harper's_ and the _century_ magazines, only reach the cultivated few in europe in expensive books. it is worth considering what the ultimate art effect of this widespread distribution will be. the "prairie flower" holds in her hand a better magazine, as regards illustrations, than anything published in england at the same price; and a taste for delicate and refined illustration is being fostered amongst a variety of people on the western continent, learned and unlearned. that there is a want of sincerity in the movement, that "things are not exactly what they seem," that something much better might be done, may be admitted; but it will be well for our illustrators and art providers to remember that the americans are advancing upon us with the power of capital and ever-increasing knowledge and cultivation. in the _century_ magazine, ten years ago, there was an article on "the pupils of bewick," with illustrations admirably reproduced from proofs of early wood engravings, by "photo-engraving." this is noteworthy, as showing that the knowledge of styles is disseminated everywhere in america; and also, how easy it is to reproduce engravings by "process," and how _important to have a clear copyright law on this subject_. of the english wood engravers, and of the present state of the profession in england much has been written. i believe the fact remains that commercial wood engraving is still relied on by many editors and publishers, as it prints with more ease and certainty than any of the process blocks. that there are those in england (like mr. biscombe gardner and others, whose work i am unable to reproduce here), that believe in wood engraving still as a vital art, capable of the highest results, i am also well aware. but at the moment of writing it is difficult to get many publishers to expend capital upon it for ordinary illustrations. on the next page is an example of good wood engraving. [illustration: "driving home the pigs." (john pedder.) (_academy notes, 1891._)] [illustration: no. xxxvi. _joan of arc's house at rouen_, by the late samuel prout. engraved on wood by mr. j. d. cooper, from a water-colour drawing by samuel prout. the original drawing, made with a reed pen and flat washes of colour, was photographed on to the wood block, and the engraver interpreted the various tints into line. the method is interesting, and the tones obtained in line show the resources of the engraver's art, an art rather carelessly set aside in these days. this engraving is from _normandy picturesque_. (london: sampson low & co.)] footnote: [21] in _the life and works of thomas bewick_, by d. c. thomson; in _the portfolio_, _the art journal_, _the magazine of art_, and in _good words_, bewick's merits as artist and engraver have been exhaustively discussed. [illustration: design by walter crane.] chapter vi. the decorative page. to turn next to the more decorative side of modern illustration, where design and the _ensemble_ of a printed page are more considered, it is pleasant to be able to draw attention to the work of an art school, where an educated and intelligent mind seems to have been the presiding genius; where the illustrators, whilst they are fully imbued with the spirit of the past, have taken pains to adapt their methods to modern requirements. i refer to the birmingham municipal school of art. [illustration: no. xxxvii. _decorative page_, by a. j. gaskin. (from hans andersen's _fairy tales_. london: george allen.) this is a good example of the appropriate decoration of a page without any illustration in the ordinary sense of the word. the treatment of ornament harmonises well with old-faced type letter. the original was drawn in pen and ink, about _the same size_ as the reproduction. the ground is excellent in colour, almost equal to a wood engraving. this is another example of the possibilities of process, rightly handled, and also of effect produced _without reduction_ of the drawing.] whilst using wood engraving freely, the illustrators of birmingham (notably mr. gaskin), are showing what can be done in line drawing by the relief processes, to produce colour and ornament which harmonise well with the letterpress of a book. this seems an important step in the right direction, and if the work emanating from this school were less, apparently, confined to an archaic style, to heavy outline and mediæval ornament (i speak from what i see, not knowing the school personally), there are possibilities for an extended popularity for those who have worked under its influence.[22] the examples of decorative pages by experienced illustrators like mr. walter crane and others, will serve to remind us of what some artists are doing. but the band of illustrators who consider design is much smaller than it should be, and than it will be in the near future. a study of the past, if it be only in the pages of mediæval books, will greatly aid the student of design. in the appendix i have mentioned a few fine examples of decorative pages, with and without illustrations, which may be usefully studied at the british museum. [illustration: no. xxxviii.] in all these pages, it will be observed, what is called "colour" in black and white is preserved throughout; showing that a page can be thoroughly decorative without illustrations to the text. closely criticised, some of the old block designs may appear crude and capable of more skilful treatment, but the pages, as a rule, show the artistic sense--unmistakably, mysteriously, wonderfully. in these and similar pages, such, for instance, as _le mer des histoires_, produced in paris by pierre le rouge in 1488 (also in the british museum), the harmony of line drawing with the printed letters is interesting and instructive. (_see appendix._) it is in the production of the decorative page that wood engraving asserts its supremacy still in some quarters, as may be seen in the beautiful books produced in england during the past few years by mr. william morris, where artist, wood engraver, typefounder, papermaker, printer, and bookbinder work under the guiding spirit (when not the actual handwork) of the author. they are interesting to us rather as exotics; an attempt to reproduce the exact work of the past under modern conditions, conditions which render the price within reach only of a few, but they are at least a protest against the modern shams with which we are all familiar. the nineteenth-century author's love for the literature of his past has led him to imitate not only the style, but the outward aspect of old books; and by a series of frauds (to which his publisher has lent himself only too readily) to produce something which appears to be what it is not. the genuine outcome of mediæval thought and style--of patience and leisure--seems to be treated at the end of the nineteenth century as a fashion to be imitated in books, such as are to be seen under glass cases in the british museum. it is to be feared that the twentieth-century reader, looking back, will see few traces worth preserving, either of originality or of individuality in the work of the present. what are the facts? the typefounder of to-day takes down a venetian writing-master's copybook of the fifteenth century, and, imitating exactly the thick downward strokes of the reed pen, forms a set of movable type, called in printer's language "old face"; a style of letter much in vogue in 1894, but the style and character of which belongs altogether to the past. thus, with such aids, the man of letters of to-day--living in a whirl of movement and discovery--clothes himself in the handwriting of the venetian scholar as deliberately as the norwegian dons a bear-skin. [illustration: no. xxxix. design for the title page of the "hobby-horse." (selwyn image.) (_this is a reduction by process from a large quarto wood engraving_.)] the next step is to present in his book a series of so-called "engravings," which are not engravings but reproductions by process of old prints. the "advance of science" in producing photo-relief blocks from steel and other _intaglio_ plates for the type printing press, at a small cost per square inch, is not only taking from the artistic value of the modern _édition de luxe_, but also from its interest and genuineness. the next step is to manufacture rough-edged, coarse-textured paper, purporting to be carefully "hand-made." the rough edge, which was a necessity when every sheet of paper was finished by hand labour, is now imitated successfully by machinery, and is handled lovingly by the bookworm of to-day, regardless of the fact that these roughened sheets can be bought by the pound in drury-lane. the worst, and last fraud (i can call it no less) that can be referred to here is, that the clothing--the "skin of vellum"--that appropriately encloses our modern _édition de luxe_ is made from pulp, rags, and other _débris_. that the gold illuminations on the cover are no longer real gold, and that the handsomely bound book, with its fair margins, cracks in half with a "bang," when first opened, are other matters connected with the discoveries of science, and the substitution of machinery for hand labour, which we owe to modern enterprise and invention.[23] looking at the "decorative pages" in most books, and remembering the achievements of the past, one is inclined to ask--is the "setting-out of a page" one of the lost arts, like the designing of a coin? what harmony of style do we see in an ordinary book? how many authors or illustrators of books show that they care for the "look" of a printed page? the fact is, that the modern author shirks his responsibilities, following the practice of the greatest writers of our day. there are so many "facilities"--as they are called--for producing books that the author takes little interest in the matter. mr. ruskin, delicate draughtsman as he is known to be, has contributed little to the _ensemble_ or appearance of the pages that flow from the printing press of mr. allen, at orpington. his books are well printed in the modern manner, but judged by examples of the past, a deadly monotony pervades the page; the master's noblest thoughts are printed exactly like his weakest, and are all drawn out in lines together as in the making of macaroni! mr. hamerton, artist as well as author, is content to describe the beauty of forest trees, ferns and flowers, the variety of underwood and the like (nearly every word, in an article in the _portfolio_, referring to some picturesque form or graceful line), without indicating the varieties pictorially on the printed page. the late lord tennyson and other poets have been content for years to sell their song by the line, little heeding, apparently, in what guise it was given to the world. in these days the monotony of uniformity seems to pervade the pages, alike of great and small, and a letter from a friend is now often printed by a machine! [illustration] [illustration: no. xl. "scarlet poppies." (w. j. muckley.) this beautiful piece of pen work by mr. muckley (from his picture in the royal academy, 1885) was too delicate in the finer passages to reproduce well by any relief process (the pale lines having come out black); but as an example of breadth, and indication of surfaces in pen and ink, it could hardly be surpassed.] footnotes: [22] i mention this school as a representative one; there are many others where design and wood engraving are studied under the same roof with success in 1894. [23] mr. cobden sanderson's lecture on bookbinding, read before the "arts and crafts society," is well worth the attention of book lovers. chapter vii. author, illustrator, and publisher. let us now consider shortly the author, the illustrator, and the publisher, and their influence on the appearance and production of a book. if it be impossible in these days (and, in spite of the efforts of mr. william morris and others, it seems to be impossible) to produce a genuine book in all its details, it seems worth considering in what way the author can stamp it with his own individuality; also to what extent he is justified in making use of modern appliances. how far, then, may the author be said to be responsible for the state of things just quoted? theoretically, he is the man of taste and culture _par excellence_; he is, or should be, in most cases, the arbiter, the dictator to his publisher, the chooser of style. the book is his, and it is his business to decide in what form his ideas should become concrete; the publisher aiding his judgment with experience, governing the finance, and carrying out details. how comes it then that, with the present facilities for reproducing anything that the hand can put upon paper, the latter-day nineteenth-century author is so much in the hands of others as to the appearance of his book? it is because the so-called educated man has not been taught to use his hands as the missal-writers and authors of mediæval times taught themselves to use theirs. the modern author, who is, say, fifty years old, was born in an age of "advanced civilisation," when the only method of expression for the young was one--"pothooks and hangers." the child of ten years old, whose eye was mentally forming pictures, taking in unconsciously the facts of perspective and the like, had a pencil tied with string to his two first fingers until he had mastered the ups and downs, crosses and dashes, of modern handwriting, which has been accepted by the great, as well as the little, ones of the earth, as the best medium of communication between intelligent beings; and so, regardless of style, character, or picturesqueness, he scribbles away! so much for our generally straggling style of penmanship. there is no doubt that the author of the future will have to come more into personal contact with the artist than he has been in the habit of doing, and that the distinction i referred to in the first chapter, between illustrations which are to be (1) records of facts, and (2) works of art, will have to be more clearly drawn. amongst the needs in the community of book producers is one that i only touch upon because it affects the illustrator:--that there should be an expert in every publishing house to determine (1) whether a drawing is suitable for publication; and (2) by what means it should be reproduced. the resources of an establishment will not always admit of such an arrangement; but the editors and publishers who are informed on these matters can easily be distinguished by the quality of their publications. by the substitution of process blocks for wood engravings in books, publishers are deprived to a great extent of the fostering care of the master wood engraver, to which they have been accustomed. amongst the influences affecting the illustrator, none, i venture to say, are more prejudicial than the acceptance by editors and publishers of inartistic drawings. it would be difficult, i think, to point to a period when so much bad work was produced as at present. the causes have already been pointed out, the beautiful processes for the reproduction of drawings are scarcely understood by the majority of artists, publishers, authors, or critics. it is the _misuse_ of the processes in these hurrying days, which is dragging our national reputation in the mire and perplexing the student. the modern publisher, it may be said without offence, understands the manufacture and the commerce of a book better than the art in it. and how should it be otherwise? the best books that were ever produced, from an artistic point of view, were inspired and designed by students of art and letters, men removed from the commercial scramble of life, and to whom an advertisement was a thing unknown! the ordinary art education of a publisher, and the multitude of affairs requiring his attention, unfit him generally, for the task of deciding whether an illustration is good or bad, or how far--when he cheapens the production of his book by using photographic illustrations ("snap-shots" from nature)--he is justified in calling them "art." the deterioration in the character of book illustration in england is a serious matter, and public attention may well be drawn to it. here we look for the active co-operation of the author. the far-reaching spread of education--especially technical art education--is tending to bring together, as they were never brought before in this century, the author and the illustrator. the author of a book will give more attention to the appearance of his pages, to the decorative character of type and ornament, whilst the average artist will be better educated from a literary point of view; and, to use a french word for which there is no equivalent, will be more _en rapport_ with both author and publisher. for the illustrator by profession there seems no artistic leisure; no time to do anything properly in this connection. "it is a poor career, blackburn," said a well-known newspaper illustrator to me lately (an artist of distinction and success in his profession who has practised it for twenty years), "you seldom give satisfaction--not even to yourself." "it is an _ideal career_," says another, a younger man, who is content with the more slap-dash methods in vogue to-day--and with the income he receives for them. referring again to the question in the _athenæum_, "why is not drawing for the press taught in our government schools of art?" i think the principal reasons why the art of illustration by the processes is not generally taught in art schools are-(1) drawing for reproduction requires more personal teaching than is possible in art classes in public schools; (2) the art masters throughout the country, with very few exceptions, _do not understand the new processes_--which is not to be wondered at. it is not the fault of the masters in our schools of art that students are taught in most cases as if they were to become painters, when the only possible career for the majority is that of illustration, or design. the masters are, for the most part, well and worthily occupied in giving a good groundwork of knowledge to every student, as to drawing for the press. there is no question that the best preparation for this work is the _best general art teaching that can be obtained_. the student must have drawn from the antique and from life; he must have learned composition and design; have studied from nature the relative values of light and shade, aërial perspective and the like; in short, have followed the routine study for a painter whose first aim should be to be a master of monochrome. in the more technical parts, which the young illustrator by process will require to know, he needs personal help. he will have a multitude of questions to ask "somebody" as to the reasons for what he is doing; _for what style of process work he is by touch and temperament best fitted_, and so on. all this has to be considered if we are to keep a good standard of art teaching for illustration. the fact that _a pen-and-ink drawing which looks well scarcely ever reproduces well_, must always be remembered. many drawings for process, commended in art schools for good draughtsmanship or design, will not reproduce as expected, for want of exact knowledge of the requirements of process; whereas a drawing by a trained hand will often _look better in the reproduction_. these remarks refer especially to ornament and design, to architectural drawings and the like. the topical illustrator and sketcher in weekly prints has, of course, more licence, and it matters less what becomes of his lines in their rapid transit through the press. still the illustrator, of whatever rank or style, has a right to complain if his drawing is reproduced on a scale not intended by him, or by a process for which it is not fitted, or if printed badly, and with bad materials. but the sketchy style of illustration seems to be a little overdone at present, and--being tolerable only when allied to great ability--remains consequently in the hands of a few. there is plenty of talent in this country which is wasted for want of control. it plays about us like summer lightning when we want the precision and accuracy of the telegraph. the art of colour printing (whether it be by the intaglio processes, or by chromo-lithography, or on relief blocks) has arrived at such proficiency and has become such an important industry that it should be mentioned here. by its means, a beautiful child-face, by millais, is scattered over the world by hundreds of thousands; and the reputation of a young artist, like kate greenaway, made and established. the latter owes much of her prestige and success to the colour-printer. admitting the grace, taste, and invention of kate greenaway as an illustrator, there is little doubt that, without the wood engraver and the example and sympathetic aid of such artists as h. s. marks, r.a., walter crane, and the late randolph caldecott, she would never have received the praise bestowed upon her by m. ernest chesneau, or mr. ruskin. these things show how intimately the arts of reproduction affect reputations, and how important it is that more sympathy and communication should exist between all producers. in the mass of illustrated publications issuing from the press the expert can discern clearly where this sympathy and knowledge exist, and where ability, on the part of the artist, has been allied to practical knowledge of the requirements of illustration. the business of many will be to contribute, in some form, to the making of pictures and designs to be multiplied in the press; and, in order to learn the technique and obtain employment, some of the most promising pupils have to fall into the ways of the producers of cheap illustrations, christmas cards, and the like. on the other hand, a knowledge of the mechanical processes for reproducing drawings (as it is being pressed forward in technical schools) is leading to disastrous consequences, as may be seen on every railway bookstall in the kingdom. in the "book of the future" we hope to see less of the "lath and plaster" style of illustration, produced from careless wash drawings by the cheap processes; fewer of the blots upon the page, which the modern reader seems to take as a matter of course. in books, as in periodicals, the illustrator by process will have to divest himself, as far as possible, of that tendency to scratchiness and exaggeration that injures so many process illustrations. in short, he must be more careful, and give more thought to the meaning of his lines and washes, and to the adequate expression of textures. there is a great deal yet to learn, for neither artists nor writers have mastered the subject. few of our best illustrators have the time or the inclination to take to the new methods, and, as regards criticism, it is hardly to be expected that a reviewer who has a pile of illustrated books to pronounce upon, should know the reason of the failures that he sees before him. thus the public is often misled by those who should be its guides as to the value and importance of the new systems of illustration.[24] in conclusion, let us remember that everyone who cultivates a taste for artistic beauty in books, be he author, artist, or artificer, may do something towards relieving the monotony and confusion in style, which pervades the outward aspect of so many books. it is a far cry from the work of the missal writer in a monastery to the pages of a modern book, but the taste and feeling which was shown in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the production of books, exists in the nineteenth, under difficult conditions. in the "book of the future" the author will help personally, more than he has ever done, as i have already suggested. the subject is not half-ventilated yet, nor can i touch upon it further, but the day is not far distant when the power of the hand of the author will be tested to the utmost, and lines of all kinds will appear in the text. there is really no limit to what may be done with modern appliances, if only the idea is seized with intelligence. two questions, however, remain unanswered--(1) whether, as a matter of language and history, we are communicating information to each other much better than the ancients did in cuneiform inscriptions, on stones and monuments. (2) whether, as a matter of illustrative art, we are making the best use of modern appliances. let us, then, cultivate more systematically the art of drawing for the press, and treat it as a worthy profession. let it not be said again, as it was to me lately by one who has devoted half a lifetime to these things, "the processes of reproduction are to hand, but where are our artists?" let it not be said that the chariot-wheels of the press move too fast for us--that chemistry and the sun's rays have been utilised too soon--that, in short, the processes of reproduction have been perfected before their time! i think not, and that an art--the art of pictorial expression--which has existed for ages and is now best understood by the japanese, may be cultivated amongst us to a more practical end. [illustration: "take care." (w. b. baird.) (_royal academy, 1891._)] footnote: [24] there seems but one rule of criticism in this connection. if a book illustration comes out coarsely and (as is often the case) a mere smudge, the process is blamed, when the drawing or photograph may have been quite unsuitable for the process employed. students' drawings. the following four examples of drawing from life, by students at victoria street, fresh from art schools, are interesting as tentative work. the object has been to test their powers and _adaptability for line work_; avoiding outline in the experiment as much as possible. nos. 1, 3, and 4, it will be observed, evade backgrounds altogether--the too ready solution of a difficult problem in line. these drawings were made direct from life, in line; a system not to be recommended, excepting as an experiment of powers. examples of students' wash drawings, &c., will appear in future editions of this book. [illustration: no. xli. "_spanish woman_." a study from life. by ina bidder. this is a clever sketch with pen and ink and brush, and drawn with a bold free hand, reproduced on an (untouched) process block. it shows originality of treatment and courage on the part of the student; also the value of great reduction to give strength and effect. (size of drawing, 16 × 11-1/2 in.)] [illustration: no. xlii. "_sketch from life_," by estelle d'avigdor. this student was the winner in a prize competition lately in _the studio_. she has undoubted ability, but not clearly in the direction of line drawing. after considerable success in painting, this student writes: "i still find the pen a difficult instrument to wield." in this sketch we see the influence of aubrey beardsley and others of the dense-black, reckless school of modern illustrators. (size of drawing, 10 × 6-3/4 in.) zinc process.] [illustration: no. xliii. _sketch from life_, by g. c. marks. this pen-and-ink drawing is interesting for colour, especially in the hair; it would have been better modelled if drawn first in pencil or chalk. this student has an obvious aptitude for line work; the touch is very good for a beginner. (size of drawing, 10-1/2 × 8 in.) zinc process.] [illustration: no. xliv. _bough of common furze_, by william french. a most careful study from nature in pen and ink. (size of original drawing, 14 × 11-1/2 in.) reproduced by zinc process. this artist learned the method of line work for process in a month.] cantor lectures. the illustrations in this volume are, for the most part, reproductions of drawings which--for purposes of study and comparison--are shown by mr. blackburn at his lectures in art schools, enlarged to a scale of 15 to 20 ft. students who may be unable to attend these lectures can see some of the original drawings on application (by letter) to "the secretary, at mr. henry blackburn's studio, 123, victoria street, westminster." appendix. 1. photo-zinc process.--2. gelatine process.--3. half-tone.--4. intaglio processes.--5. drawing materials.--6. books for students.--7. decorative pages.--8. list of photo-engravers. photo-zinc process. for the reproduction of line drawings in relief, suitable for printing at the type press. description of the process.--the first stage is to have the drawing photographed to the size required, and to transfer a print of it on to a sensitized zinc plate. this print, or photographic image of the drawing lying upon the zinc plate, is of greasy substance (bichromate of potash and gelatine), and is afterwards inked up with a roller; the plate is then immersed in a bath of nitric acid and ether, which cuts away the parts which were left white upon the paper, and leaves the lines of the drawing in relief. this "biting in," as it is called, requires considerable experience and attention, according to the nature of the drawing. thus, the lines are turned into metal in a few hours, and the plate, when mounted on wood to the height of type-letters, is ready to be printed from, if necessary, at the rate of several thousands an hour. the cost of these blocks averages 6d. the square inch where a number are made at one time, the minimum price being 5/-. small book illustrations by this process, by firms who make a specialty of producing single illustrations, are often charged 9d. the square inch, with a minimum of 7/6; but the cost should never be more than this for a single block by the zinc process. gelatine process. for the reproduction of drawings in line in relief, suitable for printing at the type press. this is a more delicate and sensitive method of obtaining a relief block. it is called the "gelatine," or "gillot" process. the drawing is photographed to the required size (as before), and the _negative_ laid upon a glass plate (previously coated with a mixture of gelatine and bichromate of potash). the part of this thin, sensitive film not exposed to the light is absorbent, and when immersed in water swells up. the part exposed to the light, _i.e._, the lines of the drawing, remains near the surface of the glass. thus we have a sunk mould from which a metal cast can be taken, leaving the lines in relief as in the zinc process. in skilful hands this process admits of more delicate gradations, and pale, uncertain lines can be reproduced with tolerable fidelity. there is no process yet invented which gives better results from a pen-and-ink drawing for the type press. reproductions of pencil, chalk, and charcoal are also possible by this process; but _they are not suited for it_, and there is generally too much working up by hand on the block to suit rapid printing. these blocks when completed have a copper surface. the blocks take longer to make, and are about double the price of the photo-zinc process. the cost varies from 9d. to 1/6 the square inch. m. gillot, in paris, may be said to be the inventor or perfector of this process, now used by many photo engravers in london, notably by mr. alfred dawson, of hogarth works, chiswick. half-tone process. for the reproduction of wash drawings, photographs, etc., by the screened photo-zinc relief process. this method of making the blocks is more complicated. as there are no lines in a wash drawing, or in a photograph from nature, or in a painting, it is necessary to obtain some kind of grain, or interstices of white, on the zinc plate, as in a mezzotint; so between the drawing or photograph to be reproduced and the camera, glass screens covered with lines or dots, are interposed, varying in strength according to the light and shade required; thus turning the image of the wash drawing or photograph practically into "line," with sufficient interstices of white for printing purposes. the coarseness or fineness of grain on these blocks varies according to circumstances. thus, for rapid printing on cylinder machines, with inferior paper and ink, a wider grain and a deeper cut block is necessary. the examples in this book may be said to show these process blocks at their best, with good average printing. the results from wash drawings, as already pointed out, are uncertain, and generally gloomy and mechanical-looking. the reproductions of pencil, chalk, or charcoal drawings by this process are generally unsatisfactory, even when printed under good conditions. the blocks are shallow as compared with the zinc line process, and are double the cost. intaglio processes. photogravure, autotype, dallastype, etc. photogravure.--first, a photographic negative is taken direct from the picture to be reproduced, and from this an autotype carbon print is taken and transferred on to glass or silvered copper, instead of on the paper used in making carbon prints for sale. this picture is in delicate relief, and forms the mould, upon which copper is electrically deposited. after being made "conductive," the carbon mould is placed in a galvanic bath, the deposit of copper upon it taking the impression perfectly. another method is to transfer the same mould upon pure, clean copper, and then operate with a powerful biting solution, which is resisted more or less according to the varying thickness of carbon mould to be penetrated. thus the parts to be left smoothest are thick of carbon, and the parts to be dark are bare, so that the mordant may act unresisted. this, it will be perceived, is the opposite way to the process above given, and is therefore worked from a "transparency," or photographic "positive," instead of a negative. this is the klick and fox talbot method, and is very commonly in use at present. the process of "photogravure" is well known, as employed by messrs. boussod, valadon, & co. (goupil), of paris, and is adapted for the reproduction of wash drawings, paintings, also drawings where the lines are pale and uncertain, pencil, chalk, etc.; the greys and gradations of pencil being wonderfully interpreted. in london the intaglio processes are used by many of the firms mentioned on page 240. they are now much used for the reproduction of photographic portraits in books, taking place of the copperplate engraving. the cost of these plates is, roughly, 5/the square inch. the makers of these plates generally supply paper, and print, charging by the 100 copies. but engravings thus produced are comparatively little used in modern book illustration, as they cannot be printed simultaneously with the letter-press of a book; they are suitable only for limited editions and "_éditions de luxe_." drawing materials for reproduction. 1.--for drawings in line.--for general use, liquid indian ink and bristol board; or hard paper of similar surface. "clay board," the surface of which can easily be removed with a scraper, is useful for some purposes, but the pen touch on clay board is apt to become mechanical. 2.--for drawings in pencil and chalk, grained papers are used (see p. 113 and following). these papers are made of various textures, with black or white lines and dots vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. as a matter of fact, grained papers are little used in book and newspaper illustration in this country, and unless artistically treated the results are very unsatisfactory. they are most suitable for landscape work and sketches of effect. 3.--for wash drawings.--prepared boards for wash drawings, varying in surface and texture according to the scale of the drawing, the brush handling of the artist, and the nature of the work to be reproduced. these must be decided by the teacher. lamp black and opaque white are commonly used. a combination of line and wash is generally to be avoided. the materials for drawing for reproduction are to be obtained from the following amongst other artists' colourmen. a. ackerman, 191, regent street, w. j. barnard & son, 19, berners street, w. cornelissen & son, 22, great queen street, w.c. lechertier, barbe, & co., 60, regent street, w. jas. newman, 24, soho square, w. reeves & sons, 113, cheapside, e.c. chas. roberson & co., 99, long acre, w.c. geo. rowney & co., 64, oxford street, w. winsor & newton, 37, rathbone place, w. percy young, 137, gower street, w.c. books for students. the following will be found useful:- 1.--"_the graphic arts_," by p. g. hamerton (london: macmillan & co.). 2.--"_pen and pencil artists_," by joseph pennell (london: macmillan & co.). 3.--"_english pen artists of to-day_," by j. g. harper (london: rivington, percival & co.). the value and comprehensive character of mr. hamerton's book is well known, but it reaches into branches of the art of illustration far beyond the scope of this book. of the second it may be said that mr. joseph pennell's book is most valuable to students of "black and white," with the caution that many of the illustrations in it were _not drawn for reproduction_, and would not reproduce well by the processes we have been considering. the third volume seems more practical for elementary and technical teaching. it is to be regretted that these books are so costly as to be out of the reach of most of us; but they can be seen in the library of the south kensington museum. mr. hamerton's "drawing and engraving, a brief exposition of technical principles and practice" (london: adam and charles black, 1892), "the photographic reproduction of drawings," by col. j. waterhouse (kegan, paul, & co., 1890), "lessons in art," by hume nisbet (chatto & windus, 1891), are portable and useful books, full of technical information. sir henry trueman wood's "modern methods of illustrating books," and mr. h. r. robertson's "pen and ink drawing" (winsor & newton) are both excellent little manuals, but their dates are 1886. decorative pages. (from old mss. and books to be seen in the british museum.) (_reprinted from the cantor lectures_.) 1. "example of early venetian writing, from a copybook of the 15th century, written with a reed pen. note the clearness and picturesqueness of the page; also the similarity to the type letters used to-day--what are called 'old face,' and of much (good and bad) letter in modern books." 2. "a beautiful example of gothic writing and ornament, from a french illuminated manuscript in the british museum; date 1480. here the decorative character and general balance of the page is delightful to modern eyes." 3. "_fac-simile_ of a printed page, from polydore vergil's "history of england," produced in basle, in 1556. the style of type is again familiar to us in books published in 1894; but the setting out of the page, the treatment of ornament (with little figures introduced, but subservient to the general effect), is not familiar, because it is seldom that we see a modern decorative page. the printer of the past had a sense of beauty, and of the fitness of things apparently denied to all but a few to-day." 4. "an illuminated printed page, 1521, with engraved borders, after designs by holbein; figures again subordinate to the general effect." 5. "examples of italian, 14th century; ornament, initial, and letters forming a brilliant and harmonious combination." illustrations of the above and other decorative pages (which could not be reproduced in this book) are shown at the lectures on a large scale. of the many modern books on decoration and ornament, the handbooks by mr. lewis foreman day (london: batsford) are recommended to students of "the decorative page"; also "_english book plates_," by egerton castle (g. bell & sons). list of process block makers. from a long list of photo-engravers, the following are mentioned from personal knowledge of their work:-relief blocks. andré & sleigh, bushey, herts. the art reproduction company, clairville grove, south kensington. mr. dallas, 5, furnival street, e.c. a. & c. dawson, hogarth works, chiswick. dellagana & co., gayton road, hampstead, n.w. direct photographic company, 38, farringdon street, e.c. hare & sons, ltd., bride court, fleet street. carl hentschel, 182, fleet street, e.c. chas. geard (agent for krakow), maclean's bldgs., new st. sq., e.c. meisenbach co., ltd., wolfington road, west norwood, s.e. john swain & son, 58, farringdon street, e.c. swan electric light co., 114, charing cross road, w.c. typographic etching co., 3, ludgate circus buildings, e.c. walker & boutall, clifford's inn, fleet street, e.c. waterlow & sons, ltd., london wall, e.c. vincent & hahn, 34, barbican, e.c. intaglio. several of the firms mentioned above are makers of "intaglio" plates; some are also wood-engravers, photo-lithographers, etc.; and agents for french, german, and austrian photo-engravers. amongst leading firms who make "intaglio" plates are messrs. boussod, valadon, & co. (london and paris); and messrs. angerer & göschl, of vienna. the autotype company's admirable reproductions of photographs and drawings should also be mentioned in this connection. "black and white." notice.--mr. henry blackburn's studio is open five days a week for the study and practice of drawing for the press with technical assistants. students join at any time. * * * * * _private instruction and by correspondence._ 123, victoria street, westminster (_near army & navy stores_). opinions of the press on the first edition. "'the art of illustration' is a brightly written account, by a man who has had large experience of the ways in which books and newspapers are illustrated nowadays.... as a collection of typical illustrations by artists of the day, mr. blackburn's book is very attractive."--_the times._ "mr. blackburn explains the processes--line, half-tone, and so forth--exemplifying each by the drawings of artists more or less skilled in the modern work of illustration. they are well chosen as a whole, to show the possibilities of process work in trained hands."--_saturday review._ "we thoroughly commend this book to all whom it may concern."--_athenæum._ "mr. henry blackburn, perhaps our greatest expert on the subject of the book illustrator's art, has written a most interesting volume, which no young black-and-white artist can very well afford to do without. nearly a hundred splendid and instructive illustrations."--_black and white._ "the author's purpose in this book is to show how drawing for the press may be best adapted to its purpose.... many of mr. blackburn's instructions are technical, but all are beautifully illustrated by choice reproductions from some of the best black-and-white work of the time."--_daily news._ "mr. blackburn's interesting and practical manual is designed, in the first instance, for the guidance of students who intend to become illustrators in black-and-white, but for the general reader it contains a large quantity of readable and attractive matter."--_the literary world._ "we must express our admiration for the contents of 'the art of illustration,' and its fund of technical information."--_bookseller._ "the book is full of interest, containing close upon a hundred varied examples of illustrations of the day. a work of unquestionable value."--_publishers' circular._ "mr. blackburn knows from experience what is best for the processes; his volume is illustrated with nearly one hundred drawings, most of them good examples of what is being done. 'the art of illustration' is an entirely safe guide."--_art journal._ "mr. henry blackburn has written an able book on 'the art of illustration,' which, it is not overpraise to say, should be in the hands of every artist who draws for reproduction."--_the gentlewoman._ "'the art of illustration' is perhaps the most satisfactory work of art of its kind that has yet been published."--_sunday times._ "a very clear exposition of the various methods of reproduction."--_guardian._ "mr. blackburn sails his book under the flag of sir john gilbert, and justly expounds the all-importance of line."--_national observer._ "'the art of illustration' contains a vast amount of valuable artistic information, and should be on every student's bookshelf."--_court circular._ "mr. henry blackburn is a well-known authority on the technical aspects of painting and design, and this circumstance lends value to his exposition of 'the art of illustration.'... he writes with admirable clearness and force."--_leeds mercury._ "the excellent series of reproductions in this book show (_inter alia_) the variety of effects to be obtained by the common zinc process. mr. blackburn's book will prove of great value to the student and interest to the general reader."--_manchester guardian._ "this volume is full of good criticism, and takes a survey of the many processes by which books may be beautified.... a charming and instructive volume."--_birmingham gazette._ "'the art of illustration' will have the deepest interest for artists and others concerned in the illustration of books."--_yorkshire post._ "a very interesting quarto, worth having for its typical illustrations."--_british architect._ "mr. blackburn's volume should be very welcome to artists, editors, and publishers."--_the artist._ "a most useful book."--_studio._ 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 the ex-libris series. edited by gleeson white. modern illustration. [illustration: by f. walker. process block from the drawing on wood in south kensington museum.] modern illustration by joseph pennell, author of "pen drawing and pen draughtsmen," etc. [illustration] london: george bell & sons, york street, covent garden, & new york. mdcccxcv chiswick press:--charles whittingham and co. tooks court, chancery lane, london. contents. chap. page index of illustrations vii prefatory chapter xiii introduction 1 i. a general survey 9 ii. the methods of to-day, their origin and development 33 iii. french illustration 50 iv. illustration in germany, spain, and other countries 70 v. english illustration 81 vi. american illustration 113 vii. conclusion 131 *** the publishers take this opportunity to thank especially the following owners of copyrights of various drawings for their kind permission to reproduce them here:--the editors of "the daily chronicle," "good words," "sunday magazine," "the studio," "the century magazine," and "scribner's magazine"; messrs. chapman and hall, h. grevel and co., harper and brothers, c. kegan paul and co., thomas murby, and ward, lock and bowden. index of illustrations. _the full page engravings are indexed with the number of the page nearest to them._ artist engraver and source page fred. walker from an original drawing on the wood in the south kensington museum. process block by c. hentschel _frontispiece_ " " process block by hentschel, from a drawing in wash and pencil 95 boutet de monvel process block from "st. nicolas," the french xiii from "jeanne d'arc," by hentschel 65 w. w. russell process block by hentschel, from a pen drawing in "the daily chronicle" xiv maurice process block by hentschel, from a pen greiffenhagen drawing in "the daily chronicle" xvi e. j. sullivan process block by hentschel, from a pen drawing in "the daily chronicle" xx j. mcneil whistler from thornbury's "legendary ballads" wood-engraving by j. swain xxii a. s. hartrick process block by hentschel, from a pen drawing in "the daily chronicle" xxv john constable from a pencil drawing, process block unsigned 1 unknown "st. christopher," from a woodcut, 1423 6 sir e. burne-jones, pen drawing; block by carl hentschel. bt. from "the daily chronicle" 6 " " process block by art reproduction co., from original drawing for gatty's "parables" 44 thomas bewick wood-engraving from walton's "angler" 9 david wilkie process block by carl hentschel, from a pen drawing 9 the linnells drawings on wood, and engravings from national gallery handbook 10, 11 thomas stothard process block by carl hentschel, from an unpublished pen and wash drawing 10 " " wood-engravings by l. clennell 12, 13 william harvey wood-engravings by thompson, from milton's works, etc. 15, 16 " " original drawing on wood; process, unsigned 17 " " wood-engraving after b. r. haydon, detail of "dentatus," process block from it by dellagana 49 john thurston wood-engravings, unsigned, from butler's "hudibras," tasso, etc. 19, 21 george cruikshank engravings by s. and t. williams and others unsigned, from "three courses," "table book," 22, 23, 25 dante gabriel process block, by clarke, from original rossetti unpublished pen drawing 27 " " wood-engraving, by dalziel, from "tennyson's poems" 27 birket foster wood-engraving from longfellow's works, etc., by dalziel, vizetelly, etc. 26-29 " " process block from an original drawing on wood 28 harrison weir two wood-engravings from "poetry for schools" by a. slader 30 " " original wash drawing on wood, process block unsigned 31 a. cooper engraved by m. jackson, for walton's "angler" 32 randolph caldecott engraved by j. d. cooper; from "old christmas" 33 " " from the "elegy on a mad dog," wood engraving, unsigned 83 " " from "bracebridge hall," wood-engraving, unsigned 86 charles keene original unpublished pen drawings, blocks by clarke and dellagana 34, 36 m. e. edwards wood-engraving from gatty's "parables," by harral 38 g. du maurier wood-engraving by j. d. cooper 40 " " process blocks, from pen drawings for "trilby" 102, 103 arthur hughes wood-engraving from hake's "parables," unsigned 41 walter crane process block by carl hentschel, from wood-engraving printed in colours, "beauty and the beast" 46 kate greenaway key-block for wood-engraving in colour, by edmund evans 48 e. isabey process block by dellagana, after wood-engraving by slader, from "paul and virginia" 50 "gavarni" process block by dellagana, after wood-engraving, unsigned, from "parisians by themselves" 51 j. m. l. e. engravings from the "contes meissonier remois" 52, 57 jean gigoux process block, unsigned, from wood-engraving from "gil blas" 53 jules jacquemart pen drawings, reproduced by c. gillot, from "the history of furniture" 55, 56, 64 a. de neuville wood-engraving by farlet from "coups de fusil" 59 gustave doré wood-engraving by brunier, from "spain" 58 " " process block by dellagana, from a lithograph 60 d. vierge pen drawing, process by gillot, from "pablo de ségovie" 60 louis morin pen drawing, process, unsigned, from "l'art et l'idée" 62, 63 carlos schwæbe pen drawing, process, unsigned, from zola's "le rêve" 62 e. grasset pen drawing, process by hare, from "quatre fils aymon" 63 j. f. raffaëlli pen drawing, process, unsigned, from "paris illustré" 64 h. ibels pen drawing, process, unsigned, from "l'art du rire" 65, 66 steinlen chalk drawings, two process blocks, by carl hentschel, from "gil blas" 66 a. willette pen drawing, process, unsigned, from "les pierrots" 66, 68 caran d'ache pen drawing, process, unsigned, "album caran d'ache" 67 a. robida pen drawing, process, unsigned, from "journal d'un vieux garçon" 67 j. l. forain pen drawing, process, unsigned, from "la comédie parisienne" 68 p. renouard wood-engraving, unsigned, from chalk drawing in "the graphic" 68 m. lalanne from pencil drawing, process block by clarke 70 martin rico from a pen drawing, process by dellagana 70 hans tegner unsigned process, from an original pen drawing 72 " " pen drawing, from holberg's "comedies," wood (?) unsigned 73 adolph menzel process block by hentschel, from unpublished drawing 73 f. goya process by dellagana, from etchings in "caprices" 74, 78 " from a chalk drawing in the british museum, process unsigned 74 m. fortuny process, unsigned, from a pen drawing 74 joseph sattler process, unsigned, from a pen drawing, "the dance of death" 74 g. de nittis process, unsigned, from wash and brush, "paris illustré" 76 w. busch process, unsigned, from pen drawing, "balduin bahlamm" 77 a. rethel wood-engraving, by burkner, "death the friend," process reduction 78 h. schlittgen process, unsigned, from pen drawing, "ein erster und ein letzter ball" 78 franz stück process, unsigned, from painting, "franz stück album" 79 j. garcia y ramos process, unsigned, from pen and wash drawing 79 w. l. wyllie process, unsigned, pen drawing, "magazine of art" 80 j. w. north from a drawing on wood; block by dellagana 81 hugh thomson process, unsigned, pen drawing from "our village" 82 j. m. w. turner process by dellagana, from rogers' "italy" 85 e. griset wood-engraving, unsigned from hood's "comic annual" 87 sir j. e. millais, wood-engravings, by dalziel, from bt. "good words" 88, 90 a. boyd houghton wood-engraving, by dalziel, from dalziel's "arabian nights" 92 " " wood-engraving, by dalziel, from dalziel's "arabian nights" 92 g. j. pinwell process by hentschel, from drawing on wood for goldsmith's works 93 " " process by hentschel, from drawing on wood for goldsmith's works 94 charles green unknown 94 f. sandys wood-engraving by swain, from thornbury's "legendary ballads" 96 f. shields wood-engraving, unsigned, from defoe's "history of the plague" 98 j. mahoney process block, from wood-engraving in "the sunday magazine" 100 j. f. sullivan wood-engraving, unsigned, from hood's "comic annual" 100 sir john tenniel engraved on wood by h. harral, from gatty's "parables" 102 linley sambourne engraved by h. swain, from kingsley's "water babies" 102 w. g. baxter process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "ally sloper's cartoons" 103 phil may process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "the graphic" 103 w. small engraving on wood by lacour, from "cassell's magazine" 104, 105 r. anning bell process block by hare, from a pen drawing 105 j. bernard process block, unsigned, from pen partridge drawing in "proverbs in porcelain" 106 w. holman hunt engraving on wood by harral, from gatty's "parables" 106 e. h. new process block, from pen drawing in "the quest" 107 winifred smith process block, unsigned, from pen drawing in "singing games" 107 alfred parsons wood-engraving by j. d. cooper, from "the english illustrated magazine" 107 " " process block by hentschel, from "the daily chronicle" 109 sir george reid wash drawing, engraving on wood, unsigned, from "a scotch naturalist" 108 w. paget wash drawing, process, by andre and sleigh, from "cassell's magazine" 109 l. raven-hill process, unsigned, from pen drawings in "the butterfly" 110, 111 edgar wilson process, unsigned, from "the unicorn" 111 c. e. mallows process, from a pencil drawing in "the builder" 111 r. caton woodville process from a wood-engraving, in "the illustrated london news" 112 sidney p. hall wood-engraving from pencil drawing in "the graphic" 112 aubrey beardsley process block by clarke, from a pen drawing 113 t. walter wilson process reduction, from "the illustrated london news" 113 f. s. church process reduction, from "the continent" 113 c. s. reinhart wood-engraving by h. davidson, from "the century magazine" 114 walter shirlaw process block, unsigned, from charcoal drawing in "the century magazine" 116 howard pyle process block, unsigned, from pen drawing for "wonderful one hoss shay" 118, 120 " " wood-engraving, unsigned, from wash drawing in "the century magazine" 119 alfred brennan process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "the continent" 121 a. b. frost process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "stuff and nonsense" 122, 123 e. a. abbey process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "harper's magazine" 124 " " wood-engraving, unsigned, from austin dobson's poems 124 c. d. gibson process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "the century magazine" 125 oliver herford process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "fables" 125 robert blum process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "scribner's magazine" 126 " " process, unsigned, from chalk drawings in "scribner's magazine" 129 childe hassam process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "the commercial advertiser" 126 hopkinson smith process, unsigned, from chalk drawing in "the century magazine" 126 frederic remington process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "the century magazine" 128 r. birch process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "little lord fauntleroy" 129 t. cole wood-engraving after w. m. chase, from "the century magazine" 129 s. parrish process, unsigned, from "the continent" 130 gilbert gaul wood-engraving, unsigned, from "the century magazine" 130 selwyn image process, unsigned, from "the fitzroy pictures" 131 heywood sumner process, unsigned, from "the fitzroy pictures" 131 a. j. gaskin process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "old fairy tales" 132 laurence housman process, unsigned, from pen drawing in "a farm in fairyland" 133 t. cotman process reproduction by dellagana, from "architectural antiquities of normandy" 134 errata. page xv, _for_ "t. w. russell," _read_ "w. w. russell." page 20,} _for_ "1835,"} page 25,} _for_ "1838,"} _read_ "1836." *** i have seen four different dates given for the book. page 25, _for_ "1842," _read_ "1840." page 32,} page 69,} _for_ "pannemacker," _read_ "pannemaker." page 52, _for_ "lavoignal," _read_ "lavoignat." page 112, _for_ "sydney p. hall," _read_ "sidney." " " _for_ "pen" _read_ "pencil." [illustration: by boutet de monvel. from "st. nicolas" (delegrave).] preface. this book is the result of a request, made to me by the editor of the ex-libris series, that i should write for him something about the illustration of to-day. the idea, i must acknowledge, and i am glad to do so, is his, not mine. to the editor also i am indebted for much help, especially in the matter of the illustrations which the book contains; in fact, if he has not selected and chosen them all, he has performed the more difficult and thankless task of obtaining them. only one who has gone through the drudgery of finding drawings or blocks, in magazine, book, museum, artist's studio, or collector's portfolio, and then of getting the permission of editor, publisher, curator, artist, or amateur, to use or reproduce them, knows what this means. i know from past experience, and i was therefore only too glad to shirk the work when i found mr. gleeson white willing to undertake it. i doubt, however, if he will ever again attempt such a task. for the appearance of the illustrations in the book he deserves the credit; for much advice and many suggestions of great value, as well as to the articles he has written, and the lectures he has delivered, on this subject, i am greatly indebted. [illustration: by t. w. russell. pen drawing from "the daily chronicle."] there are many others also whom i must thank. first of all mr. austin dobson, who, when he learned i was making a study of the subject, took the trouble to put me on the track of the french illustrated books of the early part of this century, giving me a most helpful start. without his assistance, and that of m. beraldi, i might never have even been able to trace the true birth, development, and growth of modern illustration, which springs from goya, the spaniard, as draughtsman,[1] and bewick, the englishman, as engraver; spreading, spontaneously but quite independently, to france; thence to germany, back again to england, and finally to america, whence it has been diffused again all over the world. though in all its component parts--drawing, engraving, and printing--illustration is more advanced in the united states than anywhere else; still to-day, despite the excellence of much of the work done there, remarkable results are being obtained in other countries. yet this latter-day excellence is so marked in american work that in many ways it has overshadowed that of england, france, germany, and spain, from the artists and engravers of which countries we americans have derived our inspiration. [1] the spanish photographer to whom was given the commission by messrs. bell to photograph the goya drawings in the museum of the prado, never carried it out. for nearly a year they have been promised _manyana_, but the to-morrow has not yet dawned. once again i must thank the authorities at south kensington and the british museum, mr. e. f. strange and the assistants; mr. a. w. pollard, who, though the editor of a rival series, helped me as though the book was to appear in his own collection; professor colvin and mr. lionel cust, the latter of whom, during his stay in the print room of the british museum, i bothered persistently; his transfer to a more important post is a great loss to students at the museum; dr. hans singer of dresden, and many others. artists, especially those of the older generation, the men who gave illustration in this country thirty-five years ago a position it does not hold to-day, have been untiring in their interest in the book, and most helpful in every way; it has been a delight and a pleasure to meet frederick sandys, birket foster, harrison weir, frederick shields, and w. h. hooper, just as it is an undying proof of the artistic blindness of a generation which has not the intelligence to use the work of its masters. mr. hooper has told me that he does not believe the bewick blocks could be printed any better than they originally were; this is an interesting problem, but one which can never be solved; from my point of view they were badly printed. he also thinks that bewick used overlays. mr. hooper is the english master of _facsimile_ wood-engraving; and some day, when this fact is generally discovered (as mr. william morris has found out, for mr. hooper has engraved the greater part, if not all, of sir edward burne-jones's and mr. morris's designs), there will be a wild and fruitless discussion among bibliographers as to the engravers of the wonderful blocks in morris's books, and of much of the best work of 1860 to 1870, signed with the name of a firm, or a tiny mark in the most obscure corner. mr. laurence housman's article on a. boyd houghton in "bibliographica" i wish i had seen before the english chapter was written, and i wish i had had the benefit of his researches concerning this master, as well as the advice of mr. a. strahan, which would have been invaluable. [illustration: by maurice greiffenhagen. pen drawing from "the daily chronicle."] mr. w. j. hennessy has given much help in the american chapter, and i must thank mr. emery walker, mr. horace townsend, mr. h. orrinsmith, mr. c. t. jacobi, mr. w. e. henley, and i cannot remember how many more. mr. edmund gosse kindly allowed us to reproduce his rossetti, one of the strongest pieces of work, i think, that artist ever did in pen and ink. the other drawings not contributed directly by artists, or not obtained as electros, etc., are mainly from my own collection, for strange as it may seem, the collection of original drawings is one of my hobbies; others may collect bad prints, i prefer good originals. the proprietors of "the daily chronicle" allowed us to reproduce a number of designs made for that paper, and published in it during february, 1895. that no drawings are included from many of the artists of "fliegende blätter" is because the proprietors refused to allow them to be reproduced or used; no doubt the publishers have daily applications of the same sort, but as a book like this is not intended as a rival to a comic paper, i think their refusal in this case rather uncalled for. still, i have not allowed their decision to influence me, nor yet the refusal of one or two artists, who evidently prefer the advertisement of the vulgar type of weekly to being included with their equals or masters. no doubt these confessions will be greeted with applause, especially in that paper whose boast it was once to be "written by gentlemen for gentlemen." no doubt i shall be censured for leaving out the work of every man who ever happened to make an illustration or even a sketch, especially if it was privately published. no doubt the omission of miss alexander and other ruskin-boomed amateurs will be noted, but i have no collection of their works which i should like to unload on the dear public. and as for the misplaced energy contained in these drawings, i am sorry that their authors wasted so much time over them. no doubt for making these confessions, unknown or anonymous nobodies will shriek out that i have stolen everything in the book from an authority of whom i never heard. and, finally, no doubt an ordinarily rational paper like the "spectator" will remark of certain of the drawings, "they make us sick." as to the text, it is in no sense an attempt at a complete history of modern illustration; such a subject would fill volumes, and take a lifetime to prepare. it is but a sketch, and a very slight one, of what i think is the most important work of this century; from which i know i shall be told i have omitted almost all that i should have included, and inserted much that should have been omitted. but i should like to point out that there are no works that i have been able to consult on modern illustration, that is on drawing, engraving and printing as practised to-day in europe and america; there are a few excellent books notably a "chapter on english illustration," by mr. dobson, in mr. lang's "the library," and mr. linton's works on engraving; mason jackson's "pictorial press;" a few good monographs on the great illustrators, champfleury's "vignettes romantiques," for example; many excellent scattered articles, and an ocean of rubbish. but i am the unfortunate who will be sacrificed for attempting to write the first book on a subject he loves. there is another most serious, really insurmountable difficulty, for me or anyone else who attempts to write of modern illustration: no illustrations are catalogued to any extent; only the most important illustrators find a place in either the catalogues of south kensington art library or the british museum; therefore a few years, even a few weeks, after an illustrated book is published, if it has already passed through several editions, it may require hours to find the edition one wants. and as for a special illustration, that necessitates almost always turning over thousands of pages--unless one knows exactly where to find it. i know of but one magazine--"once a week"--in the bound volumes of which the artist's work is properly indexed, and even here the engraver's name is omitted.[2] in harper's most excellently conducted magazine, for some unknown reason artists and engravers are ignored in the index. even "the century" leaves much to be desired in this way. again, it is almost impossible to obtain the date or the name of the work in which many an important illustration first appeared. illustrations are used over and over again, this has always been done; even a publisher at times cannot help one: for this reason it is very difficult to tell when one is consulting a first edition of an illustrated book. sometimes i fancy this carelessness is not altogether unassociated with the author's or publisher's desire to palm off old blocks as new. it is by no means uncommon to omit the name of the artist altogether from the work he has illustrated; rarely indeed is it that the engraver's name is given; sometimes no mention that the work is illustrated is even made on the title page, or only that it contains so many illustrations; usually if an attempt is made to describe the method by which the designs have been reproduced, it is wrong; in rare cases, i am glad to say, this is intentional--photogravures being called etchings, for example--but it is mainly the result of sheer ignorance on the part of publisher, author, or at times, the illustrator. [2] the "pall mall magazine" has just commenced to index artists and engravers completely. hence there are two matters to which i should like to call attention; that all library catalogues give the name of artist and engraver whenever these are printed in the book being catalogued; naturally in a work like this or a magazine, such a course would be impossible, but at least the number of illustrations might be given. the name of the illustrator should always appear on the title page when possible; if his work is worth printing he should have a decent amount of attention drawn to it. this matter is not so difficult, nor would it entail in new catalogues so much work as librarians might think, for i may say in the british museum and south kensington i find that menzel's work is so catalogued already. [illustration: by e. j. sullivan. pen drawing from "the daily chronicle."] secondly, that bibliographers everywhere should turn their attention more to modern illustrated works, even if from the bibliographer of the future it removed much of that pleasant uncertainty which enhances, for some, the work of to-day. there is scarce an illustrated book of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, in which we are absolutely sure of the artist and engraver; but the bibliographers of the future will have a far bigger puzzle to solve, unless we pay some attention to the work of to-day, when they come to catalogue and describe the books of this century. most illustrators, it is true, now sign their drawings, but i should not care to attempt a catalogue of my own work. i have no doubt that i have omitted to mention some really important books, but they have been omitted because i have never seen them; with no good catalogue, no guide, many of the artists dead, and the books dead too, how is one to find them? i have done what i could to make a start; i only hope some one will carry it on; certainly i am sure some of my sincere flatterers will imitate me, as they always do. but to-day the output of illustration is overwhelming; to study the subject properly one must see all the books, magazines, and papers published all over the world. no one man has a chance to do this, and, if he had, the mere looking at such a mass of material would take up all his time. yet one must get some idea of what is being done, for in the most unexpected places the best work often appears; originality is barred in many, so-called, high-class journals, and has to struggle, in the cheapest publications, with the printing-press, ink, and paper. what magazine, for example, has eclipsed "the daily chronicle's" experiment in illustration? within the same short period no such distinguished band of contributors ever appeared. again, in this book it is repeatedly stated that certain artists are at work on certain publications; these have since appeared; i can only say that the book was not made in a day, and the artists, engravers, and printers to whom i have referred, have worked faster than i have. even the "yellow book" has come into existence, and been artistically eclipsed--i hope but for a short while--since i have been working at this volume. temporarily, the shrieking brother and sisterhood have hurt the pockets of a few artists; but illustrators may be consoled by remembering that from the time of dürer to the pre-raphaelites, from whistler to eternity, art never has been and never will be understanded of the people; but they no longer dare to burn our productions, they only write to the newspapers about them. art can stand that--even though it, for the moment, is hard on the artist. it is now no longer necessary for me to insist on the importance of illustration; it is acknowledged, and, save that academic honours are denied him in this country, the illustrator ranks with any other practitioner of the fine or applied arts. [illustration: by j. mc neil whistler. from "legendary ballads" (chatto).] nor do i propose to contradict the statement that one can see too much good art; well, the elgin marbles stood for centuries where only the blind could avoid them, and i have not heard that the athenians were injured in consequence; now they are shut up in boxes, and only visible at certain times, hence the british taste has been so elevated, that the ha'penny comic and the photograph have become its ideal. still, if people could see every day, as they had the chance of seeing this year in the "chronicle," illustrations by whistler and burne-jones, i do not think they would be harmed, even if they did not happen to have to travel in a penny 'bus to the british museum, or take a cook's ticket and a shilling ruskin in order to walk in florence. my opinion is, the better the art around us, even in the penny paper, the better shall we be able to appreciate the work we must travel to see. as for the people who would vulgarize art and literature, bringing everything down to their own low level, we have them always with us. and they and their hangers-on are the ones against whom the present puritans should level their attacks--not against men whose art they do not understand, even if they do object to their personality. still here it will be always impossible to separate a man from his work; yet good art will live, and good illustration is good art. the world may or may not appreciate it, still "there never was an artistic period, there never was an art-loving nation." note. since this preface was written much has happened, and i hope i have learned a little. a show of wood-engravings was held in march, 1895, in stationers' hall, which demonstrated clearly that there are many capable artists in this branch of illustration, though at present they have but little encouragement to practise their art; in that exhibition one saw much good work, and i must at least record the names of h. harral and c. roberts among english engravers on wood who have done notable large blocks--while excellent engraving has been recently accomplished by messrs. m. stainforth, o. lacour, j. d. cooper, r. paterson, a. worf, f. babbage, j. m. johnstone, and w. spielmeyer, the latter of whom was good enough to give me much help in the german chapter of this book. edmund evans, the engraver and colour-printer, loaned me the original drawings on the wood by birket foster, william harvey, and harrison weir, now for the first time reproduced, while william archer allowed us to reproduce the tegner on page 72. [illustration: by a. s. hartrick. from a pen drawing in "the daily chronicle."] among artists too i should have noted the work of g. h. thomas and samuel palmer, who made some designs for sacred allegories, mainly engraved by w. t. green, 1856. one of the earliest and best of modern illustrated books, "poets of the nineteenth century," 1857, and wilmott's "sacred poetry," 1863, are worth preservation for their illustrations. the more i see of this illustration of twenty or thirty years ago, the better and more interesting i find it. arthur hughes' work grows on one; certainly his illustrations to christina rossetti's "sing song," are very charming. i have made no mention scarcely of the splendid work charles green, luke fildes, and fred. barnard did for charles dickens. my only excuse is that till yesterday i never saw it. griset's grotesques, too, i have but just come across--but while one is looking up the work of a few years ago, that of the present is unseen. i have said nothing of many interesting illustrators who have come to the front almost within a few months, illustrators are being made almost daily, one cannot keep track of them, good as their work is much of it is like journalism, bound to perish, only the best will live; but when one is right in the midst of it, difficult indeed is the task of picking out the good from the almost good, the clever from the distinguished. london, _september 30th, 1895._ [illustration: by constable. process block from an original drawing in possession of the author.] modern illustration. introduction. illustration is not only the oldest, but the only form of artistic expression which graphic artists have ever been able to employ. for that matter, every expression of the artist, whether conveyed by means of monochrome or colour, even the work of the plastic artist, is but an illustration. for an illustration is the recording, by means of some artistic medium, either of something seen by the artist which he wishes to convey to--that is, illustrate for--others; or else the direct interpretation by some artistic means of a written description, or the chronicling of an historical event; or, it is a composition which has been suggested to him by some occurrence in nature; or, again, his impression of some phase of nature or life. therefore all art is illustration, though it rather seems to follow that all illustration is not art. in the past, the great illustrators were employed by the great patrons of art in the church and at court. the church, by means of graphic or plastic illustration, warned or encouraged her followers, terrifying them by endless purgatories and _infernos_, more gruesome and ghastly than the british idea of the salon picture; turning their thoughts towards heaven mainly by cloying sweetness, which the typical member of the royal academy finds much difficulty in approaching. though such illustration, in a certain sense, was made for the people, it was not given into their possession as modern illustration is to-day; it was meant not for their pleasure, but for their instruction. the old illustrator in his work was simply nothing if not a moralist, though he himself may have been a most amusing person, while his treatment of even the most sacred subjects was frequently the broadest and most suggestive. still, he was commissioned solely to "point a moral and adorn a tale." as for the court painters, their work was never seen by the people at all, any more than it is now, often luckily. but what were the portraits of velasquez, the groups of rembrandt, the feasts of veronese, the processions of carpaccio? the work of all court and portrait painters is but the recording, that is, the illustration, of human vanity; and the work of all subject painters is but the recording, that is, the illustration, of great and important events; while landscape painting, a modern invention, is only more or less glorified topography. with the writing and illustrating of manuscripts, however, there had been developed a school of minor artists and craftsmen: illuminators and scribes who--mainly taking for their subjects either a portion of some painting by a master, but usually the mere mechanical part of the early painters' backgrounds, the mechanical gold punch design of the primitives, the elaborate, but mannered and conventional, foregrounds of botticelli, and the entire compositions, more or less altered, of fra angelico and pinturicchio--by "lifting" these things judiciously, evolved the art of illumination. it must be borne in mind that this illumination, in its detail and accessories often very beautiful and conventionally decorative, in its main subject almost always as realistic as possible, was the work, with two or three most notable exceptions, of secondand third-rate clever technicians, but in no sense great creative artists at all. only a few well-known painters were ever employed to illuminate important manuscripts. after the introduction of printing, the same state of affairs continued. although the most beautiful books which came from the early german press appeared during the lifetime of dürer, his contributions as an illustrator are curiously limited, considering the amount of black-and-white work which he produced. he illustrated not more than three or four books, and of these only the missal of the emperor maximilian was worked out completely.[3] the great italians never did anything of any importance, if we except botticelli's designs for dante which were never completed. velasquez has left nothing behind him; nor has rembrandt. a few of rubens' sketches for title-pages exist in antwerp, and dürer's monograms and various decorative designs have proved a veritable mine for the minor artists, or greatest thieves--i mean the decorators--who are with us still. with the exception of hans holbein, there never was in the past a great artist who devoted himself to illustration. the glorification of these minor craftsmen into great illustrators is unjust, incorrect, and absurd, when one seriously considers it. dürer's designs were really published and sold as portfolios of engravings, or separately, although there was a little text with them, but not as illustrated books. so, too, were those of rubens; while rembrandt's etchings were altogether published separately. it was the same with the work of the early italians. holbein is almost the only exception proving the rule that great artists in the past were not illustrators of books. still, one can never be absolutely certain on this point, since on some of the finest books, like the "hypnerotomachia," a great artist was employed whose name has never been recorded. [3] this is a combination of illumination and printing, the illustrations being original drawings by dürer. the text is printed; but two or three copies exist. although it is impossible now to give with absolute certainty the true reasons why the best-known artists did not illustrate the important publications of their own day, there seem to be three very good ones. first, because it is almost certain that the wood-cutter, when he was known at all, and this implied his being reasonably successful, was the head of a large shop in which the artist and the actual engraver were mere necessary evils; the proprietor, i do not doubt, taking not only all the credit, as we know, but most likely the bulk of the cash as well. secondly, we have dürer's own testimony that his wood-cutters were incompetent, and careless, and the much belauded line of dürer which one is bidden to admire in the wood-block to-day, he himself, it is almost certain, did not cut.[4] but he sketched freely on paper, his design was then copied by another person on the block, and the third man cut it. that dürer did work on the wood, correcting his designs and criticising his wood-cutters, there can be little doubt, simply from the improvement in this method of reproduction which began with him. but the reason that a great artist like dürer did not contribute illustrations to books most probably is because he was not decently paid for them, and because his designs were all cut to pieces. finally, not only was almost all the engraving, except work done under the direct supervision, or influence, of dürer, absolutely characterless so far as the quality of the line went, but there is not a single early printed book to be found in which the illustrations are decently printed. there is scarcely a solid black in any of them.[5] [4] see "literary remains of albert dürer," and f. didot's "gravure sur bois." [5] some of ratdolt's are among the exceptions. when one considers these facts, which have been carefully ignored by a small set of artists, and, of course, are absolutely unknown to the ordinary critic and authority on the early printed book, two things become evident. first, that the great artists of the past did not illustrate; and, second, that the reason they did not was because they could be neither decently engraved nor printed. [illustration: st. christopher, 1423.] [illustration: by sir edward burne-jones, bart. reduced from a large process block in "the daily chronicle."] with the introduction of steel and copper-plate engraving and etching, the paintings and sculptures of great artists were not infrequently used as the subjects of book illustrations, but they were seldom made expressly for the books they illustrate. and as the steel or copper engraving must be printed separately, and as the best proofs of these engravings were almost always sold as separate works of art, it hardly seems to me that engravings on metal or on stone, like lithographs, properly come under the head of illustration for printed books. the use of what we call now _clichés_ and stock blocks was almost universal, even from the very invention of printing, when the illustrations to the block-books were cut up for this purpose; and not only this: the same map was made to do duty for as many countries as were required, and one and the same portrait or town served for as many characters and places as happened to figure in the book. while, under the heading of appropriateness of decoration and fitness, it may be remarked that most of the old printers only had one set of initials, and if they did possess two sets of borders, they usually chopped them up, and, by judicious mixing, obtained a variety apparently pleasing to their patrons. it is not until the eighteenth century that one finds artists of note illustrating books, always with the exception of holbein. even then the illustrations were usually steel or copper-plate engravings made very freely from other men's drawings, although the artists were beginning to be commissioned to produce designs themselves. one might devote much space to the work of piranesi, canaletto, watteau, greuze, hogarth, chodowiecki, and the illustrators of la fontaine. but this does not come really within my subject, since the making of modern illustration, that is, the employment of great artists to produce great works of art to appear with letterpress in printed books, dates entirely from this century, and is due altogether to the genius of four men: meissonier in france, menzel in germany, goya in spain, and bewick in england. it is to these four that modern illustration is solely and entirely due; though a word--and a strong one--of praise should be given to the patrons and publishers who employed and encouraged them. [illustration: by sir david wilkie. from an original drawing in the possession of the author.] [illustration: wood-engraving by thomas bewick. from walton's "complete angler" (bohn).] chapter i. a general survey. nowhere were the conditions of illustration more deplorable than in england when bewick, and stothard, and blake appeared upon the scene. there was a decided revolution when gay's "fables," the "general history of quadrupeds," "british land and water birds," all illustrated by bewick's wood-engravings, were issued. bewick, as has been said before, and cannot be repeated too often, was an artist who happened to engrave his designs on wood, instead of drawing them on paper or painting them on canvas; he was not a mere wood-engraver, interpreting other men's work which he only half understood or appreciated; and this is a distinction to be borne in mind. bewick, virtually, did for himself what the new mechanical processes almost succeed in doing for contemporary illustrators. for him were none of the difficulties and miseries of the draughtsman who made his designs on the block, saw them ruthlessly ruined by an incompetent, or unscrupulous engraver, and then had but the print, which could not prove the reproduction to be the wretched caricature of the original that it really was. this was the chief reason for bewick's success. he invented wood-engraving; he showed what good work ought to be; in a word, he revolutionized the art of illustration in england.[6] [6] the printing is, however, always bad. whatever may have brought about this sudden activity and revival of excellence, bewick's books were far from being its sole outcome. "the songs of innocence and experience," the "inventions to the book of job," blair's "grave," mary wollstonecraft's stories, with blake's illustrations, belong to the same period, though this was but a chance. the illustrations were mostly done on metal, and blake had his own peculiar methods. he belongs to no special time or group. [illustration: "christ and peter." by caracci. wood-engraving by the linnells.] [illustration: "the holy family." by perugino. wood-engraving by the linnells.] book after book with stothard's illustrations, the "pilgrim's progress," richardson's novels, tales now forgotten, above all, rogers' "poems," with the engravings by clennell, helped to prove the possibilities of good illustration, and emphasize, by force of contrast, the inappropriateness of work done by some of the most popular academicians of the day for boydell's "shakespeare," immortalized by thackeray as that "black and ghastly gallery of murky opies, glum northcotes, straddling fuselis." [illustration: by stothard. from an original drawing in the possession of the author.] [illustration: from a painting by wilson. wood-engraving by the linnells.] [illustration: from a painting by rubens. wood-engraving by the linnells.] [illustration: by stothard. from rogers' "poems" (cadell). engraved on wood by clennell.] [illustration: by stothard. from rogers' "poems" (cadell). engraved on wood by clennell.] but the most important outcome of bewick's work was the appearance of an excellent school of wood-engravers in england: clennell, branston, harvey and nesbit, the thompsons, the williamses, and orrinsmith. these engravers tried, in the beginning, to produce exactly the same sort of work that is being done by the so-called school of american wood-engravers to-day. one has only to look at stothard's illustrations to rogers' "poems," engraved by clennell, to see an example of _facsimile_ engraving after pen drawing. but, as a general thing, these men all endeavoured to imitate the qualities of steel engraving or etching. first, because steel or metal engraving was the prevailing form of illustration, enjoying, for a while, tremendous popularity in the long series of "keepsakes," "forget-me-nots," and "albums;" and, secondly, because they were forced mainly to copy old metal engravings, since scarcely any artist, always excepting stothard and a few others, knew how to draw on the wood. so great was the rage for popularizing engravings on metal, that john thompson projected an edition of hogarth on wood, about two inches by three, showing that, instead of being able to produce new work done specially for the wood, engravers were continually thrown back upon the copying of steel or copper-plates, or the work of their predecessors. another notable instance, though published much later, is that of the first illustrated catalogue of the national gallery by the linnells.[7] [7] so far as i know, the original of that system of abomination. in france, however, there were plenty of artists, willing to draw on the wood, who could not get their designs engraved, at the very time that in england there were plenty of engravers who could find no artists to draw for them. [illustration: from titian, "ariadne and bacchus." wood-engraving by the linnells.] in 1816 charles thompson went to paris, partly for pleasure and partly in search of work. he was at once successful. he arrived at the right moment: already a society for the encouragement of national industry in france had offered a prize of two thousand francs for wood-engravings done in that country, so impressed had frenchmen been with the excellence of the work produced in england. [illustration: by harvey. from "milton's poetical works" (bohn). engraved on wood by thompson.] [illustration: by harvey. from "milton's poetical works" (bohn). engraved on wood by thompson.] a little later on, lavoignat and other engravers came over and worked in london with the williamses. the result was, that, within ten years of their return, a school of wood-engravers, nearly as good as the english, arose in france, together with a number of draughtsmen, greatly superior to those of england. among the engravers who should be mentioned are best, brévière, leveille, lavoignat, piaud, pisan, and poirret. they worked after gigoux, the johannots, isabey, paul huet, jacque, meissonier, charlet, daubigny, daumier, gavarni, monnier, and raffet. [illustration: from an original drawing on the wood by harvey.] in both countries this new illustration began to make its mark about 1835. although, in its own way, bewick's engraving was unsurpassed, still a refinement, a freedom, was introduced by the french artists, and a faithfulness of _facsimile_ by their engravers, many of whom, as i have said, were english, quite unknown at that time in work published in england. so great was the reputation of these illustrators, artists and engravers both, that two germans, braun and roehle, came to paris to work with brévière. this international exchange of engravers has kept up, in a measure, till the present time; m. lepère, for instance, studied in england with smeeton, while it is well known that the director of the "graphic" was working in paris almost up to 1870. [illustration: by harvey. from milton's poetical works (bohn). wood-engraving, unsigned.] in 1830 i think one may safely say that the first really important modern illustrated book, in which wood was substituted for metal engraving, appeared in france. this was the "histoire du roi de bohème," by johannot. though published twenty years later than rogers' "poems," with stothard's illustrations, as an example of engraving it was scarcely any better. but the designs--little head and tail-pieces--were so good that they were used over and over again by "l'artiste," the organ of the romanticists, in which they were accepted as the perfection of illustration. at this date there is to be noted in england, among the best work done, the beautiful alphabet by stothard, published by pickering. [illustration: by thurston. from butler's "hudibras" (bohn). wood-engraving, unsigned.] [illustration: by thurston. from butler's "hudibras" (bohn). wood-engraving, unsigned.] if, up to 1830, england and france were in equal rank, so far as illustration went, for the next ten or fifteen years france utterly eclipsed her earlier rival. in 1833 appeared the "gil blas"[8] of gigoux, containing hundreds of drawings, which all frenchmen, i believe, consider to be the illustrated book of the period. to gigoux, daniel vierge owes more probably than he would care to acknowledge; while gigoux himself is founded on goya. in 1838, however, was issued a book which, in drawing, engraving, and printing, completely outdistanced anything that had heretofore appeared in england or in france: curmer's edition of "paul et virginie," dedicated by a grateful publisher, "aux artistes qui ont élevé ce monument typographique à la mémoire de j. h. bernardin de saint-pierre." these artists include the names of nearly everyone who was then, or soon became famous in french art. the book contains marines by isabey, beautiful landscapes by paul huet, animals and figures by jacque, and, above all, drawings by meissonier, who contributed over a hundred to this story and to the "chaumière indienne," published under the same cover. all the best french and english engravers collaborated. even the printing was excellent, for the use of overlays, made by aristide derniame, had begun to be fully understood.[9] the printers' name deserves to be remembered: everal et cie. [8] my own copy, apparently a first edition, is dated 1836. [9] charles whittingham, the founder of the chiswick press, who died in 1840, has the credit of being the first printer in england to use overlays, and as an early example might be mentioned, "the gardens and menageries of the zoological society delineated," published by tilt in 1830, containing drawings by william harvey, engraved by branston and wright, assisted by other artists. after this, for some ten years, there was a perfect deluge of finely illustrated books. the "vicar of wakefield," with jacque's drawings, molière, "don quixote," "le diable boiteux." magazines, too, were brought out; the "magazin pittoresque," which had started in 1833, published in 1848 meissonier's "deux joueurs," engraved by lavoignat; in many ways this remains, even to-day, one of the best pieces of _facsimile_ wood-engraving ever made. at that time it was simply unapproached anywhere. in "l'artiste" and "gazette des entants," 1840, will be found many remarkable lithographs by gavarni; but most of daumier's works must be looked for in the cheaper prints, notably in "la caricature," where also may be found, from 1830, in lithography the work of delacroix, monnier, lami, and others. [illustration: by thurston. from tasso (bohn). engraved on wood by corbould.] [illustration: from cruikshank's "three courses." engraved on wood by s. williams.] [illustration: from cruikshank's "three courses."] [illustration: from cruikshank's "three courses." wood-engravings, not signed.] in england, too, very good work was being done, though it was not so absolutely artistic as the french. among the men who were working were thurston, stothard, harvey, landseer, wilkie, calcott, and mulready. the "penny magazine" was started in 1832 by charles knight. gray's "elegy" appeared in 1836, the "arabian nights" in 1838, and, about the same time the "solace of song," both containing much of harvey's best work; while later came those drawings by cruikshank, which mainly owe their claim to notice to the marvellous interpretations of them made by the thompsons and the williamses. in england, however, the engravers were seeking more and more to imitate steel, the artist's simplest washes being turned into the most elaborate cross-hatching, which made each block look as if it were a mass of pen-and-ink or pencil detail, when no such work was ever put on it by the draughtsman. the artist was ignored by the engraver, until finally the latter became absolutely supreme, that is to say, his shop became supreme, while the artist who, when he had the chance, could give on a piece of wood an inch or two square, most beautiful, even great, effects of landscape, was subordinated wholly to his interpreter. for an accurate account of this inartistic triumph i would recommend the works of mr. w. j. linton. in france the art of illustration continued to improve. it culminated in 1858 in the "contes rémois," with meissonier for draughtsman and lavoignat and leveille for engravers. these illustrations are absolutely equal to menzel's best work, and are by far the finest ever produced in france. [illustration: from cruikshank's "table book." engraved on wood by t. williams.] i had always supposed menzel to occupy a position quite as original as bewick's. but i find that he was really a follower of meissonier. his "life of frederick the great" was not published until 1842, while the "paul et virginie" had appeared in 1835. besides, the first of his drawings for the "frederick" menzel confided to french engravers,[10] especially to the men who had reproduced tony johannot. but this artist's illustrations, though in point of size the most important, in point of excellence are the worst in the french book, being not unlike characterless steel engravings. it is therefore not surprising that menzel was dissatisfied with the results, and that he proceeded at once to train a number of germans to produce engravings of his work in _facsimile_. the best of these men were bentworth, unzelmann, the vogels, kreitzschmar, who engraved the drawings for the "works of frederick the great," and the "heroes of war and peace," those monuments to menzel's art and german illustration. indeed, it seems to me that, until the introduction of photography, there is little to be said of german illustration that does not relate entirely to menzel and dietz, and some of the artists on "fliegende blätter," which was founded in 1844. [10] rather english and french, andrew, best, leloir. but in england it is just before the invention of photographing on wood that some of the most marvellous drawings were produced; really the most marvellous that have ever been done in the country. it is true that sir john gilbert had been making his striking and powerful designs, mr. birket foster his exquisite drawings, while much good _facsimile_ work was done after mr. harrison weir; the abbotsford edition of scott was appearing, and the "liber studiorum;" true, also, that the "illustrated london news," started in 1842, had done much to raise the general standard; "punch," also, was commenced in 1842; much, too, had been accomplished in lithography. still, it is with the appearance of frederick sandys, rossetti, walker, pinwell, a. boyd houghton, small, du maurier, keene, crane, leighton, millais, and tenniel, with the publication of the "cornhill," "once a week," "good words," the "shilling magazine," and such books as moxon's "tennyson," that the best period of english illustration begins. mr. ruskin's own drawings for his books must not be forgotten. [illustration: by birket foster. from "longfellow's poems" (bell). engraved on wood by vizetelly.] [illustration: by sir john gilbert. from marryat's "mission" (bohn). engraved on wood by dalziel.] [illustration: by dante gabriel rossetti. from "tennyson's poems." moxon, 1857. engraved on wood by dalziel.] [illustration: by dante gabriel rossetti. process block from a drawing in the possession of edmund gosse, esq.] [illustration: by birket foster. from "longfellow's poems" (bell). engraved on wood by h. vizetelly.] [illustration: by birket foster. from "bell's school reader." wood-engraving unsigned.] among the english engravers, outside of the large shops of dalziel and swain, there are only two names that stand out conspicuously: w. j. linton and w. h. hooper. the excellent work of the latter, unfortunately, has been overshadowed by that of mr. linton, who, however, cannot be considered his equal as an engraver. [illustration: by birket foster. process block from an original drawing on the wood block, never engraved.] [illustration: by birket foster. from "goldsmith's poems" (bell). engraved on wood by dalziel.] in america f. o. c. darley was certainly the first illustrator, while the french tradition was carried on for years in "harper's magazine" by c. e. doepler, who produced some very excellent little blocks. harper's "illuminated bible," with more than fourteen hundred drawings by j. g. chapman, engraved by j. a. adams, was begun in 1837, and finished in 1843. but the greatest number of the better american drawings were either borrowed from english sources, or, as in the case of the american tract society, english artists, like sir john gilbert, were commissioned to make them. after the civil war, the first man to appear prominently was winslow homer. contemporary with him, and later, were john la farge, thomas and peter moran, alfred fredericks, w. l. shepherd, and the older of the men working to-day. among the caricaturists, thomas nast was preeminent. [illustration: by harrison weir. from poetry for schools (bell).] [illustration: by harrison weir. from poetry for schools (bell). engraved on wood by a. slader.] [illustration: by harrison weir. from a wash drawing on the wood.] there is one american book, however, which deserves special mention. this is harris's "insects injurious to vegetation," the drawings for which were the work of sourel and burckhardt. it is one of the most artistic books of the sort ever published in america or elsewhere. then, too, amid a flood of other things, appeared, in 1872, "picturesque america," and later "picturesque europe," which then reached really the high-water mark of american publishing enterprise in the united states, just as surely as doré at the same time in france and england was the most exploited of all illustrators. the greater number of drawings for these books were made by harry fenn and j. d. woodward. the profession of illustration at this period must have been almost equal to that of gold-mining. everything the artist chose to produce was accepted. it would be more accurate to say everything he half produced, for the school of turner being then superseded by that of doré, wood-engravers, like pannemacker, for instance, had been specially trained by the artist to carry out the ideas which he merely suggested on the block. but a change was coming; the incessant output of illustration killed not only the artists themselves, but the process. in its stead arose a better, truer method, a more artistic method, which we are even now, only developing. this later american illustration may be said to have had its beginning in the year 1876. [illustration: by a. cooper. from walton's "angler" (bohn). engraved on wood by m. jackson.] [illustration: by randolph caldecott. from "old christmas" (macmillan, 1875).] chapter ii. the methods of to-day; their origin and development. modern illustration belongs essentially to our own times, to our own generation. to the last quarter of the eighteenth century several writers on the subject have traced its beginning. but in a measure only is this theory justified by fact. all dates are difficult and elusive. it is not easy to point to the exact year when the old came to an end and the new began. even in cases when a certain date, 1830 for example, seems to mark a positive barrier, it does so only because, with constant use, it has become the symbol of a certain change. but the cause of this modern development is not hard to discover. it was the application of photography to the illustration of books and papers which established the art on a new basis. as the invention of printing gave the first great impetus to illustration, so surely has it received its second and more important from the invention of photography. the gulf between primitive illuminated manuscripts and holbein's "dance of death" is not wider than that which separates the antiquated "keepsakes" and "forget-me-nots" from the "century magazine" and the "graphic." the conditions have entirely altered. greater ease of reproduction, greater speed, greater economy of labour have been secured, as well as greater freedom for the artist, and greater justice in the reproduction of his design. as a consequence, illustration has increased in popularity, the comparative cheapness of production placing it within reach of the people who have ever taken pleasure in the art, since the days when all writing was but picture-making; it has gained artistically, since the fidelity of the _facsimile_ now obtained has induced many an artist of genius, or distinction, to devote himself wholly to black and white. if, on the one hand, this popularity threatens its degradation (foolish editors and grasping publishers flooding the world with cheap and nasty illustrated books and periodicals), on the other, the artistic gain promises to be its salvation, for not in the days of dürer himself was so large a proportion of genuinely good work published. [illustration: by charles keene. from a pen drawing in the possession of the author.] the first attempt to photograph a drawing on the block for the purpose of engraving, is said to have been made in england, in 1851 or 1852, by mr. langton, an engraver in manchester, assisted by a photographer whose name unfortunately has not been preserved. it may be granted that this was the first attempt. but artistically it was of small importance, as nothing, so far as i know, directly came of it. that the process was well enough known in 1865 is proved by the following extracts from the "art student" of that year: "the picture is obtained in the usual way, and the film of collodion afterwards removed by using a pledget of cotton moistened in ether. a block so prepared works as well under the graver as an ordinary drawing." but i do not believe that even this process of photographing on the block was very practically used.[11] to take one case in point, the "amor mundi" by sandys, published in the "shilling magazine" for april, 1865, which i reproduced by photogravure in "pen drawing and pen draughtsmen:"[12] the plate was made from a negative taken from this design after it had been drawn on the block. mr. swain has told me that he photographed the drawing, because he was so delighted with the original (which he was about to cut to pieces) that he wanted to preserve an exact copy. now, had the art of photographing drawings on wood been generally known, mr. swain would have photographed the drawing on to another block, reversing the negative, and kept the original. instead, he simply photographed the original before it was engraved. the same thing is said to have been done with some of rossetti's illustrations for tennyson; while messrs. dalziel kept back their "bible gallery" for many years, until drawings could be decently photographed on the wood. but the practical application of photography to the transferring of drawings to wood blocks, although probably known about as long ago as 1850, in a few offices is scarcely practised to-day. i think, however, one may safely say that about the year 1876 this practice became fairly general; one may therefore, for the sake of convenience, take the year 1876 as the date of the beginning of modern illustration. [11] i am mistaken in this, as many of pinwell and north's drawings, made on paper in 1865-66 for dalziel, were photographed on wood. [12] first edition 1889. as this change is probably the most important in the whole history of the art, i think it may be well to explain shortly how drawings were produced before the introduction of photography, and how they are made now. [illustration: by charles keene. from a pen drawing in the possession of the author.] before the time of dürer and holbein, the artist was of small importance; indeed, so too was the engraver, though we hear much about him. the artist made his drawing either on a piece of paper or on the block. judging from some of the work in the plantin museum (the sole place where we can obtain any actual data[13]), the design was made in rather a free manner; the argument against this conclusion, of course, is that comparatively few originals exist. there is, however, in the british museum a drawing of an apollo by dürer[14] on which are the marks of a hard lead pencil, or metal point leaving a mark, used to trace it, while the word "apollo" in the mirror is written backwards. on the other hand, in the old herbals are cuts of the artist making his drawing from nature, the draughtsman putting it on the block, and the wood-cutter cutting it. when we come to engraving on metal, we find that, though the wood-cutter need not have been an artist, he only having to follow lines given him, or to make certain mechanical ones to suit himself, the metal engraver was obliged to be an artist, because he had to be able to copy the picture or design entrusted to him. but mechanical aids were found for him too, with the result that the later engravings on metals, as well as the old woodcuts, became the productions of shops, in which certain parts were done by certain men, and the real artist, whether he were draughtsman or engraver, had a small share in the actual reproduction. the next stage was the entire disappearance of the wood-cutter, when finally all books were illustrated by means of steel and copper. with bewick who, with a graver, engraved his own designs on the end of the block, instead of cutting them with a knife on the side of a plank, as everyone had previously done,[15] there was introduced a new phase--the possibility of drawing with a pen, or pencil, or brush, or wash, upon the whitened surface of box-wood, a good medium, a design which should be absolutely facsimiled by the engraver. the engravers of bewick's time and until about 1835 or 1840, being true artists and craftsmen, knew that their business was to engrave the artist's design as accurately and carefully as they could, since what the latter wanted was the absolute _facsimile_ of his work and none of their suggestions. but by the fifties, the artist either had become wholly indifferent to the way in which his work was engraved, or else he was absolutely under the thumb of the engravers. his entire style, all his individuality, was sacrificed for the benefit of the engraving shop, from which blocks after him were turned out. the head of the firm whose signature they bore may never have done a stroke of work on them. even a man strong as charles keene was completely broken up by this system, though he may not have realized it. artists were told that they must draw in such a way that the engravers could engrave them with the least time, trouble, and expense. two attempts were made to escape from the wood-engraver who was again endeavouring to reduce everything to a _facsimile_ of steel: by the use of steel plates themselves, as in the case of the later editions of rogers' "italy;" and also, by the practice of aquatint and lithography, in france by such men as gavarni and daumier, and in england by prout, roberts, harding, nash, and cotman. but lithography in this country, as a method of illustrating books and papers, never can be said to have become very popular, though in france for years its employment was general. [13] there are two or three seventeenth-century drawings on the wood at south kensington, and some, i believe, in the british museum. [14] on paper. [15] at least, he was the first man to do important artistic wood-engraving. the art of wood-engraving was dying in the clutch of the engraver, when an artless process came to its aid. for, at this crisis it was discovered that a drawing made in any medium, upon any material, of any size (so long as proportion was regarded), might be photographed upon the sensitized wood-block in reverse. the importance of the discovery will be appreciated when it is remembered that, before this, the poor artist, if he were drawing the portrait of a place directly on the block, was compelled to draw it the exact size it was to be engraved, to reverse it himself, and to have his actual drawing destroyed by engraving through it. once photography was used, the drawing could be made of any size, it was mechanically reversed, the original was preserved, and the artist was free. gone, however, according to the engraver, was the engraver's art. it is true that the wood-chopper disappeared: the man who could not draw a line himself, and yet would pretend that his mechanical lines, made with a graver or ruling machine, were more valuable than the artist's, and who had no hesitancy in changing the entire composition of a subject if he did not like it. but his disappearance was a great gain. in his place there arose the latest school of wood-engravers. many of the new were perhaps no better than the old men, for not knowing how to draw, not being artists, they directed their energies often to the meaningless elaboration of unimportant detail. but at least this work could always be corrected, now that the original drawing was preserved and could be compared with the print from the engraved block. [illustration: by m. e. edwards. from gatty's "parables" (bell, 1867).] [illustration: by g. du maurier. from a wood-engraving. "the english illustrated magazine."] [illustration: by arthur hughes. wood-engraving from gordon hake's "parables" (chapman and hall).] in england, from 1860 to 1870 some very remarkable drawings were made and engraved upon the block. during the years just before the introduction of photography, walker, pinwell, keene, sandys, shields, and du maurier were illustrating. to a certain extent, they seem to have insisted upon their work being followed. between 1870 and 1880, when the actual change was made from drawing on wood to drawing on paper, even a larger number of men were at work. the "graphic" and the "century" were founded, and enormous were the improvements in france and germany. but between 1880 and 1890 came the greatest development of all. for these years saw the perfecting and successful practice of mechanical reproduction: that is, the photographing of drawings in line upon a metal plate or gelatine film, the biting of them in relief on this plate, or the mechanical growth of a plate on the gelatine, resulting in the production of a metal block which could be printed along with type. this method of replacing the wood-engraver by a chemical agent has, however, been the aim of every photographer since the time of niepce, who made the first experiments, while the process was patented by gillot on the 21st of march, 1850.[16] these ten years are also noted for the invention of what is now generally known as the half-tone process: that is the reproduction by mechanical means of drawings in wash, or in colour, worked out in europe by the meisenbach process, in america by the ives method. in many ways wood-engraving as a trade or business has been, it may be only temporarily, seriously damaged. however, in the very short period since mechanical reproduction has been introduced, those wood-engravers who really are artists have been doing better work, because they can now engrave, in their own fashion, the blocks they want to. the art of wood-engraving has progressed if the trade has languished. [16] in france the credit for the invention is given to dr. donné, who, about 1840, discovered that certain acids could be used to bite in the whites or the blacks of a daguerreotype. see also french chapter. the most modern of these developments are worthy of special notice both in europe and america. but before pointing out the changes and results that have come from them, it may be well to say something about process. upon this subject there are two widely differing factions. it is not at all curious that the artists, the men who practise the art of illustration, should be found almost unanimously on one side, while the critics, whose business it is to preach about an art of which they know nothing in practice, are ranged upon the other. there are a few critics of intelligence, who understand the requirements and limitations of both process and wood-engraving, just as there are hack and superior illustrators who neither know nor care anything about any form of reproduction. many advantages are claimed for wood-engraving. the print from an engraving on wood gives, it is said, a softer, richer, fuller impression than the print from the mechanically engraved process block. but not in one case out of a hundred thousand is the wood block itself printed from: the illustration which delights the critics has, in reality, been printed from a cast of the block made of exactly the same metal as the cast from the process block, and the softness, the velvety quality, is therefore due to the imagination of the critic who is unable to tell the difference. indeed, to distinguish between a mechanically produced block and one engraved on wood, provided the subject of the drawing is reasonably simple, is so difficult, that when neither of the blocks is signed, no living expert on the subject would venture an off-hand opinion. between good _facsimile_ engraving and good process there is really no difference at all, excepting in a few particulars. for in the mechanically engraved process block, to use the ordinary term, the lines made by the artist on paper, are photographed directly on to the metal plate; these lines are protected by ink which is rolled upon them with an ordinary ink roller, the sticky ink adhering to the lines of the photograph, and nowhere else. this inked photograph is then placed in a bath of acid, and the exposed portions are eaten away; the zinc or other metal block is set up with a wooden back, type high, and is ready to print from. the process is so ridiculously simple that it can be done in a very few hours. process blocks for line work, and nearly always half-tone blocks, have to be finished by a clever engraver especially employed for the purpose. it is very hard for him, as it leaves him no chance for original work, but in course of time it is hoped that the process will be so perfected that the services of the engraver can be dispensed with. there are other methods, such as that of using swelled gelatine, to produce the same results, but the biting of zinc that i have described is the most popular. [illustration: by g. r. seymour. wood-engraving from "the magazine of art" (cassell).] in the case of the wood-engraving, the drawing is photographed in the same way on the wood block, but the engraver proceeds slowly, tediously, and laboriously with his tools to cut away the wood and leave the lines in relief. this requires an amount of devotion to painstaking drudgery which is appalling. as many days will be given to the production of a good wood-engraving, as hours are needed to produce a good process block. the results obtained by a first-class wood-engraver on the one hand, on the other by the first-class mechanical reproduction which is always watched by a first-class man, may be so close as to be indistinguishable. but there is no artistic gain in employing the wood-engraver, while great artistic loss is involved, since the latter, who can scarce enjoy doing this sort of thing, is compelled to waste his time in competing with a chemical and mechanical combination which does the work just as well; besides, there is as much difference in the cost as in the methods themselves, a process block being worth about as many shillings as the wood-engraving is pounds. as the results are equal, i see no reason why the publisher should be called upon to pay this large sum of money, unless he wishes to, simply for what is absolutely a fad. i admit, however, that _facsimile_ engravings by the early englishmen and frenchmen, and some of the americans and danes of the present day, are worth quite as much money as is asked for them. but i am just as certain that mechanical engravers will go on improving their mechanical process until _facsimile_ wood-engravers are left in the rear. ordinary good process work, which can be printed with type, is, at the present moment, equal to any _facsimile_ wood-engraving. the more elaborate methods, such as the photogravure of amand durand, are infinitely better, and only to be compared to etching. [illustration: by sir edward burne-jones. from the original drawing for gatty's "parables" (bell, 1867).] to contrast the mechanical reproductions of black and white wash, or colour drawings with wood-engravings after them is, however, another matter. many drawings, owing to the medium in which they are done, will not as yet reproduce well mechanically. indeed, to have one's drawings rendered satisfactorily, by the half-tone process, requires such an enormous experience and knowledge of the improvements continuously being made in the many different methods used by the different process men, that the artist, if he kept posted in all the developments and modifications, would have very little time left to produce works of art of his own. on the other hand, the artist may admire the work of a sympathetic wood-engraver whom he is delighted to trust with his drawings: it is always a pleasure to see the translation of a good drawing by a good wood-engraver. from the point of view of engraving, nothing is more hopelessly monotonous than process; for the aim of the process-man, as of some of the best wood-engravers, is to render the drawing in wash, or in colour, so well, that there should be no suggestion of the methods by which the results are obtained: to give the drawing itself, and this is exactly, in the majority of cases, what the artist wants. naturally, he prefers an absolute reproduction of his drawing, to somebody else's interpretation of it. he is not eager to have another person interpret his ideas for the public; he would rather the public should see what he has done himself with his own hands. this reasonable desire process now begins to realize. by the half-tone process, a photograph is made of a drawing with either a microscopically ruled glass plate or screen in front of it, which breaks up the flat tones into infinitesimal dots, or squares, or lozenges; or else, there is impressed into the inked photo, in some one of a dozen ways, a dotted plate which will give the same effect.[17] these dots, squares, or lozenges lend a grain to the flat washes, translating them into rectilinear relief, yielding a printing surface,--accomplishing, in a word, the same end as the wood-engraver's translation of flat washes into lines and dots. the great objection hitherto to half-tone process has been, especially in large reproductions, that the squares or lozenges produce a mechanical look which is entirely absent from a good wood-engraving, the very essence of engraving being variety and, therefore, interest in the lines drawn with the graver. the crucial point, however, is this: even the greatest wood-engraver, in reproducing a drawing made in tone, is forced to translate this tone by lines or dots; in fact, instead of the wash, to give lines which do not exist in the original drawing. though he may be so clever as to succeed in reproducing the actual values of the original, which he rarely does, he has still entirely altered the original appearance of the work. the object of the half-tone process is to give, not only these actual values, so often missed by the engraver, but also the brush-marks and the washy or painty look of the original, a result much further beyond the powers of any wood-engraver, than beyond the possibilities of process at the present day. it is said that process reproduction is but a mechanical makeshift, and this is a term of reproach against it. but it must be evident that wood-engraving, especially for the reproduction of wash, and, in a less degree, of line drawings, is a far more mechanical makeshift. there is no possible way in wood of representing the wash, while in reproducing line on the block, at least two cuts are required with the graver to get what the mechanical process gives at once. moreover, as soon as the line drawing becomes at all complicated, it is impossible for the engraver to follow it on the wood block. [17] this method, i believe, is no longer used. therefore, it seems to me that the strictures which have been applied to process are far more applicable to wood-engraving. now that wood-engraving has become a medium for the reproduction of any and every sort of design, it has stepped quite outside its proper province. almost anything can be done with a block of wood and a graver, but it must be evident to people of average intelligence that a very great gulf separates those things which possibly can be done, from those which rationally should be attempted. still, to-day any subject that can be engraved on wood may be printed; and if one likes to try experiments, why should he be stopped? the wood-engraver of to-day has been compelled to suppress and efface himself. when he proposes to reproduce another man's designs, if he is really a great wood-engraver, he recognizes that his sole function is to render the original, faithfully giving as much of the artist's handiwork as possible, and as little of his own. that this must be to many a most galling and annoying position is evident. but to rebel against it is absurd, and for the engraver to tamper with an artist's original design is as unwarrantable as for an editor to change an author's manuscript after the final proof has left the writer's hands. [illustration: by walter crane. process block from a wood-engraving by edmund evans, in colours in "beauty and the beast" (routledge).] there have been two, or perhaps three, great periods of producing works of art on the block. first, that of the old woodcuts, which were undoubtedly great, though what the draughtsmen thought of them we shall never really know. secondly, the period of bewick, who engraved his own designs, and therefore was his own master, doing what he wanted. and thirdly, to-day, the greatest revival of all. mr. timothy cole, in his interpretations of the old masters (though some of the painters whom he has reproduced might object to certain things in his reproductions, they could but admit that never before have such beautiful pictures been made out of their own), has suggested one field for the artist who is a wood-engraver; the creation of masterpieces in his own medium of the painted masterpieces of other, or of his own time. again, we have a man like mr. elbridge kingsley working directly from nature, and producing the most amazing and interesting results; or m. lepère, who is engraving his own designs exactly as bewick did, or else giving us those marvellous originals in colour, only equalled by the japanese who, for ages, have been masters among wood-cutters; or mr. kreull, who is doing marvellous portraits on the block. with so broad a scope at its service in the hands of artists, wood-engraving is not in the slightest danger. with the added possibilities of making new experiments, such as printing from lowered blocks, reviving chiaroscuro, and an infinitude of other processes open to the artistic wood-engraver, there is no probability of its becoming a lost art. i have nothing but the highest praise for the work of men like cole, kingsley, gamm, french jüngling, baude, kreull, florian, hendriksen, bork, hooper, and biscombe gardner. this modern _facsimile_ wood-engraving is magnificent in its way, and is quite as legitimate and decorative as any of the old work, only process is bound to supersede the greater part of it. wood-engraving has survived the mediæval mechanical limitations which were imposed upon it by the primitiveness of the printing-press, but which have been made into its chief merits. it has survived the ghastly period immediately succeeding bewick, when the sole end of the engravers on wood was to imitate the engraver on steel or on copper. it has survived the stage of the shop run by a clever business-man who merged the individuality of all his artists and engravers into that of his own firm. it has survived the backing of mr. linton, which at one time threatened to kill it entirely. and the strain put upon it by magazine-editors and book-publishers has been relieved by the intervention of mechanical process. [illustration: by kate greenaway. key block wood-engraved by edmund evans for colour printing. from "mother goose" (routledge).] i believe that it will continue and flourish as an original art, side by side with process, until it runs against another of the snags or quicksands which every half century seem to imperil it. still, at the present moment, its artistic outlook is very bright,--so also is that of process. [illustration: detail of "the dentatus" engraved on wood by harvey, after haydon.] [illustration: by e. isabey. from "paul and virginia." engraved by slader.] chapter iii. french illustration. the nearer we approach our own time, the more difficult it becomes to write of illustration. for, although it is the duty of an editor, and even of an artist, to note all that is going on around him, at the present time this is almost impossible, so great is the output from the press, so varying are the fortunes of many artists. the man who, one day, promises to revolutionize all illustration, the next, disappears, or, worse still, becomes absolutely common-place. and process supersedes process with a rapidity that is perfectly bewildering. but it seems best to begin with modern illustration in france, where the greatest activity has, until lately, existed. in the decade from 1875 to 1885, nowhere in the world were such big men working, or having their work so well reproduced. fortuny and rico, settled in paris, were exhibiting their marvellous drawings. if meissonier had ceased to illustrate, doré, detaille, de neuville, and jacquemart were at the height of their powers. the first great book illustrated by process appeared in the midst of this period: vierge's "pablo de ségovie," published in 1882; while the last years saw the appearance of the guillaume series which, it was believed, would prove to be the final triumph of process. at the same time baude, leveille, lepère, and florian were busy producing their masterpieces of wood-engraving. publishing houses were issuing the most artistic journals, probably, the world has ever seen: "la vie moderne," "l'art," "la gazette des beaux-arts," "paris illustré," "la revue illustrée," "le monde illustré," "l'illustration," and "le courrier français." [illustration: by gavarni. from "parisians by themselves." reduced from the wood-engraving.] but from 1885 onward, there has been a change, and this change is not difficult to account for. there are too many illustrators and too few publishers--i mean publishers worthy of the name--and, most important, too few real artists. [illustration: by meissonier. from the "contes remois." engraved on wood by lavoignal.] when, in 1879, the new process of "gillotage," as all process is described in france, was reasonably perfected--jacquemart's "histoire de mobilier," being one of the first important books to be reproduced mechanically--every artist wished to try it. the consequence was that the catalogues of the salon, the weekly papers and monthly magazines, were made bright and gay and charming with autographic artistic work; while wood-engravers, feeling that their art was in danger, were put upon their mettle and engraved a multitude of amazing blocks. now that illustration has arrived, and by its aid many of the biggest men in france have arrived too, there has come a period of commonplaceness and content. the frenchman, who is even more insular in his views of art than the englishman,--unless his art is brought to him, when he proves himself catholic enough,--knows that bad work is being turned out in his own country, but believes that the same thing must be happening the world over, though he has heard vaguely of the american magazine, the german paper, and the english book. but since 1885, it may be said that every french periodical has fallen away in quality, if it has not ceased to appear altogether. the fine and expensive volumes, which in 1835 were published in france, have been succeeded by the three-franc-fifty guillaume form, which, since the immortal "tartarin," has degenerated steadily both in number and excellence of illustrations. looking back on the original series, it does not seem so very fine, but eight years ago it was an enormous advance on anything that had been done. even then, however, there was a rumour that this excellence was obtained at the expense of the artist, and that most of the clever work of myrbach and of rossi was more in the nature of an advertisement than anything else. it is perfectly well known that even vierge had to await the generosity of an english publisher to recompense him for "pablo de ségovie." it will also be found that certain of the large french publishing houses and leading magazines have become limited companies, or "sociétés anonymes;" while men, who may be clever enough in business affairs, have been set to direct artistic matters of which they are entirely ignorant. if the standard of illustration is daily falling in france, this fall is owing mainly to the incompetence of editors and the rapacity of publishers. to-day, if one wishes to see the best work of french draughtsmen and engravers, one looks abroad for it, to america first and then to england and germany, where french artists are forced to publish their drawings in order to obtain adequate pay or decent printing. it is pitiful, but the example is very contagious. [illustration: jean gigoux. from "gil blas" (french). wood-engraving, unsigned.] another cause too has operated against the production of fine books and fine magazines. this is the "supplément littéraire et artistique" given away each week with papers like "gil blas," "l'echo de paris," "la lanterne," "le petit journal," and occasionally "le figaro." it is especially in "gil blas" that the best french work is now to be found, usually printed in colour. but most of the others--there are notable exceptions--either publish the veriest drivel and dirt, both from the literary and artistic standpoint, or else the drawings of mere boys and girls just out of the art schools, who give their designs to the publishers for little more than the sake of having their names in the papers. under these circumstances, which actually exist, it is becoming well-nigh impossible for a draughtsman to live in france. printing, too, has degenerated, until french printing now ranks with the worst. [illustration: by jacquemart. pen drawing. from the "history of furniture."] on the other hand, a few firms, like goupils, are producing excellent colour work in the most expensive fashion, and good cheap prints as well. the printing of guillaume for dentu's "le bambou"--most of the illustrations are on wood--is to be commended, as it shows off the work of artists and engravers to perfection. while one notes clever paper-cover designs on many new books. [illustration: by jacquemart. pen drawing. from the "history of furniture."] that bad or mediocre work is supreme in france at the present time is proven by the fact that two of the most artistic journals have ceased to appear; goupil's "les lettres et les arts," and octave uzanne's "l'art et l'idée." neither of these magazines was very expensive to produce,--that is in comparison with many others. but it is a self-evident fact, to anyone who has studied illustration, that the art passes every few years through periods of great depression; in france, art of all sorts is at the present moment in the most disorganized and unsettled state, and illustration is in as bad a way as any other branch. nor is it for lack of illustrators, but because some of the publishers and editors of the country--and france is not solitary and alone in this matter--are a set of money-grubbing, ignorant fools, who have been able temporarily to impress their contemptible view of art, or rather their miserable failure to understand it from any other standpoint than that of their money-bags, upon a sufficient number of gullible people to make a fairly good living for themselves out of the public ignorance. and as for the rest of the world, why what of it? it is true steinlein rivals gavarni, and marold, engraved by florian, equals in certain ways meissonier, engraved by orrinsmith;--but in the majority of cases politics sit on art, and the photograph glares from the pages of the _édition de luxe_. [illustration: by meissonier. from the wood-engraving in the "contes remois" by lavoignal.] to-day an attempt is also being made to revive wood-engraving in france, and almost all over the world, except in england--where nothing would be known of any revival, or improvement, until long years after the whole matter had been settled and pigeon-holed everywhere else--and in america, where every endeavour now is made to perfect process. but the reason for this revival in france, germany, and the other countries of the continent is not the advancement of the art of wood-engraving, or the benefit of the wood-engraver; it comes from the willingness of good wood-engravers to work very cheaply, simply to secure the chance of working at all, and also from the increase of the electrotype business. although an enormous trade has been developed in the production of electrotypes from large wood-engravings for publication in different papers, i am informed that editors who wish to make use, at so much an inch, of the brains of other people, will not publish electros from process blocks, for some reason known to none but themselves, only buying _clichés_ from wood blocks. however, it is quite possible that this revival of wood-engraving may encourage original work, and a new period of fine original engraving may be its result, little as those who are bringing this result about are interested in it. a few words as to the men, and the books they have illustrated. the artist who was most in evidence twenty years ago was gustave doré. the unceasing stream of books which continued for years to delight the provinces and to amaze his biographers was then at its flood. that doré was a man of the most marvellous imagination, no one will doubt; that his imagination ran completely away with him is equally true. he has had no influence upon anything but the very cheapest form of wood-engraving. though it is easy to understand his popularity, it is difficult, considering how much really good work he did, to explain why he has been completely ignored as an artist. there is no question that some of his compositions were magnificent, even if every figure and type in them was mannered and hackneyed to a horrible degree. the only way in which we can account for his utter failure as an artist, is the fact that he was ruined by the praise of his friends. although doré started as a lithographer, carrying on the traditions of his immediate predecessors and contemporaries, daumier and gavarni, raffet and charlet, he soon took to drawing on the block, and for years the world was inundated with his work. in popularity no one ever approached him, but his drawing on the block is no more to be compared to meissonier's, than his lithographs to gavarni's, who contributed some of the most exquisite designs to "l'artiste" in its early days. [illustration: by gustave doré. wood-engraving from "spain" (cassell and co., limited).] [illustration: by a. de neuville. from "coups de fusil" (charpentier). wood-engraving by farlet.] [illustration: by gustave doré. process block, from a lithograph.] [illustration: pen drawing by d. vierge. from "pablo de ségovie" (fisher unwin).] in alphonse de neuville's "coups de fusil," one will find most delightful renderings of the late war, while many of his illustrations to guizot's "history of france," or "en campagne" are superb. his rival and successor, detaille, has carried on the military tradition very well in "l'armée française," which contains the best illustrations of any sort that he ever did. p. g. jeanniot also has done excellent work in the same field, but his studies of parisian types are probably still more successful. the best work of all is probably contained in dentu's edition of "tartarin de tarascon." l. lhermitte, too, has made some striking drawings in charcoal, both for reproduction by photography and for engraving on wood, especially in "la vie rustique," where the designs were extraordinarily well engraved. jean paul laurens heads a long list of painters who have made many pictures in black and white for the illustration of books, but most of them are duller as illustrators than painters. maurice leloir and v. a. poirson have illustrated the "sentimental journey," the "vicar of wakefield," and some other english books, though their point of view is always that of the frenchman who knows little about england; their drawings were reproduced mainly by photogravure, with small blocks printed in colour, or black and white process, interspersed. about 1880 an illustrated theatrical journal was started, "les premières illustrées," and in this f. lunel, fernand fau, l. galice, g. rochegrosse, and a. f. gourget did remarkable work. some of the painters, too, have allowed their sketch-books to be used, and from them books of travel have been manufactured, but these are hardly to be considered seriously as illustrations, as they were not specially made for the works which contain them. daniel vierge's "pablo de ségovie," though the work of a spaniard, has for twelve years held its own as the best example of pen drawing for process reproduction published in france. following, a long way behind, come men like henri pille and edouard toudouze. the development of the guillaume half-tone process produced the curious series of little books known under that title; and also the larger series which contained "madame chrysanthème" and "françois le champi," books which made tone-process in france, and also the reputation of myrbach and rossi. [illustration: by louis morin. pen drawing. from "l'art et l'idée."] [illustration: by carlos schwabe. pen drawing. from zola's "le rêve."] [illustration: by eugene grasset. pen drawing from "les quatre fils d'aymon" (paris).] [illustration: by eugene grasset. pen drawing from "les quatre fils d'aymon" (paris).] several fine and limited editions have been published lately, illustrated by albert lynch, mme. lemaire, and paul avril, such as the "dame aux camélias;" while octave uzanne's series on fans and fashions were a great success. so, too, are many of the books issued by conquet. robida's designs for rabelais virtually superseded those of doré, and he followed up the success of this book with a number of others which have gradually degenerated in quality. louis morin, who is author as well as artist; e. grasset, who, not content with this, is an architect too, and whose "quatre fils d'aymon" should be seen as a beautiful piece of colour-printing; and georges auriol have done extremely good work in their different ways. félicien rops is a man who stands apart from all other illustrators; he possesses a style and individuality so marked that, at times, it is not easy to obtain any of his books, so carefully are they watched by that cerberus of the press: the social puritan, who never fails to see anything to which he can possibly find objection. from the mystic rops, have sprung, one might almost say, even more mystic rosicrucians, headed by carlos schwabe, who has produced, in "le rêve" of zola, one of the most beautiful and refined books, despite its disgraceful printing, ever issued from the french press. [illustration: by louis morin. pen drawing. from "l'art et l'idée."] [illustration: pen drawing by jacquemart.] [illustration: by raffaëlli. pen drawing. from "paris illustré."] [illustration: by boutet de monvel. pen drawing from "jeanne d'arc" (paris, plon).] [illustration: by h. ibels. from "l'art du rire et caricature."] but less mystical, and, possibly, even more beautifully drawn, are some of luc ollivier merson's designs, notably those for victor hugo's works: a charming series of drawings, etched, i think, by lalauze--to the national edition of hugo almost every french painter has contributed--and the more mystic but less accomplished séon is another of the same group; while the latest and most advanced are the vebers. the list of really clever men is long. marchetti and tofani, italians, whose work, continually seen in the supplements to "l'illustration," is engraved with the greatest charm and distinction; raffaëlli, who, though he draws but little now, has decorated during the last fifteen years some of the most notable french books. giacomelli, riou, bayard, haennen, adrian marie,[18] metivet, who are willing, at a moment's notice, to make you a drawing, often distinguished, of any subject, no matter whether they have seen it or not, though giacomelli is best known for his renderings of birds and flowers, often very charming; habert dys and felix régamey, who have adapted the methods of japan to their own needs; paul renouard whose work is, as it should be, appreciated in england, and who has the distinction, when any important event is coming off in this country, to be commissioned by the "graphic" to cross the channel and "do" it; boutet de monvel, whose books for children have gained him a world-wide reputation; the long list of delineators of character, costume, and caricature who weekly fill the lighter papers: ibels, the decadent of decadents, caran d'ache, willette, steinlein, mars, legrand, forain, job, guillaume, and courboin, whose work can be seen more or less badly reproduced every week in the comic papers to which they contribute. caran d'ache has made himself, one might almost predict, a lasting reputation with his "courses dans l'antiquité," his "carnet de chèques," and his various other "albums." a. willette, when not playing at politics, is seriously working at his adventures of pierrot. steinlein, in his illustrations to bruant's "dans la rue," probably did as much as the author to make known the life of batignolles. mars rules the fashions of the provinces, while if one were to take forain's albums as absolutely typical of french morals, france certainly would seem the most distressful country on the face of the earth. to grasset and chéret, lautrec and auriol have fallen the task of looking after the so-called decorative part of french work. but the fact that not only these men will do you a poster, a cover design, a head, or a tail-piece, but that almost all others will too, is a positive proof that decoration cannot be separated from illustration, and also that all true artists are decorators. [18] adrian marie and emile bayard died lately. among wood-engravers, baude and florian hold the foremost place as reproductive artists, while lepère stands quite apart, a brilliant many-sided man, at once draughtsman, engraver, etcher, and painter, a true craftsman in the best sense. another man, f. valloton, is making an endeavour to revive original wood-cutting, and though but few of his cuts are anything like so good as "entêrrement en province," he is the leader of a movement which may result in the resurrection, or indeed the creation of an original art of wood-cutting. but this desire of artists to engrave and print their own work is growing in france, as may be seen in such a collection as "estampe originale." pannemacker and his followers have been the most popular, and their influence has been felt, sometimes with distinction, in all cheap french wood-engraving. [illustration: by h. ibels. from "l'art du rire et caricature."] [illustration: by steinlen. process block from coloured print in "gil blas."] [illustration: by steinlen. reproduced from a coloured print in "gil blas."] [illustration: by a. willette. pen drawing. from "les pierrots" (vanier).] [illustration: by caran d'ache. from "album" (paris, plon).] [illustration: by robida. pen drawing. from "journal d'un très vieux garçon."] [illustration: by a. willette. from "les pierrots" (vanier).] [illustration: by forain. from "la comédie parisienne" (charpentier).] [illustration: by p. renouard. chalk drawing. from "the graphic."] after enumerating this long list, it seems as if i had contradicted my own rather pessimistic view of illustration in france. i do not think so. it is true that the artists, though few in number, are in the country, but to-day the opportunities for them to express their art are lacking: as a proof, the only book devoted solely to french illustration which has ever appeared has just been published in america. [illustration: by lalanne. from a pencil drawing. (french.)] chapter iv. illustration in germany, spain, and other countries. in writing upon drawing on the continent, i have heretofore found it only necessary to classify illustrators under three nationalities. in discussing illustration it seems to me that this question of nationality can be even further simplified. italy and spain have not produced a single original illustrated book of real importance. although several of the foremost illustrators of the day were born in one or the other of these countries and partially educated there, they have left their native land as quickly as possible, for france or for germany. [illustration: by martin rico. from a pen drawing.] in italy the important publishing house of the fratelli trevès, in milan, has made many attempts to bring out fine books, the works of de amicis being among their best-known productions, but this importance comes from their literary rather than artistic side; and i am not aware that the fratelli trevès have ever done anything to surpass the "c'era una volta" of luigi capuana, illustrated by montalti, published in 1885, a most extraordinary example of the skilful use of _papier gillot_, or scratch paper. the fratelli trevès issue a large number of magazines and papers, a certain amount of good newsy wood-engraving is seen in these, process having been almost entirely given up, especially in the leading illustrated italian weekly, "l'illustrazion italiana." in spain i know of no notable illustrated books published of late. i may be labouring under a mistake, but i must frankly admit that i have never heard of, or seen any.[19] if they do exist i should be only too glad to have them brought to my notice. but there are two very good illustrated papers, "illustracion espanola y americana" and "illustracion artistica." to both, fortuny, rico, vierge, and casanova--especially rico--have contributed important drawings. these journals are now almost entirely using wood-engravings, some of which are very good indeed. they are mainly, however, reproductions of the typical spanish historical, or story-telling, machine which is turned out with such facility by a large number of spaniards. but the bulk of the work is made up of _clichés_ from american papers and magazines, in which matter i find that even i have proved a useful mine. [19] see note p. 78. dutch books are not remarkable. here and there a good drawing may be found in a magazine called "elsevir." though in holland there is an artist, h. j. icke, who, in his studies from the old masters in pen and ink, evinces a power and brilliancy only equalled by reproductive etchers like mr. hole, mr. macbeth, or mr. short. the same is true of belgium. austria and hungary have little to show, their illustrators, like myrbach, marold, and vogel, coming to paris, or sending their work to munich, for the publishers mainly ignore their own artists, and either send abroad for their designs, or borrow and adapt from other men's work with a recklessness which is charming. and yet, the only international black-and-white exhibition was held in vienna a few years ago; while one of the best photo-engraving firms in the world, messrs. anderer and göschl, are located there. russia and scandinavia are equally unfortunate in the matter of illustrated books, all of the artists of these countries being in paris, london, or new york, and their work only finds its way back to their native countries as _clichés_. men like chelminski, edelfelt, répine, pranishnikoff really owe all their reputation, not to their native land, but to the country of their adoption. [illustration: from an original pen drawing by h. tegner.] [illustration: pen drawing. by hans tegner. from "holberg's comedies" (bojesens).] [illustration: by adolph menzel. process block from original drawing in the possession of the author.] there is, however, one little country that deserves more than a word of mention, and this is denmark. for it can boast an illustrator of individuality and character, hans tegner. his drawings for the jubilee edition of "holberg's comedies," published in copenhagen in 1884 to 1888, must be ranked as masterpieces of graphic art. though evidently based on the style of menzel and meissonier, they are quite individual; especially in the rendering of interiors crowded with people he has surpassed any living illustrator. this book is also interesting from the fact that while it was being produced the change was made from _facsimile_ wood-engraving to process, and though the engraving of hendricksen and bork is excellent, the process blocks in some ways are even more interesting. the decorations to these volumes, head and tail-pieces, are as atrociously bad as tegner's illustrations in the text are good. there are also a number of lesser artists, danes and norwegians, who have done good work, but to name them would merely be to make a catalogue, as their work is never seen here. [illustration: by goya. from "caprices."] during the last three-quarters of a century german illustration has been absolutely dominated by menzel. not only has he been the leading spirit in his own country, whether he was influenced originally by meissonier or not, but he has himself influenced the entire world of illustrators, his drawings having been received with rapture and applause by artists wherever they have been shown. and, most interesting of all, he is a man who has been perfectly able, throughout his long life, to adapt himself to the various radical changes and developments which have been brought about in reproduction and printing. commencing with lithography, he produced the amazing series of drawings of the uniforms of frederick the great. next, taking up drawing on wood, he introduced exquisite _facsimile_ work into his own country, educating his own engravers, unzelmann, bentworth and the vogels, in his edition of the "works of frederick the great." later on he drew much more largely and boldly for the "cruche cassée," which was freely interpreted on wood. and now he has so arranged his beautiful drawings in pencil and chalk that they come perfectly by process. he is a man who recognizes fully that we have not got to the end of art, but that unless we are ever pushing onward, and striving for improvements, we may very easily get to the end of ourselves. he looks backward for nothing but design; he looks forward to the perfection of everything. [illustration: by goya. from an original drawing (a portrait of the duke of wellington) in the british museum.] [illustration: by fortuny. from a pen drawing.] [illustration: by joseph sattler. from "the dance of death" (grevel).] following menzel, and encouraged by "fliegende blätter," which started in the early forties, came wilhelm dietz, whose studies of armies on the march, and of peasants at work or at play, are inimitable. he, too, has been followed by robert haug and hermann luders. dietz was the mainstay for years of "fliegende blätter," the only weekly comic paper of which it can be said, that during the half century of its existence it has been not only at the head of its contemporaries, but has on the artistic side left far behind any pretended rival. germany has for the last half century, too, possessed a remarkable school of interpretative wood-engravers: men who have been able to take a large picture, which they have either drawn on the wood themselves or had drawn for them, and produce out of it an excellent rendering, which would print perfectly in black and white, under the rapid requirements of a steam-press. the work of these engravers can be seen any week in the "illustrirte zeitung," "uber land und meer," and the other weeklies. wood-engraving has been treated as a serious profession for years in germany, as a professorship of the art was held in the berlin academy before the beginning of this century by j. f. g. unger, who died in 1804. even in vienna, a professorship has been established for many years. the trouble with german wood-engravers, however, has been that most of the work, though signed by the name of one man, is produced really by another. from one of these engraving shops, that of braun and schneider, issued a year after its establishment "fliegende blätter," in 1844. save for menzel, most of the work in the middle of the century was of that heavy, pompous, ponderous sort which we call german, and, though good in its way, is now well forgotten. the best-known of all these shops was that of richard brend'amour, who since 1856 has been established in dusseldorf, though he has branches--an artist with branches!--in berlin, leipzig, stuttgart, munich, and brunswick. still, as he seems to have been able to get an extremely good set of apprentices and workmen, who were the real artists, a great amount of very interesting work has been turned out, and _clichés_ from his excellent blocks have been used all over the world. one sort of decorative design, developed by a german, or, i presume, a pole, paul konewka, though his work, was, i believe, first published in copenhagen, is the silhouette; konewka has had imitators everywhere, but none of them have surpassed him. his edition of "faust" is one of the best-known examples. retche's outline drawings for shakespeare are also good. [illustration: by de nittis. pen drawing from "paris illustré."] [illustration: by w. busch. from "balduin bahlamm" (munich, bassermann).] following the classical tradition of overbeck and kaulbach, but changing it rather into mysticism and decadence through the influence of böcklin, and probably the pre-raphaelites in england, has been developed a school of mystical decorators who are unequalled, unappreciated and curiously unknown outside of their own country. the chief of these men is max klinger. like his master, böcklin, and like schwabe in france, he brings both his mysticism and his drawing up to date, and makes no attempt to bolster up faulty design and incomplete technique by primitiveness, or quaintness, or archaism. for his illustrations klinger usually makes an elaborate series of pen drawings, and then etches from these. the only example which i know of in england available for study is a copy of the apuleius which is in south kensington, and this is not by any means one of his most successful books, as the etchings are hard and tight, and the inharmonious decorations which surround the small prints in the text are crude and unsatisfactory. to know klinger's work one must visit the print rooms in the museums of berlin and dresden. another group have devoted themselves to lithography. h. thoma in this has been probably the most successful, but in the exhibition held this year in vienna he was closely followed by otto greiner, w. steinhausen, and max dasio. their work may be seen in "neue lithographem," by max lehers, published in vienna. whether there are two or three men of the name of franz stuck who draw, or whether it is the same franz stuck who produces the mystic arrangements and the burlesques of them, the decorative vignettes and the absurd caricatures in "fliegende blätter," i do not know. i only do know that it is all very well worth study, and very amusing and interesting. busch and oberländer, meggendorfer, and hengler, are names so well known that their mere mention raises a laugh, and that, if anything, is the mission of those artists: while harburger's and aller's marvellous studies of character, and rené reinecke's exquisite renderings in wash of fashionable life, marvellously engraved by stroebel, can be seen every week printed in the pages of "fliegende blätter" and other papers. the works of hackländer, published in stuttgart, have been illustrated mainly by process by that clever band of artists of whom schlittgen, albrecht, marold, vogel, and others are so much in evidence. the german monthly magazines, like "daheim," "kunst für alle," "felz und meer," "die graphischen kunste," etc., are very notable, especially "kunst für alle," which seems to me to be about the best-conducted art magazine in the world. altogether the arts of illustration and reproduction, and the business of publishing, in germany are apparently in a most healthy condition. it could scarcely be otherwise, however, when we consider that one of the greatest illustrators in the world is still alive and at work there, as well as the most curious mystics, the most amusing comic draughtsmen, and the most conscientious and clever realists. [illustration: from etching by goya. from "caprices."] [illustration: death the friend. line drawing by rethel. reduced from a wood-engraving by h. burkner.] [illustration: by h. schlittgen. from "ein erster und ein letzter ball" (stuttgart, krabbe).] [illustration: by marold. from "zwischen zwei regen" (stuttgart, krabbe).] [illustration: by franz stück. from bierbaum's "franz stück," munich (albert and co.).] [illustration: by garcia y ramos. gipsy dance. process block, from pen and wash drawing.] _note._--a recent visit to spain shows me to be quite mistaken in this matter. a very fine book has lately been published in barcelona by a seville artist, f. garcia y ramos, "la tierra di maria santissima," and though señor garcia y ramos is greatly indebted to fortuny, rico and vierge, he has made a very notable series of designs; he has also contributed several drawings to a comparatively new spanish paper,--"blanco y negro"--which has printed very good work by a group of young men in madrid, the most distinguished of whom is señor huertas. another artist on the staff is jiminez lucena; he is realistically decorative. the most popular man in spain, after the artists of "la lidia" (the organ of the bull ring), is angel pons, who, however, is but an echo of caran d'ache. "la lidia" is illustrated entirely by lithography and in colour; the designs, often full of go and life, are the work of d. perea. i find, too, that the french work of 1830 was seen and known in spain, that some books were produced in the style of "paul and virginia," with drawings by spaniards, though i imagine they were all engraved either in paris, or by french engravers who went to spain. the work, however, is but a reminiscence of the french, and simply curious as showing the power of the romanticists, but more especially of meissonier as an illustrator. the most interesting of these books is "spanish scenes," illustrated by lameyer, engraved by g. fernandez, rather in the manner of gavarni. but there is one spaniard who as an illustrator is unknown, at least to artists--for he only produced one set of designs for publication--but who is universally known in almost every other branch of art, f. goya. the only widely published and generally circulated publications, the bank-notes of spain, are the work of this artist, and they reflect little credit on him. his etchings are to be found in all great galleries; but, interesting as they are, they give no idea of the amazing drawings in chalk, wash, and ink, in which mediums they were produced. even in madrid the originals are but little known; the greater number are in the library of the prado, the national museum, inaccessible to the ordinary visitor: but a small selection, undescribed, and not even in the catalogue, are placed upon a revolving screen in the room of drawings; but as this is almost always closed, most people leave madrid without even being aware of the existence of the greatest treasures possessed by the museum after the velasquez. on this screen are the designs for the bull-fights, admirably described by t. gautier, in his "voyage en espagne," from the literary artist's point of view, but from the artistic stand-point, they are quite the most uninteresting of all, and do not in the slightest express the great passion goya is said to have always shown for the noblest sport in the world. it is rather to the exquisite designs in red chalk for the "scenes of invasion," that one sees him at his best. here he is the direct descendant of callot, only there is a power in his work that callot never possessed. it is, i am now certain, from these designs that vierge obtained many of his ideas--although they are worked out in an entirely different fashion. the drawings for the "caprices" are in pen and wash, and are as much finer than the aquatints made from them, as the aquatints are superior to the caricatures of any of his contemporaries. as goya passed, an exile, the latter part of his life in france, his work must have been known to the men of 1830. he died in 1828, just as the few lithographs he has left show that he was aware of the work of delacroix in that newly invented art. still, goya cannot be called an illustrator, for none of his work was published as illustration; yet, at the same time, it is so well adapted to that end that it is perfectly incomprehensible that these drawings have not only never been published, but i am informed they have never even been photographed. the two that are in this book are from the "caprices," those of the "invasion" are too delicate to stand the necessary reduction. the portrait of wellington in red chalk is in the british museum. [illustration: by w. l. wyllie, a.r.a. pen drawing from "the magazine of art."] [illustration: by j. w. north. from a drawing on the wood in the possession of the author.] chapter v. english illustration. it is in england alone, that illustration, like many other things, has been taken seriously. ponderous volumes have been written about it, as well as clever essays. it seemed at first sight rather unnecessary to repeat what has been said so well by mr. austin dobson, for example, in his chapter on modern illustrated books in mr. lang's "library," especially as he has added a postscript to the edition of 1892 which is supposed to bring his essay up to that date. but there are other ways of looking at the matter, and i have tried not to repeat what mr. dobson has said, nor yet to trench upon the preserves of mr. c. g. harper and mr. hamerton, or mr. blackburn. [illustration: by hugh thomson. from "our village" (macmillan).] [illustration: by randolph caldecott. from "the elegy on a mad dog" (routledge).] it appears to me, that before discussing the english illustrators of to-day, it might be well to take a glance at the state of english illustration. english illustration has during the last twenty years suffered tremendously from over-writing and indiscriminate praise and blame. i suppose that among artists and people of any artistic appreciation, it is generally admitted by this time that the greatest bulk of the works of "phiz," cruikshank, doyle, and even many of leech's designs are simply rubbish, and that the reputation of these men was made by critics whose names and works are absolutely forgotten, or else, by thackeray, dickens, and tom taylor, whose books they illustrated, and who had absolutely no intelligent knowledge of art, their one idea being to log-roll their friends and illustrators. it is true, however, that some of doyle's designs, like those in "brown, jones, and robinson," were extremely amusing, though too often his rendering of character was brutal, as, for example, in the "dinner at greenwich" in the "cornhill" series. technically, there is little to study, even in his most successful drawings. leech's fund of humour was no doubt inexhaustible, but one cannot help feeling to-day that his work cannot for a moment be compared to that of charles keene. some of his best-known designs, the man in a hot bath for instance, praised by mr. dobson may be amusing, but the subject is quite as horrible as a middle age purgatory. leech was the successor in this work of gillray and rowlandson, and though his designs appealed very strongly to the last generation, they do not equal those of randolph caldecott, done in much the same sort of way. though some of the editions containing the engravings from these men's drawings sell for fabulous prices, on account of their rarity, one may purchase to-day for almost the price of old paper, lovely little engravings after birket foster, and the other followers of the turner school; while drawings after sir john gilbert, and later, whistler, sandys, boyd houghton, keene, du maurier, small, shields, and the other men who made "once a week," "good words," and the "shilling magazine," really the most important art journals england has ever seen, can be picked up in many old book-shops for comparatively nothing. of the best period of english illustration there are but few of the really good books that cannot be purchased for, at the present time, less than their original price. and only the works of one painter who did illustrate to any extent, rossetti, command an appreciable value. for this, the fortunate possessors of his drawings have to thank mr. ruskin, who, himself, is by no means a poor illustrator. some of his work in "modern painters," "stones of venice," "examples of venetian architecture," is excellent, while his original drawings at oxford are worth the most careful study. many of rossetti's designs are, it is true, very beautiful, and probably others were; one can see that from, the few which were never engraved. but the bulk of his drawings are certainly not so good as those which several people working in london are producing to-day. [illustration: by turner. from rogers' "italy," 1830.] [illustration: by randolph caldecott. from "bracebridge hall" (macmillan, 1877).] while the magazines i have mentioned were being published, the "graphic" was started in 1870, taking on its staff most of the foremost artists of the day, fildes, holl, gregory, houghton, linton, herkomer, pinwell, green, woods, s. p. hall; and about the same date walter crane made his far too little known designs for children's books--"king luckieboy's party," the "baby's opera," the "baby's bouquet," and the many others--which have been not half enough appreciated. in a measure, the same may be said of randolph caldecott's books for children,--the "house that jack built," the "mad dog," the "john gilpin," which, though they contain his cleverest drawings, are usually given secondary rank to his "bracebridge hall" and "old christmas," of far less artistic importance. miss kate greenaway has been more fortunate: her "under the window," and the long series that followed, have set the fashion for children, and have enjoyed a popularity of which they are not by any means unworthy. a trifle mannered and affected, perhaps, her illustrations are full of refined drawing, charming colour, and pleasing sentiment. these artists, in conjunction with mr. edmund evans, gave colour-printing for book illustration a standing in england, while every one of their books is stamped with a decided english character. a frenchman, too, ernest griset, living here, made some notable drawings about this time. [illustration: by e. griset. from hood's "comic annual" (1878).] when i commenced this book i have no hesitation in admitting that my knowledge of the really great period of english illustration was of the vaguest possible description. i knew of "good words," "once a week," and the "shilling magazine," "dalziel's bible gallery," and a few other books, but i had never seen and never even heard of the great mass of work produced during those ten years; even now, i am only slowly beginning to learn about and see something of it. but a day is coming when the books issued between 1860 and 1870, in this country, will be sought for and treasured up, when the few original drawings that are still in existence will be striven for by collectors, as they struggle for rembrandt's etchings to-day. the source from which the english illustrators of 1860 got their inspiration was adolph menzel's books; pre-raphaelites and all came under the influence of this great artist. the change from the style of harvey, cruikshank, kenny meadows, leech and s. read, to rossetti, sandys, houghton, pinwell, walker, millais, was almost as great as from the characterless steel engraving of the beginning of the century to the vital work of bewick. the first english book to appear after menzel's work became known, was william allingham's "the music master," 1855, illustrated by arthur hughes, rossetti and millais; the first book of that period which still lives is moxon's edition of tennyson published in 1857, containing rossetti's drawings for "the palace of art" and "sir galahad"; millais' "st. agnes' eve," and holman hunt's "lady of shalott." these drawings and a few others have given to the book a fame, among illustrated volumes, which it has no right or claim to. [illustration: by sir j. e. millais, bart. wood-engraving by dalziel. from "good words" (isbister and co.).] far more important and more complete is sir john gilbert's edition of shakespeare published by routledge in three volumes, 1858 to 1860. this edition of shakespeare has yet, as a whole, to be surpassed. in 1859 "once a week" was started by bradbury and evans, and the first volume contained illustrations by h. k. browne ("phiz"), g. h. bennett, w. harvey, charles keene, w. j. lawless, john leech, sir j. e. millais, sir john tenniel, j. wolf; this is the veritable connecting link between the work of the past as exemplified by harvey, and of the present by keene. the next year, 1860, the "cornhill" appeared, for the first number of which thackeray, more or less worked over by ghosts, and engravers, did the illustrations to "lovel the widower," but millais was called in for the second or third number, and then george sala. frederick sandys illustrated "the legend of the portent," and the volume ends with millais' splendid design "was it not a lie?" to "framley parsonage." it is curious to note that either thackeray or the publishers refuse to mention the names of the artists in any way, only that millais and sala are allowed to sign their designs with their monograms. leighton, i imagine, contributed the "great god pan" to the second volume, and dicky doyle began his "bird's eye views of society" in the third, but it is not until one is more than half way through this volume that the initials f. w. appear on what are supposed to be thackeray's drawings--or, rather, it is not until then that the great author acknowledged his failure as an illustrator; though, in the "roundabout papers," he admitted his indebtedness to walker. the first drawing signed by walker faces p. 556, "nurse and doctor," and illustrates thackeray's "adventures of philip;" this is in may, 1861. "good words" was also started in 1860; in it in 1863 millais' "parables" were printed, as well as work by holman hunt, keene and walker, while a. boyd houghton, frederick sandys, pinwell, north, pettie, armstead, graham, and many others began to come to the front in this magazine and "once a week." about 1865 nearly as many good illustrated magazines must have been issued as there are to-day; not only were the three i have mentioned continued, but "the argosy," "the sunday magazine," and "the shilling magazine," among others, printed fine work by all these artists. [illustration: by sir j. e. millais, bart. wood-engraving by dalziel. from "good words" (isbister and co.).] the illustration was done in a curious, but very interesting sort of way. the entire illustration began to be undertaken by two firms, messrs. dalziel and swain--and i believe in the case of "good words" the same system is still carried on by mr. edward whymper. these firms commissioned the drawings from the artists, and then engraved them. the method seems to have been so successful that the engravers, notably the dalziels, began not only to employ artists to draw for them, and to engrave their designs, but they became printers as well, and produced that set of books which are now the admiration and despair of the intelligent and artistic collector. when they were printed, they were sold to a publisher, who merely put his imprint on them. to this day they are known as dalziel's illustrated editions. the first important book of this series that i have seen is birket foster's "pictures of english landscape," 1863 (routledge), printed by dalziel; with "pictures in words," by tom taylor, though this was preceded by a horrid tinted affair by the same artist, called "odes and sonnets." the binding is vile; the paper is spotting and losing colour, but the drawings must have been exquisite, and here and there the ink is spreading and giving a lovely tone, like an etching, to the prints on the page. in 1864 messrs. dalziel, who had already engraved for "good words" in the previous year millais' "parables of our lord," published them through routledge. this book, in an atrocious binding described as elaborate, and it truly is, bound up so badly that it has broken all to pieces printed with some text in red and black, contains much of the finest work millais ever did. nothing could exceed in dramatic power, in effect of light and shade, "the enemy sowing tares," to mention one block among so many that are good. but the whole book is excellent, and excessively rare in its first edition. but 1865 is the most notable year of all; in this "dalziel's illustrated arabian nights' entertainments" came out; originally published in parts, i believe, and later in two volumes, text and pictures within horrid borders. in this book a. boyd houghton first showed what a really great man he was. he clearly proves himself the english master of technique, as well as of imagination, although in this volume, issued by ward and lock, he has as fellow illustrators sir j. e. millais, j. d. watson, sir john tenniel, g. j. pinwell, and thomas dalziel--the latter of whom is a very big man, and for this, and some of the subsequent books, he made most remarkable drawings. but houghton towers above them all, and mr. laurence housman in an able article on him in "bibliographica" well says: "among artists and those who care at all deeply for the great things of art, he cannot be forgotten: for them his work is too much an influence and a problem. and though officially the academy shuts its mouth at him ... certain of its leading lights have been heard unofficially to declare that he was the greatest artist" who has appeared in england in black and white. in '65, also, his "home thoughts and home scenes" was published, much less imaginative than his later work, but containing more beauty; and after this, for ten years, he worked prodigiously, and yet excellently. his edition of "don quixote" (f. warne and co.), must be sought for in the most out-of-the-way places; easier to find are his "kuloff's fables," '69 (strahan), and best known of all, the drawings in the early numbers of the "graphic,"--the american series--which were not all published, i think, before he died. if some of these are grotesque, even almost caricature, they are amazingly powerful--and being the largest engraved works left, show him fortunately at his best. his original drawings scarce exist at all. i happen to have one of the most beautiful, "tom the piper's son," from novello's "national nursery rhymes," 1871. i have not pretended to give a list of houghton's drawings, it would be nearly impossible; but those books and magazines i have mentioned contain many of the most important. in '65 pinwell did a "goldsmith" for ward and lock, which revealed his surprising powers. [illustration: by a. boyd houghton. from dalziel's "arabian nights" (ward, lock and co., 1865).] [illustration: by a. boyd houghton. from dalziel's "arabian nights" (ward, lock and co.), 1865.] [illustration: by g. j. pinwell. for "goldsmith's works" (ward, lock and co.). process block from the original drawing on the wood in south kensington museum.] cassells may have been the originators of this sort of illustrated book, or only the followers of a style which became immensely popular. they issued many works by doré about the same time or later, and a "gulliver," by t. morten, among others, but as this volume is not dated, i am unable to say when it appeared--still to this day they keep up the system of publishing illustrated books in parts at a low rate. but soon expensive gift books, illustrated by houghton, pinwell, north, and walker, began to appear, perfectly new unpublished works: in 1866 "a round of days" was issued by routledge; walker, north, pinwell, and t. dalziel, come off best in this gorgeous morocco covered volume, especially the last, who contributes a notable nocturne, the beauty of night, discovered by whistler, being appreciated by artists, even while ruskin was busy reviling or ignoring these illustrators. houghton's edition of "don quixote" also belongs to this year. how these men accomplished all this masterly work in such a short time, i do not pretend to understand. in 1867, "wayside posies," and "jean ingelow's poems" were published by routledge and longmans. these two books reach the high-water mark of english illustration, north and pinwell surpass themselves, the one in landscape and the other in figures. t. dalziel also did some amazing studies of mist, rain, and night, which i imagine were absolutely unnoticed by the critics. the drawings, however, must have been popular, for smith and elder reprinted the walkers and millais', among others, from the "cornhill" in a "gallery" (this also included leightons and, i think, one sandys), and strahan the millais drawings in another portfolio. the "cornhill gallery," printed, it is said, from the original blocks, came out in 1864, possibly as an atonement for the shabby way in which the artists were treated in the magazine originally. in 1868, "the north coast," by robert buchanan, was issued by routledge; it has much good work by houghton hidden away in it. in the next year the "graphic" started, and these books virtually ceased to appear--why, i know not. there were some spasmodic efforts, most notable of which were whymper's magnificent "scrambles amongst the alps," 1871, containing t. mahoney's best drawings and whymper's best engraving; and "historical and legendary ballads," chatto and windus, 1876; in this book, made up from the early numbers of the magazines, one will find whistler's and sandys' rare drawings; it is almost the only volume which contains these men's work, although the drawings were not done originally for it, as the editor would like one to believe. [illustration: by g. j. pinwell. for "goldsmith's works" (ward, lock and co.). process block from the original drawing on the wood in south kensington museum.] [illustration: by charles green.] [illustration: by fred. walker. process block from an original study in the possession of the author.] whistler, it is true, illustrated a "catalogue of blue and white nankin porcelain," published by ellis and white, 1878, a very interesting work, mainly in colours. but sandys' drawings must be looked for in the magazines alone. i know of no book that he ever illustrated, a few volumes contain one or two, that is all; his drawings are separate distinct works of art, every print from them worthy of the portfolio of the collector. dalziels issued at least two books later on, magnificent india proofs of "english rustic pictures," printed from the original blocks by pinwell and walker, done for the books i have mentioned, this volume is undated; and their bible gallery in 1881 (the drawings were made long before), to which all the best-known artists contributed, though the result was not altogether an artistic success; but most notable drawings by ford madox-brown, leighton, sandys, poynter, burne-jones, s. solomon, houghton, and t. dalziel, are included in it. this is the last great book illustrated by a band of artists and engravers working together in this country; whether the results are satisfactory or not, the fact remains that the engravers were most enthusiastic, and encouraged the artists as no one has done since in the making of books; and the artists were the most distinguished that have ever appeared in england. possibly, i should also have referred to the "british workman," which was probably the first penny paper to publish good work of a large size. and i may have treated mr. arthur hughes in a rather summary fashion. but i know his original drawings far better than the books in which they were printed; the only book which i really am acquainted with is "tom brown's school days;" yet i know that he has made a very large number of illustrations, especially for norman macleod's books among others. after twenty-five years illustration is again reviving in england, and one looks forward hopefully to the future of this branch of art. ten years later than the "graphic" came the introduction of process, and process was employed in england mainly for one reason only: cheapness. bad cheap process--which by the way is very little worse than cheap wood-engraving--has been responsible in this country for more vile work than in all the rest of the world put together. the development of process has brought with it not only truth of reproduction, which is its aim, but evils which its inventors did not anticipate. [illustration: by f. sandys. from thornbury's "legendary ballads" (chatto and windos).] too many process-engravers encourage the most commonplace, because it is the easiest, work. they know perfectly well that mechanical engraving will reproduce almost any drawings at the present moment, but then, good reproduction demands time and trouble and artistic intelligence. but it is no wonder that process-engravers are indifferent, when we remember the lamentable ignorance displayed by some editors, whose knowledge of art--in fact, of all art work--is simply _nil_. they may have piles of taste, but all of it is bad. they know exactly what the public wants, for they themselves are the public they consider. the slightest attempt at the artistic rendering of a drawing, or the appearance of a new man with a new style, is enough to put them in a rage, because they cannot understand the one or the other. and the selection of "cuts which embellish"--i believe is the expression--their pages, is left to the process man, the photographer, and the _cliché_ agent, who of course pick out the easiest they can supply. their other duty is to edit their contributors, that is, if screwing and jewing an artist, and taking all life and soul for work out of him, can be described as editing. lately has sprung up a species of illustrator who licks the boots of these editors and grovels before the process man. he turns out as much work as he can in the shortest space of time, knowing that he must make as many drawings as possible before some miserable creature, more contemptible than himself, comes along with an offer to do the work at half the price which he is paid. i am happy to say that this state of affairs is by no means universal in england; but i regret that there seems to be a tendency in some quarters to prefer bad work because it is usually cheap. on the other hand, there are many notable exceptions: intelligent publishers, editors, artists, and process-engravers, who strive to do good work and expect to pay, or be paid, for it. but this state of things has produced three classes of artists. first, the men who loudly declare they care nothing about their work, and who may therefore be dismissed with that contempt which they court. second, those who rush absolutely to the other extreme, saying that all modern work is bad, and that there is nothing to do but to follow in the track of the fifteenth-century craftsman, not knowing, or more probably not wanting to know, that these same illustrators and engravers of the fifteenth century were, according to their time, as modern and up-to-date and _fin-de-siècle_ as possible. finally, there is a saving remnant, increasing as fast as good workmen do increase--and that is very slowly--who are going on, endeavouring to perfect themselves to the best of their ability, believing rightly that it is the business of engravers and printers to follow the artist, and not the artist's duty to become a slave to a mere mechanic, no matter how intelligent. the second of these classes has always existed in almost every profession in england; the class, in short, which is convinced that society and the world generally needs reforming, and that it is their little fad which is going to bring about this reformation. [illustration: by frederick shields. from defoe's "history of the plague" (longmans, 1863).] now i do not hold for a moment that the man who is generally accepted as the leader of the pre-raphaelite movement, rossetti, had any desire to reform anybody, or improve anything. a certain form of art interested him, and he succeeded in reviving it for himself, though he put himself and his century into his drawings. it is the same with sir edward burne-jones, and mr. william morris, and mr. walter crane. but the praise which has been duly bestowed upon them has been unjustly lavished upon a set of people--or else, they, as they never weary of doing, have exploited themselves--who have neither the power to design nor the intelligence to appreciate a drawing when it is made, nor any technical understanding of how it was made. they will tell you, both by their work and in print, that there is nothing worth bothering about save the drawings of the little masters, and, to prove their appreciation of these drawings, they proceed at once not to copy the drawings, but the primitive woodcuts which were made out of them, not by the masters at all. they will proceed to imitate painfully with pen and ink a woodcut, have it reproduced by a cheap process man, who, of course, is delighted to have work which gives him no trouble, entrust it to a printer buried in cellars into which the light of improvement has never made its way, that he may print it upon handmade paper, which the old men never would have used had they had anything better; and thus they succeed in perpetuating all the old faults and defects, adding to them absurdity of design which triumphs in the provinces, is the delight of boston and the western states of america, and the beloved of the vicarage. or, again, the young person, reeking with the school of science and art at south kensington, will have none of process, and, painfully (for he usually cuts his finger), and simply (otherwise he should waste his time), endeavours, with halting execution but with perfect belief in his powers, to cut his design upon the wood-block, not knowing that the master woodcutter, whom he essays to worship, spent almost as many years in learning his trade, as this person has spent minutes in knocking off a little illustration as a change from designing a stained-glass window, or writing a sonnet. this is the sort of work that exhausts first editions, is remembered for a few months, and produces leaders in the advanced organs of opinion. it is unfortunately true that the leaders have little influence, and that, later on, the first editions may be bought as old paper. ignorance of printing and of the improvements in that art is really in this country too awful to contemplate. the average critic will blame a competent artist for the imperfections of a process and the ignorance of a printer. it never occurs to this critic that he knows nothing practically about the subject. no attempt is made to surmount mechanical difficulties; no attempt is made to study improvements; one is simply told to work down to the lowest level and to copy the fads of an obsolete past. quaintness and eccentricity, too, have their followers, and though both are dangerous games to play, still they imply, if good, such an amount of research, study, and invention, whether original or not, that from them good work may often come. still i no longer dare to prophesy. i know not what a man will do or will not. there is possibility in every one. [illustration: by j. mahoney. from the "sunday magazine."] [illustration: by j. f. sullivan. from hood's "comic annual."] as for the other men who calmly go on doing their work in their own way, showing the process-engraver what is wanted, instructing the printer on the subject of effects and colour, and dealing satisfactorily with intelligent publishers and editors, or even, as some do, ignoring all these factors, which they should not, their work is around us and delights us. [illustration: by linley sambourne. from kingsley's "water babies" (macmillan).] of the older men, though whistler has long ceased to illustrate, du maurier, sidney hall and william small are still with us, producing characteristic designs. charles green carries on the excellent method which he developed in his illustrations to dickens. though j. mahoney is dead, the present re-issue of whymper's "scrambles amongst the alps" testifies marvellously to his powers. the late a. boyd houghton's abilities, too, are beginning to be appreciated, and his designs for the "arabian nights" are now being sought for as they never were during his lifetime. the success of messrs. macmillan's re-issue of the "tennyson" of 1857 is gratifying proof that a large number of people do care for good work, and that the endeavour to swamp us with poor drawings, tedious photographs, and worn-out _clichés_ will probably have its just reward. f. sandys, one of the greatest of all, though still living, scarcely produces anything; f. shields' designs for defoe's "plague" were rembrandt-like in power; while h. herkomer, in his illustrations to hardy's "tess of the d'urbervilles," has, within the last few years, done some of his most striking work. linley sambourne, whose name was made years ago, pursues the even tenor of his ways, his reputation having been well secured by his illustrations to the "water babies," and his countless "punch" contributions. from the quantity of work produced by harry furniss it is quite evident that he is one of the most popular men in england. the fund of imagination which he devotes to perpetuating the unimportant actions of trivial members of parliament is truly amazing. j. f. sullivan has made caricature of the british workman his speciality, and he has recorded many of the antics of that personality with a truth that the labour organs might imitate to advantage. sir john tenniel is the legitimate successor of the old political cartoonist, but, luckily for him, his reputation rests, not upon his portrayal of the events of the moment, but upon his marvellous "alice in wonderland" and his classic illustrations to the "legendary ballads." political caricature rarely, however, has an exponent like tenniel, and though the work of j. proctor, g. r. halkett, and f. c. gould is good in its way, owing to the conditions under which much of it has to be produced, and the absolute artlessness of the subject, their aim naturally is to drive home a political point, and not to produce a work of art. the most genuine caricaturist who has ever lived in england was w. g. baxter, the inventor of "ally sloper." baxter died a few years ago. happily, the three men who, in a great measure, are responsible for modern english illustration are working to-day: birket foster, sir john gilbert, and harrison weir, but, save the latter, they now produce scarcely any designs. few of the brilliant band who succeeded them, however, are at work save du maurier and w. small. one has to deplore the recent death of charles keene, the greatest of all english draughtsmen. [illustration: by (sir) john tenniel. engraved on wood by h. harral. from gatty's "parables" (bell, 1867).] [illustration: by w. g. baxter. from "ally sloper's" cartoons.] [illustration: by phil may. a pen drawing from "the graphic."] [illustration: by g. du maurier. from "trilby" (osgood, mcilvaine and co.).] [illustration: by g. du maurier. from "trilby" (osgood, mcilvaine and co.).] one therefore turns with interest to some of the younger men--men who have made and are making illustration their profession. among them, one looks first to that erratic genius, phil may, who has produced work which not only will live, but which successfully runs the gamut of all wit and humour. nothing in its way has been done in england to approach his designs for the "parson and the painter." they appeared first in the pages of the "st. stephen's review," where they were scarcely seen by artists. but on their reappearance in book form, though even more badly printed than at first, what remained of them was good enough to make may's reputation. between him and everyone else, there is a great gulf fixed, but the greatest is between may and his imitators. [illustration: by w. small. from "cassell's magazine."] [illustration: by w. small. from "cassell's magazine."] [illustration: by r. anning bell. from an original pen drawing.] most of the younger men of individuality have studied abroad and, like americans, have returned home more or less affected by continental ideas. it would be quite impossible for me to place any estimate on their work, or even attempt to describe it. but certainly it is to some of the new weekly and daily journals and less known monthlies that one must look for their illustrations. it seems to me that e. j. sullivan, a. s. hartrick, t. s. crowther, h. r. millar, f. pegram, l. raven-hill, w. w. russell are doing much to brighten the pages of the papers to which they contribute. raven-hill, maurice greiffenhagen, edgar wilson and oscar eckhardt have made a most interesting experiment in "the butterfly," which i hope will have the success it deserves.[20] r. anning bell, aubrey beardsley, reginald savage, charles ricketts, c. h. shannon and l. pissarro have the courage of their convictions and the ability often to carry out their ideas. beardsley, in his edition of the "morte d'arthur," "salome," and his "yellow book" pictures, among other things, has acquired a reputation in a very short space of time. r. anning bell has become known by his very delightful book-plates, while ricketts, shannon and pissarro, are not only their own artists and engravers, but editors and publishers as well. "the dial" is their organ, and it has contained very many beautiful drawings by them, though they have contributed covers and title-pages to various books and magazines, and have brought out an edition of "daphnis and chloe" which must serve to perpetuate the imperfections of the middle-age wood-cutter. wal paget, w. h. hatherell, and g. l. seymour, in very different ways, head a long list of illustrators who can decorate a story with distinction, or depict an event almost at a moment's notice. in facility, i suppose there is no one to equal herbert railton, unless it be hugh thomson. they have together illustrated "coaching days and coaching ways." railton must have drawn almost all the cathedrals and historic houses in the country; and thomson is in a fair way to resurrect many forgotten and unforgotten authors of the last century. j. d. batten's illustrations to celtic, english, and indian fairy tales are extremely interesting, while launcelot speed and h. j. ford have for several years been making designs for mr. lang's series of fairy books. laurence housman has this year scored a decided success with his illustrations for miss rossetti's "goblin market." to bernard partridge has fallen of late the task of upholding "punch" from its artistic end; this has apparently proved too much even for him, since i note that for the first time in its existence that paper is employing outsiders and even foreigners. to what is england, or rather "punch," coming? his drawings for mr. anstey's sketches have been deservedly well received, while lately he, too, has fallen a victim to the eighteenth century in his striking illustrations for mr. austin dobson's "beau brocade." mr. e. t. reed, of the same journal, during the last year has developed not only a most delightful vein of humour, but an original style of handling--his burlesques of the decadents are better than the originals almost. reginald cleaver can probably produce a drawing for a cheap process with more success than anyone, and yet, at the same time, his work is full of character. it is pleasant to turn to men like sir george reid and alfred parsons, with whom exquisite design and skilled technique, and not cheapness, is the aim in their illustrative work. parsons has, with abbey, in "old songs," "a quiet life," etc., and alone in wordsworth's "sonnets," and also in the "warwickshire avon," produced the books which reach the high-water mark of english illustration, although they were first published in america. on the other hand sir george reid's designs for "johnny gibb," "the river tweed and the river clyde," and several other publications of david douglas of edinburgh, have been brought out altogether in this country. [20] i did not mean i hoped it would die. it has now ceased to appear. i should like to discuss the schools that have been developed by the arts and crafts society in some of the provincial centres. but as none of the students approach for a moment such an exquisite draughtsman as sandys, to say nothing of the work of the older men whom they attempt to imitate, it seems rather premature to talk about them. [illustration: by j. bernard partridge. from austin dobson's "proverbs in porcelain" (kegan paul and co.).] [illustration: by holman hunt. from gatty's "parables" (bell, 1867).] [illustration: by e. h. new. from a pen drawing for "the quest," no. 3.] [illustration: by winifred smith. from "children's singing games" (nutt).] [illustration: by alfred parsons. from the "english illustrated magazine."] still, a. j. gaskin, limiting himself in a way that seems quite unnecessary, has illustrated andersen's "fairy tales" very well, if one adopts his standpoint. e. h. new has made portraits that are decorative; and, under gaskin's direction, a little book of "carols" has been illustrated by his pupils; while, in the same style, c. m. gere and l. f. muckley are doing notable work, and they are about to start a magazine "the quest." the "hobby horse," the organ of the century guild, has contained many good designs by herbert horne and selwyn image. on much the same lines, too, heywood sumner, henry ryland, reginald hallward, christopher whall and others have been very successful. nor can one ignore the initials and borders of william morris, made for his own publications. there are dozens of artists, whose names, like their works, are household words, forrestier, montbard, w. l. wyllie, barnard, nash, overend, wollen, staniland, caton woodville, durand, stacey, rainey, barnes, and walter wilson, who have a power of rendering events of the day in a fashion unequalled elsewhere, and whose excellent designs are seen continuously in the pages of the "graphic," the "illustrated london news," and "black and white." there is also another set who amaze us by their power of compelling editors to publish weekly, and even daily, stacks of their drawings, when those of better men go a-begging. [illustration: by alfred parsons. reduced from a large drawing in "the daily chronicle." 1895.] [illustration: by sir george reid. from "the life of a scotch naturalist" (murray).] [illustration: by w. paget. from "cassell's magazine."] [illustration: by l. raven-hill. from "the butterfly."] [illustration: by l. raven-hill. from "the butterfly."] [illustration: by edgar wilson. process block from the original drawing for "the unicorn."] [illustration: by c. e. mallows. from the original drawing, published in "the builder."] though wood-engraving is purely an english art, and though some of the greatest wood-engravers even in modern times have been englishmen, the art no longer flourishes here as it should. the strongest of modern engravers, cole and linton, are both englishmen, but their reputations are due chiefly to america. w. biscombe gardner is almost the only man who has continued to produce good interpretative work, engraving his own designs, while w. h. hooper easily leads in _facsimile_ work. this decline of wood-engraving has been especially felt by such important firms as dalziel and swain. an international society of wood-engravers has lately been started, and one hopes its members will succeed in the task they have set themselves: that of encouraging original wood-engraving. in colour-printing england has always held a leading place, the work of edmund evans and the leighton brothers being universally appreciated. a very strong endeavour is being made by messrs. way to revive original lithography. as this art is now beginning to be again practised by eminent artists, there is every probability that their efforts will be successful. "vanity fair" has always been illustrated by chromo-lithography, and in it appeared the work of the late carlo perugini, while "spy" and others still carry out his methods. the architectural papers also use, mainly, photo-lithography for reproducing the drawings which they print. in england the fashion of making pictorial perspective drawings for architects has been very extensively practised; it is only an outgrowth of the work of prout and harding, but it has been enormously developed since their day; at present, several architectural papers are published which solely contain drawings of this sort, drawings mainly the outcome of the t-square, and the inner consciousness of the architectural perspective man, who has never seen the house, nor the landscape, nor street elevation in which his subject may be ultimately built; nevertheless some of these drawings are most interesting. the work of the late w. burgess, a.r.a., of a. b. pite, in mediæval design; of g. c. horsley, a. b. mitchell, t. raffles davison, rowland paul, and, above all, of c. e. mallows. mr. mallows is an artist; to him a drawing is as important as the building it represents; he does everything he can from nature, and his drawings of old work, notably difficult studies in perspective, like the cloisters of gloucester, have never been equalled by any of the prout-harding-cotman set. he feels that architecture and the delineation of it are a part of the fine arts--and he makes others feel it too. and to do this is simply to be an artist. this fashion of architectural drawing has spread to america and germany, but it has no support in france. much has also been accomplished in etching, and england possesses to-day in william hole, robert macbeth, william strang, frank short, d. y. cameron, c. j. watson, c. o. murray, a number of etchers whose fame is justly great. whether the idea of the "special artist on the spot" originated in england or not, i cannot say; certainly he was employed, and his work acknowledged in the early numbers of the "illustrated london news." but, at any rate, many englishmen have devoted themselves almost entirely to this form of pictorial reporting and correspondence. the man who has had probably the most extensive experience is william simpson, of the "illustrated london news,"[21] but f. villiers, melton prior, and sidney hall have assisted at almost all the scenes of national joy or grief--have followed the fortunes of war, or the progress of royalty, or any other important event in every quarter of the world. these artists' methods of work were most interesting. they trained themselves to sketch under the most dangerous, fatiguing, and difficult conditions--making rather shorthand notes than sketches, which were quite intelligible to a clever band of artists attached to their various journals. these artists, on receiving the sketches, produced finished drawings in a few hours, or, at longest, a few days. now, however, matters have changed somewhat. the editors (not the public) have learned to appreciate sketches, and men who can either produce a complete work of art on the spot, or work from their own sketches, are more generally engaged in this way. i do not mean to say that the war correspondents i have named could not do this work, only that often they did not, owing to exigencies of time and other difficulties. mr. hall's work at present is finished on the spot. his drawings at the parnell trial were most notable. but i think in the next artistic generation the correspondent will have to work harder--if he produces less. [21] s. read was the first artist correspondent; he worked during the crimean war. [illustration: by r. caton woodville. reduced from "the illustrated london news."] [illustration: by sydney p. hall. pen drawing from "the graphic."] [illustration: by aubrey beardsley. from a drawing in the possession of the author.] [illustration: by walter wilson. reduced from "the illustrated london news."] [illustration: by f. s. church. from an etching in "the continent."] chapter vi. american illustration. in many ways the illustrative work of america is more interesting than that of any other country. the rapidity of its growth, the encouragement that has been given it by publishers, and the surprisingly important artistic results obtained have won it recognition all over the world. twenty-five years ago, at the time that the best work was really being done in england, scarcely anything was being produced in america. it is true that some of the magazines had been started, and that some of the men, who are best known as illustrators to-day, were at work. but it was not until 1876, the year of the centennial, the first international exhibition held in america, that american artists, engravers, printers, and publishers were enabled to form an idea of what was being done in europe. at the same time a brilliant band of young men, who had been studying abroad, returned to new york, and it is mainly owing to their return, and the encouragement which intelligent and far-seeing publishers gave to them, and also to the artists and engravers who were already in america anxious to work, that what is now known as the american school of wood-engraving, together with american illustration and printing, was developed. the way in which this school has been built up is so interesting that it may be well to refer to it somewhat in detail. from the time that mr. a. w. drake, and, later, mr. w. lewis fraser were appointed art editors of the "century," then "scribner's," they made it their business, as art editors, to assist and aid and encourage young artists. and earlier, too, mr. charles parsons who managed the art department of harper brothers, gave such kind, sensible, and practical advice to many young artists that not only will his name never be forgotten as one who helped greatly to develop american art, but many an american illustrator now looks back to mr. parsons as the man who really started him on his career. [illustration: by c. s. reinhart. wood-engraving from "the century magazine."] mr. drake's plan was this. if an artist brought a drawing to him in which there were any signs of individuality, intelligence, or striving after untried effects, his endeavour was to use that drawing, at any rate as an experiment, and to encourage the artist to go on and make others; not to say to the artist, "the public won't stand this, and our _clientèle_ won't know what you mean." but then mr. drake was a trained artist and engraver.[22] nor did mr. drake and mr. fraser put down their opinions as those of the public. they did not pretend to be infallible, nor did the literary editors; with the consequence, that the american magazines have gained for themselves the largest circulation among respectable publications. in engraving, too, the engraver was asked to reproduce a drawing, not in the conventional manner, but as faithfully as he could, not only rendering the subject of the drawing, but suggesting its quality, the look of the medium in which it was produced. from this sprang the so-called american school of _facsimile_ wood-engraving, which, until the advent of process, was the favourite cockshy of the literary critic who essayed to write upon the subject of art. now, however, that he believes american engraving is about to disappear in process--though of course there is not the slightest danger of anything of the sort happening--he is uttering premature wails over its disappearance, which is really not coming to pass at all. [22] i do not mean to say that the american idea of having artists for art editors is unique. everyone knows the good editorial work that has been done, and is still being done by mr. bale, mr. w. l. thomas, mr. thomson, mr. mason jackson, mr. l. raven-hill, to mention no others. in printing, too, experiments were made from the very beginning with inks and paper and press-work. and though stiff glazed paper has been the outcome of these experiments, it is used simply because upon no other sort of paper can such good results be obtained. if some of the people who raise such a wail about this paper would only produce something better, i am sure they would be well rewarded for their pains, because all the great magazines would at once adopt it. another reason for the success and advancement of american illustrators is because the publishers of the great magazines, like "the century," "harper's," "scribner's," have had the sense to see that if you want to get good work out of a man you have to pay him for it and encourage him to do it, then reproduce, and print it in a proper fashion. naturally, the artists have taken a personal pride in the success of the magazines with which they have been connected; in certain cases, greater probably than the proprietors themselves ever realized. they have worked with engravers; they have mastered the mysteries of process and of printing; various engravers and printers have also worked with the artist, and in many cases there has been a truer system of genuine craftsmanship than existed in the everlastingly belauded guilds of the middle ages. within the last few years a new spirit has, to a certain extent, entered into american publishing, and there have cropped up magazines which, apparently, have for their aim the furnishing to their readers of the greatest amount of the cheapest material at the lowest possible price. syndicate stories and photographic _clichés_ struggle with bad printing, and possibly appeal to the multitude. however, these cheap and nasty journals will probably struggle among themselves to their own discomfiture, without producing lasting effect, unless the conductors of the better class of magazines choose to lower the tone of their own publications. [illustration: by walter shirlaw. from "the century magazine."] the illustrated newspaper has become an enormous factor in america. the "pall mall" claims to have been the first illustrated daily, and the "daily graphic" is the only complete daily illustrated paper yet in existence in england. "le quotidien illustré" has just been started in paris. the claim of the "pall mall" is without foundation, as the london "daily graphic" but follows in the footsteps of the new york "daily graphic," which took its name from the london weekly; its illustrations were almost altogether reproduced by lithography. the new york "graphic" was never a great success. many american daily newspapers print more drawings in a week than the london "daily graphic." the chances are that in a very few years the daily will have completely superseded many of the weeklies, and quite a number of the monthly magazines too. it is simply a question of improving the printing press, and this improvement will be made. anyone who has watched the progress of illustrated journalism during the last ten years can have no doubts upon the subject; and i am almost certain that the very near future will see the advent of daily illustrated magazines of convenient size, which will take the place of the monthly reviews and the ponderous and cumbersome machine we now call a newspaper. [illustration: by howard pyle. from holmes's "one hoss shay" (gay and bird).] if, as is universally admitted, america has produced the best example of an illustrated magazine that the world has to show, it is not very difficult to find out the reason. editors have secured the services of some of the best native artists, and are ready to use the work of foreigners. also many of the best engravers work for these periodicals, and in machine printing theodore de vinne has set up a standard for the whole world. if these men have become master craftsmen, it is because they first studied their art profoundly, and then learned the practical requirements and technical conditions under which drawings can best be reproduced for the printed page, as well as the best methods of printing that page. [illustration: by howard pyle. from "the century magazine."] [illustration: by howard pyle. from holmes's "one hoss shay" (gay and bird).] [illustration: by alfred brennan. pen drawing from "the continent."] [illustration: by a. b. frost. from "stuff and nonsense" (scribner's).] [illustration: by a. b. frost. from "stuff and nonsense" (scribner's).] in his own way mr. abbey stands completely apart from all other artists. his beautiful drawing, conscientious attention to detail and costume, interesting composition and perfect grace give him rank as a master. his edition of herrick has become a classic, while in his "old songs," and "quiet life," done in collaboration with mr. parsons, he has so successfully delineated the eighteenth century that he has made it a mine for less able men who have neither his power as draughtsman, nor his appreciation that illustration is as serious as any other branch of art, not to be entered upon lightly and without training. he has transformed "she stoops to conquer" from a play into a series of pictures; and his illustrations to shakespeare will, without doubt, become historic; they are models of accurate learning and careful research, and yet, at the same time, the most perfect expression of beauty and refinement. the decorative or decadent craze has also reached america, and its most amusing representative, so far, is w. h. bradley; but g. w. edwards, l. s. ispen, and others, decorated books long before mysticism became the rage. mr. reinhart and mr. smedley have treated the more modern side of life with an intelligence which is almost equal to abbey's. mr. reinhart's most remarkable work is to be found in "spanish vistas" by mr. george parsons lathrop, and in his sketches in "american watering places." mr. smedley's drawings may be seen any month in "harper's magazine." mr. howard pyle has brought all the resources of the past to aid him in the present, and is probably the most intelligent and able student of the fifteenth century living to-day. yet mr. pyle is, when illustrating a modern subject, as entirely modern. he has treated with equal success the england of robin hood, the germany of the fifteenth century, colonial days in america, children's stories, and the ordinary everyday events which an illustrator is called upon to record. he is deservedly almost as well known as a writer. his principal books are "otto of the silver hand," the "story of robin hood," and "pepper and salt." [illustration: by e. a. abbey. from "harper's magazine" (copyright 1894, by harper and brothers).] [illustration: by e. a. abbey. from austin dobson's poems (kegan paul).] [illustration: pen drawing by c. d. gibson. from "the century magazine."] [illustration: pen drawing by oliver herford. from "fables" (gay and bird).] mr. c. d. gibson exhibits the follies and graces of society; it was he who contributed so brilliantly to the success of "life," the american "punch." messrs. frost, kemble, redwood, remington, show the life of the west and the south; while, as a comic draughtsman, frost stands at the head of americans. these men's work will one day be regarded as historical documents. mr. remington has given the rapidly vanishing indian and cowboy, especially in the "hunting trips of a ranchman." mr. frost's drawings of the farmer in the middle states will later be as valuable records as menzel's "uniforms of frederick the great." mr. kemble is not alone in his delineation of darkey life and character. in fact, he has rather worked in a field which was marked out for him by w. l. shepherd and gilbert gaul. w. hamilton gibson has treated many beautiful and pleasing aspects of nature, both as writer and illustrator. blum, brennan and lungren transported the fortuny, rico, vierge movement to america, but have now worked out schemes for themselves. blum has produced more complete work than the others, however, and his illustrations to sir edwin arnold's "japonica," and his own articles on japan, have given him a deservedly prominent position. elihu vedder, most notably in his edition of omar khayyam, kenyon cox, and will low, who have illustrated keats and rossetti, are responsible for much of the decoration and decorative design in the country, and there are many other extremely clever, brilliant and most artistic men whose work can be found almost every month in the magazines. mr. childe hassam has brought parisian methods to bear upon the illustration of new york life; and mr. reginald birch's studies of childhood, though frequently german in handling, are altogether delightful in results, his drawings having no doubt added much to the popularity of "little lord fauntleroy;" in the same sort of work p. newell and oliver herford are distinguished. mrs. mary halleck foote is one of the few who continue to draw upon the wood, and very beautifully she does this; while mrs. alice barber stephens, and miss katharine pyle prove that there is no earthly reason why women should not be illustrators. mr. otto bacher, mr. w. h. drake and mr. charles graham turn the most uninteresting photograph, if they are not doing original work, into a pleasing design; while that phenomenally clever frenchman, a. castaigne, who, i believe, now considers himself to be naturalized, gets more movement and dramatic feeling into his drawing than almost anyone else, though he is closely approached in some ways by t. de thulstrup. [illustration: by f. hopkinson smith. from "the century magazine."] [illustration: pen drawing by robert blum. from "scribner's magazine."] [illustration: by childe hassam. from a pen drawing made for the "new york commercial advertiser."] in some ways mr. harry fenn, mr. j. d. woodward, and mr. thomas moran were among the pioneers of american landscape illustration. mr. hopkinson smith, whose work also is frequently seen in the magazines, says that "harry fenn's illustrations in 'picturesque america' entitle him to be called the nestor of his guild, not only for the delicacy, truth, and refinement of his drawings, but also because of the enormous success attending its publication--the first illustrated publication on so large a scale ever attempted--paving the way for the illustrated magazine and paper of to-day." in this venture of appleton's, mr. woodward and mr. moran had a large share. among some of the younger men should be noted mr. irving wiles, whose work is as direct and brilliant as, and much more true than, rossi's; mr. metcalf, whose illustrations to mr. stevenson's "wrecker" are most notable; mr. a. c. redwood who, with mr. rufus zogbaum, has made the american soldier his special study. f. s. church is many-sided both in the mediums he employs and the subjects he selects. j. a. mitchell has produced in "life" a society comic paper which is much more human than "punch." "puck" and "judge" are the leading illustrated political weeklies; their conductors are d. kepler and b. gillom. [illustration: pen drawing by frederic remington. from "the century magazine."] [illustration: pen drawing by r. birch. from "little lord fauntleroy" (warne).] [illustration: "ready for the ride." wood-engraving by t. cole, after w. m. chase. from "the century magazine."] [illustration: by robert blum. from "scribner's magazine."] the list of engravers is quite as important. almost all of those who belong to the american society of engravers on wood are original artists and very well deserving of mention, though their work itself has given them a position which i cannot better. the best known is timothy cole, whose engravings from the old masters have won him world-wide recognition. he is followed by w. b. closson, who has to some extent attempted the same sort of work. messrs. frank french, kingsley, and the late frederick jüngling have, with surprising success, engraved directly from nature; while for portraits, g. kruell and t. johnson are deservedly well known. in fine reproductive work henry wolf, h. davidson, gamm, miss c. a. powell, j. tinkey, f. s. king, j. p. davis have shown that wood-engraving is an art which can be used in the hands of a clever man or woman in a hundred ways undreamt of twenty years ago. this list makes no pretension of being complete, for new magazines, new men and new methods are springing up all over the country every few weeks, and a mere list of the illustrators and engravers would make a catalogue as large as this volume. there was a period of great activity in american etching a few years ago. among the most notable results were cassell's portfolios of the work of american etchers, edited by mr. s. r. koehler. but the art seems now to be languishing. mr. frank duveneck, mr. otto bacher, mr. stephen parrish, mr. charles platt, mrs. mary nimmo moran did some of the best original work, while, as reproductive men, peter and thomas moran, stephen ferris, and j. d. smillie were most notable. however, this brief spontaneous movement toward individual expression unfortunately seems rather to have spent itself; and america, like so many other countries, is waiting for something new to turn up. [illustration: by s. parrish. from a drawing in "the continent."] [illustration: by gilbert gaul. from "the century magazine."] [illustration: by selwyn image. from "the fitzroy pictures" series (bell).] [illustration: by heywood sumner. from "the fitzroy pictures" series (bell).] chapter vii. conclusion. i have tried to show the methods of modern illustration, and to give a sketch of its present conditions. it would be absurd to prophesy its future, though i believe it will have a very brilliant one. much of the work that is being turned out to-day is beneath contempt; much of it is done by young men who are absolutely uneducated, and an illustrator requires education as much as an author; much of it is done by people who are too careless, or too stupid, to read or to understand the mss. which they illustrate. thus, in looking through late numbers of a magazine, i learn that all the policemen in new york wear patent leather shoes; while from another i find that when people are very poor in france, they rock their babies in log cabin cradles, cook their meals on american stoves and sit upon chippendale chairs. [illustration: by a. j. gaskin. from "old fairy tales" (methuen and co.).] but it is a pleasure to turn from budding geniuses of this sort and photographic hacks; from the gentlemen who copy the imperfections of the woodcut of the middle ages; from the people who enlarge the borders of their magazines with decorations that neither belong to our own time, nor are good examples of any other; from those who have succeeded in making a certain portion of the world believe that clumsy eccentricity is a cloak for all the sins in the artistic calendar, to illustrators who are calmly and quietly pursuing their profession, and producing work which may even drag other portions of the magazine or book, to which they contribute, to an unmerited immortality. [illustration: by laurence housman. from "a farm in fairyland" (kegan paul).] i do not pretend to foretell what the ultimate form of the book of the future, or of the magazine either, may be. but i do believe that illustration is as important as any other branch of art, will live as long as there is any love for art, long after the claims of the working classes have been forgotten, and the statues of the statesmen, who are the newspaper heroes of to-day, have crumbled into dust, unless preserved because a sculptor of distinction produced them. [illustration: by cotman. from an etching in "architectural antiquities of normandy."] illustration is an important, vital, living branch of the fine arts, and it will flourish for ever. index. abbey, e. a., "herrick," 123; "old songs" and "quiet life," 106, 124; "she stoops to conquer," 124; "shakespeare," 124. "abbotsford" waverley novels, 26. ache, caran d', 66; "courses dans l'antiquité," "carnet de chéques," "albums," etc., 67, 79. adams, j. a., 29. albrecht, e., 78. alexander, miss, xvii. allers, c. w., 78. allingham, w., "the music master," 88. _ally sloper's half holiday_, 103. american illustration, xv, 30-32, 113, 130. american tract society, 29. amicis, e. de, 70. andersen's "fairy tales," 108. andrew, 25. angelico, fra, 3. angerer and göschl, 72. anning bell, r., 105. aquatint, 38. "arabian nights" (lane), 24; (dalziel), 91, 101. architectural drawing, 111. _argosy, the_, 90. "armée française, l'," 60. armstead, h. h., 90. arnold, sir edwin, "japonica," and "japan," 126. _art, l'_, 51. _art, l', et l'idée_, 56. _art student_, 35. artist-correspondents and their work, 112. _artiste, l'_, 18, 22, 60. auriol, georges, 63, 68. avril, paul, "la dame aux camélias," 62. babbage, f., xxiv. bacher, otto, 127, 130. bale, edwin, 115. _bambou, le_, 56. barnard, fred., xxiv, 108. barnes, r., 108. batten, j. d., illustrations to fairy tales, 105-106. baude, c., 48, 51, 69. baxter, w. g., "ally sloper," 103. bayard, emile, 65. beardsley, aubrey, 105; _yellow book_, "morte d'arthur," and "salome," 105. bennett, g. h., 89. bentworth, 25, 74. beraldi, m., xiv. best, 16, 25. bewick, thos., xiv, xvi, 8; walton's "angler," 9; gay's "fables," 9; "general history of quadrupeds," 9; "british land and water birds," 9; as engraver-artist, 9, 10; outcome of his work, 12, 17, 47, 88. bibliographers' duties with regard to illustrations, xx. _bibliographica_, xvi, 92. birch, reginald, 127. blackburn, h., 81. _black and white_, 108. black and white exhibition, vienna, 72. blair's "the grave," 9. blake, w., 9; "songs of innocence" and "songs of experience," 10; "book of job," 10; blair's "the grave," 9; mary wollstonecraft's "stories," 10. _blanco y negro_, 79. blum, r., "japonica," "japan," 126. böcklin, a., 76, 77. bork, 48, 73. botticelli, 3; designs for dante, 3. boydell's "shakespeare," 12. "bracebridge hall," 86. bradbury and evans, 89. bradley, w. h., 124. branston, c., 12, 21. braun, 18. braun and schneider, 76. brend'amour, richard, 76. brennan, a., 126. brévière, 16, 18. british museum, xv, xix, xx, 36. _british workman_, 96. brown, ford madox, 95. "brown, jones, and robinson," 84. browne, h. k. ("phiz"), 89. bruant's "dans la rue," 68. buchanan's "the north coast," 94. burckhardt, "insects injurious to vegetation," 31. burges, w., 111. burne-jones, sir e., xvi; in _daily chronicle_, xxiii, 95, 98. busch, w., 77. butler's "hudibras," 19, 20. _butterfly, the_, 105. calcott, w., 24. caldecott, randolph, illustration from "old christmas," 33, 84, 86; books for children, 86. callot, 80. cameron, d. y., 111. canaletto, 7. "caprices" (goya), 80. capuana, luigi, 71. caracci's "christ and peter," 10. _caricature, la_, 22. caricature, political, 102, 103; _ally sloper's half holiday_, 103. "carnet de chéques," 67. "carols" (gaskin, a. j.), 108. carpaccio, 2. carroll's "alice in wonderland," 102. casanova y estorach, a., 71. castaigne, a., 127. "catalogue of blue and white nankin porcelain," 95. _century magazine_, xix, 34, 40, 114, 116. "cera una volta," 71. cervante's "don quixote," 21. champfleury's "vignettes romantiques," xviii. chapman, j. g., drawings for the "illuminated bible," 29. charlet, 17, 60. "chaumière indienne," 20. chelminski, 73. chéret, 68. chiaroscuro, engraving in, 48. chiswick press, 21. chodowiecki, 7. christopher, st., 6, 34, 36. church, f. s., 129. cleaver, reginald, 106. clennell, luke, 11, 12. clichés, early use of, 7. closson, w. b., 129. cole, timothy, 47, 48, 108, 129. colvin, prof. s., xv. conquet, 63. "contes remois," 24. cooper, a. w., illustration to walton's "angler," 32. cooper, j. d., xxiv. corbould, a., 21. _cornhill, the_, 28, 84, 89; "gallery," 94. cotman, f. g., 38, 111. "coups de fusil," 60. courboin, e., 66. _courrier français, le_, 51. "courses dans l'antiquité," 67. cox, kenyon, 126. crane, walter, 28; "king luckyboy's party," "the baby's opera," "baby's bouquet," 86, 99. crowther, t. s., 104. cruikshank, george, "three courses and a dessert," 22-24, 83, 88. curmer, l., "paul et virginie," 20. cust, lionel, xv. _daheim_, 78. _daily chronicle_, xvii, xxi, xxiii. _daily graphic_, 117. dalziel brothers, 28, 35; "bible gallery," 35, 95, 88, 90, 91; "arabian nights' entertainments," 91-93; "wayside posies" and ingelow's "poems," 94; "english rustic pictures," 95, 109. dalziel, e., 93. "daphnis and chloe," 105. darley, f. o. c., 28. dasio, max, 77. daubigny, 17. daumier, 17; _la caricature_, 22, 38, 60. davidson, h., 129. davis, j. p., 129. davison, t. r., 111. defoe's "plague," 101. delacroix, 23, 80. de neuville, a., 51, 60; "coups de fusil," 60; guizot's "history of france," 60; "en campagne," 60. "dentatus, the," 49. dentu's _le bambou_, 56; "tartarin de tarascon," 61. derniame, aristide, 20. detaille, e., 51; "l'armée française," 60. _dial, the_, 105. dickens, c., 83. didot, f., "gravure sur bois," 5. dietz, w., 25, 75. "dinner at greenwich," 84. dobson, austin, xiv, xviii, 81, 84; "beau brocade," 106. doepler, c. e., 29. donné, dr., 40. doré, g., 31, 32, 51, 58; characterization of his work, 58-60, 63, 93. doyle, r., 83; "brown, jones, and robinson," 84, 89. drake, a. w., 114, 115, 127. du maurier, g., 28, 39, 84, 101, 103. durand, 108. durand, amand, photogravure process of, 44. dürer, a., xxii, 3; illustrations to "maximilian's missal," 3; decorative designs, 4; his criticism on his wood-engravers, 5; an apollo drawing, 36. duveneck, frank, 130. dys, habert, 65. _echo de paris, l'_, 54. eckhardt, oscar, 104. edelfelt, a., 73. edwards, g. w., 124. elgin marbles, xxii. _elsevir_, 71. "en campagne," 60. "english rustic pictures," 95. "enterrement de province," 69. _estampe originale, l'_, 69. etching, 111; american, 130; cassell's "portfolios," 130. evans, edmund, xxiv, 87, 109. everal et cie., 21. "examples of venetian architecture," 85. _ex-libris series_, editor, xiii, xiv. fau, f., 61. _felz und meer_, 78. fenn, harry, "picturesque europe and america," 31, 127. fernandez, g., 79. ferris, stephen, 130. figaro, le, 54. fildes, luke, xxiv, 86. _fliegende blätter_, xvii, 25, 75-78. florian, 48, 51, 57, 69. "fontaine, la," 8. foote, mrs. mary h., 127. forain, j. l., 66; album, 68. ford, h. j., 106. _forget-me-not_, 13, 34. forrestier, a., 108. fortuny, m., 50, 71, 79, 126. foster, birket, xv, xxiv, 26-29, 84; "pictures of english landscape," 91; "odes and sonnets," 91, 103. "françois le champi," 62. fraser, lewis, 114, 115. fredericks, alfred, 30. "frederick the great's works," 74. french, frank, 129. frost, a. b., 126. furniss, harry, 102. galice, l., 61. gamm, 48, 129. gardner, w. biscombe, 48, 109. gaskin, a. j., 108. gaul, gilbert, 126. gautier, t., 80. gavarni, 17; _gazette des enfants_, lithographs in, 22, 38, 57, 60, 79. _gazette des enfants_, 22. _gazette des beaux-arts, la_, 51. gere, c. m., _the quest_, 108. giacomelli, 65. gibson, c. d., 125, 126. gibson, w. hamilton, 126. gigoux, jean, 17; _gil blas_, 19. gilbert, sir john, 26; work for american tract society, 29, 84; edition of shakespeare, 89, 103. _gil blas_, 54. gillom, b., 129. gillot, c., engraver, 40. gillotage, the process, 51. gillray, 84. goldsmith's "vicar of wakefield," 21, 61, 93; "she stoops to conquer," 124. _good words_, 28, 84, 88, 90, 91. gosse, edmund, xvi. gould, f. c., 102. goupil, 55; _les lettres et les arts_, 56. gourget, a. f., 61. goya, f., xiv, 8, 20, 79, 80; "caprices," 80; "invasion," 80; bull-fights, 80. graham, charles, 90, 127. _graphic_, 18, 34, 40, 65, 85, 92, 94, 96, 108. _graphischen kunste die_, 78. grasset, e., 63, 68. gray's, "elegy," 24. green, charles, xxiv, 86, 101. green, w. t., xxiv. greenaway, kate, 86; children's books, 87. gregory, e. j., 86. greiffenhagen, maurice, 104. greiner, otto, 77. greuze, 7. griset, ernest, "grotesques," xxiv, 87. "gulliver's travels," 93. guillaume, process and publisher, 56, 66. "guillaume" series, 51, 62. guizot's "history of france," 60. hackländer, f., 78. haennen, t. von, 65. "half-tone" process, 40. halkett, g. r., 102. hall, s. p., 86, 101, 112. hallward, reginald, 108. hamerton, p. g., 81. harburger, 77. harding, j. d., 38, 110, 111. hardy, thos., "tess of the d'urbervilles," 101. harper, c. g., 81. harper's "illuminated bible," 29. _harper's magazine_, xix, 29, 116. harral, h., xxiii. harris's "insects injurious to vegetation," 30, 31. hartrick, a. s., 104. harvey, william, xxiv, 12; milton's "poetical works," 15, 16, 17, 18; "gardens, etc., of zoological society," 21, 24; "elegy" (gray), 24; "arabian nights," 24; "solace of song," 24; "dentatus," 49, 88, 89. hassam, f. childe, 126, 127. hatherell, w. h., 105. haug, robert, 75. haydon's "dentatus," 49. hendriksen, 48, 73. hengler, 77. henley, w. e., xvi. hennessy, w. j., xvi. "herbals," the, 37. herford, oliver, 127. herkomer, prof. h., 86; hardy's "tess," 101. "histoire de mobilier," 51. "histoire du roi de bohème," 18. "historical and legendary ballads," 94, 95, 102. _hobby horse, the_, 108. hogarth, w., 7. holbein, hans, 4, 7; "dance of death," 34, 36. hole, w., 72, 111. holl, f., 86. homer, winslow, 29. hooper, w. h., xvi, 28, 48, 109. horne, herbert, 108. horsley, g. c., 111. houghton, a. boyd, xvi, 27, 84, 86, 88, 90; "arabian nights," 92; housman on his work, 92; "home thoughts and home scenes," 92; "don quixote," 92; "kuloff's fables," 92; _graphic_ drawings, 92; "national nursery rhymes," 93; "the north coast," 94, 95, 101. housman, laurence, xvi, 92; "goblin market," 106. huertas, 79. huet, paul, 17, 20. hughes, arthur, illustrations to christina rossetti's "sing song," xxiv, 88, 96; "tom brown's school-days," 96. hugo's, v., works, "edition nationale," 64. hunt, holman, "lady of shalott," 88, 90. "hypnerotomachia," 4. ibels, 66. icke, h. j., 72. illumination, 3. _illustracion artistica_, 71. _illustracion española y americana_, 71. _illustrated london news_, 27, 108. _illustration, l'_, 51, 65. illustration, definition of, 1; compared to art, 1, 2; the old illustrator, 2; the court painters, 2; the subject and landscape painters, 2; illumination of mss., 3; french illustration, 24; modern development in, 33; application of photography to, 34; increase in its popularity, 34; production of before the introduction of photography, 36; french, 50-57; decline of french work, 52; decay due to publishers, 54; spanish, 71; dutch, 71, 72; belgian, austrian, and hungarian, 72; russian and scandinavian, 73; danish, 73, 74; german, 74, 75; english, 82, 84; revival in england, 96; editors' bad judgments on, 97; their bad influence, 97; their ignorance, 90, 99; evils of modern reproductions, 99; ignorance of printers, 100; modern copies of obsolete fads, 100; colour printing, 109; american, 113, 130; reasons for american advance in, 116; daily papers, 117; future of modern, 131-134. _illustrazion italiana, l'_, 71. _illustrirte zeitung_, 75. image, selwyn, 108. indexing of artists' works, xix, xx. ingelow, jean, "poems," 94. "international society of wood engravers," 109. isabey, e., 17, 20. ispen, l. s., 124. ives' method of engraving, 40. jackson, mason, "the pictorial press," xviii, 32, 115. jacobi, c. t., xvi. jacque, c., 17, 20; "vicar of wakefield," 21. jacquemart, jules, 51. jeanniot, p. g., 60. job, 66. johannot, tony, 25. johannots, the brothers, 17, 18. johnson, t., 129. johnstone, j. m., xxiv. _judge_, 129. jüngling, frederick, 48, 129. kaulbach, 76. keene, c., 28, 38, 39, 84, 89, 90, 104. _keepsake_, 13, 34. kepler, f., 129. king, f. s., 129. kingsley's "water babies," 102. kingsley, elbridge, 47, 48, 129. klinger, max, 76; his method, 77; his "apuleius," 77. knight, charles, 24. koehler, s. r., 130. konewka, paul, 76; "faust," 76. kreull, g., 48, 129. kreitzschmar, 25. _kunst für alle_, 78. lacour, o., xxiv. la farge, john, 29. lalauze, a., 64. lameyer, 79. lami, e., 23. landseer, sir e., 24. lang, a., "the library," xviii, 81; "fairy books," 106. langton, first use of photography for book illustration, 34. _lanterne, la_, 54. lathrop's "spanish vistas," 124. laurens, jean paul, 61. lautrec, h. t., 68. _la vie moderne_, 51. lavoignat, 15, 17, 21, 24. lawless, m. j., 89. leech, john, 83, 84, 88, 89. "legend of the portent," 89. legrand, l., 66. lehers, max, 77. leighton, brothers, 109. leighton, sir f., 28, 89; _cornhill_ "gallery," 94, 95. leloir, m., 25, 61. lemaire, mme., 62. lepère, a., 18, 47, 51, 69. le sage's "diable boiteux," 21. _les lettres et les arts_, 56. leveille, 16, 24, 51. lhermitte, l., "la vie rustique," 61. "liber studiorum," 27. _lidia, la_, 79. _life_, 126, 129. linnells, the, 10, 11; "the national gallery," 14. linton's "engraving," xviii; on engraver and artist, 24, 28, 48, 86, 109. lithography, 38; work by prout, harding, roberts, nash, 38; revival in, 109; _vanity fair_ and chromo-lithography, 109; photo-lithography, 109. low, will. h., 126. lucena, jiminez, 79. luders, hermann, 75. lunel, f., 61. lungren, f., 126. lynch, albert, "la dame aux camélias," 62. macbeth, r. w., 72, 111. "madame chrysanthème," 62. _magazin pittoresque_, 21. mahoney, t., "scrambles amongst the alps," 94, 101. mallows, c. e., 111. marchetti, 64. marie, adrian, 65. marold, l., 57, 72, 78. mars, 66, 68. may, phil, 104; "the parson and the painter," 104. meadows, kenny, 88. meggendorfer, 77. meisenbach process, 40. meissonier, j. l. e., 8, 17, 20; "deux joueurs," 21; "contes remois," 24, 25, 50, 57, 60, 73, 74, 79. menzel, adolph, xx, 8, 24; comparison with bewick, 25; "life of frederick the great," 25; "paul et virginie," 25, 73, 74; his genius and work, 74, 75, 76, 88, 126. merson, luc ollivier, 64. metal, engraving on, 37. metcalfe, w. l., stevenson's "the wreckers," 128. métivet, l., 65. millais, sir j. e., 28; "st. agnes' eve," 88, 89; "parables," 90-92; _cornhill_ "gallery," 94; strahan's "portfolio," 94. millar, h. r., 104. mitchell, g. c., 111. mitchell, j. a., _life_, 129. "modern painters," 85. _monde illustré, le_, 51. monnier, h., 17, 23. montalti, "cera una volta," 71. montbard, a., 108. monvel, boutet de, 66. moran, mrs. mary nimmo, 130. moran, thomas and peter, 30, 127, 128, 130. morin, louis, 63. morris, william, xvi, 108. morton, t., "gulliver's travels," 93. moxon's "tennyson," 28, 88; macmillan's re-issue, 101. muckley, l. f., _the quest_, 108. mulready, w., 24. murray, c. o., 111. myrbach, 54, 62, 72. nash, 38. nast, thomas, 30. nesbit, 12. _neue lithographem_, 77. new, e. h., 108. newell, p., 127. newspapers, illustrated, 116, 117. _new york daily graphic_, 117. niepce, 40. north, j. w., 35, 93; "wayside posies" and ingelow's "poems," 94. novello's "national nursery rhymes," 93. oberländer, 77. "odes and sonnets," 91. "old christmas," 86. "old songs," 106. "omar khayyam," 126. _once a week_, xix, 28, 84, 88-90. orrinsmith, h., xvi, 12, 57. overbeck, 76. overend, w. h., 108. overlays used by bewick, xvi, 20, 21. "pablo de ségovie," 51, 54, 61. paget, wal, 105. "palace of art, the," 88. _pall mall gazette_, 117. _pall mall magazine_, xix. palmer, samuel, xxiv. pannemaker, 32, 69. papier gillot, 71. _paris illustré_, 51. parrish, stephen, 130. parsons, alfred, 106; "old songs," "a quiet life," "wordsworth's sonnets," and "the warwickshire avon," 106, 124. parsons, charles, 114. partridge, j. bernard, 106. paterson, r., xxiv. paul, rowland, 111. pegram, f., 104. "pen drawing and pen draughtsmen," 35. _penny magazine_, 24. perea, d., 79. perugini, carlo, 109. perugino's "the holy family," 10. _petit journal, le_, 54. pettie, j., 90. "phiz" (h. k. browne), 83. photography applied to book illustration, 34; _art student_, 1865, 35; fairly general in 1870, 36; photographing of drawings in line upon a metal plate or gelatine film, 40; "half-tone" process, 40; meisenbach process, 40; ives' method, 40. piaud, 17. pickering's "alphabet," 19. "pictures of english landscape," 91. "pictures in words," 91. "picturesque america," 31, 127. "picturesque europe," 31. pille, henri, 61. pinturicchio, 3. pinwell, g. j., 27, 35, 39, 86, 88, 90, 92; "goldsmith's works," 93; "wayside posies" and ingelow's "poems," 94; "english rustic pictures," 95. piranesi, 7. pisan, 17. pissarro, l., 105. pite, a. b., 111. plantin museum, 36. platt, charles a., 130. "poets of the nineteenth century," xxiv. poirret, 17. poirson, v. a., 61. pollard, a. w., xv. pons, angel, 79. powell, miss c. a., 129. poynter, e. j., 95. prado, the, 80. pranishnikoff, 73. _premières illustrées, les_, 61. pre-raphaelites, xxii, 76, 88, 98. prior, melton, 112. "process," art of, 41; meisenbach, 40; comparison with wood-engraving, 41-43; method of, 42; application of photography, 42; for "line" work, 42; use of swelled gelatine, 42; photogravure of amand durand, 44; black-and-white drawings reproduced in, 44; wash reproductions by, 44; advantages of, over engraving, 45; flat washes, 45; objections to, 45; object of, 46; not a "mechanical makeshift," 46; answers to criticisms on, 46; bound to supersede wood-engraving, 48; gillotage, 51; guillaume half-tone process, 62; bad process work, 96. proctor, j., 102. prout, s., 38, 110, 111. _puck_, 129. _punch_, 27, 106, 129. pyle, howard, 124, 125. pyle, miss katharine, 127. "quatre fils d'aymon," 63. _quest, the_, 108. "quiet life," 106. _quotidien illustré_, 117. raffaëlli, j. f., 65. raffet, 17, 60. railton, herbert, 105. rainey, w., 108. ramos, f. garcia y, "la tierra di maria santissima," 79. ratdolt, e., 5. raven-hill, l., 104, 115. read, s., 88, 112. redwood, a. c., 126, 128. reed, e. t., 106. régamey, felix, 65. reid, sir george, 106; "johnny gibb," "the river tweed and the river clyde," 107. reinecke, rené, 78. reinhart, g. s., "spanish vistas," 124. rembrandt, 2, 3; etchings of, 4, 88. remington, f., "hunting trips of a ranchman," 126. renouard, paul, 65. répine, 73. retzche's "shakespeare," 76. _revue illustré, la_, 51. ricketts, charles, 105; "daphnis and chloe," 105. rico, 50, 71, 79, 126. riou, 65. roberts, c., xxiii. roberts, d., 38. robida, "rabelais," 63. rochegrosse, g., 61. roehle, 18. rogers' "italy," 38; "poems," 11, 12, 18. rops, félicien, 63. rossetti, c., "goblin market," 106. rossetti, d. g., xvii, 27, 35, 85; "the palace of art," "sir galahad," 88, 98; his influence and motives, 98. rossi, 54, 62, 128. rowlandson, 84. rubens, sketches for title-pages, 4, 11. ruskin, j., 28, 85, 93. russell, w. w., 104. ryland, henry, 108. sala, g. a., 89. sambourne, linley, 101; "water babies," 102; _punch_ work, 102. sandys, frederick, xv, 27; "amor mundi," 35, 39, 84, 88-90; _cornhill_ "gallery," 94; "legendary ballads," 95, 101, 108. savage, reginald, 105. schlittgen, h., 78. schwæbe, c., 63, 77. "scrambles amongst the alps," 94, 101. _scribner's magazine_, 116. séon, 64. seymour, g. l., 105. shannon, c. h., 105; "daphnis and chloe," 105. shepherd, w. l., 30, 126. shields, frederick, xvi, 39, 84; defoe's "plague," 101. _shilling magazine_, 28, 35, 84, 88, 90. short, frank, 72, 111. simpson, william, 112. singer, dr. hans, xv. small, w., 27, 101, 103. smedley, w. t., "sketches of american watering-places," 124. smeeton, 18. smillie, j. d., 130. smith, f. hopkinson, 127. "sociétés anonymes," 54. "solace of song," 24. solomon, s., 95. sourel, "insects injurious to vegetation," 31. south kensington museum, xv, xix, xx, 36. "spanish scenes," 79. _spectator_, xviii. speed, lancelot, 106. spielmeyer, w., xxiv. "spy," 109. _st. stephen's review_, 104. stacey, w. s., 108. stainforth, m., xxiv. staniland, c. j., 108. stationers' hall, exhibition of wood-engravings, march, 1895, xxiii. steinhausen, w., 77. steinlen, 57, 66; bruant's "dans la rue," 68. stephens, mrs. alice b., 127. sterne's "sentimental journey," 61. stevenson's "the wreckers," 128. "stones of venice," 85. stothard, t., 9, 10; "the pilgrim's progress," 11; richardson's "novels," 11; rogers' "poems," 11-13, 18; "alphabet," 19, 24. strahan, a., xvi. strang, william, 111. strange, e. f., xv. stroebel, 78. stück, franz, 77. sullivan, e. j., 104. sullivan, j. f., 102. sumner, heywood, 108. _sunday magazine_, 90. _supplement littéraire et artistique_, 54. swain, j., 28, 35, 90, 109. "tartarin de tarascon," 52, 61. taylor, tom, 83; "pictures in words," 91. tegner, hans, 73; drawings for holberg's "comedies," 73. tenniel, sir j., 28, 89, 92; "alice in wonderland," "legendary ballads," 102. thackeray, w. m., 12, 83, 89; "roundabout papers," 90. thoma, h., 77. thomas, g. h., xxiv. thomas, w. l., 115. thompson, charles, 14, 15, 16. thompson, john, hogarth's works, 13. thompsons, the, 12; cruikshank's work, 24. thomson, d. c., 115. thomson, hugh, 105. thulstrup, t. de, 127. thurston's butler's "hudibras," 19, 20; "tasso," 21, 24. tilt's, "gardens and menageries of the zoological society delineated," 21. tinkey, j., 129. "tierra di maria santissima, la," 79. titian's "ariadne and bacchus," 14. tofani, 64. "tom brown's school-days," 96. toudouze, edouard, 62. townsend, horace, xvi. trevès, fratelli, 70. tristram's "coaching days and coaching ways," 105. _ueber land und meer_, 75. unger, j. f. g., 75. unzelmann, 25, 74. uzanne, octave, 56, 62. valloton, f., 69; "enterrement en province," 69. _vanity fair_, 109. vebers, the, 64. vedder, elihu, "omar khayyam," 126. velasquez, portraits of, 2, 80. veronese, 2, 3. vierge, daniel, 19, 51, 54, 61, 71, 79, 80, 126. "vie rustique, la," 61. villiers, f., 112. vinne, theodore de, 120. vizetelly, h., 27. vogels, the, 25, 72, 74, 78. walker, emery, xvi. walker, fred., 27, 39, 88; "adventures of philip," 90, 93; _cornhill_ "gallery," 94; "english rustic pictures," 95. war correspondents and their work, 112. "warwickshire avon," 106. watson, c. j., 111. watson, j. d., 92. watteau, 7. way, messrs., 109. "wayside posies," 94. weir, harrison, xv, xxiv, 26, 30, 31, 103. whall, christopher, 108. whistler, j. m. n., xxii; in _daily chronicle_, xxiii, 84, 93; "legendary ballads," 95; "catalogue of blue and white nankin porcelain," 95, 101. white, gleeson, xiv. whittingham, c., 21. whymper, 90; "scrambles amongst the alps," 94, 101. wiles, irving r., 128. wilkie, sir david, 24. willette, a., 66, 68. williamses, the, 12, 15, 24. wilmot's, "sacred poetry," xxiv. wilson, edgar, 104. wilson, richard, 11. wilson, t. walter, 108. wood-engraving, xvi; early english, 12-14; french prize for, 14; rise of in france, 16; bewick's influence, 12, 17; disappearance of, 37; methods of wood-engraving shops, 38; bad influence on the artists, 39; disappearance of the "wood-choppers" again, 39; replaced by photography, 40; progression of the art of, 41; advantages claimed for, 41; comparison to "process" work, 41-43; real duties of the engraver, 47; three great periods, 47; japanese wood-cutting, 48; no danger in the hands of good artists, 48; modern facsimile wood-engraving, 48; bound to be superseded by "process" work, 48; bright outlook for, 49; revival in france, germany, etc., 57, 58, 75; method of publication of the dalziel books, 91; "international society of wood-engravers," 109; american school of, 114-116; facsimile work in america, 115. wolf, henry, 129. woods, h., 86. woodville, r. caton, 108. woodward, j. d., "picturesque europe and america," 31, 127, 128. wollen, w. b., 108. wordsworth's "sonnets," 106. wolf, j., 89. worf, a., xxiv. wright, 21. wyllie, w. l., 108. _yellow book_, xxii, 105. zogbaum, rufus, 128. zola's "le rêve," 63. [illustration] chiswick press:--charles whittingham and co. tooks court, chancery lane, london. obtained from the internet archive. transcriber's note italicized text is displayed as _text_ and bold text as =text=. whole and fractional parts of numbers are displayed as 4-5/8. some utf-8 characters were converted to plain ascii. to view them, see the html or utf-8 version. department of the interior. john barton payne, secretary united states geological survey george otis smith, director the preparation of illustrations for reports of the united states geological survey with brief descriptions of processes of reproduction by john l. ridgway washington government printing office 1920 +==================================+ | | | the preparation of illustrations | | | | for reports of the | | | | united states geological survey | | | | | | by | | | | | | john l. ridgway | | | +==================================+ contents. part i. preparation by authors. page. introduction 7 purpose and value of illustrations 8 selection and approval of illustrations 8 submittal of illustrations 10 kinds of illustrations 10 sizes of illustrations 11 subdivisions of plates and figures 12 preparation of copy by authors 12 character of original material 12 preliminary preparation of maps 13 material available for base maps 14 basic features of maps 17 standard scales 18 orientation of maps 18 projection 18 explanation 19 titles of maps and other illustrations 19 symbols used on maps 20 general features 20 letter symbols 20 oil and gas symbols 21 symbols for use on maps showing features of ground water 21 black-line conventions 23 materials used in preparing maps 23 paper 23 bristol board 24 tracing linen 24 inks 25 drawing pens 25 pencils 25 rubber erasers and cleaners 25 colored pencils and crayons 26 water colors 26 japanese transparent water colors 26 coloring geologic maps 27 diagrams 28 essential features 28 plans of mine workings 29 sections 29 lithologic symbols 32 use of photographs as illustrations 32 essential features 32 copyrighted photographs 33 sources of photographs 34 lending original photographs and drawings 34 unpublished photographs 34 specimens 34 general requirements 34 borrowed and fragile specimens 35 transmittal of paleontologic specimens 35 making up plates 36 reuse of illustrations 37 approval of finished illustrations 38 revision of illustrations 38 submittal of proofs 38 proof-reading illustrations 39 general considerations 39 part ii. preparation by draftsmen. general directions 41 instruments 42 classification of material 42 preparation of maps 43 projection 43 details of base maps 45 transferring or copying 46 tracing 46 celluloid transferring 47 sketching by reticulation 47 the "shadowless drafting table" 47 topographic features 48 relief 48 hydrography 51 cultural features 52 lettering 53 general directions 53 lettering by type 54 abbreviations 55 names of railroads 57 make-up of maps 57 forms for certain features 57 border 57 title 58 explanation 58 graphic scales for maps 59 symbols 61 areal patterns for black and white maps 61 standard colors for geologic maps 63 reduction or enlargement of maps 63 diagrams 64 sections 64 plans and cross sections of mines 65 drawings of specimens of rocks and fossils 66 methods used 66 brush and pencil drawings 66 pen drawings 67 retouching photographs of specimens 68 landscape drawings from poor photographs 68 pen drawings made over photographs 68 brush drawings from poor photographs 69 outdoor sketches 69 drawings of crystals 70 retouching photographs 70 part iii. processes of reproducing illustrations. methods employed 72 photoengraving 72 general features 72 zinc etching 73 copper etching in relief 75 half-tone engraving 75 three-color half-tone process 78 wax engraving (the cerotype process) 80 wood engraving 81 photogelatin processes 82 lithography 83 original process 83 photolithography 86 offset printing 87 chromolithography 87 engraving on stone and on copper 89 appendix. length of degrees of latitude and longitude 91 metric system and equivalents 92 geologic eras, periods, systems, epochs, and series 92 chemical elements and symbols 93 greek alphabet 93 roman numerals 93 mathematical signs 94 names of rocks 94 illustrations. page. plate i. methods of inserting plates and figures 10 ii. symbols used on geologic maps, economic maps, and mine plans 20 iii. lithologic symbols used in structure and columnar sections to represent different kinds of rock 32 iv. symbols used on base maps 52 v. reduction sheet used in lettering illustrations 54 vi. half-tone prints showing effects produced by the use of six standard screens 56 vii. details of the make-up of a geologic map 58 viii. patterns used to show distinctions between areas on black and white maps 60 ix. diagrams and curves 64 figure 1. diagrams showing principal, guide, and auxiliary meridians, standard and special parallels and correction lines, and system of numbering townships, ranges, and sections 16 2. conventional lines used in preparing plans and diagrams of mine workings to distinguish different levels 29 3. section and perspective view showing relations of surface features to the different kinds of rocks and the structure of the beds 30 4. sections of coal beds 31 5. diagram illustrating method of projecting a map 44 6. methods of expressing relief by contour lines, by hachures, by shading on stipple board, and by a brush drawing 49 7. designs for bar scales 60 8. method of making a bar scale for a map of unknown scale 60 9. map bearing six areal line patterns 62 10. diagram showing method of marking maps for reduction or enlargement (for record) 64 11. structure section showing method of determining the succession of folds 65 the preparation of illustrations for reports of the united states geological survey. by john l. ridgway. part i. preparation by authors. introduction. there has been an obvious need in the geological survey of a paper devoted wholly to illustrations. no complete paper on the character, use, and mode of preparation of illustrations has been published by the survey, though brief suggestions concerning certain features of their use have been printed in connection with other suggestions pertaining to publications. the present paper includes matter which it is hoped will be of service to authors in their work of making up original drafts of illustrations and to draftsmen who are using these originals in preparing more finished drawings, but it is not a technical treatise on drafting. the effectiveness of illustrations does not depend entirely on good drawings nor on good reproduction; it may be due in large part to the inherent character of the rough material submitted. if this material is effective or striking the finished illustrations, if well made, will be equally effective and striking. each step in the making of an illustration--first the preparation of the author's original or rough draft, next the final drawing, and last the reproduction--is closely related to the others, and each is dependent on the others for good results. if the material has been well handled at all three steps the resulting illustration should be above criticism; if it has been poorly handled at any one of the three the effectiveness of the illustration is either impaired or ruined. a consideration of processes of reproduction is essential in the preparation of all illustrations, and the influence or effect of the process to be selected on the methods of preparing a drawing has seemed to warrant the presentation of brief descriptions of the processes usually employed by the geological survey. these descriptions include statements as to the kind of copy that is suitable for each process, the result produced by each, and the relative cost of the processes. purpose and value of illustrations. an illustration in a report of the geological survey is not merely a picture having a remote bearing on the subject matter of the report; it must represent or explain something discussed or mentioned in order to become an illustration in the true sense of the term. the illustrations used in the survey's reports are not employed for embellishment; the more pictorial kinds may be in some measure decorative, but decoration is distinctly not their primary purpose. the illustrations used in popular literature are designed to meet a public demand for ornament or attractiveness. those used in scientific publications should be made plain and direct, without attempt to ornament or beautify. in the literature of science illustrations made by the reproduction of photographs or of explanatory diagrams or maps are intended simply to furnish greater illumination, and if the illustrations display photographic reality most statements or conclusions thus illuminated seem less open to dispute. a photograph may thus serve the double purpose of explanation and corroboration. the graphic expression of data and of details in a survey report is intended to aid the reader in comprehending the report, and this is the prime advantage of its use, but it also enables the writer to omit from his text numerous descriptive details. it would generally be difficult without illustrations to present a clear picture of the geology of a region in its exact relations, and especially to describe adequately the form and the details of the structure of many fossils. the tasks of both the writer and the reader of reports on geology and kindred subjects are thus greatly facilitated by geologic maps, sections, paleontologic drawings, and illustrations of other kinds. the responsibility for good and effective illustrations rests largely upon the author, who should select and plan his illustrations with a view to their utility in aiding the reader to understand his report. selection and approval of illustrations. there is no rule limiting the number of illustrations that may be used in a publication of the geological survey, but in selecting illustrations for a report an author may easily fall into the error of over-illustration. the number of diagrammatic drawings or of drawings that express the author's deductions is rarely in excess of the needs of a paper, but the number of photographs submitted is often excessive. the number of pages in a manuscript may be a factor in determining the proper number of illustrations, but as the need of illustrations varies greatly from paper to paper this factor alone is not decisive. the tendency to overillustrate led the director to issue the following order[1] governing the approval of illustrations: [footnote 1: from survey order 63, oct. 20, 1915.] the primary responsibility for the selection of illustrative material shall rest upon the author and the chief of the branch transmitting the report: no one knows the subject matter of the report better than its author, though a sympathetic critic is usually needed to correct the personal equation that may express itself in an excessive number of illustrations or the use of photographs into which no one but the field man himself can read what he wishes to illustrate. the approval by the chief of branch of the illustrations selected by the author will be taken as vouching for those illustrations as essential and adequate, and the scientific value of the illustrations will not be subject to review in the section of illustrations. the chief of the section of illustrations shall decide the technical questions relating to the preparation of these illustrations for reproduction and may recommend the rejection of any that do not promise effective or economical reproduction. in the consideration of such questions, especially any relating to maps, the cooperation of the editor of geologic maps and chief engraver will be expected. the judgment of an author as to the illustrative value of a photograph is likely to be biased by his knowledge of the features that are actually included in the view represented, not all of which may be shown clearly in the photograph; his knowledge of all the features enables him to see more in his picture than his readers will be able to recognize without detailed description. photographs in which special or significant features are obscured by foliage or lost in hazy distance do not make acceptable illustrations, and the use of a picture that requires much description to make it illustrate reverses, in a measure, the relations of text and illustrations. a photograph is not necessarily good for reproduction simply because it shows some particular feature to be illustrated; the quality of the print it will afford when reproduced from an engraved plate should also be considered. some loss of detail by reproduction must be expected, and therefore only the clearest and most effective prints obtainable should be submitted. if an author has difficulty in making his preliminary or "original" drawings he may request that a draftsman be detailed to aid him. the request should be made to the director through the chief of branch and properly approved. the work will then be done in the section of illustrations as advance preparation, but finished drawings should not be thus prepared unless the conditions are unusual. the administrative geologist reviews all illustrations submitted and represents the director in matters relating to illustrations. submittal of illustrations. all material intended for illustrations, except paleontologic specimens, should be submitted with the manuscript of the paper to be illustrated but in a separate package marked "illustrations to accompany a paper on ---by ----." the package should contain a carbon copy of the list of illustrations that accompanies the manuscript or, if the titles to be printed on or with the illustrations include fuller descriptions than are given in that list, a carbon copy of the list giving complete titles and descriptions, the original of which should also accompany the manuscript. in the list each plate and figure should be separately numbered consecutively in the order in which it should appear in the report, and a figure opposite each title should show the number of the manuscript page on which the illustration is first mentioned or most fully discussed. roman numerals should be used for the plates and arabic numerals for the figures. each drawing or photograph should bear, in addition to the number and title, any suggestions concerning preparation, reduction, and method of reproduction which the author may consider especially desirable. the list should be headed "illustrations." specimens other than fossils that are to be illustrated must be submitted directly to the section of illustrations, but the author may first obtain photographic prints of them in order to make up his plates. the specimens should be carefully packed and any that are fragile should be so marked. kinds of illustrations. the illustrations in reports of the geological survey may be classified into five more or less distinct groups--(1) maps, (2) diagrams (including graphs, sections, plans, figures of apparatus, and stereograms), (3) outdoor photographs, (4) photographs and drawings of specimens, and (5) sketches. these may be further divided into two large groups, which may be called permanent and ephemeral. the permanent group includes illustrations that do not lose value through lapse of time or by natural alteration, such as detailed geologic maps, well-prepared structure sections, views of specimens, and good photographs or drawings of natural phenomena; the ephemeral group includes maps showing progress, key maps, diagrams showing yearly production, and many others that should be prepared in such a way as to minimize cost of preparation and reproduction. [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate i methods of inserting plates and figures. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, plates; 4, 8, 9, 10, figures; 11, pocket.] the illustrations will be finally divided into plates and figures when they are fully prepared, but if an author desires to determine the classification in advance of transmittal he should submit his material to the section of illustrations, where methods, processes, and reductions will be decided for each. in determining which shall be plates and which shall be figures, size and method of reproduction are the only factors to be considered; there are no other real differences. illustrations that require separate or special printing, such as those reproduced by lithography and by the photogravure, photogelatin, and three-color processes, must be printed separately from the text as plates and inserted in the report at the proper places; those that are reproduced by relief processes, such as zinc and copper etching and wax engraving, if not too large, can be printed with the text as figures. if an illustration to be reproduced by a relief process is marked for reduction to a size not exceeding that of the page of the text, it can be called a figure and be printed with the text. half tones, though etched in relief, are rarely made text figures in survey reports, because to give satisfactory impressions they must be printed on the best quality of coated paper, which is not used for the text. by using the coarser screens shown in plate vi (p. 56), however, a half-tone cut may be made that can be used in the text if it is smaller than the page. sizes of illustrations. the regular book publications of the geological survey are issued in three sizes--(1) octavo (annual reports of the director, statistical reports on mineral resources, bulletins, and water-supply papers); (2) quarto (professional papers and monographs); (3) folio (geologic folios). the following table gives the measure of the text of each size and the measure of the trimmed page, in inches: size of text. size of page. octavo 4-3/8 by 7-15/16 5-7/8 by 9-1/8 quarto 6-1/16 by 9-1/8 9-1/4 by 11-5/8 folio 13-13/16 by 17-7/8 18-1/2 by 21-3/4 most professional papers are printed in two columns of type, each 3 inches wide, and folios are printed in three columns, each 4-3/8 inches wide. a text figure in one of these publications can be made to fit one or more columns, and it may run the full length of the text page. the limits of the dimensions of plates and figures, in inches, are given in the following table. if for any reason a plate can not be reduced to the dimensions of a page it can be folded once or more; and if it is large and unwieldy it may be placed in a pocket on the inside of the back cover. (see pl. i.) single-page plate with plate. one side fold. text figure. octavo 4-3/8 by 7-1/2 7-1/2 by 8-1/2 4-3/8 by 7-1/2 quarto 6 by 9 9-1/2 by 14-3/4 3 or 6 by 8-1/2 folio 15 by 17-1/2 ............ 4-3/8 or 13-13/16 by 17-7/8 for an octavo report a single-page plate with side title should be 4 inches or less in width, and a plate with bottom title should be 7 inches or less in depth. in other words, the actual depth and width of a single-page plate in a page of any size must depend on the number of lines in its title, the inclusion of which should not extend the matter much, if any, beyond the dimensions given in the table. a difference of 1 inch or less in the width of a folding plate may determine whether it must be folded once or twice, so that by consulting this table an author may save expense in binding and promote the reader's convenience in handling the plate. a text figure (including the title) can not extend beyond the text measure but may be of any size or shape within that measure, as shown on plate i, figures 4, 8, 9, 10. subdivisions of plates and figures. if a plate consists of two or more parts or photographs each part should be marked with an italic capital letter--=a=, =b=, etc.--which should be placed directly under each. if it is made up of many parts, in the form of plates that accompany reports on paleontology, each part should be similarly marked with an arable numeral--1, 2, 3, etc. if a text figure is subdivided into two or more parts, each part should be marked with a roman capital--a, b, c, etc.; and if details of a part are to be described each detail should be marked by an italic lower-case letter--a, 6, c, etc. preparation of copy by authors. character of original material. in the geological survey, as elsewhere, the "originals"--that is, the original material submitted by authors for the illustration of their reports--differ greatly in character and in degree of clearness. some are carefully prepared; others are rough, obscure in part, and defective in detail. drawings made from poor originals progress slowly, because the draftsman spends much time in interpreting uncertain features or in conference with the author concerning details. an original should be perfectly clear in detail and meaning, so that the draftsman can follow it without doubt. it should not consist of parts that must be brought together to make a new drawing, because the result of the combination of the parts will be uncertain at the outset and may not prove satisfactory. each original illustration should be prepared with the idea that the draftsman who will make the finished drawing will be unfamiliar with the subject and will need definite instructions; all data should be plotted and each figure or plate should be completely made up before it is submitted. more or less roughly prepared originals are expected, but they should show no uncertainty in details. obscure features may be cleared up by inclosing the features in penciled loops connected by a line with notes written on the margin, such as "omit this line," "turn at an angle of 30â° from true north," "add," "cut out." preliminary preparation of maps. the base map that generally accompanies a report may be an original field sheet or it may have been compiled from various sources by an author and made to incorporate the results of his field work. it should not be a collection of maps of different scales and standards to be worked into a new map. the source of the data shown on every original base map should be indicated on the map, whether it is to be used as an illustration or as a record of field work. this information is required as a permanent record for showing the reliability of the map, for use in comparing data, and for giving full credit to those who are responsible for the data. an author should see that this requirement is observed in order that proper credit may be given and should especially see that all cooperative agreements and organizations are properly mentioned. an original map should preferably be complete in itself. it should not consist of several parts or sheets unless the data to be represented are unusually complex. all elaborate or technical finish of border lines, lettering, or like features should be left to the draftsman or the engraver. base maps that involve the compilation of new data should be prepared by either the topographic branch or the division of alaskan mineral resources. if a base map already published is to be reused it should be submitted to the chief topographic engineer or to the chief of the division of alaskan mineral resources for approval. this procedure will insure a single standard of geographic accuracy in maps appearing in survey publications. a geologist who requires a base map that includes new topographic data should address a request for its preparation to the chief geologist, who, through the director, will refer the request to the topographic branch. the request must be accompanied by a full statement regarding the proposed report and the time when it is likely to be submitted. the preparation of such base maps by draftsmen in the division of geology, the land-classification board, the water-resources branch, or the section of illustrations has been discontinued except for the minor adaptations provided for above. if a report requires the preparation of a base map that includes no new topographic data such a map must be compiled from other authentic maps by the division or branch in which the report originates. if, however, no draftsmen are available in that division or branch, an arrangement can be made with any other branch--as the topographic or publication branch--that may have draftsmen available, with the understanding that the cost of the work shall be reimbursed to the branch doing the work by the branch ordering it. for indicating geologic and other data, however, an author may make use of an authentic base map already published, and after it is reduced or enlarged to appropriate scale by photography such a map may suffice for transmittal with a manuscript. material available for base maps. the maps already published by the geological survey[2] and other government bureaus should always be consulted when a new base is to be compiled. the following list includes most of the maps available: 1. the survey's regular topographic atlas sheets, published on three scales--15-minute sheets, scale, 1:62,500; 30-minute sheets, scale, 1:125,000; 60-minute sheets, scale, 1:250,000--approximately 1 mile, 2 miles, and 4 miles to 1 inch, respectively--and its "special" maps,[2] some of which are published on other scales. all these maps can be used as bases for detailed geologic maps, for compiling maps on smaller scales, and for revising other maps. 2. the united states part of the international map of the world, now being published on the scale of 1:1,000,000 (approximately 16 miles to 1 inch). each sheet of this map represents an area measuring 6â° of longitude and 4â° of latitude. the published sheets of this map may be used as bases for general maps. the sheets are drawn on the scale of 1:500,000, and photolithographs on this scale are available for use as bases for geologic or other maps. the adaptability of the 1:1,000,000 scale map to use as a base for general geologic maps is shown in the geologic maps of the southern peninsula of michigan and of indiana in monograph 53 (pls. iv and vii), the map of florida in bulletin 60 (pl. i), and the map of vermont in water-supply paper 424 (pl. i). 3. the survey's two-sheet wall map of the united states, 49 by 76 inches, scale 1:2,500,000 (approximately 40 miles to 1 inch). parts of this map can be used as bases for general geologic or other maps and as copy for index and other small diagrammatic maps. this map is published both with and without contours. 4. land office maps and township plats. these maps are now being published on a scale of 12 miles to 1 inch; they are also photo-lithographed on one-half that scale, or 24 miles to 1 inch. the township plats are printed on a scale of one-half mile to 1 inch. the maps are especially useful in compiling maps in which land lines (townships and sections) are essential, and the township plats afford valuable detail and are useful in field work and in revising other maps. township and section lines should appear on all land-classification maps published by the survey. on maps on a scale less than 1:250,000 only the townships should be shown; on maps on scales greater than 1:250,000 the sections should be shown; on maps on a scale of 1:250,000 the sections should be shown, unless their representation will materially impair the legibility of the map, in which case only the townships should be shown. (see fig. 1.) 5. post-route maps, covering single states or groups of adjacent states, published on sheets of different sizes and on scales determined mainly by the size of the state. the map of texas is published on a scale of 12 miles to 1 inch, that of virginia on a scale of 7 miles to 1 inch, and that of west virginia on a scale of 6 miles to 1 inch. both the land office and the post-route maps are useful for reference in compiling maps on smaller scales. post-route maps are especially useful for comparing and verifying the location of cities, towns, and railroads. 6. coast and geodetic survey charts, published on scales that are governed by the area represented and the amount of detail to be shown. these maps should always be used in compiling and correcting coast lines. 7. maps and charts published by the corps of engineers of the army, the mississippi river commission, the surveys of the great lakes, and the boundary surveys. these maps are especially useful if the scale of the map to be compiled requires considerable detail. 8. the survey's three small base maps of the united states--(_a_) a map 18 by 28 inches, scale 110 miles to 1 inch, which is published both with and without contours, or with relief or hypsometric shading; (_b_) a map 11 by 16 inches, scale 190 miles to 1 inch; (_c_) a map 7-1/2 by 12 inches, scale 260 miles to 1 inch, designed for use as a two-page illustration in a bulletin or a water-supply paper. 9. the century, rand mcnally & co.'s, cram's, stieler's, the times, johnston's royal, and county atlases. 10. state and county maps. 11. railroad surveys, which are useful in furnishing data for elevations as well as for locations of towns and stations. 12. the latest national-forest maps and proclamations. it is, however, not necessary that national forests, bird reservations, and national monuments be shown on a map in a report unless their addition is specially requested by the author or by the chief of the branch submitting the report, and they should not be shown if they will obscure other more important data. [footnote 2: see "topographic maps and folios and geologic folios published by the united states geological survey" (latest edition).] [illustration: figure 1.--diagrams showing principal, guide, and auxiliary meridians, standard and special parallels and correction lines, and system of numbering townships, ranges, and sections.] the survey has published numerous maps of parts of alaska, as well as other maps, which are available for use or reuse in its reports. copies of all base maps for which copper plates have been engraved by the survey can be obtained on requisition, and their use in a new report will save time as well as the cost of engraving. other maps will be found in the survey library, where the latest editions only should be consulted. basic features of maps. it must be remembered that "every map, whatever its scale, is a reduction from nature and consequently must be more or less generalized."[3] the degree of generalization in the geologic and other detail to be shown on a map usually involves a corresponding degree of generalization in its base. absolutely true generalization means the same degree of omission of detail for each kind of feature. if a base map on a scale of 1 mile to 1 inch, prepared with the usual detail, were placed before a camera and reduced to a scale of 16 miles to 1 inch, the lines representing the smaller tributaries of streams and the smaller water bodies, as well as many other features, would probably be so greatly reduced in length as to be illegible. if from this reduced photograph a new map were prepared, from which all features not plainly discernible were omitted, the new map should represent what might be called true generalization. this degree of generalization is, however, not practicable, but unessential detail should be systematically omitted. the amount of detail which a base map should show is limited by its scale, by the character of the country it represents, and by the kind of data to be shown. coordinate features of a topographic map should be shown with equal detail. detail in culture may call for detail in drainage, though relief may be greatly generalized or entirely omitted; detail in relief may like-wise call for detail in drainage, though culture may be more generalized. [footnote 3: gannett, henry, a manual of topographic methods: u. s. geol. survey mon. 22, p. 107, 1893.] if the three fundamental features of a topographic map--the culture, the drainage, and the relief--are to be engraved or photo-lithographed separately and printed in colors, the best results can be obtained by drawing each feature in a separate color on one sheet unless the work is coarse and great precision in register is not needed. the culture should be drawn in black waterproof ink, the drainage in prussian blue, and the relief in burnt sienna; but care should be taken that the colors used will photograph well. to insure a good photograph it is usually necessary to add a little black to the blue and brown. (see "inks," p. 25.) the photographer will then make three negatives and will opaque or paint out all but one of the three features on each negative. the cost is somewhat greater than that of reproducing three separate drawings, but the result gives more accurate register than if the drawings were made on separate sheets, which are likely to change in size before they are reproduced. standard scales. the standard scales of the maps used in the publications of the geological survey are fractions or multiples of 1:1,000,000 (see p. 14), except for a map that is reduced expressly to fit one or two pages of a report or that is reduced horizontally or vertically to fit the text as a small diagrammatic or index map. it should be remembered that a map which may be serviceable for use in compiling a new map, except as to scale, can be reduced or enlarged to the scale of the new drawing by photography, by a pantograph, or by other means. (see p. 47.) maps compiled by an author should be prepared on a scale of at least 1-1/2 times and preferably twice the size of the scale used on the published map. maps traced on linen should be no less than twice the size of publication. not only is the quality of the reproduction improved by considerable reduction, but the larger scale of the drawing facilitates the plotting of details. it should be remembered, however, that a linear reduction of one-half produces a map only one-fourth the area of the original, and reduction so great may prevent the addition of data, such as an extended note in small letters applying to a small area on the face of a map, which would not be legible when reduced. orientation of maps. a map that bears no arrow indicating north is supposed to be oriented north and south, and its title should read from west to east. if, however, the area mapped has a general trend in one direction, as northwest to southeast, and its squaring up by a north-south line would leave too much blank paper, this general rule is not followed. the border lines on such a map should conform to the general trend of the area mapped, an arrow should show north, and the title and scale should be placed horizontally, but the projection numbers and town names should follow the direction of the parallels of latitude. (see pis. x and xii, bull. 628; and pis. vi, xv, and xvi, mon. 52.) projection.[4] [footnote 4: see also pp. 43-45, where the method of projecting a map is more fully explained.] the polyconic projection has been adopted by the geological survey for its topographic atlas sheets and must be consistently used for its other maps. if a new map is to be compiled an accurate projection should first be constructed, and no plotting should be done on it until the projection has been checked and found to be correct. a projection should be checked or proved by some one other than the person who prepared it. next the drainage and the water areas should be outlined; then the cultural features should be added; and finally the relief, whether expressed by contour lines, hachures, or shading.[5] [footnote 5: see pp. 49-48 for methods of tracing and transferring.] explanation. under the heading "explanation" should be placed all matter needed to describe fully the details of an illustration, whether map, diagram, or section, so that if the illustration became detached it would be a complete self-explanatory unit. the explanation of a map may be placed inside the border lines if there is ample room for it, or it may be placed outside. the standard arrangement for an outside explanation for geologic maps is shown, in the geologic folios, which should be followed in general form. if there is space within the border lines the explanation may be appropriately arranged therein, either in a vertical column or horizontally, according to the size and shape of the space available. if the sequence of formation is shown by horizontal arrangement the younger formations are placed at the left and the older at the right. if it is shown by a vertical arrangement the youngest formation is placed at the top. each original map submitted by an author should have at least 4-1/2 inches of blank margin on the right and at the bottom in which to place the explanation, scale, title, and other matter, but the author should make no attempt to elaborate these features nor should he employ a draftsman to letter them carefully. plainly written ordinary script is quits sufficient for original maps; the final lettering, which may consist entirely of impressions from type, will be added after submittal of a report. titles of maps and other illustrations. the titles of maps should be supplied by authors but are subject to revision in order to make them agree with established forms. they should be written in ordinary script, not carefully lettered. they should state concisely the kind of map, the area shown, the special features represented, and the county, state, or territory in which the area is located. (see p. 58.) titles are reproduced directly only on lithographs, three-color prints, photogelatin plates, and other illustrations that are printed by contractors, not by the government printing office. the titles of illustrations that are reproduced by relief processes, such as zinc etching, half tone, and wax engraving, are printed at the government printing office from type, and proofs are submitted to the authors for examination. symbols used on maps. general features. more than 200 symbols have been used on maps to express 25 different kinds of data, a fact indicating at once a notable lack of uniformity and a need of standardization. it is of course impossible to provide a characteristic symbol that can be used uniformly for each kind of feature, and therefore the same symbol may be used on different maps to express different things. the symbols shown in plate ii are those most used on geologic maps. the symbols for dip and strike, fault lines, mine shafts, prospects, and several others are generally well known, but on some maps it may be necessary to modify a standard symbol to express additional distinctions. the symbols shown, however, will cover all the ordinary requirements of miscellaneous mapping. though the plate shows more than one symbol for some features the symbol most commonly used is given first and should be preferred. the center of each symbol should mark the location of the feature symbolized. symbols are not always platted with sufficient care. on small-scale maps they are difficult to locate and unless great care is taken in platting them they are likely to be several miles out of place. all symbols should be located precisely where they belong. the symbol showing dip and strike should be accurately platted by means of a protractor, so that the strike will be shown graphically, without a number and a degree mark, and not need replatting by a draftsman or engraver. the dip, however, should be indicated by a number and a degree mark. letter symbols. the letter symbols used on most geologic maps to indicate the ages and names of the formations represented consist of two or more letters--an initial capital letter for the name of the system and one or more lower-case letters for the name of the formation or of the material, as qt (quaternary--lower terrace deposits); cpv (carboniferous--pottsville formation); cok (cambrian-ordovician--knox dolomite), etc. the standard usage for this feature is shown in the geologic folios but is subject to modification in other publications. in preparing an original geologic map a letter symbol, such as has been just described, or a number should be put in the proper place in the explanation, and the same symbol or number should be repeated at one or more places on the map within the areas to which it refers. each area that is indicated by a color should be marked with the proper symbol in order to make its identification sure, for light colors especially are likely to fade and mixed colors can not be discriminated with certainty. [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate ii symbols used on geologic maps, economic maps and mine plans] oil and gas symbols. a complete set of symbols for maps showing oil and gas is given on plate ii. referring to these symbols the chief geologist, in a memorandum to the director, writes: the symbols used by the survey in its oil and gas maps have not been in accord with those used by the oil companies, nor have they been wholly logical. it appears that though they were submitted for recommendation they never have been formally approved. herewith i submit a code prepared by the geologists of the oil and gas section. they conform largely to commercial use and embrace its best features as well as the best and most logical features of our previous usage, the departures from which are, after all, of minor consequence. the symbols here submitted [see pi. ii] with recommendation for approval are founded on a building-up system, so that the history and the results of drilling at any location can be recorded by slight additions to symbol and without erasure. thus maps may be revised without scratching. in drawing these symbols the draftsman should make the rays of the gas well distinct and in adding the vertical bar or line showing that a hole is dry or abandoned should make it long enough to be distinct. it would be preferable to draw this bar obliquely, but an oblique position would coincide with some of the patterns on certain maps, and it should therefore be placed vertically. the vertical line indicates the failure or abandonment of the well, the symbol for which is thus scratched off or canceled by the line drawn through it. the symbols agree so far with commercial usage that oil men will have little need to consult the explanation. symbols for use on maps showing features of ground water. the symbols used on maps relating to ground water represent the features named below, each of which has been shown in publications already issued. area of absorption or outcrop. area that discharges ground water. depth to water table. quality of ground water. contours of water table. area irrigated with ground water. fluctuation of water table. nonflowing well. depth to water-bearing formation. flowing well. structure contours of water-bearing unsuccessful or dry well, formation. well with pumping plant. area of artesian flow. spring. head of artesian water. the lack of uniformity in the symbols commonly employed to represent these features is due to differences in the number of color on the maps and differences in the scale. standard colors for the larger features, such as those for areas of artesian flow, areas of absorption, and curves showing depths to water table or to water-bearing formations, can not be fixed, because of considerations of economy in printing. for example, if light green is the standard color to be used for delineating areas irrigated by ground water and no green is used on other parts of the map its use would represent an additional or special printing, whereas a tint of blue, brown, or purple, if any of these colors is used for other features on the map, might be used also for this feature without additional printing. therefore the general use of any particular color for a water feature seems to be impracticable; but this fact should not preclude the adoption of color standards for use subject to the requirements of economy in publication. the ordinary symbols for wells are the open circle and the solid circle, or dot. only in the secondary or specific well symbols does there appear to be lack of uniformity, the choice of secondary symbols being governed either by personal preference or by the requirements for specific distinction. all symbols should, if possible, suggest the things they represent. wells are circular and hence the open circle is most used and most appropriate for nonflowing wells. to indicate a flowing well the circle is made solid, denoting that the well is full of water. for an unsuccessful well the most suggestive symbol would be an open circle with a line drawn through it to denote cancellation. it has been suggested that if water features, including wells, are to be printed in blue, unsuccessful wells, or dry holes, be printed in black. a large circle drawn around the symbol for a flowing or nonflowing well will appropriately denote a pumping plant at the well. the accepted symbol for a spring is a dot with a waved tail representing the direction of flow, if known. this symbol can not be modified without destroying its prime characteristics, but it may be accompanied by a letter indicating the kind of spring. an open circle with a tail might be used on large-scale maps, but it would be out of scale on other maps, whereas the black or blue dot and tail will fit maps of any scale. the following colors and symbols can most appropriately be used to represent ground-water features. the well and spring symbols can be varied by adding letters if they are necessary to express other data than those indicated in the list below. _general ground-water features._ area of absorption or outcrop: flat color used on the map to show the geologic system in which the absorbing formation occurs. areas showing depths to water table: shades of purple and gray; if possible the shades showing the areas of least depth should be darkest and the shades should grade from those to lighter tints. contours of water table, or contours on water-bearing formations: gray or purple curves or lines. areas of artesian flow: blue flat tint, or fine ruling in blue. depth to water-bearing formations: gradation of a single color or of two related colors from dark for shallow depths to light for greater depths. nonflowing artesian areas (pumped wells): green flat tint, or fine ruling in green. depth to water-bearing formations shown by gradation of tint if possible from dark for shallow depths to light for greater depths. head of artesian water: blue curves or lines. areas that discharge ground water: blue flat tint, or fine ruling in blue. areas irrigated with ground water: green flat tint, or fine ruling in green. [illustration] well, character not indicated. [illustration] well, nonflowing. [illustration] well, flowing. [illustration] well, unsuccessful or dry. [illustration] well, nonflowing, with pumping plant [illustration] well, flowing, with pumping plant. [illustration] springs. [illustration] spring, thermal. [illustration] spring, mineral. the standard color scheme should be used if no conditions preclude its use, but if other colors can be used with greater economy without sacrificing clearness the use of the standard colors should be waived. black-line conventions. a complete set of the black-line patterns used to distinguish areas on a map is given in plate viii (p. 60), and their application to a finished drawing is shown in figure 9 (p. 62). these patterns, however, should preferably not be used by the author in his preliminary work on an illustration. for this purpose water colors or colored crayons are preferable, and the distinctions between areas may be emphasized by letter symbols. materials used in preparing maps. paper. for large and important maps which may at some time be extended to cover a greater area or which may be made to fit maps already prepared or published the paper used should be mounted on muslin to reduce to a minimum the shrinking or stretching caused by atmospheric changes. pure white paper produces a better negative than a cream or yellowish paper and will retain its color longer, but all papers become more yellow with age and exposure to light. the following brands of paper are used in the survey in the preparation of maps: "normal" k. & e., unmounted. has an excellent surface and comes in flat sheets, 19 by 24, 22 by 30, and 27 by 40 inches. "paragon" k. & e., mounted on muslin. in 10-yard rolls 72 inches wide. used in the survey for large office drawings and maps of large scale. "anvil" k. & e., mounted on muslin. in 10-yard rolls 42, 62, and 72 inches wide. used in the survey for large drawings. "whatman's hot pressed," unmounted or mounted on muslin. in sheets ranging in size from 13 by 17 to 31 by 53 inches. an excellent paper for maps. the muslin-backed paper is recommended for use in preparing large detailed maps and base maps that are to be retained as permanent records. the muslin provides a durable and flexible backing that permits the map to be rolled, and paper thus mounted is particularly serviceable for a map which may be subjected to considerable revision and to which must be added finally a title, explanation, and other marginal matter. "ross's relief hand-stipple drawing paper." a stiff enameled or chalk-coated paper whose surface has been compressed into minute points that stand in slight relief so that a shade made on it with pencil or crayon is broken up into dots and can be reproduced by photo-engraving. for use in making shaded drawings, drawings showing relief by light and shade, etc. similar paper is prepared for parallel-line and other pattern effects. in sheets ranging in size from 11 by 14 to 22 by 28 inches. (see p. 51 for method of using.) profile and cross-section paper. in sheets of convenient sizes or in rolls. bears lines printed in blue, green, red, or orange, in many kinds of rulings, which may be selected by reference to catalogues. profile and cross-section paper printed in orange is recommended for preliminary drawings; blue is recommended for drawings that are made in pencil and submitted for inking in. bristol board. for the smaller maps, such as key maps and maps less than 18 by 24 inches, and for small drawings made for direct reproduction, reynolds's bristol board is recommended on account of its pure-white color and its hardness, which permits erasures to be made without affecting redrawing over the corrected area. it is obtained in 2-ply, 3-ply, and 4-ply sheets. the 2-ply and 3-ply are especially useful in making delicate brush and pencil drawings and pen and ink drawings. the sizes used in the survey are 16-1/2 by 20-3/4, 18-1/4 by 22-3/8, and 21-1/2 by 28-3/4 inches. tracing linen. tracing cloth or linen is especially useful for large work that will require considerable reduction. (see p. 18.) its advantages are that a tracing that has been carefully made on it over any kind of copy for direct reproduction by a photo-engraving process can be used for making a paper negative for contact printing or blue printing. on the other hand, it is susceptible to atmospheric changes that affect scale, and the lines traced on it are not reproduced as sharply as those made on paper. it can be obtained in rolls 30 to 54 inches wide. erasures should be made on tracing linen with a hard rubber eraser, not with a sand rubber or a steel eraser. inks. the best drawing inks are in liquid form, ready for use. they should be waterproof and equal to the grade known as higgins's waterproof ink. when a suitable waterproof blue ink can not be obtained, a good blue for features of drainage can be made by dissolving a half pan of winsor & newton's prussian blue in water. no good waterproof burnt sienna ink seems to be obtainable, but a good substitute can be made by dissolving winsor & newton's water color of that name. ink lines should be drawn in full strength of color--lines that should be black must not appear grayish, for example--and pens should be kept clean. the same pen should not be used for applying two inks, as the mixture thus produced is likely to thicken or coagulate on the pen. a little black should be added to colored inks that are used in making drawings to be reproduced in colors in order to strengthen the lines for photographic reproduction. drawing pens. the pens made by keuffel & esser, especially their no. 3202, and gillott's nos. 291, 290, 170, and 303 give complete satisfaction. the gillott numbers are given in the order of fineness of the points. no. 291 being the finest. the best cleaner for a drawing pen is a piece of chamois skin. pencils. pencils used for drawing should have leads of a quality equal to those of the koh-i-noor brand, in which the grades of hardness are indicated by 3b, 2b, b, hb, f, h, 2h, 3h, 4h, 5h, 6h, 7h, 8h, and 9h; the softest grade is 3b and the hardest 9h. the grades most generally used are b, hb, f, 4h, and 6h. rubber erasers and cleaners. two kinds of rubber erasers are usually employed in making erasures on drawings--a hard, dense rubber like the "ruby," and a soft, pliable rubber like the "venus" or "h" (hardtmuth). the soft rubber is also useful for cleaning large surfaces. art gum is also recommended for this purpose and has the advantage of not disturbing the surface of the paper. colored pencils and crayons. colored pencils and crayons are useful only for coloring preliminary maps. they are not recommended for use on maps that are to be kept for reference or to be submitted for reproduction, because the colors rub off, but they can be used on photographic prints of base maps or on transparent oversheets, for which the unglazed side of tracing cloth is well suited. when they are so used register marks should be added at numerous points on the map and the oversheet, including the four comers, the color boundaries should be drawn or traced, and finally the colors should be added. two or more colors should not be used on any one area to modify a tone, but each area should be colored with a separate crayon. patterns or designs should not be used except to strengthen contrasts, and for that purpose a pattern may be drawn with a black pencil over a color. water colors. by dilution to half strength some of the standard water colors will yield a tint or hue that will contrast with other tints or hues produced in the same way quits as well as undiluted or full colors will contrast with one another. the colors named below, except chrome-yellow and emerald-green, are among those that when diluted will afford satisfactory contrasts among themselves and with their full colors and are recommended for use in coloring original maps. mauve. hooker's green no. 2. crimson lake. emerald-green. orange-vermilion. payne's gray. burnt sienna. lampblack. cadmium-yellow. sepia. chrome-yellow. cerulean blue. olive-green. other pigments spread better than cerulean blue and emerald-green, but the exceptional purity of color of these two seems to warrant their use. japanese transparent water colors. japanese transparent water colors, so called, are used by some geologists. they spread evenly and are convenient for field use, but they can not be washed out like other water colors, so that when they are once applied to an area and a change of color becomes necessary they must be bleached out. a good bleach is sodium hypochlorite, which should be applied with a brush until the color disappears, and the area dried with a blotter before recoloring. light tints of these colors are believed to be somewhat fugitive if exposed to strong light. coloring geologic maps. the colors used on most original maps are not pleasing, a fact that is of no particular importance, but--and this is of importance--they often fail to give clear distinctions; the separate areas can not always be identified or distinguished with certainty. again, some colors are fugitive, and when laid on in light tints they disappear entirely or become uncertain. much of the difficulty in identifying and discriminating colors on an author's original maps is due to the promiscuous mixing of colors. many persons can not match or discriminate mixed or broken colors. hence if the supply of a color produced by mixing becomes exhausted and the attempt is made to duplicate it by a second mixture the two will probably fail to match. it is therefore suggested that colors in full strength and colors diluted to half strength be used instead of mixtures of two or more pigments, so that one color in two strengths or tones can be employed to indicate areas that are to be distinguished. the colors listed on page 26 will give 24 satisfactory distinctions and will thus supply all demands for map coloring. to insure satisfactory contrasts between colored areas on a map, unlike colors should be placed next to each other--that is, colors should be placed together that are widely separated in the spectrum, such as yellow and mauve, red and green, blue and orange, burnt sienna and olive-green; not such as red and orange, blue and purple, orange and yellow, sepia and burnt sienna. a sufficient quantity of water and color pigment to be used for one formation area on a map should be stirred in a saucer until the desired tint is produced before it is applied. to maintain the same tone properly the color should be well stirred every time the brush is filled; if it is not stirred the brush will on the next dipping take up a lighter tint, because most pigments, especially those derived from minerals, tend to precipitate. when the colors are applied the map should preferably be placed in a slightly inclined position, and the coloring should be started at the upper boundaries of an area to be colored, the well-filled brush being pulled toward the painter and worked rapidly back and forth horizontally, the edges of the fresh color being kept wet. if the edges are allowed to dry, a hard line and a smeared or uneven effect will be produced. a strong color should generally be used for small areas unless the map shows also large areas that must have the same color; lighter hues should be used for large areas. bright colors are best suited for areas of igneous rocks, dikes, and veins, and these may be reduced in strength for the larger areas. the survey's color scheme (see p. 63) need not be applied at this stage of preparation, except in the most general way. appropriate final colors can be best selected when the new map is made ready for engraving. in the author's original maps adequate color distinctions between areas are more important than the use of standard geologic colors. patterns should not be ruled in one color on an original map to indicate distinctions between different formations of the same age or period, because such patterns are difficult to produce by hand with proper uniformity except by engraving. it is of vital importance that an original base map should be free from colors and from technical symbols in order that it may be kept clean for photographing and preserved for possible future use. such a map should preferably be photographed in order to obtain prints on which to add the colors and symbols; the use of an oversheet for this purpose is not nearly so satisfactory. when photographed a base map should be reduced to publication scale in order to save the additional cost of a larger negative, and this reduced map may be made up for publication by the addition of colors and symbols, title, explanation, etc.; but the lithographer will also need the original base map from which to make his reproduction. diagrams. essential features. the term "diagrams," as used here, includes such illustrations as mine plans, profiles, sections, stereograms, and maps that are more diagrammatic than cartographic. the first essential in the original drawings for simple diagrams is clearness of copy. simplicity of subject does not warrant hasty preparation, for an original sketch that has been carelessly drawn and is inaccurate or inconsistent in detail may lead to serious errors. ruled paper printed especially for platting profiles and cross sections should be used. curves or graphs made by an author with pencil on blue-lined section paper may be inked by more skillful draftsmen. an author's pencil sketches are usually satisfactory if they indicate plainly the facts to be represented, but they should be prepared with some care as to detail. tables and like matter are not generally satisfactory material from which to prepare drawings. in drawings for diagrams that are to be printed in the text as figures the use of large, solid black bars or of conspicuous areas of solid black is objectionable, because the black is likely to print gray and to appear uneven in tone. ruled tints or cross lining give better effects. stereograms should be prepared by an author with especial care, for they represent facts only as the author sees them, and the author's view must be imparted to the draftsman graphically. the "third dimension"--the relief--in such drawings is not easily expressed and should be brought out clearly in the author's rough sketches. for illustrations of apparatus photographs are preferred, but if rough sketches are submitted they should show not only correct relations but all dimensions. plans of mine workings. blue prints obtained from mining companies are acceptable for plans of mines or underground workings, but all unnecessary or irrelevant details on such plans must be canceled and all essential features retained, and every essential feature, especially any added data, must be clearly interpretable. many such blue prints are so large and unwieldy that they must be greatly reduced by photography before they can be redrawn. if the lines are too weak to photograph, a tracing of the essential parts can be made and reduced to about twice publication size. the shadowless drafting table, described on pages 47-48, is well adapted to the work of making such tracings. blue prints can also be pantographed to any convenient size if the details are not too minute or complex. [illustration: figure 2.--conventional lines used in preparing plans and diagrams of mine workings to distinguish different levels.] the levels in plans of underground workings can be differentiated in finished drawings by a system of conventional outlines in black, as shown in figure 2, by conventional patterns or symbols within plain outlines, or by colors. such plans should not be printed in colors unless the maze of workings is so complex that lines showing the different levels would become confused or obscure if printed in black. sections. the standard forms of geologic sections are shown in the geologic folios. structure sections should be prepared with great care as to detail but without attempt at refinement of lines and lettering. the author's drawing of a section along a line or zone that is not definitely indicated by a line on an accompanying map should be so prepared that it may be copied exactly. on the other hand, the draftsman, in reproducing a section that represents the structure along a given line or zone, may be able to make the outcrops coincide with the topography and the formation boundaries shown on the map, but the structure, or the interpretation of it to be given, should be carefully worked out by the author. all essential facts relating to bedding, folding, faulting, crosscutting dikes and veins, or other significant details should be indicated with precision. no attempt need be made to draw firm, steady lines so long as the essential facts are clearly expressed. all sections should be drawn to scale, and both the vertical and the horizontal scale should be given on the drawing. these scales should be uniform if possible, or at least the vertical exaggeration should be minimized. too great vertical exaggeration creates distortion and is grossly misleading. sections should be drawn to scale on ruled paper prepared for the use of authors. such paper may be obtained on requisition. [illustration: figure 3.--section and perspective view showing relations of surface features to the different kinds of rock and the structure of the beds.] a kind of cross section which is not often used but which gives a more pictorial and clearer conception of underground relations than other kinds is made by adding a sketch of the topography above the section. this sketch should be a perspective view, in which the prominent features shown hypothetically in the section below it will be reflected in the topography. such a sketch might show, for example, not only monoclinal slopes, "hogbacks" due to steeply upturned beds, terraces, escarpments, and like features, but volcanic necks or other extruded masses in their true relations to the underground geology of the country. (see fig, 3.) in submitting the draft of such an illustration the author should, if possible, submit also a sketch or photographs of the adjacent country and indicate on the section the point of view by notes such as "sketch a made at this point," "see photograph b." the sketch will be more useful if it is prepared on a scale consistent with the details of the section. it may be made with a pencil and should show as well as possible the relations of the features in the landscape to those in the section. some good examples of illustrations of this type can be found in powell's "exploration of the colorado river," pages 182-193. one simpler figure of the same kind is given on the cover of the geologic folios. in preparing original drawings representing columnar sections, or sections in wells or ravines, the author should indicate all well-defined or important local features of structure, such as cross-bedding, ore bodies, or lenses. if there are no unusual features or details, the subdivisions need be identified only by names of materials, such as "thin-bedded limestone," or "slates with some coal," the coal beds being shown. the sections should, however, be so plotted and subdivided by the author that each section or group of sections will be complete in its crude form. the compilation of various parts into one unit and the construction of columnar sections by reference to tables alone is an essential part of the author's original preparation. [illustration: figure 4.--sections of coal beds. the figure shows the publications size and the arrangement at the sections. each section should be drawn three-tenths or four-tenths of an inch wide and reduced one-half. thicknesses can be indicated by numbers, as shown on sections 1 and 10, or by bar scale.] sections designed to show the relative thickness of beds of coal, arranged in groups for publication either as plates or figures, should be drawn in columns three or four tenths of an inch wide and reduced one-half, as shown in figure 4. these sections, whether correlated or not, should be drawn to some definite vertical scale and should show the thickness of the coal beds, preferably by numbers indicating feet and inches, the other material being symbolized and the symbols explained graphically, as shown in figure 4. the vertical scale should always be stated for the use of the draftsman. a bar scale may be used instead of figures showing the dimensions of the individual beds. lithologic symbols. the symbols used to indicate the various kinds of rocks illustrated in sections and diagrams are shown in plate iii. the units or elements of these symbols may be spaced more openly in generalized diagrammatic sections than in sections that show great detail. symbols should be used consistently throughout a report, and in order to make them consistent a set showing the symbol to be used for each kind of rock to be indicated should be prepared before the original drawings are made. some inconsistencies may be unavoidable on account of the small size of some areas shown and the contrast needed between others; but the deviations from the set of symbols adopted should be minimized. use of photographs as illustrations. essential features. the foundation of a good photographic print is a good negative, and the best prints for reproduction as illustrations are those made from negatives in which the illumination is evenly distributed and the details are sharp--such negatives as are obtainable only by the use of small stops and correct focusing. a good print should not present too sharp contrasts between its dark and its light parts; if it does, the printed reproduction will show a loss of detail in both. sufficiency of detail depends largely on focus, stopping down, and timing; brilliancy is the direct result of ample illumination by sun or artificial light, without which a photograph will be dull or "flat" and generally unsatisfactory for reproduction. bad weather may prevent good field exposures, yet even in bad weather acceptable negatives may be obtained by judicious focusing, stopping down, and timing. if a negative is overexposed it may be full of detail, but flat and too thin to print well. if underexposed it will show no details in its lighter parts and the shadows will be black; and a black shadow is nothing less than a blemish. some detail should appear in all shadows and in the middle tones, and some should appear in the high lights; and a print in which these are evenly developed and in which the illumination is distributed uniformly is technically perfect. unfortunately not all field photographs are good, so an author must select from his collection those which will make the best half tones. in making this selection he should of course consider, first, the scientific value of the photograph, and next, its pictorial or artistic quality, which, though of secondary importance, should nevertheless be kept in mind. a feature worthy of illustration deserves good pictorial expression; if it is of superior scientific interest it should not be represented by an inferior photograph. fortunately, a good, accurate drawing may be made from a poor photograph, and a photographic view that has only minor defects can be successfully retouched. photographs that need much retouching should generally be larger than publication size, for the effects of retouching--brush marks, etc.--will be softened by reduction. photographs that need only slight retouching need not be larger than publication size. a photograph can rarely be satisfactorily enlarged in reproduction unless it is sharp in detail and requires no retouching. [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations. plate iii. lithologic symbols used in structure and columnar sections to represent different kinds of rock] unmounted prints are always preferable for use in making illustrations. a group that is to form a single plate should be placed in an envelope bearing the number of the plate and its title, and each print of the group should bear a corresponding number, written in pencil on its back. the envelope will protect the prints and keep them together, and the numbers will identify them. red ink should not be used to mark photographs, as it is likely to penetrate the coating or even the fiber of the paper, so that it can not be erased. if a print is of doubtful quality two copies of it should be submitted--one glazed, the other having a dead finish or "mat" surface, which is generally preferable if the print must be considerably retouched. the best prints for use as illustrations are those made on "regular" or "special" semimat velox and glossy haloid papers. the author should indicate prints that may be grouped together according to their relation geographically or by subject. generally two half tones will be combined on a page, and the list of illustrations should be prepared accordingly. with slight trimming and reduction, three photographs measuring 3-1/4 by 5-1/2 inches may be made up one above the other to form a full-page octavo plate. four photographs in which the longer dimensions represent vertical distances may sometimes be used if they are placed sidewise on the page, with side titles. some photographs may be reduced to the width of a page by trimming instead of by photographic reduction, which may involve loss of detail. the author should clearly indicate the extent of such trimming as they may bear without loss of essential details. the trimming is best done during the final preparation. a line should not be drawn across a photograph to mark such trimming, but the position of the line or lines should be indicated either on temporary mounts, on the backs of the prints, or by a statement, such as "one inch may be cut off on right, one-fourth inch on left, and one-half inch at bottom." copyrighted photographs. section 4965 (ch. 3, title 60) of the revised statutes, amended by act of march 2, 1895 (stat. l., vol. 28, p. 965), provides that no copyrighted photograph may be used without the consent of the proprietor of the copyright in writing signed in the presence of two witnesses. a penalty of $1 is imposed for every sheet on which such a photograph is reproduced without consents, "either printing, printed, copied, published, imported, or exposed for sale." an author should therefore obtain the written consent of the owner of a copyrighted photograph to use it, and the letter giving this consent should be submitted with the illustration. sources of photographs. every photograph submitted with a manuscript should bear a memorandum giving the name of the photographer or the owner of the negative. if the negative is in the survey's collection that fact should be stated, as "neg. keith 318." the survey receives many requests for copies of photographs that have been reproduced as illustrations in its publications, and replies to these requests will be facilitated if the survey's number or the source of each photograph presented for use as an illustration is stated as above on the photograph. lending original photographs and drawings. a photograph that has been used in making a half-tone cut for a survey report can not be lent, but if the negative is on file a print can be furnished at cost; and a survey drawing that is well preserved can be photographed and a print furnished, also at cost. requests for such prints should be addressed to the director. unpublished photographs. the survey can not issue a copy of an unpublished photograph except upon the written approval or requisition of the person under whose name the negative is filed. this requirement does not apply to a print needed for official use, nor to a print made from an old negative reserved under the name of any present member of the survey or from a negative that has been released by the person under whose name it is filed. authors using survey photographs in unofficial publications are requested to acknowledge the source of the photograph by adding to the printed title such a statement as "photograph by u. s. geological survey (david whits)." specimens. general requirements. specimens other than fossils that are to be illustrated in a report should be photographed before they are submitted, but the requisition for the photographs should be initialed by the chief illustrator, who will indicate the kinds of prints needed. duplicate photographs of the specimens should be made up into temporary plates by the author and submitted with his other illustrations, the specimens being retained subject to call, if needed, when the illustrations are finally prepared. should a colored illustration of a specimen be needed, however, the specimen must be submitted with the report, and a different kind of print, preferably one made on platinum or other special paper, will be obtained by the section of illustrations. borrowed and fragile specimens. in submitting specimens to be illustrated an author should call attention to those that have been borrowed and to those that are fragile. borrowed specimens will receive first attention, so that they may be returned promptly. transmittal of paleontologic specimens. all requests for paleontologic illustrations should be addressed to the director. the letter of transmittal should state the title of the paper, the form of publication desired (bulletin, professional paper, or monograph), and the status of the manuscript, whether completed or in preparation. if the paper is unfinished an estimate of the number of illustrations required should be given, and the special reasons for prompt preparation should be fully stated. a letter transmitting a second or third lot of fossils should refer to the preceding lot or lots if all the fossils are to be used in illustrating the same paper. fossils that are to be drawn should be sent directly to the section of illustrations, but those that are to be photographed and require unusual posing or that are extremely delicate and valuable may be sent directly to the photographic laboratory to avoid repeated handling. each specimen or, if it is very small, each box or bottle containing a specimen should be numbered, and each lot should be accompanied by a list giving their names and numbers. full instructions as to size of reproduction, together with sketches showing the point of view preferred and any special features to be displayed should also be submitted. all specimens that show strong colors and all groups of specimens that are not uniform in color will be coated by holding them in the vapor of ammonium chloride unless directions to the contrary are given by the author of the paper. as it may not be desirable to apply this process to soft or fragile specimens or to specimens that have been borrowed an author should indicate any specimens that may not be so treated. specimens whose color aids in revealing detail are not so coated. if any features of a specimen are unusual that fact should be stated so that the photographer and the retoucher may perform their work according to the requirements. making up plates. two or more illustrations may be combined to form one plate in order to permit easy and close comparison as well as for economy, for if a particular illustration is too small to make a full plate and is not suitable for enlargement other illustrations that are closely related to it may be put on the same plate. the size of the printed page as given in the table on page 11 will determine the size of the plate. in making up plates composed of a number of figures the author should endeavor to group related figures together and at the same time to observe proper regard for artistic effect, but as figures vary in size and shape a grouping according to relations may not be possible in some plates. if related figures can not be kept together the larger and darker figures should be placed in the lower part of the plate and the smaller and lighter above. if a plate consists of one large figure and several smaller ones the large figure should be placed below and the smaller figures above. a number designating a figure should be placed immediately below the figure, and a series of such numbers should preferably begin with 1 in the upper left corner and continue consecutively across and down through the plate. this arrangement is not always possible, however, on account of variations in the size of figures. as drawings of fossils or other specimens are prepared separately and grouped into plates, and as most paleontologists make up their own plates, each in his own way, there is naturally great dissimilarity in methods and in results. ordinary white or light-gray cardboard should be used, and the figures that are to make up a plate should be arranged as stated above but not securely pasted until the grouping is satisfactory. in trimming each drawing or photograph the author should be careful to leave room at its lower edge for the number. small drawings or photographs, such as paleontologists use, when pasted on bristol board or other board faced with tough paper are difficult or impossible to remove without injury if they have to be remounted; figures pasted on ordinary white or gray cardboard can be removed without difficulty. each plate should be made up in a size to fit the volume or in its correct proportion to a page in the volume in which it is to be used (see table on p. 11), and each figure should be properly oriented--that is, all vertical lines, or the vertical axis of each specimen, should be parallel with the sides of the plate. when the figures are being mounted care should be taken that the mucilage or paste does not exude under pressure and cover any part of the drawing or photograph. the same attention should be given to pasting on numbers. inattention to these details may produce results that will affect the reproduction of the plates. ordinary mucilage may be used for mounting drawings and photographs, but photo paste gives good results and is perhaps cleaner to handle. dry-mounting tissue is well adapted to mounting single illustrations but not groups of figures. liquid rubber is sometimes used, but it is not suitable for mounting small figures, such as drawings and photographs of fossils. it can be used satisfactorily for mounting temporary plates and for mounting photographs in albums and on large cards for study or exhibition; but it has not proved to be a permanent adhesive. its special merit is that it does not cause either the photograph or the mounting sheet to warp. it is applied by spreading it evenly over the back of the photograph with the fingers. the superfluous rubber can easily be removed from the hands and from the cards or sheets when it is dry. anything mounted with liquid rubber can be easily removed. if a plate is to be made up of a small number of figures that require different reductions, the author, instead of mounting or pasting the separate figures on one card in the manner already indicated, may draw a rectangle of the size of the printed plate and sketch within it the several figures in their respective sizes and positions. these "dummy" plates or layouts should be numbered as plates, and they may bear captions and titles. the photographs or drawings represented by the sketches should then be numbered to identify them with the sketches on the dummy plate, and those that pertain to each plate should be inclosed in an envelope attached to the dummy plate. a plate made up in this manner will meet every requirement of the photo-engraver or lithographer. if a paleontologist so desires, his plates can be permanently made up after he has transmitted his material, but he should always submit a tentative arrangement. reuse of illustrations. if an author desires to use in modified form an illustration already published, whether by the geological survey or by an outside publisher, he should furnish a print or tracing of the illustration showing the changes desired. if the illustration is not to be modified he need only give the title of the volume in which it was used, with the number of the page, figure, or plate, and he need not make a sketch of the illustration or furnish a dummy; but its title should be quoted and proper reference should be given in the list of illustrations. due credit should be given to the author or publisher. the original cuts of illustrations will be kept for one year after the report for which they were made has been published, and authors of later reports may and should reuse, whenever practicable, any such cut that will serve as an illustration. in the author's list of illustrations such a cut should be referred to by its number as plate or figure and the volume in which it was first used. an electrotype of any cut on hand will be furnished for use in publications other than those of the geological survey at the cost of making, which is 3-1/2 to 5-1/2 cents a square inch of printing surface. the minimum charge for a single electrotype ranges from 46 to 60 cents. approval of finished illustrations. after the drawings for a report have been prepared they will be submitted to the author or to the chief of his branch or division for examination. the finished drawings will be accompanied by the "originals," with which the author should carefully and thoroughly compare them. after making a thorough comparison he should mark lightly with a pencil, on the finished drawings, all necessary corrections, or indicate his approval subject to such corrections and additions as may be required. he should verify all type matter and other lettering and assure himself that no mistakes have been made in grouping the photographs into plates, especially such as have been regrouped since they left his hands. the author's list of illustrations will be submitted with the new drawings for this purpose. revision of illustrations. all illustrations receive editorial revision before they are sent to the engravers. after they are drawn they are examined with reference to their scientific features and their accuracy, and then in turn with reference to the correctness of geologic names and geographic names and to errors in statement and in spelling. each illustration thus, before it is completed, receives critical examination by persons qualified in particular kinds of work to detect errors or omissions. submittal of proofs. the first proofs of all illustrations are submitted to an author when he is within reach, but if he is in the field and the transmittal of the proofs to him is likely to cause too much delay they are submitted to the chief of the branch or division in which the report was prepared. second proofs of the more complicated illustrations, particularly geologic maps, may be submitted. an author's examination should be confined principally to the revision of the scientific features of his illustrations, but suggestions as to general effectiveness are always acceptable. the process to be used in engraving each illustration is stamped in its lower left corner. in examining proofs an author should note the following facts: 1. changes can not be made in zinc etchings except by eliminating parts, cutting away defects, and connecting lines. if additions are required reengraving is generally necessary, and reengraving should preferably be avoided. 2. changes can be made in half-tone plates only by re-etching certain parts to make them lighter and by burnishing certain parts to make them darker. if the proof shows a general loss of detail the fault may lie either in the proving of the cut or in the reproduction. if it is in the reproduction it can not be remedied without reengraving. a slight loss of detail may be expected in all half tones, especially in those that are smaller than the copy submitted. 3. minor changes can be made in photolithographs and chromolithographs, but changes can not be made twice in one place without danger of affecting the printing. it is customary to approve all lithographic proofs subject to the corrections indicated, the printed edition being examined and compared, but if the changes are numerous and radical second proofs may be required. second combined proofs of chromolithographs are very expensive. (see p. 89.) proof reading illustrations. an author should examine the proofs of his illustrations closely and should compare them carefully with the original drawings. a mere cursory examination may fail to detect errors that have not been caught by the regular proof reader. every correction desired should be clearly indicated with pen and ink in the body of the proof and inclosed in a loop from which a line should be carried to a marginal note or comment, but if the time available is short a pencil may be used. in correcting type matter or lettering (such as that in a geologic legend or explanation) the ordinary proof reader's marks should be used. the author or the person examining the proofs should initial each one at the place indicated by a rubber stamp. proofs should be held only long enough to examine them properly and to compare them with the original illustrations, for a time limit is fixed in each contract for engraving, and if the author holds proofs beyond a reasonable time he causes a delay in the fulfillment of the contract. as the illustrations for many reports contain important data that will be discussed in the text, proofs of illustrations can not be supplied to any applicant without consent from the director's office. general considerations. the following requirements are essential to obtain good original illustrations: 1. the material selected should be pertinent and expressive; it should have the qualities essential to good illustrations. 2. the character of the report and the size of the illustrations should be kept clearly in mind. if the report is preliminary or ephemeral the illustrations should be simple and inexpensive. if the report represents the sum of knowledge on the subject treated or the last word on some particular area the illustrations may be more elaborate. the character of a report generally determines the form of publication, which, in turn, determines the size of the pages and the size of the plates and figures. every sketch made should be larger than publication size--preferably twice publication size--whether it is a simple diagram or a base map. 3. the kind of reproduction that is apparently needed should be fully considered, for it should have some relation to the kind of report. the illustrations for short-lived reports are reproduced by the cheaper processes. those for hurried reports are reproduced by processes that can be worked quickly, but no process should be considered that will not give a clear reproduction of essential details. 4. clearness of preparation of original matter is invariably essential. an author should not expect the draftsmen or the editors to supply missing links. each original should be complete and should be so made that it can be understood and followed without question. changes made in the finished drawings or on proof sheets are expensive and delay publication. part ii. preparation by draftsmen. general directions. the work of preparing illustrations such as are used in the reports of the geological survey is essentially that of making finished drawings from more or less crude and imperfect material furnished by authors to illustrate certain features or phenomena discussed in their manuscripts. each finished drawing must be so prepared that it can be reproduced in multiple by one of several processes of engraving. the author's sketches and other material are commonly called "originals"; the finished illustrations are known by the engravers as "copy." though most engraver's copy consists of more or less elaborate drawings that are to be reproduced in facsimile by "direct" processes without the interposition of handwork, some of it consists of more roughly prepared copy which is accurate in statement but requires complete manual or "indirect" reproduction. the direct processes in use are zinc etching, half-tone engraving, photolithography, three-color half tone, photogravure, and photogelatin. the manual or indirect processes are wax engraving, wood engraving, engraving on copper and on stone, plain lithography, and chromolithography. these processes are described on pages 72-90. part i of this pamphlet contains some matter that is pertinent to final preparation and should be consulted by draftsmen. to prepare a drawing that will be in every way suitable for reproduction usually requires experience of a kind not acquired in many other kinds of drafting, such as preparing engineers' or architects' drawings, because the drawings themselves or blue prints made directly from them are the things the engineer or the architect desires. drawings prepared for reproduction are generally made larger than publication size, and it is therefore necessary to gage each line, letter, or feature for a definite reduction. engineers' and architects' drawings generally do not require preparation for reproduction by any process, but in preparing illustrations for the reports of the geological survey reproduction must be fully considered at every step, and each drawing must be made according to the requirements of a certain selected process and gaged for a certain reduction. the draftsman should therefore know how to plan each drawing step by step for an engraved cut, a lithograph, a text figure, or a plate, always with a definite result in view. he should be familiar with processes of engraving and should know the special requirements of each process, and he should be able to prepare drawings for any specified reduction in a way to insure good, legible reproduction. the geologic draftsman should read and study such textbooks of geology as those of dana and geikie and should familiarize himself with structural geology, the geologic time divisions, and geologic nomenclature. he should be able to prepare a simple, effective illustration from complicated rough originals and to supply minor missing essential parts or features. to perform his work successfully he must possess mechanical skill and some artistic taste, as well as good eyesight and great patience. instruments. the following list of draftsmen's instruments is practically complete. those which are considered indispensable are marked by asterisks; the others may be used according to individual preference. the same kind of instrument may be duplicated in different sizes according to the variation in the demands of the work. air brush and connections. pens, payzant's, 1 set. beam compass. *pencils, best quality, graded bow pen, drop spring. leads. *bow pen, steel spring. *protractor. bow pencil, steel spring. railroad curves, pearwood, 1 set. *brushes, red sable. railroad pen. china saucers. *railroad pencil. *color box. reading glass. *compass, pen and pencil points. *reducing glass. crayons, assorted colors. *ruling pen. curve rule, adjustable. scale, boxwood, 12 inches long, *dividers, plain. with divisions of millimeters *dividers, proportional. and inches. dividers, steel spring. scales, boxwood, triangular. drawing boards, several sizes. section liner (parallel ruling eraser, glass. device). *eraser, rubber, hard. straightedge, steel, 24 inches. *eraser, rubber, soft. straightedge, steel, 36 inches, *eraser, steel. with divisions for hundredths erasing shield. of an inch and millimeters. *french curves, xylonite. *straightedge, wood, 24 inches. microscope, low power and swivel or curve pen. lenses. thumb tacks. palette knife. tracing point, steel. pantograph. *triangle, 45â°. pens, double-pointed. *triangle, 60â°. *pens, gillott's, nos. 170, *t square, pearwood, xylonite edge. 290, 291. *tweezers, dentist's. pens, k. & e., drawing. no. 3202. classification of material. the draftsman handling the drawings and other original material submitted by the author of a report for its illustration should first group them, as far as possible, into kinds or classes, in order that he may decide how each illustration should be prepared (1) to express most effectively the author's purpose, (2) to insure reasonable economy in preparation and in reproduction, and (3) to meet the requirements of the processes of reproduction selected. all similar illustrations for one publication should be prepared in the same general style. in a series of geologic sections, for example, the same lithologic symbols should be used throughout for the same kinds of rocks. the titles, explanations, and captions of the maps should also agree with one another in general style and in details of workmanship. the draftsman should determine in advance the reduction for each drawing or for each group of drawings, in order that he may use the same size of letters or the same kinds of type for the lettering on a series of drawings that require the same reduction. the reduction should preferably be marked in fractions (as "1/2 off," "1/4 off" or "reduce 1/2," "reduce 1/4"), and the choice of the same reduction for a group of drawings will not only insure greater uniformity in the drafting and in the reproduction but will permit the drawings to be reproduced more economically, for the engraver can photograph them in groups instead of each one separately. the draftsman should therefore note and consider (1) the special features shown in the author's originals; (2) whether or not these features have been plainly indicated and whether the originals are complete; (3) the size of the printed page of the volume in which the illustrations will appear and the reduction required for each drawing; and (4) the process by which each drawing should be reproduced. if an original is of doubtful or uncertain interpretation or appears to be incomplete the draftsman should confer with the author of the paper if he is within reach or should bring the matter to the attention of the chief of the branch; otherwise he may waste much time in making the drawing. preparation of maps. projection. the base maps furnished by authors (see pp. 13-14) are prepared in many different ways and in different degrees of refinement and of crudity, but the work of redrawing them for reproduction involves well-established and generally uniform principles. all maps except those of very extensive areas should be based on a map projection which will show with a minimum of distortion the effect of the curvature of the earth. the polyconic projection (see fig. 5) is used for most government maps. in this projection the central meridian is a straight vertical line, and each parallel of latitude is developed independently of the others. the mathematical elements of map projection are given in tables published by the geological survey[6] and the coast and geodetic survey.[7] figure 5, however, illustrates the mechanical or constructional features of the polyconic projection and if used in connection with the published tables will probably be a sufficient guide for projecting a map on any desired scale. [footnote 6: gannett, s. s., geographic tables and formulas, 4th ed.: u. s. geol. survey bull. 650, 1916. see also gannett, henry, manual of topographic methods: u. s. geol. survey bull. 307, pp. 85-86, 1906.] [footnote 7: methods and results: tables for the projection of maps and polyconic development; appendix no. 6, report for 1884; tables for a polyconic projection of maps, based upon clarke's reference spheroid of 1886; 3d ed., 1910.] [illustration: figure 5.--diagram illustrating method of projecting a map.] in projecting a map first select a convenient measuring scale for setting off the dimensions given in the tables, or if no scale is at hand one may be constructed. measuring scales are made, however, bearing divisions for miles and kilometers and finer subdivisions of 6 to 100 parts. they include the ratios of 1:31,250, 1:31,680, 1:48,000, 1:62,500, 1:63,360, 1:125,000, 1:250,000, 1:500,000, 1:1,000,000, and others. on a map drawn on the scale of 1 to 63,360, for example, 1 inch would represent 1 mile; on a map drawn on the scale of 1 to 1,000,000, 1 millimeter would represent 1 kilometer, and so on. it will be seen that the use of a scale that shows in ratios, such as those just given, the actual distance on the ground as compared with the unit representing the same distance on the map will reduce the possibility of error. the method of projecting a map, illustrated in the accompanying diagram (fig. 5), is as follows: first draw a straight vertical line (a) through the middle of the sheet to represent the central meridian of the map and a line (b) at the lower end of this line exactly at right angles to it to represent the bottom of the map. then set off on the line showing the central meridian the distances between parallels given in table 6 on page 36 of "geographic tables and formulas" (bull. 650). it should be noted that the figures in these tables give the distance, in meters and statute miles, of 1â° on a meridian measured 30' each way from a point where the meridian is intersected by a parallel. the exact distances between parallels as measured on the ground are given in the coast and geodetic survey tables, or they may be computed from table 6 of "geographic tables and formulas" by adding the sum of the figures given for any two latitudes 1â° apart and dividing by 2. the distance between parallels that are 2â° apart, as shown in the diagram, may be computed from table 6 of "geographic tables and formulas," as follows: meters. meters. 1â° of latitude on 37th parallel = 100,975.1 / 2 = 55,487.5 1â° of latitude on 36th parallel = 110,956.2 1â° of latitude on 35th parallel = 110,937.6 / 2 = 55,468.8 --------true distance from 35â° to 37â° latitude = 221,912.5 the distances given in the diagram were obtained by adding the figures given in the coast and geodetic survey tables, which yield the same results. other tables in bulletin 650 give the true distances in inches on maps of certain standard scales. through the points thus obtained on the central meridian draw lines at right angles to the vertical line. along these horizontal lines lay off the dimensions in the column headed x, table 6 (pp. 39-47) of "geographic tables and formulas" as required for each individual map--in the diagram every alternate degree. draw vertical lines at these points and set off the distance y in the same table in a similar manner, and the points so found will be the points of intersection of the respective meridians and parallels. figures are given on the diagram for the thirty-fifth parallel only. details of base maps. anyone who attempts to draw a base map must, first of all, know how each feature or part of the map should be represented. most of the conventional symbols for features shown on base maps are well established and should invariably be used; for instance, a line composed of alternate long and short dashes (not dashes and dots) represents a county boundary, and a line or two parallel lines across which short lines are drawn at regular intervals represents a railroad. if he finds that two or more symbols have been widely used to represent the same feature the draftsman should select the one that is best suited to the map in hand. the correct forms of the conventional symbols or features to be used in preparing miscellaneous maps are shown in plate iv, but the size and weight of each line or symbol must depend on the size and character of the map. transferring of copying. tracing. the oldest method of transferring a map or parts of a map or other drawing to another sheet is that of copying it by means of tracing paper. this method, though still used for simple work, has given way to quicker and more effective methods. by one of these methods a piece of thin, fairly smooth paper (not necessarily transparent) is coated with graphite by rubbing over it a soft pencil. when the graphite has been evenly distributed over it, this sheet is laid upon the drawing paper, coated side down, the map or other subject to be copied is laid upon the graphite-coated sheet, and the two outer sheets--the drawing paper and the map--are securely fastened together. by a steel tracing point or very hard pencil the lines and other details of the matter to be copied are then firmly and carefully traced and thus transferred to the clean drawing paper beneath. for maps that show several features in different colors sheets rubbed with blue, orange, brown, or green pencils may be used, one after another, for tracing each set of the features. red should not be used, as it is not easily erased. this method insures distinctive lines for the separate features and prevents the confusion that might result from the use of one color only. exact register of the features shown in the several colors used may be insured by fastening one edge of the drawing to be copied to the drawing paper by mucilage or thumb tacks. the colored sheets may then be slipped in and out without altering the position of the lines or symbols for one set of data with relation to those for the others. in the final preparation of a base map to be engraved and printed in colors--for example, black, blue, and brown--tracings of the three colors appearing on the original base should generally be transferred, as described above, to one sheet of paper and thus worked up into a three-colored map. it is usually unnecessary and undesirable to draw each color on a separate sheet. the preparation of separate drawings may facilitate reproduction, but if they are made on tracing cloth the usual uneven shrinking or stretching of the cloth may produce misregister in the printing; therefore it is safer to make a single drawing, so that the photolithographer can make three negatives and separate the colors by painting out or "opaquing" the colors not wanted on each negative. a map drawn on a single sheet is also less bulky and can therefore be more conveniently handled and compared with proof. if for any reason separate tracings for the different colors to be used on a map are considered desirable they should be made on linen cut from one roll and in the same direction according to the warp and woof. celluloid transferring. in the celluloid method of transferring a map or parts of a map to paper upon which a complete new map is to be drawn the map or part of the map to be copied is photographed to the exact scale of the new drawing and reproduced in graphite on thin sheets of celluloid. the celluloid sheet is then laid face down in the correct position on the drawing paper and firmly rubbed on the back with a steel burnisher, which makes a perfect offset of the map on the paper. after the parts desired are inked over the rest of the graphite print is easily erased with an ordinary rubber. by using this method it is possible to get absolute scale and more satisfactory results than by tracing over a photographic print line for line or by using a pantograph. requisitions for celluloid prints are made on the form used for requesting photolithographic work. sketching by reticulation. if the sheet bearing the design or matter to be copied may be marred without objection it is ruled lightly into pencil squares of equal size. corresponding squares of the same size, larger, or smaller, according to the size of the new drawing, are then ruled on the drawing paper, and the work is sketched square by square. if the original sheet may not be marred the same result can be obtained by drawing the lines on a transparent oversheet. this method is serviceable for enlarging or reducing simple work that includes no great amount of detail; if great precision of detail is required the original should be enlarged or reduced by photography or by the pantograph. the "shadowless drafting table." one of the most useful contrivances that has been made for tracing a drawing on the same scale is called by its manufacturers the "shadowless drafting table." the essential features of this table are a wooden box inclosing strong incandescent lights and bearing a ground-glass top. a drawing placed on the ground glass can be so illuminated as to make its lines conspicuous and readily traceable even through relatively thick paper. the table is particularly useful for tracing sheets upon, which the lines are indistinct and would not be discernible under tracing paper with reflected light. it is also useful in preparing drawings in which certain features must register perfectly over each other. in fact any drawing that does not require enlarging or reducing can be traced with great facility by the use of this drafting table, and it is particularly useful for tracing faint lines on old and poorly preserved prints or drawings. such a table has been installed in the section of illustrations, where it can be used by authors and others. topographic features. relief. the effect of relief is expressed on a map by three methods--by contours, by hachures, and by shading. (see fig. 6.) the first method does not give pronounced pictorial expression of relief, though it gives correct shape and exact elevation; the others are mow pictorial, but they do not give exact elevation. _contours._--as contoured maps are originally prepared from actual surveys the draftsman should simply follow the copy furnished by the topographer or such original matter as may be given to him for redrawing. if the area mapped is large and the contours are close together the original may be transferred by celluloid tracing (see p. 47), or it may be transferred by tracing with graphite-coated paper (see p. 46). after the contour lines have been transferred they should be traced in ink, in lines of even thickness, except those that represent certain fixed intervals and are to be numbered, which should be made slightly thicker. (see fig. 6, a.) in drawing these lines some draftsmen use an ordinary ruling pen, others the swivel pen; but considerable practice is required in the use of either before it can be controlled to follow precisely the penciled lines. still other draftsmen use the shepard pen or an ordinary drawing pen. the swivel pen, if expertly handled, produces a firm and even line. italic numbers should be used to indicate the elevation of a contour and should be placed in an opening in the line, never between lines. where the lines run close together great care should be taken that they do not touch unless the interspaces are so narrow that they must touch and combine. the lines should be firm and even, and if the copy or original map shows that they are uniformly very close together it should be enlarged before the tracing is made in order to give more freedom in drawing; but if the enlarged map is to be much reduced care should be taken to make the lines proportionate to the reduction. a photo-engraving of a map on which the contour lines are drawn very close together is likely to be unsatisfactory because, though the spaces between the lines are reduced in width, the lines themselves may show no corresponding reduction in thickness. [illustration: figure 6.--methods of expressing relief: (a) by contour lines, (b) by hachures, (c) by shading on stipple board, and (d) by a brush drawing. the four examples given represent the same area. the drawings were made twice the size of the printed cuts.] certain contour lines are commonly accentuated on a map, generally every fourth or fifth line--that is, for a 10-foot interval every 50-foot line, for a 20-foot interval every 100-foot line, for a 25-foot interval every 100-foot line, for a 50-foot interval every 250-foot line, and for a 100-foot interval every 500-foot line. _hachuring._--the effect of relief can be produced satisfactorily by hachuring but only by a draftsman who has had considerable well-directed practice in that kind of drawing. in a hachured map the light should seem to come from the west or northwest--that is, the darker parts should be on the east or southeast side of an elevation and the lighter parts on the west or northwest the highest elevation should be represented by the darkest shade on the right and by a corresponding high light on the left. the hachuring should begin at the crest of a peak, range, or butte and be worked downward toward the gentler slopes, the lines being drawn farther apart and made thinner until the floor of the valley is reached and the effect of shadow is lost by fewer and lighter lines. on a hachured map that is made from a contoured map somewhat definite differences of elevation may be indicated by the intervals between the strokes, and abrupt changes in slope may be indicated by shorter and heavier lines. the strokes should be disjointed, and they should trend at right angles to the upper margin of a cliff and should radiate from a peak. figure 6, b, represents satisfactory hachuring. _hill shading._--relief is more easily expressed by shading than by hachuring. (see fig. 6, c, d.) the draftsman can best express it by this means after he has studied contoured maps or photographs of the region mapped, if they are available, in order that he may obtain an idea of the details of its topography. the special means used to produce hill shading will depend on the character of surface of the paper on which the drawing is to be made, the size of the map, the amount of detail and refinement of execution desired, and the amount of reduction to be made in reproducing the drawing. for maps on which it is desired to show some refinement of drawing and detail, a lithographic or wax crayon can be used on paper which has a grained surface. the draftsman must express relief according to the information he has at hand, whether detailed or general, and must employ methods that accord with the purpose of the map and the mode of reproduction selected. if a shaded relief map is to be prepared for direct reproduction by photolithography and the shading is to be printed in a separate color the base map should be completed first and a light photographic or blue print obtained on which to add the relief in black lithographic crayon, to insure perfect fitting of the relief and the base; or the relief can be prepared on an oversheet--a semitransparent white paper with sufficient "tooth" or grain to cut the shading up into minute dots. the shadowless drafting table (see p. 47) is especially useful for this purpose. on this oversheet register marks should be placed at the four comers and at several other points, particularly at the intersection of parallels and meridians. for relief shading on small black and white maps ross's hand-stipple drawing paper may be used. (see p. 24.) by rubbing a black wax crayon or pencil over the surface of the paper the desired effect is produced in fine dots or in stipple, which may be varied in density of shade at the will of the draftsman. (see fig. 6, c.) high lights can be produced by scraping away the chalky surface of the paper. a lithographic or wax crayon is the best medium to use on this stipple paper, as on the paper referred to in the preceding paragraph, for the shading produced by it is not so easily smeared as that produced in pastel or by a graphite pencil. the object of using either the rough paper or boss's stipple paper for drawings that are to be reproduced by photo-engraving is to produce a shading that is broken up into dots of varying sizes, which is essential in such reproduction. belief shading for maps can also be made with a brush in flat washes of either india ink or lampblack. such shading should be made only over a blue print or an impression of some kind from the map upon which the shading or relief is to be overprinted. if the relief is expressed on the author's original by contours the general shapes of the relief and the drainage lines can be traced and transferred lightly in blue lines to form a base on which to model the shading and at the same time to make the shading fit the streams. such a drawing can be photographed through a screen and reproduced by half tone (see fig. 6, d) or mezzotint as a separate plate made to overprint the map in another color. hydrography. _general directions._--the drainage features of a map should be so drawn as to suggest the natural courses of the streams. streams should not be drawn in straight, hard lines, as such lines are decidedly unnatural and produce a crude effect. the course of a river may be straight in general, but it is likely to be somewhat sinuous in detail. if the streams shown on a preliminary map are drawn in a clumsy or characterless fashion they should be redrawn with a freehand effect or made slightly wavy, in order that they may appear more natural. the gradual widening of streams from source to mouth should also be shown in the drawing. on small-scale maps, where the eye can at once see a stream through its full length, this almost imperceptible widening can be expressed by a line of almost uniform weight except for the stretch near the source, where it should grow thinner and taper off. on maps which are to be reproduced directly from drawings in black and white and which are to show both contour lines and drainage the lines representing the streams and other water bodies should generally be drawn freehand and slightly heavier than the contour lines, which should be sharper and more precise. the names of all streams or other bodies of water should be in italic letters, those of the larger streams being lettered in capitals and those of the smaller streams in capitals and lower-case letters. (see "lettering," p. 53.) _water lining._--the use of water lining on black and white maps should be limited to maps on which the water areas are not readily distinguishable from the land areas. in rough drawings that are to serve only as copy for engravers a flat color may be used for water areas and its conversion into water lines specified. in base maps to be reproduced in three colors a light-blue tint may be used in lieu of water lining, and it can be printed either flat or in a fine ruling transferred to the stone that is to print the drainage. the engraving of water lines is expensive, and the flat blue color should generally be preferred. water lining usually consists of 30 to 45 lines on engraved or large maps, but on small maps and sketch maps the number may be reduced as desired. care should be taken that the lines are as nearly parallel as they can be made freehand and of even weight or thickness. the first three to six lines outside the coast line should be somewhat closer together than those farther out and should conform closely to the coast line, but the spacing between the lines should increase and the lines should become almost imperceptibly less conformable to the coast line as they reach their outer limit, the last three to six being made with the greatest care and refinement. water-lined maps that are to be reproduced by photographic processes should be drawn at least twice publication size. the reduction will bring the lines closer together, and the reproduction will show a more refined effect than could possibly be produced by the most skillful drawing. good examples of water lining, such as are shown on the topographic atlas sheets of the survey, should be studied by draftsmen before they undertake such work. [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate iv symbols used on base maps] cultural features. the cultural features represented on a map include "the works of man"--not only cities, towns, buildings, bridges, railroads, and other roads, but state, county, and other boundary lines--in short, all that part of a three-color base map which is shown in black, the engraved plate for the black being called the culture plate. the features named in the list below are the cultural features referred to. (see pl iv for corresponding symbols.) aqueduct mains. aqueduct tunnels. bench marks. boundary lines. boundary monuments. breakwaters. bridges. buildings. cable lines. camps. canal locks. canals. cemeteries. churches. cities. county lines. dams. district lines. ditches. electric power lines. fences. ferries. fords. gas wells. hedges. hospitals. jetties. land-grant lines. land-section lines. levees. mains. mineral monuments. mine tunnels. mines. national forests. national parks. oil tanks. oil wells. open cuts. park boundaries. paths. pits. post offices. precinct lines. prospects. province lines. quarries. quarter-section lines. railroads, steam or electric. ranches. reservation boundaries. reservoirs. roads. ruins. schoolhouses. section comers. section lines. settlements. shafts. streets. telegraph lines. towns. township comers. townships. trails. tramways. triangulation stations. tunnels. villages. water mains. water wells. waterworks. windmills. lettering. general directions. the cultural features are named on maps by letters of two distinct styles--slanting gothic for public works and roman for habitations and civil divisions. the size of the letters used should indicate in a general way the relative importance of the feature or group to which they are applied, but on some maps the county seats, state capitals, and large cities may be distinguished by different symbols. the names of civil divisions are lettered in sizes depending on their relative grade and the size of the area or space in which the names are to appear. the features shown on a topographic map may be broadly separated into four groups and are lettered as follows: civil divisions (countries, states, counties, townships, land grants, reservations, cities, towns, villages, settlements, schools, lodges, ranches, etc.), roman capitals or capitals and lower case. public works (railroads, tunnels, roads, canals, ferries, bridges, fords, dams, mains, mines, forts, trails, etc.), slanting gothic capitals (light) or capitals and lower case. hydrographic features (oceans, seas, gulfs, bays, lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, brooks, springs, wells, falls, rapids, marshes, glaciers, etc.), italic capitals or capitals and lower case. hypsographic features (mountains, ranges, peaks, plateaus, cliffs, buttes, canyons, valleys, peninsulas, islands, capes, etc.), upright gothic capitals (light) or capitals and lower case. the essential principles of lettering have been described in numerous treatises and are well understood by most draftsmen. the correct form of each letter may be learned from such treatises, but spacing and arrangement are best learned by observation and experience. good lettering will not strongly attract attention, but even slight imperfections of form, spacing, slant, and shading will be quickly detected and criticized. map letterers should note that the name of a place or the number of a symbol should be put to the right of the symbol if possible and a little above or below it--not to the left and directly on a line with it, as tucson=o=, 17=o=, dallas=o=, carson=o=. names indicating large areas, if written from west to east, should curve with the parallels, and all names should be so lettered that "if they should fall they would fall on their feet." every name should be distinctly legible but not so conspicuous as to subordinate the feature it designates. lines should therefore not be broken in order to make the lettering clear except where there is possible danger that the smaller spaces may be filled up in printing. the lettering on a map should always be so spaced that it will properly fit the area it is intended to designate. in names consisting of two or more words the letters should not be closely spaced if wide spaces are left between the words. in numbers, except those used to indicate elevations on contour lines or elsewhere, thousands should always be set off by commas. draftsmen often draw bad forms for commas, quotation marks, apostrophes, and question marks. the following forms are correct: comma , ; quotation marks "" ; apostrophe ' ; question mark ? . lettering by type. names and short notes printed from type on paper, to be cut out and pasted in proper positions on maps or other drawings, now furnish a large proportion of the lettering on the survey's illustrations. the strips are likely to become detached by the repeated handling of a drawing, however, unless they are securely pasted on. the best results can be obtained by having the type printed on a special brand of "noncurling" gummed paper, from which the lettering is cut in squares or strips, which are dampened and applied to the proper places on the drawing. in handling such strips a pair of dentist's tweezers is useful. when mucilage is applied to printed strips of ordinary paper the moisture causes the paper to warp or curl, often so much as to affect the reproduction of the drawing. this printed lettering is generally used, however, only for headings, titles, notes, and other matter that stands alone; it should not be used for the geographic names in the body of a map unless only a few names are to appear, for the strips of paper bearing the names may obscure parts of the map. the reproduction of this lettering by photo-engraving or photolithography gives results superior to those obtained from hand lettering unless each letter is made with the utmost care, work which is considered a waste of time. [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate v reduction sheet used in lettering illustrations. the largest size shows the letters unreduced; the other sizes show the letters reduced as indicated in the margin.] type is used also for printing lettering directly on a drawing exactly in proper position, by a special type holder, somewhat like a self-inking stamp. most of the styles and sizes of type now used on maps in the survey's reports are shown in plate v. if a drawing is to be reduced one-half the smallest type used should be about 2 millimeters in height; if it is to be reduced one-third the smallest type used should be about 1.5 millimeters in height; and so on. no letter whose vertical height after reproduction would be less than about 1 millimeter should be used, and the larger lettering should bear a proper relation to the smaller. sheets showing the styles of type in use by the survey, in full size and reduced one-fourth, one-third, two-fifths, one-half, three-fifths, two-thirds, and three-fourths, will be furnished on request. if a drawing is to be reduced one-half, for example, the sheet that has been reduced one-half will show the size of the lettering on the printed plate, so that the draftsman, by referring to the sheet showing the reduction he desires, can select type of a size that will be legible. plate v shows a part of this reduction sheet. abbreviations. the following are the correct forms for abbreviations used on maps and other illustrations: a. arroyo. b. m. bench mark. bdy. boundary. br. branch, bridge. c. cape. can. canal, canyon. cem. cemetery. co. county. cr. creek. e. east. el. elevation. est. estuary. fk. fork. ft. fort, foot. gl. gulch, glacier. hrb. harbor. i. island. is. islands. jc. junction. l. lake. lat. latitude. ldg. landing. l. s. s. life-saving station. l. h. lighthouse. long. longitude. m. p. milepost. m. m. mineral monument. mt. mount. mtn. mountain. mts. mountains. n. north. pen. peninsula. pk. peak. p. o. post office. pt. point. r. range, river. res. reservation, reservoir. r. h. road house. s. south. sd. sound. s. h. schoolhouse. sta. station. str. stream. t. township. tel. telegraph. w. west. words like mount, river, point should not be abbreviated where they form a part of the name of a city or town, as rocky mount, fall river, west point. neither the word nor the abbreviation for railroad or railway should be placed on a map; the chartered name (or initials of the name) and the road symbol are sufficient. names of states and territories should be abbreviated, where abbreviation is necessary, as follows: ala. ga. minn. n. j. tenn. ariz. ill. miss. n. mex. tex. ark. ind. mo. n. y. va. calif. kans. mont. okla. vt. colo. ky. nebr. oreg. wash. conn. la. nev. pa. w. va d. c. mass. n. c. r. i. wis. del. md. n. dak. s. c. wyo. fla. mich. n. h. s. dak. alaska, guam, hawaii, idaho, iowa, maine, ohio, samoa, and utah should be written in full. the abbreviations used on the margins of maps for subdivisions of land should be as follows (note punctuation): t. 2 n., e. 3 w. on large-scale plats the marginal lettering should be as follows: n. 1/2 ne. 1/4 sec. 1, t. 7 n., k 2 w.; fractional secs. 2 and 35, tps. 7 and 8 n., r. 2 w.; nw. 1/4 sec. 20, t, 7 n., r. 2 w. in spelling fractions use half and quarter, not one-half and one-quarter. the abbreviated forms of such names as north fork and south fork should be n. fork and s. fork, not north fk. and south fk. additional abbreviations used on illustrations are as follows: n. for north, ne. for northeast, nne. for north-northeast, etc. capitalize directions affixed to street names, as nw., se. (1800 f st. nw.). sec. and secs. for section and sections before a number. capitalize only at the beginning of a line or sentence. a. m. and p. m. for antemeridian and postmeridian, as 4.30 p. m. lower-case unless in line of caps. & in names of corporations or companies. on survey miscellaneous maps "and" is spelled out in railroad names. b. t. u. for british thermal units. bbl., bbls. for barrel, barrels. bu. for bushel or bushels. c. c. for cubic centimeter. cm. for centimeter. cwt. for hundredweight. dwt. or pwt. for pennyweight oz. for ounce or ounces. etc. (not &c.) for et cetera. ft. for foot or feet. h. m. s. for hours, minutes, and seconds. (use capital h.) in. for inch or inches. kw. for kilowatt or kilowatts. â£ s. d. for pounds, shillings, and pence. per cent (omitting period) for per centum. spell out percentage. ser. for series. st. for saint or street u. s. army for united states army, as distinguished from united states of america (u. s. a.). yd., yds. for yard, yards. [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate vi 175-line screen 150-line screen 133-line screen 120-line screen 100-line screen 65-line screen half-tone cuts showing effect of several standard screens in the reproduction of the same detail.] the names of certain months may in some places be abbreviated; those of others should invariably be spelled out. the following are the correct forms: jan. apr. july oct. feb. may aug. nov. mar. june sept dec. the abbreviations for number and numbers before figures are no. and nos. the o should never be raised, as in n^o. the abbreviation for mac is mc, not m^c. all periods should be omitted from abbreviations used in the body of a map unless their omission would cause misunderstanding. they are generally unnecessary, and if used on some maps they are likely to be mistaken for symbols representing certain features, such as houses or flowing wells, if either is shown. periods used on drawings that are to be reproduced "direct" or photomechanically should always be slightly exaggerated. names of railroads. the names of railroads may be written in full or abbreviated, in accordance with the kind of map and the space available. on a sketch map in black and white the initial letters are generally sufficient. on a more detailed map, if there is room enough, the names may be spelled out. as already stated, neither the words "railroad" and "railway" nor the abbreviations r. r. and ry. should be used on a map. make-up of maps. forms for certain features. the proper forms for certain features of maps, such as the borders, titles, explanations, bar scales, captions, arrows indicating true north and magnetic declination, source, and authorship, are shown in plate vii. note particularly the style and position of the marginal matter. border. a finished map border is used or omitted according to the kind of map prepared. diagrammatic maps and maps on which no parallels and meridians appear do not need finished borders. on a map that shows complete areal geologic or other coloring, such as a map in a survey geologic folio, the border lines tend to destroy the simple effect of the whole map. on a map that is not completely colored and on all very large maps borders are really necessary. if borders are used, however, the space between the neat line and the outer line of the border should be only sufficient to provide proper space for the numbers showing latitude and longitude or township and range. a simple rule[8] for determining the width of this space is as follows: divide the sum of the dimensions of the map by 2 and find the square root of the quotient, which will represent the width of the border in sixteenths of an inch. example: map is 20 by 30 inches; (20 + 30)/2 = 25; square root of 25 = 5; width of border = 5/16 inch. [footnote 8: worked out by martin solem, of the u. s. geological survey.] the numbers showing latitude and longitude should be in shaded arabic numerals and those showing township and range in gothic. the symbols for degree, minute, and second should not be crowded. on a map that has no added border lines the numbers should be in hair-line gothic. title. the title of a map should be in roman letters and if placed at the lower margin should generally be arranged in two lines, unless it is short. if it forms two or more lines the lines should be well balanced. the first line should describe the position of the area; the second line should state the purpose of the map, as map of butte and vicinity, montana showing location of mines and prospects. a title placed inside the border of a map should be arranged in a series of lines, generally beginning with "map of" or "geologic map of." and the line showing the dominant part of the title should be emphasized by larger lettering, thus: =map of= the vicinity of butte montana showing location of mines and prospects. the name of the author or compiler of a map or of the person supplying the geologic or other data shown on it may be placed either beneath the title or in the lower right corner, just below the border line, and the names of the topographers or the source of the base should be stated in the lower left corner, just below the border line. if the title is placed inside the border all notes giving credit for any part or features of the map may be placed beneath the title or scale. (see pi. vii.) [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate vii details of the make-up of a geologic map] explanation. the symbols, patterns, or colors used on a map should be given in a series of rectangles or "boxes," accompanied by explanatory terms in the form shown in plate vii, headed "explanation." if the explanation is small a convenient place for it on some maps may be found within the neat lines. if no space is available there, or if it is so large that there is not room to place it there without obscuring other details, it may be placed either vertically along the right margin, as shown in plate vii, or horizontally under the title. a geologic explanation should preferably be arranged vertically, as in plate vii, so as to show the relative age of the formations by the positions of the boxes. this explanation should be carefully worked out in pencil by the draftsman and approved by the committee on geologic names before it is drawn in ink, in order to save time in making corrections. in lettering the explanation roman letters or type should be used for the titles under the boxes and italic of smaller size for the subtitles or descriptive detail, which should be inclosed in parentheses. the names of geologic periods and systems should be in gothic capitals, the names of series or groups should be in italic lower case, and the limit of each period, system, or group should be indicated by braces. the general style and arrangement shown in the survey's geologic folios should be followed, and this and the arrangement of other matter is shown in plate vii. care should be taken not to crowd the explanation, and if corrections are necessary they should be so made that each line of the matter in which they appear will be properly spaced. the explanation for a map that is to be engraved or to be reproduced by lithography need only be sketched in to show general style and arrangement. the engraver or the lithographer will supply such matter in proper form according to specifications. for direct reproduction, however, as by photolithography or zinc etching, the lettering must either be carefully drawn with pen or printed from type on slips, which are pasted on the drawing. graphic scales for maps. a bar scale for miles or feet should be given on every map, and if the map is of international interest the metric scale should be given just beneath the scale of miles or feet. the accepted designs for these scales are shown in figure 7. the scale should be accompanied by any necessary statement pertaining to the base map, such as "contour interval 20 feet," "datum is mean sea level." the fractional scale (1/250,000, for example) should be given on all except the more simple kinds of maps, and the date of publication should also appear just below the scale or scales. the single-line bar scale should be used only on small or simple maps. the length of the bar scale must depend on the size of the map and the space available. those shown in figure 7 were made over blue prints from scales used by the survey. to make a bar scale for a map of unknown scale that shows only a single meridian and parallel, or for a map on which no meridians or parallels are shown, first ascertain the distance between two points shown on the map by reference to other authentic maps. if, for example, the distance between two such points is 16.315 miles draw a horizontal line (_a_ in fig. 8) representing this distance on the map, and at its end, at right angles to it, draw another line (_b_) actually measuring 16.315 units of any convenient denomination. draw a straight line (c) diagonally between the ends of lines _a_ and _b_. then set off on line _b_ any convenient number of the units selected, say 5 or 10, and project from the points set off lines exactly parallel with line _c_ to line _a_. the distance and the number of the units thus marked on line a will indicate the number of miles covered by that distance on the map, as shown in figure 8. [illustration: figure 7.--designs for bar scales.] [illustration: figure 8.--method of making a bar scale for a map of unknown scale.] [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate viii patterns used to show distinctions between areas on black and white maps contrasts may be increased by varying the direction and spacing of lines] symbols. symbols should be drawn with as much care as letters, though to a critic they may not appear so bad as poor lettering unless he finds them glaringly large or so small that he can discover or identify them only with difficulty. the size of a symbol must depend on its importance on the map bearing it. on a map that shows numerous mines, for instance, the crossed hammers or the symbols for shafts should be not only visible but conspicuous. the draftsman who is to make such a map must know beforehand how much his drawing will be reduced in reproduction and must make the symbols in proportion to the reduction. the symbols shown in plate ii (p. 20) should be used in all the survey's illustrations where they are appropriate. areal patterns for black and white maps. the conventional patterns used on a map to distinguish separate areas, chiefly geologic, are shown in plate viii. the patterns shown represent the proper combinations of lines, dots, and other forms and should be spaced openly or closely according to the size of the area covered, the contrast needed between areas, and the general clearness and effect desired. if a map is to show both small and large areas dense or closely spaced patterns should generally be used for the smaller areas, even if they may be required for some fairly large areas representing the same formation or condition. on the other hand, open patterns should be used for large areas. again, it may be necessary to make certain areas more conspicuous than others, and this effect can be best produced by drawing the lines closer together rather than by making them heavier, unless the area covered is small or unless a closely spaced similar pattern has been or will be used elsewhere on the map. heavy-line patterns or bars are not desirable. the lines forming a pattern should generally be drawn at an angle of 45â° to the sides of the map; they should be drawn vertically or horizontally only in small areas or in areas not crossed by meridians or parallels or by other lines running in the same direction. the lines should preferably run across the long axis of an area, not parallel to it, and the predominating trend or general direction of the areas of one geologic formation on a map should decide the direction of the lines for all areas of that formation on the same map, even if the rule must be violated on some of the minor areas. an effort should always be made to produce a pattern that is subordinate in strength to the main lines of the base map on which it is drawn. in black and white maps, as in colored maps, unlike patterns should be placed next to each other. if they are so placed it may not be necessary to rule the lines on two adjacent areas in opposite directions to produce needed distinctions. a section liner or other ruling device should be used in drawing line patterns in order to produce uniformly even spacing. the application of six of these conventional patterns to a base map is shown in figure 9. [illustration: figure 9.--map bearing six areal line patterns.] standard colors for geologic maps. the standard series of colors for systems of sedimentary rocks is shown on the maps in the survey's geologic folios but is subject to modifications for use on maps in other survey reports. each system is represented by a different color, and if there are two or more formations in one system they are generally distinguished by using different patterns composed of straight parallel lines in the same color. the patterns for subaerial deposits (chiefly quaternary) are composed of dots or circles, or combinations of both, and may be printed in any color, but the color most often used is yellow or ochraceous orange. no specific colors are prescribed for igneous rocks, but if only a few areas are shown red or pink is preferred. the colors used for igneous rocks are generally more brilliant and purer than those used for sedimentary rocks. for small areas they are used "solid"; for large areas they are reduced in tone by the use of a suitable cross-line pattern or "reticle." metamorphic rocks are represented by short dashes irregularly placed. these dashes may be in black or in color over a ground tint or over an uncolored area, or they may be in white on a ground tint or pattern. the standard colors used for the sedimentary series covering the 12 systems recognized by the geological survey are: quaternary (q), ochraceous orange; tertiary (t), _yellow ocher_ and _isabella color_; cretaceous (k), _olive-green_ or _rainette-green_; jurassic (j), _blue-green_ or _niagara-green_; triassic (tr), _light peacock-blue_ or _bluish gray-green_; carboniferous (c), _blue_ or _columibia-blue_; devonian (d), _gray-purple_ or _heliotrope-gray_; silurian (s), _purple_ or _argyle-purple_; ordovician (0), _red-purple_ or _rocellin-purple_; cambrian (-c), _brick-red_ or _etruscan red_; algonkian (a), _terra cotta_ or _onion-skin pink_; archean (ar), _gray-brown_ or _drab_.[9] [footnote 9: names printed in italic are from "color standards and nomenclature," by robert ridgway.] reduction of enlargement of maps. the following is the simplest and most accurate method of marking the reduction or enlargement of a map to a selected scale: measure the distance between the extreme meridians along one of the parallels. (see fig. 10.) convert this distance into miles by multiplying the number of degrees it covers (say 3) by the number of miles in a degree. a degree on the forty-third parallel, for example, is 50.669 miles,[10] which multiplied by 3 equals 152.007 miles. then draw a line on the margin of the map, outside the border, the exact length of the 3 degrees, and just below this line draw another line representing the same number of miles (152.007) on the scale to which the map is to be reduced or enlarged. then mark to reduce or enlarge the upper line to the lower line, as shown in figure 10. a long line will reduce error and give greater accuracy than a short one, and therefore as great a distance should be set off as possible. the number of miles represented by both lines and the fractional scale to which it is to be reduced should be stated on the drawing, for permanent record. [footnote 10: see u. s. geol. survey bull. 650, p. 37. 1916.] maps that will bear reduction without affecting the clearness of the details they show may be reduced to fit the book in which they are to appear, regardless of definite scale. the reduction for such maps is best marked in fractions, as "1/2 off," "1/3 off," "2/3 off." if the size needed is not exactly represented by these fractions it should be indicated in inches, as "reduce this line to 7-1/2 inches," or "reduce to 4-3/8 inches in width." [illustration: figure 10.--diagram showing method of marking maps for reduction or enlargement (for record).] diagrams. in preparing a diagram a draftsman should endeavor to make its parts and relations perfectly clear to the reader. he should study the drawing or material furnished by the author until he fully understands it and should endeavor to reproduce it simply and legibly. any lettering that may be needed should generally be in plain upright or slanting gothic type (see pl. ix), or it may be in roman. a diagram should generally be drawn on bristol board or on blue-lined section paper and should be marked for reduction to the minimum size. it should bear no title, as the title will be set up in type by the printer. sections. the sections used in geologic reports are of two widely different kinds. one shows only the broader relations of parts; the other shows details of structure as well as relations. one is diagrammatic; the other is more realistic and graphic. the draftsman should prepare all sections strictly according to the copy supplied by the author but should use proper symbols and make a more finished drawing. the various kinds of sections, most of them geologic, are described on pages 29-30, and the conventions used to express lithologic character are shown in plate iii. [illustration: u. s. geological survey preparation of illustrations plate viii diagrams and curves.] detailed drawings of this kind, though entirely conventional, can be so prepared as to give a satisfactory expression of nature. the draftsman should study well-prepared sections in geological survey reports and should learn the details of folding and faulting from textbooks. he should first ascertain whether or not the vertical scale in the original section has been unduly exaggerated, and if so he should confer with the author with a view to reducing the exaggeration as much as possible. he should submit to the author all questions as to doubtful points, as well as all suggestions for improvement in expression, before he makes any changes, and he should make corrections only on the author's approval. a seeming inaccuracy in an author's drawing may be a faithful representation of natural conditions. for example, a formation that seems to be omitted by inadvertence in drawing may really "pinch out" at a point represented in the section. (see a on fig. 11.) [illustration: figure 11.--structure section showing method of determining the secession of folds.] penciled lines corresponding to those shown by dots in figure 11 should be carefully added in redrawing a roughly sketched section that shows complex folding. an original indefinite sketch that shows complicated structure affords opportunities for error in preparing the new drawing, and omissions may be detected by following the formations as they would be continued above and below the section, as shown by the dotted lines in the figure. plans and cross sections of mines. plans of mines, like diagrams, should not be elaborate, and their lettering should be plain and legible, yet it should not be so conspicuous as to obscure other details. gothic letters should generally be used, but some plans require different styles of lettering, especially for geographic or other names that should be coordinate with those on maps or other illustrations in the book. unless there are good reasons, however, for varying the styles of lettering, plain gothic capitals, or capitals and lower-case letters, either upright or slanting, should be used. abbreviations for the numbers of levels should generally be given thus: 3d level, 6th level, 200-foot level, etc., or the shorter terms may be spelled out, as third level, sixth level. the same general scheme of lettering should be used on all plans and cross sections that are to appear in one publication or in one series of similar papers. the reduction of such drawings to the minimum scale consistent with clearness is always advisable. drawings of specimens of rocks and fossils. methods used. drawings of specimens or other objects were once made with brush and pencil or with pen and ink, by means of measurements taken with dividers or by viewing the specimen through a camera lucida. each of these methods is still used, but by using the camera lucida in sketching: the outlines and details more accurate proportions and relations can be produced, whether the object is to be enlarged or reduced, than by any other means except photography. brush and pencil drawings. in all drawings or photographs of specimens, except photomicrographs of thin sections, the light should appear to come from the upper left quarter. a disregard of the well-established rule that the direction of illumination should be uniform throughout a series of drawings would cause confusion or uncertainty in the interpretation of the relief shown in them. reynolds's three-ply and four-ply bristol board affords a satisfactory surface for brush and pencil drawings. its surface is smooth and hard and, being free from coating of any kind, permits satisfactory erasures without great injury; its color is pure whits; and it is durable. boss's relief hand-stipple paper is also well adapted to many kinds of brush drawings as well as to its primary use for producing stippled effects. very delicate gradations of color or light and shade can be produced on its surface with brush and lampblack or with india ink, and high lights can be made by scraping off the chalky surface. the draftsman who is preparing brush and pencil drawings should have first of all a knowledge of the principles of light and shade, of reflected light, and (for drawing specimens) of shadow perspective. he should also have delicacy of touch and ability to see and interpret form and to reproduce the soft blending of light and shade shown in a good photograph. he should be provided with pencils equal in quality to the koh-i-noor b, f, 4h, and 6h; the best quality of red sable brushes of the sizes of winsor & newton's nos. 3, 4, and 6; the best quality of stick india ink; a cake or pan of lampblack; and a porcelain saucer or slab. in drawings of fossils and of some other specimens a combination of pencil and brush work produces satisfactory results and tends to increase speed. the gloss produced by penciling, however, is objectionable and should be obviated by a preponderance of brush work. stick india ink is the best pigment to use in delicate wash drawings, and lampblack is preferable for large work on which the softer tones of the shading are not so important and for drawings that are to be considerably reduced when engraved. gouache (an opaque mixture of chinese white and lampblack) may also be used, but it is best suited for large work. in making corrections on brush drawings the parts to be corrected should be carefully washed out with a small short-cropped brush and water and still further cleaned by using a rubber eraser over an erasing shield or an opening cut in a piece of celluloid. erasures should not be made on delicate work with a knife or a sand rubber, as either will injure the surface and affect reproduction. in measuring a specimen with dividers the draftsman should be careful not to injure the specimen or to puncture the paper on which he is preparing the drawing. pen drawings. a draftsman who is preparing drawings of specimens with pen and ink should have a good assortment of pens equal to gillott's nos. 291, 290, and 170, liquid waterproof ink equal to that manufactured by higgins, good pencils, hard and soft rubber erasures, plain dividers, and reynolds's bristol board. a glass eraser is also useful. good pen drawings of specimens are much more difficult to make than brush drawings. they can be prepared only by a draftsman who has had some artistic training and experience in pen work. few draftsmen can prepare pen drawings that faithfully represent both the detail and the texture of specimens; the shading on many such drawings confuses and destroys both detail and texture. the pencil sketch over which a pen drawing of a specimen should be made must be prepared in much the same manner as the sketch for a brush drawing, though the outlines need not be so delicate. this sketch is generally made on bristol board. the pen work should begin with the outlines and should then be carried to the details, and finally to the shading, whether in lines or stipple. the texture of a specimen is the best key to the proper shading. if the specimen is decidedly granular, stippling is appropriate; if it is smooth or polished, finely drawn parallel lines, varied in spacing and character according to depth of shade and texture, are preferable. erasures can be made with a hard-rubber eraser, other parts being protected by a shield, or with a very sharp knife or a glass eraser, and the parts erased can be resurfaced with an agate burnisher. retouching photographs of specimens. photographs of specimens, particularly fossils that have been coated to destroy local color, should be printed on velox paper, in a tone somewhat lighter than that of ordinary photographs. the details and relief should, however, be strong enough to enable the draftsman to see them clearly, so that by retouching them and strengthening the shadows and high lights he can make them sufficiently strong for reproduction. this he can do by a combination of pencil and brush work, the pencil being used sparingly because the gloss produced by the graphite is likely to affect reproduction. a no. 3 winsor & newton's red sable brush and lampblack are preferable for the greater part of this work, and a 4h and a 6h pencil for the fine details and as a possible aid in producing the finer gradations of shading. the details should be retouched or strengthened under a reading glass to insure accuracy; the broader effects can be best produced without the aid of a magnifier. erasures on photographs of specimens should be made very carefully with a hard rubber that is free from sand, and the parts not to be disturbed should be protected with a shield. high lights may be added by carefully scraping or rubbing the surface of the paper. landscape drawings from poor photographs. a poor photograph or one that has become injured and can not be retouched for direct reproduction can be utilized by making from it, as described below, a pen drawing or a brush or crayon drawing, which will be almost photographically correct. pen drawings made over photographs. a pen and ink drawing may be made over a blue print or a bromide print (preferably a blue print) and the photographic image then bleached out. the blue print should be larger than publication size and should not be so dark that the draftsman can not see his lines. if the negative is available a bromide enlargement can be obtained; otherwise the picture should be rephotographed in larger size, preferably twice publication size. the enlargement will give the draftsman greater freedom in drawing details and will make his work appear finer and better in the reduced illustration. if the photographic print is of a subject requiring the use of instruments it should be securely fastened to a drawing board, square with the board, so that any horizontal and vertical lines in it may be ruled by the use of a =t= square and triangle. for specimen or landscape work it need not be fastened. for bleaching blue prints a saturated solution of oxalate of potassium (k2c2o4 + h2o) has been used with good results. for bleaching bromide prints cyanide of potassium (kcn) to which a few drops or flakes of iodine have been added should be used. neither kind of print should be bleached until the drawing has been completely finished in every detail, because bleaching loosens the fibers of the paper, so that the ink of any added lines is likely to spread. the print should be placed in a hard-rubber pan, the bleaching solution poured on it, and the pan rocked until the image disappears. the print should then be carefully removed, thoroughly washed in running water, placed between clean white blotters to dry, and finally mounted on cardboard. for temporary, hurried work on drawings that are not to be retained for future use the blue print may be mounted first and bleached by pouring the bleaching fluid over the mounted print. brush drawings from poor photographs. brush drawings may be made directly from photographs by working over an enlarged print with gouache, or by making a pencil tracing and sketch of the photograph and working it up with lampblack or india ink. the photograph should be larger than publication size to permit greater freedom and breadth in drawing details. the larger size will also afford a more refined and better engraving when reduced. if lampblack or india ink is used and the subject is small, bristol board is recommended, but if the photograph is larger than, say, 8 by 10 inches, whatman's hot-pressed double elephant or similar paper, laid down with thumb tacks, will prove satisfactory. if gouache is used over a print a preliminary drawing is of course unnecessary, but the photograph should be an unglazed print of a size that will require considerable reduction, and the finished drawing should be protected by an oversheet. if lampblack or india ink and not gouache is used the photograph should be traced and a fairly complete pencil sketch should be made before the brush is used. plates i, iv, _a_, v, _b_, and vii, _b_, monograph 34, were made from gouache drawings. plates iii, _a_, vii, _a_, x, xi, xii, xiii, xx, xxviii, and xxx, in the same publication, were made from lampblack or india-ink wash drawings. the originals can be examined at any time. outdoor sketches. the art of sketching from nature is one in which few but professional artists excel. not many geologists are able to make sketches from nature that are suitable for direct reproduction. an artistic draftsman should be able to redraw the geologist's sketches, however, in their true perspective and relations, with the skill necessary to make them satisfactory illustrations. in most crude outdoor sketches the important features are usually shown with sufficient clearness to follow. if they are not the draftsman should ascertain what those features are and prepare the new drawing in such a way as to display them properly. the new drawing should be made with pen and ink, generally for reduction to a text figure, which is the most appropriate form for such an illustration. in all sketches of this kind the lines should be drawn in such a way as to produce natural effects and at the same time to make good printing plates. good examples of pen and ink sketches of this class can be found in monograph 34, already referred to, and in the seventh annual report, especially plates xxviii and xxxviii; ninth annual report, plates xliii and xliv; tenth annual report, plates xiv and xix and figure 58; eleventh annual report, plates xv, xxvii, xxxv, lii, and liv and figures 18, 30, 31, 67, 98, and 99. drawings of crystals. a crystal should generally be drawn in outline with straight lines. the invisible rear side of a crystal, if shown, should be represented by dashed lines. the outer boundary line of a crystal should be slightly heavier than the inside lines, which should all be of the same weight. striations should be shown by straight lines; broken or uneven surfaces by irregular lines. a twinning line, if an intersection edge, should be solid; if not an intersection edge it should be broken into dashes. italic, greek, german, and old english letters are used to mark crystal faces. all faces of a given form should be marked by the same letter but may be differentiated, if necessary, by primes or numerals, thus: m, m', m'', m''', m{'v}. "leaders" should be short full lines, or, if these are likely to be confusing, they should be dashes. numbers may be used in place of letters for specific purposes. letters indicating twin faces are underscored; a second twin is doubly underscored or overscored, thus: m_, m=, mâ¯. twin units may be differentiated by the use of roman numerals. retouching photographs. an author, of course, selects his photographs to illustrate some special features; he does not always consider their fitness for reproduction. photographs that are blurred or out of focus, those in which the shadows are too black or lack transparency, and those which have local defects, such as bad skies or spots, must be worked over to make them suitable for reproduction. in order to remedy these defects and produce natural results the draftsman doing work of this sort should be able to see and interpret nature properly and to supply natural effects in a manner corresponding with those produced photographically. he should be sufficiently expert with the brush and pencil and in handling an air brush to duplicate the delicate and soft tones in the photograph, and he should know how the pigments he uses will "take" when the subject is reproduced. the retoucher should have access to an air brush and should provide himself with a jar of photo white or blanc d'argent and a color box containing indian red, crimson lake, yellow ocher, lampblack, and ultramarine--colors with which he can duplicate those shown in any photograph. he should also have the best grade of red sable brushes, ranging in size from no. 3 to no. 8, a stack of porcelain saucers, and a jar of oxgall. by mixing the colors to match exactly the shades of a photograph and using a red sable brush he can strengthen details, "spot out" flaws, and remove imperfections, except those in skies or other large, flat areas, for which he must use an air brush. the air brush has become a necessary adjunct to a retoucher's outfit. smooth, even gradations of flat tones can not be successfully applied to photographs without it, and it is therefore indispensable, especially for retouching skies and covering other large areas. before retouching a photograph the draftsman should mix in a saucer a tint that will match the color of the part that is to be retouched and should try this tint and note its effect after it has dried and change it, if necessary, until it matches the color exactly. if he is to retouch a number of photographs that have the same local color he may with advantage make up enough of the tint for the entire lot, thoroughly mixing it and seeing that it is not too thin. in making this tint he should use only pigments of the best grade, and if he finds that the chinese or other white he is using does not photograph well, or that it does not hold its color, he should discard it at once and use another brand. photographs that are to be retouched should be large enough to permit sufficient reduction to soften the effects of retouching. in order to eliminate the lines of junction between two or more photographs that are joined together to form a panorama some adjustment or fitting of details by retouching is generally required before the group is rephotographed to obtain a new print of the whole on one piece of paper. as it is often desirable to increase the width of such an illustration the photographer should be instructed to print the photograph on a strip of paper that is wider than the negative, so that, if necessary, the retouching may be carried above or below the new print to add depth to the illustration. panoramas may also be drawn from photographs with either pen or brush in the manner described on pages 68-69. part iii. processes of reproducing illustrations. methods employed. the preliminary work in producing illustrations includes the preparation, from originals submitted by authors, of drawings and other kinds of "copy" in such a way that the copy can be reproduced in multiple by printing. several processes are used for preparing plates for printing illustrations, and each has its peculiar features of excellence. one process may render fine details with facility but may fail in uniformity in large editions; another may be cheap and effective on the whole but may not reproduce fine details; and still another may give fine color or tone effects but may be too expensive. therefore a knowledge of the varied uses and results and of the cost of the several processes of reproduction and, on the other hand, of the kinds of originals that are best suited for reproduction by any one of the processes is essential to effectiveness and economy in planning, preparing, and reproducing an illustration. the following condensed descriptions of processes are intended mainly to aid in determining the kind of copy that is appropriate for each process and the kind and quality of reproduction to be expected, so that only the principal operations or stages in each process are described. wood engraving, which was used in making printing plates for many of the illustrations in the early publications of the geological survey, is described here only to compare that laborious and "indirect" method of engraving cuts with the more modern kinds of relief engraving. in 1892 it gave way to photo-engraving. photo-engraving. general features the term "photo-engraving" is applied to processes by which a black and white line drawing, photograph, or like original is reproduced in relief on a metal plate from which prints may be made on an ordinary printing press, in distinction from processes that print from flat or relatively flat surfaces, such as the lithographic and photogelatin processes. the photo-engraving processes that are most generally used are those called "zinc etching" and "half-tone engraving." these processes depend on the discovery that gelatin or similar organic material, if treated with potassium or ammonium bichromate and exposed to the action of light, is made insoluble in water. if a metal plate coated with bichromatized gelatin or albumen is exposed to light under a negative the parts acted upon by light become insoluble and those not acted upon remain unchanged and may be washed away so as to expose the metal, which is then etched with acid in order to give relief to the unexposed parts and make of them a printing surface. zinc etching. zinc etching is adapted to the direct reproduction of a pen and ink drawing composed of lines, dots, or solid black areas. on the finished metal plate these lines, dots, and solid areas form the printing surface, and the spaces between them, which have been etched away, represent the white or blank parts of the picture. the process is cheap and is almost universally used for reproducing small drawings designed for text illustrations. it is also well adapted to the reproduction of maps and diagrams measuring in print not more than about 10 by 14 inches. one of the chief advantages of this and of all other direct (photographic) processes of engraving is that they reproduce a drawing in facsimile, whereas the "personal equation" must enter into all engravings made by an indirect method--that is, by hand--such as wood engraving, wax engraving, and engraving on stone or copper, which make it necessary to compare every detail of the proof with every detail of the drawing before the engraving can be approved. the pen drawing to be reproduced, which should preferably be considerably larger than the completed engraving, is first photographed to the proper size or scale on an ordinary negative film. the film is then stripped from the negative and reversed in order that the etched plate may print the design as in the original and that the film may be grouped with other films on one large glass and all printed at the same time. the negative (whether a single film or several) is then placed in a specially constructed printing frame in contact under pressure with a sensitized zinc plate and exposed to light. after the zinc plate has been removed from the printing frame (in the dark room) the plate is rolled with printer's transfer ink, which resists acid, and placed in a shallow tray containing water, in which it is rocked for several minutes, and then taken out and rubbed gently with cotton. the parts of the coating of the plate that were acted on by light have become insoluble and will therefore be unaffected by the water, but the parts of the coating not acted on by light and therefore not hardened will be removed by the washing, which will expose the metal and leave the parts acted on by light--the picture--in black lines, dots, etc. the plate is then dusted with "topping powder," a resinous substance which adheres only to the parts carrying the ink. the plate is then heated so that the resin and the ink that remain fuse together and form, when cooled, a resistant surface which will not be affected by the acid to be used later in etching the unprotected parts of the plate. the plate is now ready for a preliminary etching in a fluid consisting of water and a few drops of nitric acid. it is placed in a tray, rocked gently for a short time, and then removed, washed well in running water, drained, and dried with gentle heat. "dragon's blood," a resinous powder that resists the action of acid, is next applied to the plate, in order to protect the sides of the lines and the dots from the acid, and the plate is then heated just sufficiently to melt the powder and units it with the ink. a small quantity of nitric acid is now added to the etching bath, and the plate is subjected to its first thorough biting or etching. it is then removed from the bath, washed under a tap, carefully wiped with a damp rag, and dried with gentle heat. the plate is thus treated three or more times until it is etched deep enough to insure satisfactory printing, and it is then ready for finishing, which consists of deepening the larger open spaces between the lines with a routing machine and of cutting away with hand gravers lines that are improperly connected or that are so close together that they will not print separately. the routing machine is provided with a cutting tool mounted on a revolving spindle that projects downward into the engraved plate, which is securely fastened. the movement of the arm that holds the cutter is universal and can be controlled with great precision. the plate is then "proved" that is, a proof is taken from it on paper and if the proof is satisfactory the plate is nailed to a block of wood on which it will be "type high" (0.918 inch), for printing. most drawings for zinc etching are made with a pen in black ink and consist of lines, dots, or masses of black, but drawings may also be prepared by using some medium that will produce a fine stipple, such as a black crayon on rough paper or ross's stipple paper. (see p. 24.) the drawing should be one and one-half to two or three times as large as the printed illustration, for it is impossible to obtain a satisfactory reproduction of a pen and ink drawing without some reduction. if the drawing has not been reduced the lines appear heavier in the reproduction than in the drawing, and imperfections thus become more noticeable; if it has been properly reduced, imperfections are diminished and the lines and dots become thinner and finer than those in the drawing. in making a drawing that is to be reduced the draftsman can also space his lines farther apart and work out his details more easily. an author should carefully examine and approve the finished drawings, which can, of course, be greatly altered, if necessary, before they are engraved; but similar corrections can not be made on proof sheets of zinc cuts, which should not be marked for alterations except by eliminating parts. minor changes can be made in such a cut by an expert "finisher," but if the cut is small it is generally cheaper to correct the drawing and have a new cut made. zinc etchings cost about 10 to 25 cents a square inch, the cost being varied according to a standard scale which is based upon the ascertained cost of reproduction. the minimum charge for a single cut is $2. copper etching in relief. copper etching, which produces a line cut in relief, requires the same kind of copy that is most often marked for zinc etching and is used to obtain deeper etching and a more permanent cut. it is said to produce better printing plates than those etched on zinc and is used largely for reproducing script lettering and other fine work. as copper plates will hold up longer in printing than zinc, a cut etched on copper may not need to be electrotyped. the chemical part of the process is practically the same as that employed for etching half-tone plates, described under the next heading. the cost of etching on copper is considerably greater than the cost of etching on zinc. this process is not often used in reproducing illustrations for publications of the geological survey. half-tone engraving. the half-tone process is, in name at least, familiar to almost everyone who has had any connection with the making of books, whether as author, editor, illustrator, or printer. the invention of a photomechanical process of reproducing a line drawing to make a metal plate that could be printed along with type on an ordinary printing press naturally led to attempts to reproduce similarly a photograph. it was known that the intermediate shades between white and black in a photograph--the half tones--can be reproduced on an ordinary printing press only by breaking them up into dots or lines that will form a good printing surface and that by their variation in size or density will give for each shade the effect of a uniform tone. in the half-tone process this effect is produced by photographing the picture or object through a screen. the half-tone screen consists of two plates of glass, on each of which lines running generally at an angle of 45â° to the sides of the plate have been engraved, cemented together so that the lines cross at right angles. the lines, which are minute grooves filled with an opaque black pigment, thus appear as a series of black crossed lines on a white ground. the screen is placed in the camera in front of the negative. screens are made that show from 60 lines to an inch for the coarser newspaper illustrations to 250 lines or more to the inch for fine book work. the screens used for magazine illustrations generally show 120 to 150 lines. those used for survey publications show 150 to 175 lines, and for reproducing delicate drawings and photographs of fossils screens bearing 200 lines to the inch are sometimes specified; but these finer screens require the use of highly super-coated papers, some of them made of cheap fiber and not known to be permanent. for a half tone that is to be printed in the text a 100-line or a 120-line screen is specified. (see pl. vi, p. 56.) the method of etching a half-tone plate does not differ greatly from that used in zinc etching, and there are several kinds of half-tone plates, though most of them are etched on copper, not on zinc, those etched on zinc being used principally for newspaper illustrations. the half-tone screen is used also in other processes to obtain a negative. when a half-tone negative hag been made the film is stripped from the glass plate and reversed, as in the zinc-etching process, though some half-tone engravers use a mirror box or prism by which the picture is so disposed on the negative that it does not need stripping and reversing. a perfectly flat, clean, and highly polished copper plate, generally large enough to accommodate several such films, is then coated with a sensitive film according to one of several formulas, all based on the fact that gelatin or some similar body, if sensitized with certain chromic salts, becomes hardened and insoluble in water on exposure to light. this plate is then placed in the printing frame in contact, under pressure, with the glass negative plate and is exposed to light in the usual manner. the copper plate is then removed from the frame in the dark room and made ready for etching. for etching half-tone plates on copper a saturated solution of perchloride of iron is used instead of the solution of nitric acid used for zinc etching. the time of etching ranges from about 5 to 15 minutes, according to the strength of the solution. one etching is generally sufficient, but it may be necessary to give the plate another "biting" if it has not been etched deep enough, or to re-etch it in order to strengthen contrasts. if, for instance, the sky in a half-tone plate shows too dark or is uneven in tint it can be made lighter or more even by re-etching. on the other hand, if certain features on a plate are too light they can be darkened by burnishing--rubbing the surface with a highly polished steel burnisher under just sufficient pressure to flatten slightly the fine points that form the printing surface of the plate. when the plate leaves the hands of the etcher it is turned over to the finisher, who with a graver removes spots or any other imperfections that may appear on it. sometimes a roulette is used to lighten parts, and other tools are used for special purposes. after a plate that shows two or more pictures has been etched and finished it is divided by sawing them apart. each one is then put into a beveling machine, where its edges are trimmed and the usual border is made, if it is desired. the separate plates are then ready to be proved and mounted on blocks of wood which make them type high, ready for printing. the half-tone process is used almost exclusively for reproducing photographs and wash drawings, though it will produce a facsimile of any kind of copy, such as impressions from type, old manuscripts, or typewriting, but a shade composed of minute black dots will appear over the entire print and there will be no absolutely whits areas unless they are produced by routing the plate or cutting out the high lights. (see p. 74.) the reproduction of an ordinary outdoor photograph requires very little handwork, except for re-etching, burnishing, and cutting the borders. in the reproduction of copy that is made up of separate parts, such as groups of photographs of specimens that are to appear on a white ground, the half-tone "tint"--or more properly shade--between and around the several figures must be removed and numbers must be added. this operation requires two negatives--one half tone and one line--and produces what is called a "combination" plate. therefore the difference in the cost of making a half-tone cut from a single photograph of a landscape and from a cut made from "copy" of the same size consisting of a number of small photographs or drawings, to which numbers or letters are added, is considerable (about 50 per cent greater) and depends upon the amount of additional work involved. routing, when needed, must be done with extreme care lest the edges of a figure be marred, and this work requires skill that can be gained only by experience. copy for the half-tone process should be as nearly perfect as possible. only the best photographs should be selected. prints on semimat velox and glossy haloid papers are regarded as the best photographic copy for reproduction. every part of the photograph or drawing should be absolutely clean. if any part that should be pure white becomes soiled or stained the defects will be reproduced. if a photograph needs retouching it should be retouched with great care and just sufficiently to correct defects and to bring out or strengthen the important details. in many photographs the skies may be "muddy" or uneven in tone, and this defect can be corrected by the use of an air brush, the only medium that will produce an almost even tone. as already stated, half-tone plates can be improved by re-etching and tooling, but tooling tends to destroy the effects of nature and produces an artificial appearance in the print. one who is preparing wash drawings for reproduction by the half-tone process should remember that brush marks and other inequalities of tone will be reproduced with as much fidelity as other details. such drawings should therefore be made two or three times larger than the engraved cut in order to subdue all unnatural effects and to soften the general tones. line drawings are not generally suitable copy for the half-tone process, but it is occasionally desirable to use that process instead of zinc etching for reproducing a line drawing that has been inexpertly prepared if the cost of redrawing would more than offset the difference in cost between zinc etching and the more expensive half-tone process. in reproducing a pen drawing by half tone the lines become softened and represent the details and shading only; but the pen drawing may be further developed by brush work. examples of this type of reproduction are plates v, _a_, vi, _a_, and xv, figure 10, and other illustrations in survey monograph 34. vignetting, which consists of a skillful grading off of the edges of a picture, as well as extensive tooling or hand engraving, is often employed for artistic effect but should be specified only for exceptional illustrations. the plates made for the survey are either "square trimmed" or the ground tint is entirely omitted or routed away; they are not usually tooled or vignetted. half-tone cuts etched on copper cost 20 to 60 cents a square inch, the cost being varied according to a standard scale based on the ascertained cost of reproduction. those that require a screen finer than 150 lines cost 25 per cent additional. the minimum charge for a single cut is $3. half tones etched on zinc (100-line screen or coarser) cost 25 per cent less than those etched on copper. three-color half-tone process. the three-color process is practically an adaptation of the half-tone process to color printing based on the theory that all colors or hues in nature can be reproduced by combinations of three colors of the spectrum--red, blue, and yellow. the process differs from the ordinary half-tone process particularly in the use of color filters in making the negatives and in the character of screens and diaphragms used. this process, like all others, is worked somewhat differently in different establishments. in what is called the indirect method, the one most commonly used, twelve photographic operations are necessary to produce one illustration, or the three plates or cuts from which one illustration is to be reproduced by printing. these twelve operations produce three chromatic negatives, each representing one color; three transparencies or positives, made from the chromatic negatives; three half-tone negatives, made from the positives; and finally three contact prints, made on sensitized metal plates. in what is called the direct method the half-tone screen is placed in front of the photographic plate so that it becomes also a half-tone negative from which a print is made on a sensitized metal plate. thus the photographic operations in the direct method are reduced to six, but the interference to the passage of light offered by the half-tone screen and by the prism used to reverse the image on the negative lengthens the time of exposure. unfortunately, no pigments have been found that can reproduce in purity the colors of the spectrum, and to this fact is due the failure of the process to reproduce exactly all the colors, tints, and shades of an original. when a drawing in black on white paper is photographed only the white paper affects the negative film. the transparent parts of the developed negative thus represent the black, and the opaque parts, which have been acted upon by light, represent the whits. theoretically, when a chromatic negative is made for the yellow plate a purple-violet filter cuts out all the yellow and allows the red and blue rays to affect the plate; when a negative is made for the blue plate an orange filter similarly cuts out the blue and allows the yellow and red rays to affect the plate; and when a negative is made for the red plate a green filter cuts out the red and permits the blue and yellow rays to affect the plate. these color filters, which are usually made of transparent stained gelatin, are generally placed in front of the lens. when printing plates like those used in the half-tone process have been made from the three negatives and the plates have been inked with yellow, blue, and red ink, respectively, a combined impression from them will produce a close approximation of the subject photographed. the colored inks often used are light yellow, peacock or prussian blue, and bright, transparent crimson. the ordinary half-tone screen, which bears lines cut at an angle of 45â° to the sides of the plate, is rectangular, but the screens used for three-color work are made circular in order that they may be turned in the camera to make the lines intersect at other angles, the angles being varied to avoid producing an undesirable pattern or a moire effect. turning the screen also prevents the exact coincidence or superposition of the red, blue, and yellow dots, which would produce black. in other respects the screens do not differ essentially from those used in ordinary half-tone work. as special experience is necessary in printing three-color plates the engraver generally delivers the printed illustrations to the purchaser instead of the plates, which he furnishes for other kinds of relief printing. the copy for this process may consist of anything in color, such as specimens, objects, paintings, or properly colored photographs. the process does not usually reproduce all the colors and tints of an original with equal exactness and is not used by the survey for work that demands precise reproduction of color, but it is satisfactory for reproducing most colored drawings, colored photographs of specimens, or the specimens themselves if they show individual variations in color. as the process is entirely photomechanical it gives more scientific accuracy in detail than chromolithography, in which there is much hand work, and it is much less expensive. if the colors shown in proofs are not satisfactory they can be modified. the four-color process, in which four color plates are used, gives a closer approximation of true color values than the three-color process, and at a comparatively small increase of cost. the additional color used is generally a neutral gray or black. wax engraving (the cerotype process). the wax or cerotype process does not require finished drawings and is especially suitable for making text illustrations and small maps, although it may be used also for large work. for this process blue prints, pencil sketches, old prints, or rough copy of any kind may be submitted--that is, it is not necessary to furnish carefully prepared drawings in black ink, as it would be for photo-engraving, for the wax engraver will reproduce in proper form any illustration in which the copy and the instructions show what is wanted, just as an experienced draftsman will make a good drawing from the rough original furnished by an author. full and clear instructions should always be given, however, as to the size of the cut wanted and what it is to show. in this process a polished copper plate is coated with a film consisting of beeswax, a whitening medium, and other ingredients, and the coating, which varies in thickness according to the nature of the copy, is sensitized as in the ordinary photographic processes. the map or other design to be engraved is first photographed to publication size and a contact print is made on the wax coating from the negative. the lines and other parts of the photographed image are then traced or cut through the wax to the copper plate with steel tools and straightened or perfected by the engraver, but the lettering is set in printer's type, which is pressed into the wax until it also touches the metal plate. after the work of cutting through the wax has been completed the larger open spaces between the lines are "built up" by the addition of wax to give greater depth to the plate, so that the wax plate thus built up corresponds to an electrotype mold. the plate is then dusted with powdered graphite and suspended in a solution containing copper, where by electrolytic action a copper shell is formed over its surface. when this shell is sufficiently thick it is removed from the solution and reinforced on the back with metal, and proofs are taken from it. if the proofs are satisfactory the plate is blocked type-high. wax-engraved plates may be used for printing colored maps or diagrams, in which variations of tint are produced by various kinds of machine rulings. the effect of some of the colors thus produced is almost a "flat" tint, in which a pattern can be detected only by close scrutiny. some color work is printed from a wax base plate in combination with half-tone color plates. the price of a wax engraving depends entirely on the size of the cut, the amount of work involved, and the character of the original copy, but it should not exceed very much the cost of a carefully prepared pen drawing plus the cost of a zinc etching made from it. cuts engraved by the wax process, like zinc and half-tone plates, are delivered to the purchaser. if colored work is ordered, however, the printed sheets, not the cuts, are delivered. wood engraving. wood engraving was once the universal method of producing cuts for illustrations that were designed to be printed on an ordinary press. it is said to be the oldest of all methods of engraving illustrations. the engraving is made on a block of boxwood, a very dense, hard wood of a light-yellow color. the block is cut type-high across the grain, and the engraving surface is made perfectly smooth by nibbing it with pumice or other stone. when a cut is to be larger than 3 or 4 inches square the wood block is made up of pieces securely dovetailed or joined together to prevent splitting and warping. a woodcut is not used for printing but is electrotyped and the electrotype is used in the press. originally the smoothed surface of the wood block was coated with prepared chalk or chinese whits, and on this coating a finished drawing was made with a brush and pencil by an illustrator. according to more recent practice the surface of the wood is covered with a sensitized coating, on which the drawing or design to be engraved is photographed. the engraver then, with various kinds of gravers and other tools, cuts out the parts of the picture that are to be represented by white paper and leaves the lines, dots, and black areas as a printing surface, thus translating the shades and tints of the picture into a system of lines and dots which exactly duplicate, in effect, the details and tones of the original design. in order to produce a line effect of an area in which the tone is intermediate between whits and black the engraver must space his lines so that one-half the area will remain as printing surface and the other half as white spaces, and he must give character and direction to his lines, so that, if he is skillful, he can reproduce not only the delicate tones but the texture and details of the original picture. many wood engravers became noted for their artistic rendering of magazine illustrations, of famous paintings, and of other works of art. the survey began to abandon this method of engraving in 1884, when the sixth annual report was in press, substituting for it the cheaper photomechanical processes, zinc etching and half-tone engraving, and entirely abandoned its use in 1892. many good examples of wood engraving may be found in the early monographs and annual reports of the geological survey. monograph 2 contains numerous examples. photogelatin processes. bichromatized gelatin is used in several photomechanical processes of reproducing illustrations, but in the photogelatin processes the gelatin not only receives the image by exposure to light through a negative but becomes a printing surface on a plate from which prints are made somewhat as in lithography. the several photogelatin processes are much the same as the original collotype process and are best known by the names collotype, heliotype, albertype, artotype, and the german name lichtdruck. in working these processes a thick plate of glass, after certain preliminary treatment, is coated with sensitized gelatin. the plate is then placed in a drying room or oven having a temperature of 120â° f., baked until it is thoroughly dry, and allowed to cool gradually. the subject to be reproduced is then photographed in the usual manner, and unless a prism or mirror box has been used the negative is stripped and reversed in order to make the print reproduce the original in proper position. from the negative a contact print is made on the gelatin-coated plate, the parts or molecules of gelatin being hardened in proportion to the amount of light that affects them. after the contact print has been made the gelatin plate is thoroughly washed in cold water, in order to dissolve and wash out the bichromate and stop any further action of light on the plate, and is then thoroughly dried. before prints are made from the gelatin-coated plate water is flowed on it and penetrates different parts of the gelatin according to their hardness. the darkest parts of the picture will correspond to the hardest and densest parts of the gelatin, which will not absorb water; the lighter parts will take up more water. the surface water is then removed with a rubber straight edge and an absorbent roller and the plate is ready for inking. the ink, being greasy, has no affinity for water, and when it is rolled over the plate it adheres only to the dry parts of the gelatin, and in the press is carried to the paper in all the lights and shades of the illustration. the plate is kept moist in printing. the paper used for printing from photogelatin plates must be free from chemicals that will affect the gelatin. a nearly pure rag paper is generally used. the photogelatin process is well adapted to the reproduction of paleontologic drawings, wash drawings, photographs, photomicrographs, works of art, old manuscripts--in fact, any kind of subject in which the reproduction of delicate lights and shades is essential. if properly manipulated it has distinct advantages over the half-tone process in that it can reproduce details and light and shade without showing the effect of a screen and without the use of coated paper. excellent reproductions by the heliotype process are also made in color by first printing the design in a neutral tone and superposing appropriate transparent colors on this print, somewhat as in chromolithography, so that the colors softly blend with the shaded groundwork. reproductions made by the photogelatin process are more expensive than those made by the half-tone process, for the prints are generally made on better paper and are printed with greater care. they give no screen effect and are perhaps unrivaled by prints obtained by any other process except photogravure, in which the image is printed from a metal plate that has been sensitized, exposed under a reversed negative, and etched. changes can not be made on photogelatin plates except by making over the corrected parts. all retouching must be done on the originals or on the negatives made from then. lithography. original process. the general term "lithography" is sometimes used to indicate not only the original process so named, said to have been invented by senefelder, but chromolithography, photolithography, and engraving on stone, as well as engraving on copper as a means of supplying matter to be transferred to and printed from a lithographic stone. senefelder discovered that limestone will absorb either grease or water, and that neither one will penetrate a part of the surface previously affected by the other. he found that if a design is drawn on limestone with a greasy crayon and the stone afterward properly prepared with a solution of nitric acid and gum, greasy ink will adhere only to the parts that are covered with the crayon, and that the stone will give off an impression of the design. lithographic stone is described as a fine, compact, homogeneous limestone, which may be either a pure carbonate of lime or dolomitic--that is, it may contain magnesium. although limestone is one of the most common rocks, limestone of a quality suitable for use in lithography is found at only a few localities.[11] there are two general classes of lithographic stone, known to the trade as "blue" or hard stone and "yellow" or soft stone. the blue stone is adapted for engraving and to the better grade of fine-line printing; the yellow stone is rated as somewhat inferior. [footnote 11: kubel, s. j., lithographic stone: u. s. geol. survey mineral resources, 1900, pp. 869-873, 1901.] in the original process, which may here be termed plain lithography, two methods are employed in putting on stone the design to be reproduced. in one the subject or picture to be reproduced is drawn on the printing stone either with a lithographic crayon or with a pen dipped in lithographic ink or "tusche," which is oily or fatty, like the crayon. in the other method the drawing is made on transfer paper and transferred to the stone. in drawing on stone it is necessary to reverse the design, so that all lettering must be drawn backward. in doing this the artist often uses a mirror to aid him. if the drawing is made on transfer paper the design and the lettering are copied as in the original--not reversed. before a drawing is made on stone a stone of the quality suited to the particular design in hand is selected. the stone is then ground and polished, and if the drawing is to be made with crayon it is "grained" according to the special requirements of the subject. if the drawing is to be made with a pen and is to consist of "line work" the stone is polished. the first step is to obtain on the stone an outline or "faint" of the design. there are several ways to do this. by one method a tracing of the design is made, a sheet of thin paper covered with red chalk is laid face downward on the stone, the tracing is laid face downward over it, and the design is again traced in red-chalk lines on the stone. the method described is simple, but there are others that are more complicated and that are particularly applicable to the reproduction of photographs and other illustrations. crayon work is often used in combination with pen and ink, stipple, and brush work. this method of drawing on stone is used also for preparing color stones in the process of chromolithography, in which there are many added details of manipulation. after the drawing has been made on the stone or transferred to it the stone is "gummed"--that is, it is covered with a solution of gum arabic and nitric acid--and dried. the stone is then dampened with water and carefully rolled with lithographic ink, which adheres to the pen or crayon work and is repelled elsewhere. it is then "rubbed" over with powdered rosin and talcum, which adheres to the ink and further protects the drawing from the effects of the etching fluid, which is next to be applied to the stone. this fluid consists of a 10 per cent solution of gum arabic to which 2 to 7 per cent of nitric acid has been added, the degree of acidity being varied according to the subject and the hardness of the stone. the fluid is applied with a brush or sponge and is left on the stone just long enough to decompose slightly the carbonate of lime on its surface and, after washing, to leave the design or drawing in very slight relief. the stone is again gummed and dried, and the design is "washed out" or brought out by removing the surface gum with a wet sponge and applying to the stone a rag sprinkled with turpentine and charged with printing ink. these operations wash away the tusche and the crayon that have been decomposed by the acid and expose the design faintly in white at first, but it gradually grows darker as it becomes charged with printing ink from the rag. the stone is next "rolled up" or inked. the slightly moistened surface repels the ink and the design takes it up, so that when the stone is run through the press the design is carried to the paper. lithographic prints from stones prepared in this way are made on a flat-bed press. the stone is carried forward to print and on its return is dampened and inked, an operation slower than that of rotary printing. corrections and changes are made on the stone by carefully scraping or polishing away the parts to be corrected and making the changes with a crayon or pen, but the design can not ordinarily be corrected twice in the same place, as the scraping or polishing removes a part of the surface of the stone and thus lessens the pressure at that place, and the impression there may be imperfect or may completely fail. this form of lithography is seldom used for survey illustrations but was formerly much used and is well adapted to the reproduction of drawings of fossils, particularly of remains of dinosaurs and other types of large extinct animals. examples may be seen in monographs 8 and 10 and in other early reports of the geological survey. the drawings for these illustrations were made directly on stone. a drawing made on one stone may be transferred in duplicate or in any desired number to another stone, or to a properly grained sheet of zinc and aluminum, from which impressions may be printed on a lithographic press. both these metals are also used for lithographic printing on rotary presses, the zinc or aluminum plate being bent and secured around a cylinder which rotates continuously in one direction. as one impression is made at each revolution of the cylinder the printing is rapid; but the best printing from a metal plate is inferior to the best printing from a lithographic stone. photolithography. photolithography, like other lithographic processes, has been improved greatly during the last few years--not particularly in results but in methods--by the introduction of metal plates, the rubber blanket offset, the ben day films, and many mechanical and chemical devices, so that a brief description of it will not explain the process except in a most general way. as photolithography is a direct process and is relatively cheap it is the one most used for reproducing large maps and other line drawings that have been carefully prepared. zinc and aluminum plates are now much used in photolithography, for a direct contact photographic print can be made on them, they can be printed flat or bent for use on a rotary press, and they can be stored for future use more economically than stones. there are two somewhat distinct methods of producing photolithographs. in both the ordinary photographic methods are used, but it is often necessary to "cut" or trace parts of the negative in order to open up lines and other features that are not sharp or well defined, so that the negative will print them sharp and clear. if the copy to be reproduced shows three colors, three negatives are made, one for each color, and the parts to be shown by each are preserved by "opaquing" or painting out all other parts. by the older method the negative thus perfected is placed in a printing frame in contact, under pressure, with sensitized transfer paper and is exposed to light. the printing frame is then carried to the dark room and the paper is removed from the frame and its surface covered with transfer ink. the paper is then laid face upward on water and soaked for several minutes, after which it is placed in the same position upon a slab of stone or metal and thoroughly washed with water. this washing removes the ink and the sensitive film from the parts that were unaffected by the action of light (the parts corresponding to the white paper in the design), but the ink still adheres to the lines of the design in the precise sharpness and clearness of the negative. the design is now ready to be transferred to the printing stone or zinc plate. the sheet is again slightly dampened between moist blotters and laid face downward in its correct position on a prepared stone or zinc plate, which is then pulled through a press under heavy pressure. the paper is then removed from the stone or plate, to which it has carried the design. from this point the gumming, etching, and other operations are practically the same as those used in ordinary lithography. the bichromate-gelatin transfer process described above has been replaced in the survey by a more satisfactory one, which insures absolute scale and reproduces the finest line drawings perfectly without thickening the lines or without distortion. in this process, which is known as the planographic process, a photographic negative of the "copy" is placed in a vacuum printing frame in contact with a zinc or aluminum plate that has been sensitized with a bichromate-albumen solution and exposed in front of an arc lamp. after proper exposure the plate is removed from the frame, inked over, and placed under water. the parts not hardened by the action of light (the unexposed parts) are then rubbed away with cotton, and the plate is chemically etched, gummed over, and dried. the plate is then ready to be printed from in a lithographic press. if a large map is to be reproduced it is photographed in parts, and contact prints are made on zinc plates. from these plates transfers are pulled and the parts are assembled and laid down in proper position on a stone or an aluminum plate, which is then prepared for printing. a drawing that is to be reproduced by photolithography should be made on pure-white paper in lines, dots, or black masses with black waterproof ink. it should be one and one-half to two or three times the size of the finished print. photolithography is particularly adapted to the reproduction of maps, plans, and other large drawings. within certain limitations, lines may be changed and details may be added after proofs have been submitted. the process is ordinarily used for reproducing illustrations in one color (black), but it is used also for printing in more than one color, generally over a black outline base, each color being printed from a separate stone, as in chromolithography. offset printing. in the offset process the design is "offset" from a lithographic plate or stone to a rubber blanket on a cylinder, from which it is printed. by thus obtaining an impression from an elastic surface the finest details can be printed on rough, uncoated paper, which can not be used in other processes, which can be folded without danger of breaking, and which is more durable than coated paper. plates ii, iii, iv, vii, and viii in this pamphlet were printed by this process. chromolithography. the chromolithographic process, by which illustrations are printed in color from stone, is used in survey publications principally for reproducing geologic maps, but it is sometimes used for reproducing colored drawings of specimens. there are several kinds of color printing from stones. one produces a picture by superimposing colors that combine and overlap without definite outlines and thus reproduce the softly blended colors of the original. another reproduces the original by printing colors within definite outlines on a "base" which has been previously printed in black. the first kind is used by the survey for reproducing colored drawings of specimens. the second is followed in reproducing geologic maps. as each color must be printed from a separate stone and properly fitted with respect to the others a tracing from the original is made of the precise outlines of each color; or, if the design is to be reduced, a tracing is made over a properly reduced photographic print. this tracing can be made on specially prepared tracing paper or on a sheet of transparent gelatin or celluloid, which is laid over the copy and on which all the outlines and overlaps of the various colors are scratched with a steel point. the scratches thus made on the celluloid are filled with red chalk or like substance, and rubbed in with cotton, and by reversing the sheet and rubbing it the chalk lines are deposited on as many stones as are needed to produce the colors of the original design, each stone bearing all the outlines of the design. sometimes all the outlines are engraved on what is called a key stone and an impression from it is laid down on each of the color stones. the parts on each stone that are to have one color are then inked in or engraved, and at the same time guide marks are indicated, so that in the composite print from the stones each color will fit its proper place. this fitting is called "register" and is an important part of printing, for each stone must be adjusted to a nicety while on the press in order to make each impression fit the others exactly. the process was originally manipulated entirely by hand, but photography has now replaced much of the handwork and has given rise to several methods by which the same kinds of subjects are reproduced in radically different ways. tints are sometimes produced by the half-tone and other screens and by machine ruling, and printer's type is used almost exclusively for titles and other matter that was formerly engraved or drawn on the stone. in reproducing a geologic map the base may be engraved on stone or on copper or it may be photo-lithographed. by either process the map may be transferred to the printing stone. the color stones for geologic maps are prepared by hand, but the geologic patterns, which are printed in colors, are engraved separately on plates, from which impressions are pulled when needed and transferred to their proper places on the printing stones in the shapes required according to the "key" design. the lighter, more transparent colors are generally printed first, and often twelve or more colors and many distinctive patterns are used to produce a geologic map. when proofs of such a map are pulled each stone must be taken up and carefully adjusted on the press, so that the work of proving maps that are printed from a considerable number of color stones is laborious and expensive. it is therefore customary to approve first combined proofs conditionally--that is, subject to the corrections and changes indicated on the proofs--and to hold the lithographer responsible for any failure to make the corrections. this process is the most expensive one used for reproducing illustrations. changes may be indicated on proofs, but changes can not be made on a stone twice in the same place without danger of affecting the printing or making it necessary to retransfer the parts affected. all changes are expensive because a slight modification at one point may involve corresponding changes on a number of stones, each of which must be taken up, corrected, and proved to insure the exact coincidence of the parts affected. it is often less expensive to retransfer the entire job than to make extensive changes on the original stones. engraving on stone and on copper. engraving on stone is distinctly lithographic, but engraving on copper is sometimes included among lithographic processes because the work produced by it is usually printed from stone and thus becomes lithographic. in other respects engraving on copper is not a lithographic process. roughly prepared maps and any rough line copy that is accurate in statement and clear as to intent are appropriate for both methods of engraving, but drawings that are expertly prepared are more suitable for reproduction by photolithography. in engraving on stone the lines of a design are scratched on the blackened surface of a stone with a steel-pointed tool; in engraving on copper the lines are cut with a graver on a sheet or plate of copper, the matter to be engraved being first shown on the plate by what is called the photo-tracing process, which was devised in the geological survey. there is, however, no great or essential difference in the printed results of the two processes, but most lithographers employ only stone engravers. a stone on which a design is to be engraved is ground and polished according to the kind of work to be engraved, is coated with a thin solution of gum arable and allowed to dry, and is then washed until the superficial gum is removed while the surface pores remain filled. as the lines made by the engraver must be visible the stone is blackened with a pigment composed of lampblack and gum or is covered evenly with red chalk or venetian red. it is then ready to receive the design to be engraved. if the design is a map which is to show culture, streams, and surface contours, and each of these sets of features is to be printed in a separate color, impressions of the work to be engraved must be placed on three stones. one method of doing this is to make a scratch tracing of the original drawing on a sheet of transparent gelatin or celluloid in the manner employed in chromolithography, except that a dry pigment, generally chrome-yellow, is used to fill the scratch lines instead of red chalk or venetian red. from this tracing a "faint" or imprint of all the details of the three separate features of the map is made on each of the three stones, and the engraver then cuts on each stone only the lines and other features, including ample register marks, that are to be printed in one color, the imprint made from the tracing making it possible to engrave each set of features in its exact position relative to the other two. by another method the matter to be engraved is photographed directly on the stone. the engraving is done with a steel needle inserted in a small wooden cylinder, an instrument resembling an ordinary lead pencil. the size and shape of the needles used are varied according to the requirements of the matter to be engraved. with this instrument the lines and lettering are lightly scratched into the stone through the dark coating and show as light lines. the points of some of the needles are fine; those of others are v-shaped; and some have spoon-shaped points, for use in thickening lines and shading letters. all features are engraved in reverse. after the engraving is completed the stones are prepared for printing by wiping off all the superficial color and filling the engraved lines with a greasy ink--generally a thin printing ink--which is rubbed into the lines with a soft rag. impressions are then pulled on transfer paper and transferred to three printing stones for use in printing the three colors, the register marks enabling the pressman to fit each color exactly in its proper place. in all lithographic processes the titles and other marginal lettering can be and usually are transferred from type impressions to the printing stones. it is therefore unnecessary to letter such matter carefully on an original drawing that is made for lithographic reproduction, for appropriate faces of type will give better printed results than hand lettering. corrections can not be made on a stone or copper engraving as readily as on a drawing. if a stone engraver makes an error or if a change is required after his engraving is finished, the parts to be corrected must be scraped off and a new ground laid before the correction can be made. sometimes he will engrave the parts corrected on another part of the original stone and transfer it to the printing stone. corrections are made on copper plates by "hammering up" the plate from beneath, polishing off a new surface, and reengraving the part to be corrected. appendix. the matter given in this appendix is much used in making geologic maps and other illustrations. the greek alphabet and the groups of signs presented are given chiefly to show the correct formation of each letter and sign. miscellaneous tables. _length of 1â° of longitude measured along given parallels from the equator to the poles._ [from u. s. coast and geodetic survey report for 1884, appendix 6.] parallel of statute | parallel of statute | parallel of statute latitude. miles. | latitude. miles. | latitude. miles. ----------------------+-----------------------+--------------------- 0 69.172 | 31 59.365 | 61 33.623 1 69.162 | 32 58.716 | 62 32.560 2 69.130 | 33 58.071 | 63 31.488 3 69.078 | 34 67.407 | 64 30.406 4 69.005 | 35 66.725 | 65 29.315 5 68.911 | 36 66.027 | 66 28.215 6 68.795 | 37 65.311 | 67 27.106 7 68.660 | 38 64.679 | 68 26.988 8 68.504 | 39 63.829 | 69 24.862 9 68.326 | 40 53.063 | 70 23.729 10 68.129 | 41 62.281 | 71 22.589 11 67.910 | 42 51.483 | 72 21.441 12 67.670 | 43 60.669 | 73 20.287 13 67.410 | 44 49.840 | 74 19.127 14 67.131 | 45 48.995 | 75 17.960 15 66.830 | 46 48.136 | 76 16.788 16 66.510 | 47 47.261 | 77 15.611 17 66.169 | 48 46.372 | 78 14.428 18 65.808 | 49 45.469 | 79 13.242 19 65.427 | 50 44.652 | 80 12.051 20 65.026 | 51 43.621 | 81 10.857 21 64.606 | 52 42.676 | 82 9.659 22 64.166 | 53 41.719 | 83 8.458 23 63.706 | 54 40.749 | 84 7.256 24 63.228 | 55 39.766 | 85 6.049 25 62.729 | 56 38.771 | 86 4.842 26 62.212 | 57 37.764 | 87 3.632 27 61.676 | 58 36.745 | 88 2.422 28 61.122 | 59 35.716 | 89 1.211 29 60.548 | 60 34.674 | 90 .000 30 59.956 | | _length of 1â° of latitude measured along a meridian at given parallels._ [parallel given is in center of the degree whose length is stated.] parallel of statute latitude. miles. --------------------- 0 68.704 10 68.725 20 68.786 30 68.879 40 68.993 50 69.115 60 69.230 70 69.324 80 69.386 90 69.407 metric system and equivalents. [the units of linear measure most commonly used are millimeters (mm.), centimeters (cm.), decimeters (dm.), meters (m.), and kilometers (km.), 1 m. = 10 dm.; 1 dm. = 10 cm.; 1 cm. = 10 mm.; 1 km. = 1,000 meters = 0.62137 mile; 1 m. = 39.37 inches = 3.280833 feet.] meters. | inches. || meters. | feet. || kilometers. | miles. ----------+-------------++---------+-----------++-------------+-------- 1 | 39.37 || 1 | 3.280633 || 1 | 0.62137 2 | 78.74 || 2 | 6.561667 || 2 | 1.24274 3 | 118.11 || 3 | 9.842500 || 3 | 1.86411 4 | 157.48 || 4 | 13.123333 || 4 | 2.48548 5 | 196.85 || 5 | 16.404166 || 5 | 3.10685 6 | 236.22 || 6 | 19.685000 || 6 | 3.72822 7 | 275.59 || 7 | 22.965833 || 7 | 4.34959 8 | 314.96 || 8 | 26.246666 || 8 | 4.97096 9 | 354.33 || 9 | 29.527500 || 9 | 5.59233 inches. | centimeters.|| feet. | meters. || miles. | kilometers. ----------+-------------++---------+-----------++-----------+----------- 1 | 2.54 || 1 | 0.304801 || 1 | 1.60935 2 | 5.08 || 2 | 0.609601 || 2 | 3.21869 3 | 7.62 || 3 | 0.914402 || 3 | 4.82804 4 | 10.16 || 4 | 1.219202 || 4 | 6.43739 5 | 12.70 || 5 | 1.524003 || 5 | 8.04674 6 | 15.24 || 6 | 1.828804 || 6 | 9.65606 7 | 17.78 || 7 | 2.133604 || 7 | 11.26543 8 | 20.32 || 8 | 2.438405 || 8 | 12.87478 9 | 22.86 || 9 | 2.743205 || 9 | 14.48412 the "vara," used in texas, is equivalent to 33-1/3 inches and is computed as representing 2.78 feet. _geologic eras, periods, systems, epochs, and series._ era. period or system. epoch or series. { { recent. { quaternary. { pleistocene (replaces "glacial"). cenozoic. { { { pliocene. { tertiary. { miocene. { { oligocene. { { eocene. { { upper (gulf may be used { { provincially). { cretaceous. { lower (comanche and shasta may be { { used provincially). { { { upper. mesozoic. { jurassic. { middle. { { lower. { { { upper. { triassic. { middle. { { lower. { { permian. { { pennsylvanian (replaces "upper { carboniferous. { carboniferous"). { { mississippian (replaces "lower { { carboniferous"). { { { upper. { devonian. { middle. { { lower. { paleozoic. { silurian. { { { upper (cincinnatian may be used { { provincially). { ordovician. { middle (mohawkian may be used { { provincially). { { lower. { { { saratogan (or upper cambrian). { cambrian. { acadian (or middle cambrian). { { waucoban (or lower cambrian). { algonkian. }pre-cambrian. proterozoic. { archean. } _chemical elements and symbols._ element. symbol. element. symbol. element. symbol. aluminum al holmium ho rhodium rh antimony sb hydrogen h rubidium rb argon al indium in ruthenium ru arsenic as iodine i samarium sa barium ba iridium ir scandium sc bismuth bi iron fe selenium se boron b krypton kr silicon si bromine br lanthanum la silver ag cadmium cd lead pb sodium na cesium cs lithium li strontium sr calcium ca lutecium lu sulphur s carbon c magnesium mg tantalum ta cerium ce manganese mn tellurium te chlorine cl mercury hg terbium tb chromium cr molybdenum mo thallium tl cobalt co neodymium nd thorium th columbium c neon ne thulium tm copper cu nickel ni tin sn dysprosium dy niton nt titanium ti erbium er nitrogen n tungsten w europium eu osmium os uranium u fluorine f oxygen o vanadium v gadolinium gd palladium pd xenon xe gallium ga phosphorus p ytterbium germanium ge platinum pt (neoytterbium) yb glucinum gl potassium k yttrium y gold au praseodymium pr zinc zn helium he radium ra zirconium zr _greek alphabet._ caps. lower-case. greek name. english sound. [greek: a] [greek: a] alpha. a. [greek: b] [greek: b] beta. b. [greek: g] [greek: g] gamma. g. [greek: d] [greek: d] delta. d. [greek: e] [greek: e] epsilon. e short. [greek: z] [greek: z] zeta. z. [greek: h] [greek: h] eta. e long. [greek: th] [greek: th] theta. th. [greek: i] [greek: i] iota. i. [greek: k] [greek: k] kappa. k. [greek: l] [greek: l] lambda. l. [greek: m] [greek: m] mu. m. [greek: n] [greek: n] nu. n. [greek: x] [greek: x] xi. x. [greek: o] [greek: o] omicron. o short. [greek: p] [greek: p] pi. p. [greek: r] [greek: r] rho. r. [greek: s] [greek: s] sigma. s. [greek: t] [greek: t] tau. t. [greek: u] [greek: u] upsilon. u. [greek: f] [greek: f] phi. f. [greek: ch] [greek: ch] chi. ch. [greek: ps] [greek: ps] psi. ps. [greek: om] [greek: om] omega. o long. _roman numerals._ i 1 | ix 9 | lxx 70 | d 500 ii 2 | x 10 | lxxx 80 | dc 600 iii 3 | xix 19 | xc 90 | dcc 700 iv 4 | xx 20 | c 100 | dccc 800 v 5 | xxx 30 | cl 150 | cm 900 vi 6 | xl 40 | cc 200 | m 1000 vii 7 | l 50 | ccc 300 | md 1500 viii 8 | lx 60 | cd 400 | mcm 1900 mathematical signs. + plus. ~ difference minus. integration. ã� multiplied by. equivalence. ã· divided by. : ratio. = equality. geometrical proportion. â± plus or minus. -: difference, excess. square. therefore. rectangle. because. triangle. infinity. circle. varies as. angle. radical. right angle. â° degree. or > greater than. ' minute. or < less than. " second. perpendicular. names of rocks. the following list was prepared in the geologic branch for the use of geologic draftsmen to enable them to select appropriate symbols for rocks that may be referred to in preliminary drawings by name only. for sedimentary rocks dots and circles, parallel lines, and broken or dotted lines are used; for metamorphic rocks short dashes arranged without definite patterns; and for igneous rocks patterns composed of short dashes, triangles, rhombs, crosses, and cross lines. all these patterns are shown in plate iii. _sedimentary material._ [including residual, detrital, eolian, glacial, organic, and chemically precipitated material.] agglomerate. ironstone (also igneous). alabaster. itacolumite. alluvium. kame. alum shale. kaolin. anhydrite. laterite. apron (alluvial). lignite. argillite. limestone. arkose. limonite. asphalt. loess. bench gravel. marble (also metamorphic). bentonite. marl. boulder clay. metaxite. brea. morainal deposit. breccia. mudstone. brownstone. novaculite. burrstone. peat. calcarenite. pelite. calc sinter. phosphate rock. caliche. phosphorite. catlinite. phthanite. chalk. psammites. chert. psephites. clay. puddingstone. coal. pyroclastic material. conglomerate. quartzite (also metamorphic). coprolite. reddle. coquina. rock salt. detritus. rock stream. diatomaceous earth. rubble. diluvium. salt. dolomite. sand. drift. sandstone. fan (alluvial). selenite. fanglomerate. shale. flagstone. silt. flint. slate (also metamorphic). freestone. soil. fuller's earth. stalactite. geyserite. stalagmite. gravel. talc. graywacke. talus. greensand. till. grit. travertine. gumbo. tripoli. gypsum. tufa (=chemically deposited lime). hardpan. tuff (=igneous fragments). hematite. wacke. infusorial earth. wash. _metamorphic material._ adinole. hornstone. amphibolite. itabirite. andalusite schist (?). kinzigite. apo (rhyolite), etc. knotenschiefer. argillite. knotty schists. augen gneiss (also igneous). luxulianite (igneous?). biotite schist. marble. calc schist. meta (diabase), etc. cataclastic. mica schist. chlorite schist mylonite. clay slate. ophicalcite. damourite schist. ottrelite schist. desmosite. phyllite. dynamometamorphic rock. porcelanite. eclogite. protogene. epidosite. pyroschists. erlan. quartz. erlanfels. quartzite. eulysite. quartz schist. fibrolite schist schist. garnet rock. sericite schist, etc. garnet schist. serpentine. gneiss. slate. granite gneiss. soapstone. graywacke (?). sodalite. green schists. spilosite. greenstone (also igneous). steatite. greisen. talc schist. halleflinta. topazfels. hornblende schist topaz rock. hornfels. zobtenite. _igneous material._ absarokite. dolerite. abyssal. dunite. adamellite. durbachite. adendiorite. effusive rock. ailsyte. ekerite. ã�kerite. elvan. alaskite. enstatite. albitlte. eruptive rock. allivalite. essexite. allochetite. estrellite. alnã¶lte. eulysite. alsbachite. extrusive rock. ambonite. farrisite. amherstite. felsite. analcitite. felsophyre. andesite. fergusite. anorthosite. fortunite. aphanitite. fourchite. aplite. foyaite. arkite. gabbro. atatschite. gauteite. augen gneiss (also metamorphic). garewaite. augitite. glumarrite. avezacite. gladkaite. banakite. granite. banatite. granitite. bandaite. granitoid. basalt. granodiorite. basanite. granophyre. beerbachite. greenstone (also metamorphic). bekinkinite. greisen (?). bombs. grorudite. borolanite. harrisite. bostonite. harzburgite. camptonite. haã¼ynophyre. carmeloite. hawaiite. cascadite. hedrumite. chibinite. heumite. ciminite. holyokeite. comendite. hornblendite. complementary rocks. hypabyssal rock. coppaelite. hyperite. cortlandite. hypersthenite. cromaltite. ijolite. cumberlandite. intrusive rock. cuselite. irruptive (=intrusive) rock. dacite. isenite. dellenite. jacupirangite. diabase. jumillite. diallagite. kaiwekite. dike rock. kedabekite. diorite. kentallenite. ditroite. kenyite. _igneous material._--continued. keratophyre. perlite. kersantite. phanerite. kimberlite. phonolite. kobalaite. pierite. krablite. pitchstone. kragerã¶ite. plagiaplite. kulaite. plagioclastic. kyschytymite. plumasite. lamprophyre. plutonic rock. latite. pollenite. laugenite. porphyry. laurdalite. pulaskite. laurvikite. pumice. lava. pyroxenite. lestiwarite. rhombenporphyry. leucite basalt. rhyolite. leucite tephrite. rizzonite. leucitite. rockalite. leucocratic. santorinite. lherzolite. sanukite. limbergite. saxonite. lindoite. scyelite. liparite. shastaite. litchfieldite. shonkinite. lithoidite. shoshonite. luciitss. soda granite. lujaurite. sã¶lvsbergite. madrupite. sommaite. maenaite. spessartite. magma basalt. sussexite. malchite. syenite. malignite. taimyrite. mangerite. tawite. mariupolite. tephrite. melaphyre. teschenite. melilite basalt. theralite. mesanite. tilaite. mica peridotite. tinguaite. minette. tjosite. missourite. tonalite. monchiquite. tonsbergite. mondholdeite. tordrillite. monmouthite. toscanite (?). monzonite. trachy-andesite. mugearite. trachyte. naujaite. trap. nelsonite. troctolite. nephelinite. umptekite. nevadite. unakite. nordmarkite. ungaite. norite. urtite. obsidian. valbellite. odinite. venanzite. orbite. verite. orendite. vitrophyre. ornã¶ite. vogesite. orthophyre. volcanic rock. ortlerite. volhynite. ouachitite. vulsinite. paisanite. websterite. pantellerite. wehrlite. pegmatite. windsorite. peridotite. wyomingite. perknite. yamaskite. index. a. abbreviations, forms of. 55-67 adhesive materials, choice. 37 alaska, maps of, reuse of. 17 albertype. _see_ photogelatin processes. apparatus, photographs of, preferred to sketches. 29 approval of finished drawings, features to be covered by. 38 of illustrations, regulations governing. 80 areas, patterns used to distinguish. 23 patterns used to distinguish, plate showing. 62 army, corps of engineers of the, maps published by. 15 artotype. _see_ photogelatin processes. atlases, published, use of. 15 b. base maps. _see_ maps, base. bleaching photographic prints, method and solutions for. 69 border for maps, width and use of. 57-58 bristol board, kind mid sizes used. 24,66 brash and pencil drawings, materials and methods used in making. 66-67, 69 brushes, kinds and sizes used. 66-67,71 c. celluloid transferring, process of. 47 requisitions for. 47 cerotype process, description and advantages of. 80-81 changes in engravings, possible kinds of. 38-39, 90 changes in original material, draftsman to consult author on. 65 chemical elements, names and symbols of. 98 chromolithography, description of. 87-80 civil divisions, lettering of. 53, 54 coal beds, indication of thickness of. 31 coast and geodetic survey charts, use of. 15 collotype. _see_ photogelatin processes. coloring materials, use of. 26 colors, standard, for geologic maps. 62-63 use of, for ground-water features. 21-23 on original geologic maps. 27-28 commas, form of. 54 use of, in numbers. 54 contours, drawing of. 48-50 cooperation, mention of. 13 copper, engraving on. 89, 90 etching in relief on, process and advantages of. 75 copying methods of. 46-48 corrections. _see_ changes. cost of photo-engravings. 75, 78, 80, 81 county maps, use of. 15 crayons, wax, use of. 26, 50, 51 credit for data of maps, indication of. 13 crystals, drawings of, making and lettering of. 70 cultural features, lettering of. 53-54 list of. 52-53 curves, date showing. 64 cuts. _see_ engravings. d. details of a geologic map, plate showing. 58 diagrams, drawing and lettering of. 64 features of, plate showing. 64 original, general requirements for. 28-20 director of the survey, order by. 9 divisions of plates and figures, serial letters and numbers for. 12 drafting table, shadowless, description of. 47-48 shadowless, use of. 29, 48, 50 draftsmen, detail of, to aid author. 9 detail of, to prepare base maps. 13-14 experience and reading required by. 41-42 general treatment of material by. 42-43 drainage features, depiction of. 51-52 drawing instruments, list of. 42 drawing materials, kinds used. 23-26, 66-67, 69, 71 drawings, authors', draftsmen may aid in making. 9 authors', editorial revision of. 38 finished, general requirements for. 41-42 requests for photographs of. 34 duplicates of engravings, charges for. 38 e. effectiveness of illustrations, elements that produce. 7, 30 electrotypes of engravings, charges for. 38 elements, chemical, names and symbols of. 93 engraving on stone, process of. 89-90 _see also_ lithography. engravings, changes in. 38-39 original, time of keeping. 37 erasers, injury to paper by. 67 kinds used. 25, 67-68 erasures, smoothing paper after. 68 explanations on maps, arrangement and lettering of. 19, 58-50 f. figures, differences from plates. 10-11 divisions of, serial letters for. 12 methods of inserting, plate showing. 12 formations, geologic, use of letter symbols for. 20-21 fossils. _see_ specimens. four-color process, advantage of. 80 g. gas wells, symbols for. 21 generalization, true, meaning of. 17 geographic tables and formulas (bull. 650), use of. 44, 45 geologic periods of time, names of. 92 gouache, use of. 67, 69 great lakes surveys, maps published by. 15 greek letters, forms, names, and english sounds of. 93 ground-water features, symbols representing. 21-23 h. hachuring, use of. 50 half-tone engraving, preparation of copy for. 77-78 process and advantages of. 75-78 three-color process of. 78-80 half tones, changes in. 39 prints of, showing effects produced by different screens. 56 requirements for printing. 11 heliotype. _see_ photogelatin processes. hill shading, use of. 60-51 hydrographic features, lettering of. 54 representation of. 51-52 hypsographic features, lettering of. 54 i. illustrations, kinds of. 10-11 inks, kinds used. 25, 67 methods of using. 25 inserting plates and figures, methods of, plate showing. 12 instruments, draftsmen's, list of. 42 j. japanese transparent water colors, use of. 26 l. land office maps, scales and detail of. 14-15 latitude, length of 1â° of, at intervals of 10â°. 91 lending of photographs and drawings, rules governing. 34 letter symbols, use of, on geologic maps. 20-21 lettering, directions for. 53-55 for lithographing. 90 for names of streams. 52, 54 on diagrams. 64 on drawings of crystals. 70 on original maps. 19 on plans and cross sections of mines. 65-66 reduction sheet used in, plate showing. 54 use of type for. 54-55 light, direction and gradation of. 66 lithographs, printing and insertion of. 11 lithography, original process of. 83-85 _see also_ engraving on stone. longitude, length of 1â° of, at latitudes 0â° to 90â°. 91 m. map of the world, millionth-scale, use of, for base maps. 14 maps, areal patterns for, drawing of. 61-62 bar scales for. 59-60 base, conventional symbols used on. 45-46 including new data, how obtained. 13-14 indication of sources on. 13 of the united states on small scales, use of. 15 published maps available for. 14-17 reuse of, to be approved. 13 black and whits, patterns used on, plate showing. 62 borders for. 57-68 cultural features on. 52-53 enlargement and reduction of. 18 explanations for. 19, 58-59 geologic, details of, plate showing. 58 printing of. 87-89 standard colors for. 62-63 hydrographic features on. 61-52 lettering on. 53-65 materials used for drawing. 23-28 orientation of. 18 original, margin required on. 19 original base, amount of detail on. 17 must be free from colors and symbols. 28 preparation of. 13-14, 17-18 original geologic, method of coloring. 27-28 projection for. 18-19, 43-45 reduction or enlargement of, marking for. 63-64 relief on. 48-51 standard scales for. 18 symbols used on. 20-23 drawing of. 61 plates showing. 20, 46 titles for. 58 topographic, scales of. 14-15 mathematical signs, forms and names of. 94 measures, linear, metric equivalents of. 92 measuring scales for map projection, use of. 44 meridians used on public-land maps, diagram showing. 16 metric measures, english equivalents of. 92 millionth-scale map, use of. 14 mine plans, conventional lines for. 29 features of. 65-66 symbols used on, plate showing. 20 minerals. _see_ rocks. mississippi river commission, maps published by 15 n. names of rocks. 94-97 national forest maps and proclamations, use of. 15 o. offset process, description of. 87 oilwells, symbols for. 21 opaquing, meaning of. 18, 47, 86 orientation of maps, requirements for. 18 original drawings, general treatment of, by draftsmen. 42-43 preparation of. 12-40 outdoor sketches, redrawing of. 69-70 p. panoramas, construction of. 71 paper, kinds used for drawings. 23-24, 60, 61, 66, 69 pastes, use of. 37 patterns, areal, method of drawing. 61-62 areal, plate showing. 62 pen drawings, materials and methods used in making. 67-68, 68-69 pencils, colored, use of. 26 drawing, quality and grades of. 25, 66 pens, kinds of, used for drawing. 25, 48, 67 photoengraving, cost of. 75, 78, 80, 81 general features of. 72-73 photoengravings, printing and insertion of. 11 photogelatin processes, description of. 82-83 photographs, adaptation of. 83 bleaching of. 69 care needed in taking and handling. 32, 33, 39-40 copyrighted, consent for use of. 33-34 duplicate prints of, requests for. 34 mounting and numbering of. 33, 36-37 poor, mating of drawings over. 68-69 preparation of, for half-tone engraving. 77-78 record of source of. 34 selection of. 32-33 retouching of. 68, 70-71 suitability of. 9 unpublished, issue and use of. 34 photolithographs, changes in. 39 photolithography, description of. 86-87 planographic process, description of. 87 plans of mines, drawing and lettering of. 29, 65-66 symbols used on, plate showing. 20 plates, differences from figures. 10-11 divisions of, serial letters and numbers for. 12 grouping small illustrations on. 36-37 methods of inserting, plate showing. 12 political divisions, lettering of. 53, 54 post-route maps, scales and detail of. 15 projection for maps, preparation and checking of. 18-19, 43-45 proofs, changes in. 76 correction of. 38-39 duplicate, supplying of. 30 submittal of. 38 public-land maps, meridians, parallels, and township lines used on, diagram showing. 16 public works, lettering of. 53 punctuation marks, forms of. 54 purpose of illustrations in survey reports. 8, 40 r. railroad surveys, data for maps obtainable from. 15 railroads, names of, on maps. 57 reduction of maps, marking drawings for. 63-64 means of. 18 reduction sheet for lettering, plate showing. 54 use of. 55 relief, methods of expressing. 48-51 reproduction of illustrations, processes for. 72-90 relation of, to the drawing supplied. 7, 40 reticulation, sketching by. 47 retouching of photographs, materials and method used in. 68, 70-71 reuse of illustrations, procedure for. 37-38 rocks, igneous, names of. 95-97 metamorphic, names of. 95 sedimentary, names of. 94-95 symbols used to distinguish. 32 _see also_ specimens. roman numerals, numbers expressed by. 93 rubber, liquid, use of. 37 s. scales, bar, forms of. 50-60 measuring for projection of maps. 44 standard, of maps. 18 scope of this manual. 7 screens, half-tone prints showing effects produced by. 56 selection of illustrations, considerations governing. 8-9 sections, columnar, original drawings for. 31 columnar, symbols used in, plate showing. 32 structure, combination of, with views of topography. 30-31 drawing of. 64-65 original drawings for. 29-31 symbols used in, plate showing. 32 vertical exaggeration of. 30 shading, kinds used. 67 signs, mathematical, forms and names of. 04 sises of illustrations. 11-12, 40 specimens, borrowed and fragile, care of. 35 drawings of, methods of making. 60-68 paleontologic, transmittal of. 35 photographs of, how printed. 68 how used. 34-85 springs, symbols for. 22, 23 state maps, use of. 15 stipple, production of. 50, 51 stone, engraving on. 89-90 streams, drawing of. 51-52 lettering names of. 52 submittal of illustrations. 10 symbols, drawing of. 20, 61 for ground-water features, uniformity needed in. 21-23 for maps and mine plans, plates showing. 20, 46 uniform use of. 20, 45-46 for oil and gas wells, features of. 21 for structure and columnar sections, plate showing. 32 lithologic, use of. 32 t. three-color half-tones, process of making. 78-80 titles of illustrations, arrangement and place of. 58 printing of. 19-20 wording and lettering of. 19 tooling on half-tones, effects obtained by. 77, 78 topographic atlas sheets, scales of. 14 tracing, method of. 46-47 use of colors in. 46-47 tracing linen, use of. 24-25 transferring, celluloid, process of. 47 celluloid, requisitions for. 47 type, lettering with. 54-55 styles and sizes of. 55 v. value of illustrations in survey reports. 8 vara, length of. 92 vignetting, effect obtained by. 78 w. wall map of the united states, use of, for basemaps. 14 water colors, use of. 26, 67, 71 waterlining, use of. 52 wax engraving, process and advantages of. 80-81 wells, symbols for. 22, 23 wood engraving, process of. 81-82 z. zinc etchings, changes in. 38-39 drawings for. 74 insertion of. 11 making and advantages of. 73-75 [illustration: circle] * * * * * transcriber's note paragraphs split by illustrations were rejoined. where greek characters occurred in the original, [greek: ] was substituted for them. to see these characters, view the utf-8 or html version. 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. (bliss, sands and foster, 1895.) 140 illust. (5 etched plates.) _battles and battlefields of england._ c. r. b. barrett. 8º. (innes, 1896.) 102 illust. (2 f. p.) d. y. cameron. _charterhouse, old and new._ e. p. eardley-wilmot and e. c. streatfield. 4º. (nimmo, 1895.) 4 etchings. _scholar gipsies._ john buchan. 8º. (lane, 1896. the arcady library.) 7 etchings. nelly erichsen. _the novels of susan edmonstone ferrier._ introduction by r. brimley johnson. 8º. (dent, 1894.) 6 vols. 17 f. p. _the promised land._ translated from the danish of henrik pontoppidan by mrs. edgar lucas. 8º. (dent, 1896.) 29 illust. (14 f. p.) _emanuel, or children of the soil._ translated from the danish of henrik pontoppidan by mrs. edgar lucas. 8º. (dent, 1896.) 29 illust. (17 f. p.) mediæval towns. 8º. (dent, 1898-1901.) _the story of assisi._ lina duff gordon. 50 illust., with others. 25 (3 f. p.) by nelly erichsen. _the story of rome._ norwood young. 48 illust., with others. (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. (18 f. p.) with others. _to gipsyland._ elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1893.) 82 illust. (35 f. p.) _the devils of notre dame._ 18 illust., with descriptive text by r. a. m. stevenson. fol. ('pall mall gazette,' 1894.) _cycling._ the earl of albemarle and g. lacy hillier. 4º. (longmans, 1894. the badminton library.) 49 illust. with the earl of albemarle, and george moore. 21 by joseph pennell. (12 f. p.) _tantallon castle._ elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (constable, 1895.) 33 illust. (7 f. p.) with others. 24 by joseph pennell. _the makers of modern rome._ mrs. oliphant. 8º. (macmillan, 1895.) 71 illust. with henry p. riviere, and from old engravings. 53 by joseph pennell. (7 f. p.) _the alhambra._ washington irving. introduction by elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (macmillan, 1896.) 288 illust. (24 f. p.) _on the broads._ anna bowman dodd. 8º. (macmillan, 1896.) 29 illust. (24 f. p.) _climbs in the new zealand alps._ e. a. fitzgerald. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1896.) 25 illust. with others. (8 f. p. by joseph pennell from paintings). _highways and byways in devon and cornwall._ arthur h. norway. 8º. (macmillan, 1897.) 66 illust. (18 f. p.) with hugh thomson. 58 by joseph pennell. _aquitaine, a traveller's tales._ wickham flower. 4º. (chapman and hall, 1897.) 24 illust. (22 f. p.) _over the alps on a bicycle._ elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1898.) 34 illust. (18 f. p.) _highways and byways in north wales._ a. g. bradley. 8º. (macmillan, 1898.) 96 illust. (13 f. p.) with hugh thomson. 87 by joseph pennell. _highways and byways in yorkshire._ arthur h. norway. 8º. (macmillan, 1899.) 110 illust. (14 f. p.) with hugh thomson. 102 by joseph pennell. _highways and byways in normandy._ percy dearmer. 8º. (macmillan, 1900.) 153 illust. (17 f. p.) _a little tour in france._ henry james. 8º. (heinemann, 1900.) 94 illust. (44 f. p.) _the stock exchange in 1900._ w. eden hooper. 4º. (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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(freemantle, 1900.) 2 vols. 176 illust. (23 f. p.) with others. 59 by herbert railton. _the story of bruges._ ernest gilliat smith. 8º. (dent, 1901. mediæval towns.) 57 illust. (9 f. p.) with others. 23 by herbert railton. _boswell's life of johnson._ edited by a. glover. introduction by austin dobson. 8º. (dent, 1901.) 100 illust. and portraits. sir george reid. _the selected writings of john ramsay._ alexander walker. 8º. (blackwood, 1871.) portrait and 9 illust. _life of a scotch naturalist._ samuel smiles. 8º. (murray, 1876.) portrait and 25 illust. (18 f. p.) _george paul chalmers._ a. gibson. 4º. (david douglas, 1879.) 5 heliogravure plates. _johnny gibb of gushetneuk in the parish of pyketillim._ w. alexander. 8º. (david douglas, 1880.) portrait, title-page and 18 heliogravure plates. _twelve sketches of scenery and antiquities on the line of the great north of scotland railway._ 12 heliogravure plates with illustrative letterpress by w. ferguson of kinmundy. 8º. (david douglas, 1882.) _natural history and sport in norway._ charles st. john. 8º. (douglas, 1882.) 10 f. p., heliogravure. _the river tweed from its source to the sea._ fol. (royal association for the promotion of fine arts in scotland, 1884.) 16 f. p., heliogravure. _george jamesone, the scottish van dyck._ john bulloch. 4º. (david douglas, 1885.) 2 heliogravure plates. _the river clyde._ fol. (royal association for the promotion of fine arts in scotland, 1886.) 12 f. p., heliogravure. _salmon fishing on the ristigouche._ dean sage. 4º. (douglas, 1888.) 2 illust. (1 f. p. photogravure). _lacunar basilicae sancti macarii aberdonensis._ 4º. (new spalding club, aberdeen, 1888). 2 f. p., photogravure. _cartularium ecclesiae sancti nicholai aberdonensis._ 2 vols. 4º. (new spalding club, aberdeen, 1888-92.) 2 f. p., photogravure. _st. giles', edinburgh, church, college and cathedral._ j. cameron lees. 4º (chambers, 1889.) 3 f. p., heliogravure. _royal edinburgh._ mrs. oliphant. 8º. (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. (constable, 1895.) 70 illust. with others. 5 f. p. by charles whymper. _the hare._ the rev. h. a. macpherson and others. 8º. (longmans, 1896. fur, feather and fin series.) 9 illust. with others. 2 f. p. by charles whymper. _on the world's roof._ j. macdonald oxley. 8º. (nisbet, 1896.) 4 f. p. _in haunts of wild game._ frederick vaughan kirby. 8º. (blackwood, 1896.) 39 illust. (15 f. p.) _in and beyond the himalayas._ s. j. stone. 8º. (arnold, 1896.) 16 f. p. _sunshine and storm in rhodesia._ f. c. selous. 8º. (ward, 1896.) 18 illust. (6 f. p.) with others. 3 by charles whymper. _letters to young shooters._ sir r. payne gallwey. (longmans, 1896.) 246 illust., with j. g. millais. _the art of wildfowling._ abel chapman. 8º. (cox, 1896.) 39 illust. (23 f. p.). with author. _wild norway._ abel chapman. 8º. (arnold, 1897.) 63 illust. (13 f. p.) with others. _travel and big game._ percy selous and h. a. bryden. 8º. (bellairs, 1897.) 6 f. p. _lost and vanishing birds._ charles dixon. 8º. (john macqueen, 1898.) 10 f. p. _off to klondyke._ gordon stables. 8º. (nisbet, 1898.) 8 f. p. _the rabbit._ james edmund harting. 8º. (longmans, 1898. fur, feather and fin series.) 10 illust. with others. 2 f. p. by charles whymper. _exploration and hunting in central africa._ a. st. h. gibbons. 8º. (methuen, 1898.) 8 f. p. by charles whymper. _the salmon._ hon. a. e. gathorne hardy. 8º. (longmans, 1898. fur, feather and fin series.) 8 illust. by charles whymper. _homes and haunts of the pilgrim fathers._ alexander mackennal. 4º. (the religious tract society, 1899.) 94 illust. from original drawings and photographs. (20 f. p.) _bird life in a southern county._ charles dixon. (scott, 1899.) 10 f. p. _the cruise of the marchesa to kamschatka and new guinea._ f. h. h. guillemard. 8º. (murray, 1899.) 139 illust. with others. engraved by e. whymper. _among the birds in northern shires._ charles dixon. 8º. (blackie, 1900.) 41 illust. (1 f. p.) _shooting._ lord walsingham and sir ralph payne-gallwey. 8º. (longmans, 1900. the badminton library.) 103 illust. with others. 26 by charles whymper. some character illustrators. edwin a. abbey. _selections from the poetry of robert herrick._ 4º. (sampson low, 1882.) 59 illust. with alfred parsons. (2 f. p.) _the rivals and the school for scandal._ r. b. sheridan. edited by brander matthews. 8º. (chatto and windus, 1885.) 13 illust. with others. 3 f. p. by e. a. abbey. _sketching rambles in holland._ george h. boughton. 8º. (macmillan, 1885.) 89 illust. (25 f. p.) with others. 26 by e. a. abbey. _old songs._ 4º. (macmillan, 1889.) 102 illust. (32 f. p.) with alfred parsons. 61 by e. a. abbey. _the quiet life._ certain verses by various hands. prologue and epilogue by austin dobson. 4º. (sampson low, 1890.) 82 illust. (21 f. p.) with alfred parsons. 40 by e. a. abbey. _the comedies of shakespeare._ 4 vols. 8º. (harper, 1896.) 131 photogravure plates. _she stoops to conquer._ oliver goldsmith. 8º. (harper, 1901.) 67 illust. (17 f. p.) a. s. boyd. _peter stonnor._ charles blatherwick. 8º. (chapman, 1884.) 15 illust. with james guthrie. 6 by a. s. boyd. _the birthday book of solomon grundy._ will roberts. 12º. (gowan and gray, 1884.) 371 illust. (6 f. p.) _novel notes._ j. k. jerome. 8º. (leadenhall press, 1893.) 90 illust. with others. 15 by a. s. boyd. _at the rising of the moon._ frank mathew. 8º. (mcclure, 1893.) 27 illust. with f. pegram. 4 by a. s. boyd. _ghetto tragedies._ i. zangwill. 12º. (mcclure, 1894.) 3 f. p. _a protègèe of jack hamlin's._ bret harte. 8º. (chatto, 1894.) 26 illust. with others. 18 by a. s. boyd. _the bell-ringer of angel's._ bret harte. 8º. (chatto, 1894.) 39 illust. with others. 5 by a. s. boyd. _john ingerfield._ jerome k. jerome. 12º. (mcclure, 1894.) 9 f. p. with john gulich. _the sketch-book of the north._ george eyre todd. 8º. (morrison, 1896.) 16 illust. with others. 5 f. p. by a. s. boyd. _pictures from punch._ vol. vi. 4º. (bradbury, agnew, 1896.) with others. 14 illust. by a. s. boyd. _rabbi saunderson._ ian maclaren. 12º. (hodder, 1898.) 12 f. p. _a lowden sabbath morn._ r. l. stevenson. 8º. (chatto and windus, 1898.) 27 f. p. _the days of auld lang syne._ ian maclaren. 8º. (hodder and stoughton, 1898.) 10 f. p. _horace in homespun._ hugh haliburton. 8º. (blackwood, 1900.) 26 f. p. _our stolen summer._ mary stuart boyd. 8º. (blackwood, 1900.) 170 illust. _a versailles christmas-tide._ m. s. boyd. 8º. (chatto and windus, 1901.) 53 illust. (6 f. p.) frank brangwyn. _collingwood._ w. clark russell. 8º. (methuen, 1891.) 12 illust. 10 f. p. by frank brangwyn. _the captured cruiser._ c. j. hyne. 8º. (blackie, 1893.) 6 f. p. _tales of our coast._ s. r. crockett, etc. 8º. (chatto and windus, 1896.) 12 f. p. _the arabian nights._ 8º. (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. (scott, 1893.) 13 f. p. _gulliver's travels._ preface by henry craik. 8º. (macmillan, 1894.) 100 illust. (18 f. p.) _history readers._ book ii. 8º. (macmillan, 1894.) 20 illust. with h. m. brock. 10 by c. e. brock. _nema and other stories._ hedley peek. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1895.) 35 illust. (26 f. p. 6 photogravure plates.) _annals of the parish and the ayrshire legatees._ john galt. 8º. (macmillan, 1895.) 40 illust. (32 f. p.) _w. v. her book and various verses._ william canton. 8º. (isbister, 1896.) 2 f. p. _westward ho!_ charles kingsley. 2 vols. 8º. (macmillan, 1896.) 84 illust. (51 f. p.) _the poetry of sport._ edited by hedley peek. 8º. (longman, 1896.) 32 illust. with others. (19 f. p. by c. e. brock.) _pride and prejudice._ jane austen. 8º. (macmillan, 1896. illustrated standard novels.) 40 illust. (38 f. p.) _racing and chasing._ see _h. m. brock_. _ivanhoe._ sir walter scott. 8º. (service and paton, 1897. illustrated english library.) 16 f. p. _the invisible playmate and w. v. her book._ william canton. 8º. (isbister, 1897.) 2 f. p. _the lady of the lake._ sir walter scott. 8º. (service and paton, 1898.) 24 f. p. _robinson crusoe._ daniel defoe. 8º. (service and paton, 1898. ill. eng. lib.) 16 f. p. _dent's second french book._ 8º. (dent, 1898.) 3 f. p. _the novels of jane austen._ edited by r. brimley johnson. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 10 vols. 6 f. p. in each by c. e. and h. m. brock. 30 by c. e. brock. in colours. _the vicar of wakefield._ oliver goldsmith. 8º. (service and paton, 1898. ill. eng. lib.) 16 f. p. _john gilpin._ william cowper. 4º. (dent, 1898. illustrated english poems.) 25 illust. (11 f. p.) _the bravest of them all._ mrs. edwin hohler. 8º. (macmillan, 1899.) 8 f. p. _m. or n._ g. j. whyte-melville. 8º. (thacker, 1899.) 14 f. p. coloured frontispiece. _the works of jane austen._ 8º. (dent, 1899. temple library.) 10 vols. 10 f. p. in colours. with h. m. brock. 5 by c. e. brock. _ivanhoe._ sir walter scott. 8º. (dent, 1899.) 12 f. p., in colours. _une joyeuse nichée._ 8º. (dent's modern language series, 1900.) 4 f. p. _the path finder._ _the prairie._ fenimore cooper. 2 vols. 8º. (macmillan, 1900. illustrated standard novels.) 25 f. p. each. _penelope's english experiences._ kate douglas wiggin. 8º. (gay and bird, 1900.) 53 illust. (14 f. p.) _penelope's experiences in scotland._ kate douglas wiggin. 8º. (gay and bird, 1900.) 56 illust. (14 f. p.) _ivanhoe._ sir w. scott. 8º. (dent, 1900. temple classics for young people.) 2 vols. 24 f. p. with h. m. brock. 12 by c. e. brock reproduced from 1899 edition. _the essays and last essays of elia._ edited by augustine birrell. 8º. (dent, 1900.) 2 vols. 163 illust. (32 f. p.) _the holly tree inn_ and _the seven poor travellers_. charles dickens. 8º. (dent, 1900.) 49 illust. 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(12 f. p.) _catriona._ r. l. stevenson. 8º. (cassell, 1895.) 16 woodcuts. _kidnapped._ r. l. stevenson. 8º. (cassell, 1895.) 16 woodcuts. _beside the bonnie brier bush._ ian maclaren. 8º. (hodder and stoughton, 1896.) 12 etchings. _the century edition of the poetry of robert burns._ 4 vols. 4º. (jack, 1896.) 20 f. p. etchings. h. m. paget. _kenilworth._ sir walter scott. 8º. (black, 1893. dryburgh edition.) 10 woodcuts. (9 f. p.) _quentin durward._ sir walter scott. 8º. (black, 1894. dryburgh edition.) 10 woodcuts. (9 f. p.) _pictures from dickens._ 4º. (nister, 1895.) 12 coloured illust. with others. _annals of westminster abbey._ e. t. bradley. 4º. (cassell, 1895.) 163 illust. with others. _the vicar of wakefield._ oliver goldsmith. 8º. (nister, 1898.) 25 illust. (12 f. p. 5 heliogravure plates.) also illustrations to boys' books by g. a. henty, etc. sidney paget. _adventures of sherlock holmes._ conan doyle. 8º. (newnes, 1892.) 104 illust. _rodney stone._ conan doyle. 8º. 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(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. 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(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. 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(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. the printed book, its history, illustration, and adornment, _from the days of gutenberg to the present time._ by henri bouchot, of the national library, paris. _translated and enlarged by_ edward c. bigmore. with one hundred and eighteen illustrations of facsimiles of early typography, printers' marks, copies of book illustrations, and specimens of bindings of all ages. new york: scribner and welford, 743 and 745, broadway. 1887. preface. considering that this short study can claim to be nothing more than a rapid and somewhat summary survey of the history of the book, it eschews all controversial matter, nor does it pretend to convey much fresh information to those already possessing a special knowledge of the subject. it is rather a condensed, but at the same time, it may be hoped, a useful, compendium of the thousand unknown or now forgotten essays, involving endless contradictory statements, that have been issued on this theme. the mere enumeration of such works would simply suffice to fill a volume. we have accordingly no intention to attempt a bibliography, satisfying ourselves with the modest avowal of having found so many documents in all languages, that the very abundance has been at least as embarrassing to us as the lack of materials may have been to others. the book appealing in its present form to a special public interested more in artistic than in purely typographical topics, our attention has been more particularly given to the illustrators, the designers, engravers, etchers, and so forth. such graphic embellishment seemed to us of more weight than the manufacture of the paper, the type-casting, the printing properly so called. this technical aspect of the subject has been very briefly dealt with in a separate chapter, and has also been enlarged upon in the early section. to the binding also we have devoted only a single chapter, while fully conscious that a whole volume would not have sufficed merely to treat the subject superficially. at the same time, we would not have the reader conclude from all this that our book abounds in omissions, or has overlooked any important features. the broad lines, we trust, have been adhered to, while each section has been so handled as to give a fair idea of the epoch it deals with. this is the first attempt to comprise within such narrow limits an art and an industry with a life of over four centuries, essaying to describe its beginnings and its history down to our days, without omitting a glance at the allied arts. the engravings selected for illustration have, as far as possible, been taken from unedited materials, and have been directly reproduced by mechanical processes, while fifteen new illustrations, having special relation to the history of the book in england, have been added to this edition, which is also considerably enlarged in the text on the same subject. contents. chapter i. page 14.. to 1462 1 origin of the book--engravers in relief--the st. christopher of 1423--origin of the xylographs--the xylographs, _donatus_, and _speculum_--the laurent coster legend--from block books to movable characters--john gaensefleisch, called gutenberg--the strasbourg trial--gutenberg at mayence--fust and schoeffer--the letters of indulgence--the bible--the "catholicon"--the mayence bible--causes of the dispersion of the first mayence printers--general considerations. chapter ii. 1462 to 1500 33 the book and the printers of the second generation--the german workmen dispersed through europe--caxton and the introduction of printing into england--nicholas jenson and his supposed mission to mayence--the first printing in paris; william fichet and john heinlein--the first french printers; their installation at the sorbonne and their publications--the movement in france--the illustration of the book commenced in italy--the book in italy; engraving in relief and metal plates--the book in germany: cologne, nuremberg, basle--the book in the low countries--french schools of ornament of the book; books of hours; booksellers at the end of the fifteenth century--literary taste in titles in france at the end of the fifteenth century--printers and booksellers' marks--the appearance of the portrait in the book--progress in england--caxton and his followers. chapter iii. 1500 to 1600 98 french epics and the renaissance--venice and aldus manutius--italian illustrators--the germans; _theuerdanck_, schäufelein--the book in other countries--french books at the beginning of the century, before the accession of francis i.--geoffroy tory and his works--francis i. and the book--robert estienne--lyons a centre of bookselling; holbein's dances of death--school of basle--alciati's emblems and the illustrated books of the middle of the century--the school of fontainebleau and its influence--solomon bernard--cornelis de la haye and the _promptuaire_--john cousin--copper plate engraving and metal plates--woériot--the portrait in the book of the sixteenth century--how a book was illustrated on wood at the end of the century--influence of plantin on the book; his school of engravers--general considerations--progress in england--coverdale's bible--english printers and their work--engraved plates in english books. chapter iv. 1600 to 1700 151 tendencies of the regency of marie de medicis--thomas de leu and leonard gaultier--j. picart and claude mellan--lyons and j. de fornazeris--the book at the beginning of the seventeenth century in germany, italy, and holland--crispin pass in france--the elzevirs and their work in holland--sebastian cramoisy and the imprimerie royale--illustration with callot, della bella, and abraham bosse--the publishers and the hotel de rambouillet--the reign of louis xiv.; antoine vitré syndic at his accession--his works and mortifications; the polyglot bible of le jay--art and illustrators of the grand century--sébastien leclerc, lepautre, and chauveau--leclerc preparing the illustration and decoration of the book for the eighteenth century--the book in england in the seventeenth century. chapter v. the book in the eighteenth century 184 the regency--publishers at the beginning of the eighteenth century--illustrators in france; gillot--the school of watteau and boucher--cars--the younger cochin; his principal works in vignettes--french art in england; gravelot--eisen--choffard--the _baisers_ of dorat; the _contes_ of la fontaine--the publisher cazin and the special literature of the eighteenth century--the younger moreau and his illustrations--the revolution--the school of david--duplessis-bertaux--the book in germany; chodowiecki--in england; boydell and french artists--caslon and baskerville--english books with illustrations--wood engraving in the eighteenth century; the papillons--printing offices in the eighteenth century. chapter vi. the book in the nineteenth century 218 the didots and their improvements--the folio racine--the school of didot--fine publications in england and germany--literature and art of the restoration--romanticism--wood engraving--bewick's pupils, clennell, etc.--the illustrators of romances--the generation of 1840--the book in our days in europe and america. chapter vii. types, impression, paper, ink 239 chapter viii. bookbinding 253 the binding of the first printed books--ancient german bindings--binding in the time of louis xii.--italian bindings--aldus--maioli--grolier--francis i.--henry ii. and diane de poitiers--catherine de medicis--henry iii.--the eves--the "fanfares"--louis xiii.--le gascon--florimond badier--louis xiv.--morocco leathers--cramoisy--the bindings of the time of louis xiv.--the regency--pasdeloup--the deromes--dubuisson--thouvenin--lesné--the nineteenth century--english binders--roger payne--francis bedford. chapter ix. libraries 290 index 305 the printed book. chapter i. 14.. to 1462. origin of the book--engravers in relief--the st. christopher of 1423--origin of the xylographs--the xylographs, _donatus_, and _speculum_--the laurent coster legend--from block books to movable characters--john gaensefleisch, called gutenberg--the strasbourg trial--gutenberg at mayence--fust and schoeffer--the letters of indulgence--the bible--the catholicon--the mayence bible--causes of the dispersion of the first mayence printers--general considerations. like its forerunner, painting, the book has ever been the most faithful reflection of the times when it was written and illustrated. natural and genuine from the first, and simply embellished with crude illustrations, it assumed in the sixteenth century the grand airs of the renaissance, gay or serious according to circumstances, decked in what were then called _histoires_--that is to say, wonderful engravings--and daintily printed in gothic, roman, or choice italic characters. but at the close of the century it had already abandoned _wood_ for line engravings, heightening its mysticism or its satire at the whim of passing politics and religious wranglings. then, under the influence of the painters and courtiers of the _grand monarque_, it becomes completely transformed, donning the peruke, so to speak, indulging in allegory and conventionalities, pompous and showy, tricking itself out in columns and pilasters instead of the old arabesques and scroll work of the renaissance, thus continuing amid the coquetries of the regency, the pastorals and insipidities of the following reigns, until at last it suddenly assumes with the heroes of the revolution the austere mien and airs of classic art. the book has always been as closely connected with the manners of our predecessors as art itself. the artist submits more than he thinks to the tendency of his surroundings; and if he at times makes his taste appreciated, it is because he has more or less received his first influence from others. in the sixteenth century the fashion of emblematic representation placed under the portrait of gaston de foix a figure of a young plant in full bloom; and the inscription in latin was "nascendo maturus"--"mature at birth." the book deserves the same device; from its first day up to now it is a marvel of simplicity and harmony. the tentative efforts which preceded the discovery of printing were but few; it may be said that from the moment that gutenberg conceived the idea of separating the characters, of arranging the words in the forme, of inking them, and of taking a proof on paper, the book was perfect. at best we see in following times some modifications of detail; the art of printing was mature, mature from its birth. but before arriving at the movable type placed side by side, and forming phrases, which appears to us to-day so simple and so ordinary, many years passed. it is certain that long before gutenberg a means was found of cutting wood and metal in relief and reproducing by application the image traced. signs-manual and seals were a kind of printing, inasmuch as the relief of their engraving is impressed upon a sheet by the hand. but between this simple statement and the uncritical histories of certain special writers, attributing the invention of engraving to the fourteenth century, there is all the distance of legendary history. remembering that the numerous guilds of _tailleurs d'images_, or sculptors in relief, had in the middle ages the specialty of carving ivories and of placing effigies on tombs, it can be admitted without much difficulty, that these people one day found a means of multiplying the sketches of a figure often asked for, by modelling its contour in relief on ivory or wood, and afterwards taking a reproduction on paper or parchment by means of pressure. when and where was this discovery produced? we cannot possibly say; but it is certain that playing cards were produced by this means, and that from the year 1423 popular figures were cut in wood, as we know from the st. christopher of that date belonging to lord spencer. it is not our task to discuss this question at length, nor to decide if at first these reliefs were obtained on wood or metal. it is a recognised fact that the single sheet with a printed figure preceded the xylographic book in which text and illustration were cut in the same block. this process did not appear much before the second quarter of the fifteenth century, and it was employed principally for popular works which were then the universal taste. the engraving also was nothing more than a kind of imposition palmed off as a manuscript; the vignettes were often covered with brilliant colours and gold, and the whole sold as of the best quality. the first attempts at these little figures in relief discovered by the image-makers and diffused by the makers of playing cards were but indifferent. the drawing and the cutting were equally unskilful, as may be seen in the facsimiles given by m. h. delaborde in his _histoire de la gravure_. an attempt had been made to put some text at the foot of the st. christopher of 1423, and the idea of giving more importance to the text was to the advantage of the booksellers. at the mercy of the writers who fleeced them, obliged to recoup themselves by the exaggerated prices of the most ordinary books, they hoped to turn engraving to account in order to obtain on better terms the technical work needed for their trade. at the epoch of the st. christopher, in 1423, several works were in vogue in the universities, the schools, and with the public. among the first of these was the latin syntax of ælius donatus on the eight parts of speech, a kind of grammar for the use of young students, as well as the famous _speculum_, a collection of precepts addressed to the faithful, which were copied and recopied without satisfying the demand. [illustration: fig. 1.--part of a _donatus_ taken from a xylograph, the original of which is preserved in the bibliothèque nationale.] to find a means of multiplying these treatises at little cost was a fortune to the inventor. it is to be supposed that many artisans of the time attempted it; and without doubt it was the booksellers themselves, mostly mere dealers, who were tempted to the adventure by the sculptors and wood-cutters. but none had yet been so bold as to cut in relief a series of blocks with engravings and text to compose a complete work. that point was reached very quickly when some legend was engraved at the foot of a vignette, and it may be thought that the _donatus_ was the most ancient of books so obtained among the "incunabuli," as we now call them, a word that signifies origin or cradle. the first books then were formed of sheets of paper or parchment, laboriously printed from xylographic blocks, that is to say wooden blocks on which a _tailleur d'images_ had left in relief the designs and the letters of the text. he had thus to trace his characters in reverse, so that they could be reproduced as written; he had to avoid faults, because a phrase once done, well or ill, lasted. it was doubtless this difficulty of correction that gave the idea of movable types. if the cutter seriously erred, it was necessary to cancel altogether the faulty block. this at least explains the legend of laurent coster, of haarlem, who, according to hadrian junius, his compatriot, discovered by accident the secret of separate types while playing with his children. and if the legend of which we speak contains the least truth, it must be found in the sense above indicated, that is in the correction of faults, rather than in the innocent game of a merchant of haarlem. however, we shall have occasion to return to the subject of these remarks. it should be well established that engraving in relief on wood alone gave the idea of making xylographic blocks and of composing books. movable type, the capital point of printing, the pivot of the art of the book, developed itself little by little, according to needs, when there was occasion to correct an erroneous inscription; but, in any case, its origin is unknown. doubtless to vary the text, means were found to replace entire phrases by other phrases, preserving the original figures; and thus the light dawned upon these craftsmen, occupied in the manufacture and sale of their books. according to hadrian junius, laurent janszoon coster (the latter name signifying "the discoverer") published one of the celebrated series of works under the general title of _speculum_ which was then so popular (the mystic style exercising so great an attraction on the people of the fifteenth century), the _speculum humanæ salvationis_. written before the middle of the fifteenth century, made popular by manuscripts, in spite of its fantastic latinity and of its false quantities, this ascetic and crude poem was easy of access to the xylographists. junius, as we see, attributes to laurent coster the first impression of the _speculum_, no longer the purely xylographic impression of the _donatus_ from an engraved block, but that of the more advanced manner in movable types. in point of fact, this book had at least four editions, similar in engravings and body of letters, but of different text. it must then be admitted that the fount was dispersed, and typography discovered, because the same cast of letters could not be adapted to different languages. on the other hand, the vignettes do not change, indicating sufficiently the mobility of the types. in comparison to what may be seen in later works, the illustrations of the _speculum_ are by no means bad; they have the appearance, at once naïve and picturesque, of the works of van eyck, and not at all of the style of the german miniaturists; properly illuminated and gilded, they lent themselves to the illusion of being confounded with the _histoyres_, drawn by the hand, and this is what the publisher probably sought. all the xylographic works of the fifteenth century may be classed in two categories: the xylographs, rightly so called, or the block books, such as the _donatus_, and the books with movable types, like the _speculum_, of which we speak. this mystic and simple literature of pious works for the use of people of modest resources found in printing the means of more rapid reproduction. then appeared the _biblia pauperum_, one of the most celebrated and the most often reproduced, and the _ars moriendi_, a kind of dialogue between an angel and a devil at the bedside of a dying person, which, inspired no doubt by older manuscripts, retained for a long time in successive editions the first tradition of its designs. on labels displayed among the figures are found inscribed the dialogue of the demons and angels seeking to attach to themselves the departing soul, the temptations of satan on the subject of faith, and the responses of the angel on the same subject. [illustration: fig. 2.--xylographic figure from the _ars moriendi_, copied in reverse in the _art au morier_.] we can see what developments this theme could lend to the mysticism of the fifteenth century. composed in eleven designs, the _ars moriendi_ ran up to eight different editions. from the middle to the end of the fifteenth century, the text was in latin, then in french, under the title _l'art au morier_. in the french edition will be found the blocks that served for the second impression of the work. about 1480, more than fifty years after the first essays, the _ars moriendi_ enjoyed so much vogue that it employed all the resources of typography as much as in its earliest days. the original subjects, copied in a very mediocre manner, adorned the text, which was composed in gothic letters, with a new and more explicit title: _tractatus brevis ac valde utilis de arte et scientia bene moriendi_ (4to, s.l.n.d.), but the order is inverted, figure 5 of the xylograph becoming no. 3 of the edition of 1480. the _ars memorandi_, another xylographic work, of which the subject, taken from the new testament, was equally well adapted to the imagination of the artists, had also a glorious destiny. the work originally comprised thirty blocks, the fifteen blocks of text facing the fifteen engravings. the designs represented the attributes of each of the evangelists, with allegories and explanatory legends. thus, in that which relates to the apostle matthew, no. 1 represents the birth and genealogy of jesus christ, no. 2 the offerings of the magi, no. 3 the baptism of st. john, no. 4 the temptation of christ, no. 5 the sermon on the mount, no. 6 the parable of the birds. the angel that supports the whole is the emblem of st. matthew the evangelist. [illustration: fig. 3.--figure of the school of martin schongauer, taken from the _rationarium evangelistarum_ of 1505, and copied from the corresponding plate of the _ars memorandi_.] this mnemonic treatment of the gospels began with symbols of which we have no means of finding the origin, but which without doubt were employed many centuries earlier. however that may be, their success was as great as that of the already-quoted works. in 1505 a german publisher put forth an imitation, under the title of _rationarium evangelistarum_; and this time the copier of the illustrations, retaining the tradition of the first xylographers, no less reveals an artist of the first order, at least a pupil of martin schongauer. some of the conceptions of the _rationarium_ recall exactly the engravings of the great german master, among others that of the infant jesus (plate 12), which nearly approaches the style of the infant jesus of schongauer; besides, the principal figures leave but little doubt on the subject. the same wings are on the angels and on the eagles, the same coiffures on the human characters, often the same attitudes. from the preceding can be judged the extraordinary favour these productions enjoyed. from their origin they were diffused through the whole of europe, and attracted the attention of excellent artists. nevertheless their beginnings were difficult. the movable types used, cut separately in wood, were not constituted to give an ideal impression. we can understand the cost that the execution of these characters must have occasioned, made as they were one by one without the possibility of ever making them perfectly uniform. progress was to substitute for this irregular process types that were similar, identical, easily produced, and used for a long time without breaking. following on the essays of laurent coster, continuous researches bore on this point; but as the invention was said to be his, and it being of importance to him not to divulge it, so that he should not lose his profit, much time was lost over it in his workshop without much success. here history is somewhat confused. hadrian junius positively accuses one of laurent coster's workmen of having stolen the secrets of his master and taken flight to mayence, where he afterwards founded a printing office. according to junius, the metal type was the discovery of the dutchman, and the name of the thief was john. who was this john? was it john gaensefleisch, called gutenberg, or possibly john fust? but it is not at all apparent that gutenberg, a gentleman of mayence, exiled from his country, was ever in the service of the dutch inventor. as to fust, we believe his only intervention in the association of printers of mayence was as a money-lender, from which may be comprehended the unlikelihood of his having been with coster, the more so as we find gutenberg retired to strasbourg, where he pursued his researches. there he was, as it were, out of his sphere, a ruined noble whose great knowledge was bent entirely on invention. doubtless, like many others, he may have had in his hands one of the printed works of laurent coster, and conceived the idea of appropriating the infant process. in 1439 he was associated with two artisans of the city of strasbourg, ostensibly in the fabrication of mirrors, which may be otherwise understood as printing of _speculums_, the latin word signifying the same thing. these men needed to surround themselves with precautions; printing was as yet only a practical means of multiplying manuscripts, to impose a little on the innocent, and fortune awaited him who, without saying anything, made this invention serve him. the following will prove this, as well as its tendency. a legal document discovered in 1760 by wencker and schoepflin in the pfennigthurm of strasbourg, and afterwards translated into french by m. leon de laborde, makes us at length acquainted with the work of gutenberg and of his associates andrew dritzehen and andrew heilmann. apparently these three men were, as we have said, _spiegelmacher_, that is makers of mirrors. they had jointly entered into a deed by the terms of which, if one of the partners died in the course of their researches, his heirs would have no rights beyond an indemnity corresponding to the amount invested by him. it happened that andrew dritzehen did die, and that one of his brothers aspired to occupy his place in the partnership. the dead man left debts behind him; he had squandered his florins by hundreds in his experiments. gutenberg having offered to pay the amounts expended, the heirs of dritzehen, who wanted more, summoned him before the courts to show why he should not make place for them in the work of experiments and making of mirrors. the witnesses in their testimony before the court told what they knew of the inventions of the partnership. one among them deposed that after the death of dritzehen, gutenberg's servant went to the workshop and begged nicholas dritzehen, brother of the deceased, to displace and break up four formes placed in a press. a second testified that the works of andrew had cost him at the least three hundred florins, an enormous sum for those days. other witnesses painted gutenberg in a curious light: they made him out to be a savage, a hermit, who concealed from his associates certain arts of which the deed stipulated nothing. one fact proved that the experiments referred to the manufacture of metallic characters. a goldsmith, named dünne, maintained that he had received more than a hundred florins for printing material "das zu dem trucken gehoret." "trucken!"--"typography!" the word was found, and from that day usage has consecrated it. before 1439, then, john gaensefleisch, or gutenberg, was devoted to the art of reproduction of texts, and had consecrated his life and feeble resources to it. three problems presented themselves to him. he wanted types less fragile than wooden types and less costly than engraving. he wanted a press by the aid of which he could obtain a clear impression on parchment or paper. he desired also that the leaves of his books should not be anopistograph, or printed only on one side. there were many unknown things to vex his soul, of which he himself alone could have a presentiment. until then, and even long after, the xylographs were printed _au frotton_ or with a brush, rubbing the paper upon the forme coated with ink, thicker than ordinary ink. he dreamed of something better. in the course of his work john gutenberg returned to mayence. the idea of publishing a bible, the book of books, had taken possession of his heart. the _spiegelmacher_ of strasbourg was on the road to loss. the cutting of his types had ruined him, and on his arrival in his native town, his stock in trade, transported by him, was of no great weight: some boxes of type, an inconvenient forme, and perhaps an ordinary press, a wine-maker's press, with a wooden screw. the idea of using this unwieldy instrument for the impression of his formes had already occurred to him; but would not the _frotton_ serve still better? the force of the blow from the bar would break the miserable type, the raised parts of which could not resist the repeated strokes. in this unhappy situation, gutenberg made the acquaintance of a financier of mayence, named fust, who was in search of a business, and who put a sum of eleven hundred florins at his disposal to continue his experiments. unfortunately this money disappeared, it melted away, and the results obtained were absolutely ludicrous. it is certain that john fust did not enter on the engagement without protecting himself. from the first he bound his debtor in a contract for six per cent. interest, besides a share in the profits. in addition he stipulated repayment in case of failure. gutenberg, improvident, as is the way of inventors, had signed away all that he possessed to procure funds. it is presumed, besides, that during the continuance of his investigations, he composed some current books with the resources at his disposal, that served a little to lighten his debts. but the printing house of the zum jungen at mayence was far from shining in the world, because the association of fust concerned itself only with the publication of a bible, and not at all with the _speculums_ and _donatuses_ that were so much in vogue at this time. besides, the money-lender made a point of pressing his debtor, and did not allow him any leisure to labour outside the projected work. about this time a third actor enters on the scene. peter schoeffer, of gernsheim, a writer, introduced into the workshop of gutenberg to design letters, benefited by the abortive experiments, and taking up the invention at its deadlock, conducted it to success. john of tritenheim, called trithemius, the learned abbot of spanheim, is the person who relates these facts; but as he got his information from schoeffer himself, too much credence must not be given to his statements. besides, schoeffer was not at all an ordinary artisan. if we credit a strasbourg manuscript written by his hand in 1449, he was a student of the "most glorious university of paris." in the workshop of gutenberg, his industrious and inventive intellect found a fecund mine, and this caligraphist dreamt of other things than shaping letters for the use of wood engravers. gutenberg, arrested in his career by the wants of life, the worries of business, and perhaps also the fatigues of his labours, may have let the new-comer know something of his experiences. one cannot know, but it is certain that, shortly after, john fust was so fascinated by schoeffer, so attracted by his youth and his application, that he resolved to put new capital into the business. he did more: to permanently attach him, he gave him his grand-daughter in marriage, not his daughter, as was thought until m. auguste bernard rectified this mistake. we have now come to 1453, the year preceding the first dated monument of printing in movable types: _the letters of indulgence_. it may be acknowledged that the sudden affection of fust for his workman depended on some interested motive, and not at all on attraction of the heart. had this former student of the university of paris found the means of rapidly founding metallic types, the search for which had cost gutenberg many sleepless nights? had he completed it by applying to it the matrix and punch which had then and for centuries served the makers of seals and the money-coiners? perhaps, as was most probable, the two associates had agreed, and putting their experiences together, had conquered hitherto insurmountable difficulties. the year 1454 witnessed the diffusion throughout christendom of letters of indulgence, accorded by pope nicholas v., who wished to aid in funds the king of cyprus against the turks. these circular letters, scattered by thousands to every corner of the world, employed numerous copyists. arrived at mayence, the distributers found a workshop ready prepared to furnish copies in the shortest possible time. they set to work and brought together all the type they possessed, cast or engraved, to set up these famous letters. among the impressions was that of which we give a reproduction, which belongs to the edition called that of thirty-one lines. the original was delivered for a consideration to josse ott von mospach on the 31st of december, 1454. it is not without interest, for the history of the book and of printing, to note here that these letters of indulgence, the clandestine traffic in which was largely accelerated by rapidity of production and the small cost of each copy, formed one of the causes of the religious reform of martin luther. they afforded a means of raising money, and were so generally resorted to that in the register of the hotel de ville of paris preserved in the archives nationales (h 1778) it may be seen that the sheriffs requested the pope to allow them to employ them in the reconstruction of the bridge at the hotel de ville. the ice once broken, fust and schoeffer found it hard to nourish a useless mouth. for them gutenberg was more of a hindrance than a profit, and they sought brutally to rid themselves of him. fust had a most easy pretext, which was to demand purely and simply from his associate the sums advanced by him, and which had produced so little. gutenberg had probably commenced his bible, but, in face of the claims of fust, he had to abandon it altogether, types, formes, and press. [illustration: fig. 4.--letters of indulgence, from the so-called edition of thirty-one lines, printed at mayence in the course of 1454.] in november, 1455, he had retired to a little house outside the city, where he tried his best, by the aid of foreign help, to establish a workshop, and to preserve the most perfect secrecy. relieved of his company, fust and schoeffer were able to take up the impression of the bible and to complete it without him. if matters did so happen, and schoeffer had not the excuse that he had previously discovered the casting of type, there is but one word to designate his conduct: robbery, and moral robbery, the worst of all. but what can be said to-day of these people? one thing is certain: that the bible of schoeffer, commenced by gutenberg or not, put on sale by fust and schoeffer alone about the end of 1455 or beginning of 1456, proves to be the first completed book. retired to his new quarters, gutenberg was taking courage, so as not to appear too much behindhand, but the reconstitution of his workshop cost him enormous time. and, besides, he missed the letter-maker schoeffer, his own gothic letters, engraved on steel with a punch, not having the same elegance. when his work appeared, it could not sustain comparison. the bible of schoeffer was more compact, the impression was more perfect, the ink better, the type less irregular. the original inventor, in his business with fust, made an unhappy competition for himself. we give here a fragment of this celebrated book, a kind of mute witness of the science and mortifications of the first printer. it is now called the mazarine bible, from the fact that the copy in the mazarin library was the first to give evidence concerning it. the book was put on sale at the end of 1455 or beginning of 1456, for a manuscript note of a vicar of st. stephen at mayence records that he finished the binding and illuminating of the first volume on st. bartholomew's day, 1456, and the second on the 15th of august. st. bartholomew's day is the 13th of june, and not the 24th of august, as the catalogue of the bibliothèque nationale has it. [illustration: fig. 5.--fragment of the mazarine bible, printed in two columns. beginning of the text in the second column; original size.] all these remarks show that the printers did not proclaim themselves, and were making pseudo-manuscripts. they did not make known their names or address. the rubricators sided with them, for many of the copies are illuminated with as much care and beauty as if they were the finest manuscripts. there is no record extant of the number of copies printed, but it was done on both vellum and paper. copies are by no means uncommon, most of the great libraries having one, and many are in private collections. one is shown among the typographical monuments in the king's library of the british museum, and there is a finely illuminated copy in the show-room of the bibliothèque nationale. from its very great importance as the first book that is known to have been printed, its value has a constant increase. of the copies recently sold, one at the perkins sale in 1873 on vellum sold for £3,400, another on paper at the same sale fetched £2,900, while one on paper in the syston park library sold in december, 1884, for £3,900. it has been asserted that the copies on paper were the first issued by gutenberg and his partners, and those on vellum subsequently printed by fust and schoeffer, after they had obtained possession of the inventor's stock. but so many copies absolutely similar in aspect, and of so regular a style, put in the market from day to day by fust and schoeffer, gave rise to protests from the caligraphists. criticism always attends upon success, but having obtained the result, the two associates did not hesitate to proclaim themselves the printers of the bible. on the publication of the psalter, which followed the bible at a year's interval, they gave their names and added a date, 1457, the first instance of a date being recorded in a book. this second work was of so skilful a typography, that it might have been shown as the work of an expert penman; the faults remarked in the letters of indulgence are no longer seen; type had attained perfection; in two years printing had reached its culminating point. in spite of his disappointments, gutenberg did not rest idle. if he had seen his two enemies rob him of his claim of priority in the invention, he had to show that, reduced to his own exertions and to the restricted means furnished him by charitable people, he also could print well. two years after the bible a dated book, composed in gothic letters, appeared at mayence; this was the _catholicon_ of john balbus, of genoa. it had not yet occurred to these first printers to exercise their art otherwise than on religious works. it is admitted by general opinion that the _catholicon_ issued from the press of gutenberg; on the other hand, m. bernard believes that it ought to be attributed to a printer of eltvil, who published in 1467 a vocabulary called the _vocabularium ex quo_ with the same types. the former theory may be sustained by the words of the colophon of the book, which is a sort of hymn to god and a recognition of the city of mayence without any mention of the name of the printer. now in the situation in which gutenberg found himself, in the face of his rivals, had he not some claim to regard the great discovery as his own? but if m. bernard is mistaken, and if our supposition has no foundation, what a beautiful act of humility, what a noble idea of his character, gutenberg gives us in writing, "with the aid of the most high, who releases the tongues of infants and often reveals to babes that which is sealed to learned men, this admirable book the _catholicon_ was finished in the year of the incarnation of our saviour mcccclx. in the mother-country of mayence, famous city of germany, which god, in his clemency, has deigned to render the most illustrious and the first of cities; and this book was perfected without the usual help of pen or style, but by the admirable linking of formes and types"! [illustration: fig. 6.--colophon of the _catholicon_, supposed to have been printed by gutenberg in 1460.] the history of these men, it is easy to understand, has to be regarded with caution, people of so little consequence then that the authentic documents relating to them have for ever disappeared. if we except that of the pfennigthurm of strasbourg, of which we have before spoken, and the deed of claim for money from fust to gutenberg dated 1455, we are forced to quote from authors living long afterwards, who submitted, without knowing better, to the miserable errors of oral tradition. it is nearly always the same with men who have occupied a large place in the history of art; posterity only knows of their genius at the time when no one knows anything of them. for gutenberg the situation was still more terrible; a rival, peter schoeffer, survived him, and he did not for his own reputation care to preserve his rival's memory; and if, as is believed, gutenberg left pupils and heirs, henry bechtermuncze, ulrich zell, and weigand spyes, his misfortune is crowned by bechtermuncze being now reputed to be the printer of the _catholicon_, of which we have just given the history. even albert pfister, one of his workmen, dismissed at the end of his work, having obtained from his master some rejected types, was presumed later to have invented printing. we find this artisan established at bamberg about 1460, composing bibles in movable types, the first known being that published in 1461. but albert pfister showed that he was not at all an inventor by the mediocrity of his work, and more by the old types that he used. if he had known the secret of engraving the punches, he would have cast new letters and have given a better aspect to his work. [illustration: fig. 7.--colophon of the bible printed in 1462 by fust and schoeffer, which is the first dated bible. there are two different editions with this signature. the above is from the second edition.] in these statements all is supposition and contradiction. that which is certain--and the dates are there to prove it--is the enormous progress in the productions of peter schoeffer. in 1459 he published his third book, durand's _rationale divinorum officiorum_, in folio. as in the psalter, schoeffer employed initial letters printed in red, which the rival workshop could not do in the _catholicon_, the rubrics of which are painted by hand, as in manuscripts. in time he put forth a second edition of the psalter, always with fust's name joined to his own. a great number of types were broken at the beginning, but he dreamed of doing yet better. in 1460 he gave the _constitutiones_ of pope clement v., with a gloss and commentaries by john andré; here was the first example of a process much employed in manuscripts, but of which the typographical composition was very difficult. again, in 1462 a new latin bible issued from their workshops in two folio volumes. it is the first dated edition. the first volume has two hundred and forty-two folios in double columns, the second two hundred and thirty-nine. it commences with an epistle of st. jerome, and on the last leaf of the second volume is the colophon on the preceding page. this book, one of the first worthy of the name, and which is called by preference the mayence bible, appeared in one of the most troubled epochs that the episcopal city had had to go through. subject to its archbishops, who were at the head of all the lay lords and fighting men, the city found itself in 1462 the prey of two prelates of equal title who refused to give way to one another: thierry of isembourg and adolph of nassau-wiesbaden. adolph surprised mayence on the 27th october, 1462, pursuing his adversary, who scaled the walls with a rope to escape quicker, and the city was sacked and pillaged from its foundations. in the middle of this turmoil, what became of the obscure persons who were then the printers of the bible? doubtless their insignificance saved them from disaster, but as it was long before peace was re-established, and the entire edition of their last volume could not be kept back, we incline to believe that they were for a time going about the country as itinerant booksellers. paris was to them a well-indicated point of travel--paris, toward which all german commerce tended. the university where peter schoeffer was instructed in letters, and that truly passed for the first in europe, appeared to them a market of the first order. if we may believe walchius (_decas fabularum generis humani_: strasbourg, 1609, 4to, p. 181), john fust himself went to that city, where he put books on sale from sixty crowns a copy, then fifty, then forty, according to the prevailing system in matters of discount. fust was above all things a merchant; he led it to be believed that he had the marvellous establishment of a copyist beyond the rhine, and he had disposed of many copies, when the corporate scribes of the university, becoming aware of the imposition, cried out furiously and declared it a diabolical invention. we may now take this tale of walchius as a fable, as the registers of parliament, on being consulted, rest silent on the proceedings instituted against the "magician" of mayence. only we must not lose sight of the fact that the booksellers had their masters, their syndicate, if we may use the modern word, charged to prohibit fraudulent publications. they were too much interested in the suppression of printed books to judge the matter coldly. the parliament had nothing to see to in this. the revolution of mayence had otherwise great results, which were not affected by these minor reverses. the printing workshops, or at least the successors of gutenberg, began to be dispersed, and fust and schoeffer having established a school of printers in the city, their trade was no longer secret. deprived of their liberties by the new archbishop, many of them expatriated themselves. we shall take occasion later to name some of these exiles, through whom the art of printing spread itself almost simultaneously throughout the world: to cologne and strasbourg, to italy and spain, without reckoning holland, france, switzerland, and the country around mayence. we have before named the episcopal city of bamberg; it had the singular fortune to be the second city to possess a printing office, but it disappeared as quickly as it was established, with albert pfister, without leaving the least trace; we do not find printing there again before 1480, more than twenty years later. gutenberg was dead before 1468. he was interred in the church of the récollets of mayence, by the pious care of a friend, who attributed the invention of printing to him on his tomb. we may begin to comprehend the influence of this man upon the discovery of which all the world was then talking, but the troubles of the archiepiscopal city hampered the respective merit of the inventors. peter schoeffer and john fust were not much affected by the political crisis. after two years' suspension, they reappeared with a cicero, _de officiis_, 1465, quarto, always at work and always surpassing themselves. this time they freely gave up religious publications, and, still more extraordinary, they employed greek types. such is, detached from the incredible contradictions of writers on art, and sketched solely on its main lines, the origin of printing as it is established at this day. first came the image engraved in relief, which we have not gone to china to find, with some of our predecessors. upon this image were often cut, by the same economical process, legends of explanation that presented the idea of imitation of manuscript; and the xylographs appeared with or without illustrations. then from the correction of errors in these books followed the discovery of movable characters. this wooden type, possible when it was used with a _frotton_ for printing, would quickly break under the press, the idea of which was gained from the common press of the wine-makers. then a kind of metallic type had to be found which would run in a mould struck by a punch. this punch was not invented for the purpose; it served previously for the makers of coins and seals. the fabrication of type from the matrix was a simple adoption. the lead thrown into the matrix gave the desired type. thus were made the first books, of which we have briefly related the composition. as to the proportion of glory due to each one of the first printers, it is necessary equally, to guard against error on one side or the other. we have sought to separate from the heap of publications probable opinions or those based on certain documents. that the origin of the _donatus_, the block books, was dutch would be puerile to deny, because, on one side, the engravings on blocks are surely of the school of van eyck, and, on the other hand, ulrich zell, who inspired the "cologne chronicle" of 1499, assigned positively to holland the cradle of the _donatus_. at any rate, it was a pupil of gutenberg, a question we have discussed. after that we will trouble ourselves but little about laurent coster. the name makes no difference in a matter of this kind. as to gutenberg, we have not been able to go as far as m. e. dutuit, who in his _manuel a'estampes_ (vol. i., p. 236, etc.) doubts gutenberg's right to the title of inventor. it is stated that in a letter of william fichet, prior of the sorbonne, of whom we shall have more to say presently, to robert gaguin, which m. a. claudin found at the beginning of a work entitled _gasparim pergamensis orthographiæ liber_, published in 1470, nearly twenty years after the first work at mayence, gutenberg is proclaimed the inventor of printing. without any other, this testimony of a _savant_ who was the first to bring the german printers to paris appears to us well nigh irrefutable. as to john fust and his grandson by marriage, peter schoeffer, they are so well defended by their works, that there is no more to say here; doubtless grave presumptions arise as to the delicacy of their conduct with gutenberg, but we are not so bold as to censure them beyond measure. we know nothing precise either of the time or of the men. let us now imagine humble workmen, the most simple of _gens de mestiers_, to employ the french expression then in use, shut up in a kind of dark workshop, like a country forge, formed in little groups of two or three persons, one designing and the other cutting the wood, having near them a table, on which is held the engraved block after its reliefs have been rubbed with sombre ink, who afterwards, by means of the _frotton_, apply the damped paper to the raised parts of the block; we shall have without much stretch of thought all the economy of the xylographic impression. if we add to this primitive workshop the matrix in which the types are cast, the box in which they are distributed, the forme on which they are arranged to compose the pages, and a small hand-press, with blacker ink and paper damped to permit the greasy ink to take better, we have a picture of the work-room of gutenberg, fust, and schoeffer, and of the first printers with movable types. thus typography was born of painting, passing in its infancy through wood-cutting, revolutionising ideas and somewhat the world. but the mighty power of the new art was not confined to itself; it extended the circle of engraving, which till then had suffered from the enormous difficulties of reproduction. as if the time were ripe for all these things, nearly at the moment when the first printers were distinguishing themselves by serious works, a florentine goldsmith accidentally discovered the cutting of cast metal.[a] what would have become of this new process if the presses of gutenberg had not brought their powerful assistance to the printing of engravings? it will be found then that printing rendered a hundredfold to engraving for that which it received from it and bore it along with its own rapid advance. then reappeared, following the new processes, the figures somewhat abandoned by the mayence workmen during the period of transformation. our object is to speak at length of the book ornamented and illustrated according to the means of relief-cutting or casting; to demonstrate the influence of painting, of sculpture, of art, on the production of the book; and thus to help the reader at the same time to understand the almost sudden and irresistible development of typography, and to mention its foremost representatives. [footnote a: the opinion that finiguerra was the unconscious inventor of casting engravings is now abandoned.] chapter ii. 1462 to 1500. the book and the printers of the second generation--the german workmen dispersed through europe--caxton and the introduction of printing into england--nicholas jenson and his supposed mission to mayence--the first printing in paris; william fichet and john heinlein--the first french printers; their installation at the sorbonne and their publications--the movement in france--the illustration of the book commenced in italy--the book in italy; engraving in relief and metal plates--the book in germany: cologne, nuremberg, basle--the book in the low countries--french schools of ornament of the book; books of hours; booksellers at the end of the fifteenth century--literary taste in titles in france at the end of the fifteenth century--printers and booksellers' marks--the appearance of the portrait in the book--progress in england--caxton and his followers. considering the influence of printing on the book trade of the fifteenth century, as referred to in the preceding pages, the dealers in manuscripts were not disposed to give way at the first blow. an entire class of workmen would find themselves from day to day without employment if the new art succeeded; these were the copyists, miserable scribes, who for meagre remuneration frequented the shops of the merchants, where they transcribed manuscripts by the year. before printing the publication of books was so effected, and the booksellers were rather intermediaries between the copyist and the buyer, than direct dealers having shops and fittings complete. it is evident that they would not provide themselves with these costly books long in advance without being sure of disposing of them. small as was the remuneration of the writers, it was much to them; and they were naturally the first to protest against the new invention. at the same time, their opposition and that of the booksellers was soon overcome, swamped, and choked by the growing crowd of printers. then, as always happens in similar cases, in place of fighting against the current, most of the former workers in manuscript followed it. the writers designed letters for engraving in wood, the booksellers sold the printed works, and some of the illuminators engraved in relief or cast their _histoyres_. for a long time these last continued to decorate books with the ornamental drawings with which they had adorned the manuscripts, and so contributed to form the fine school of illustrators who carried their art to so high a point from the end of the fifteenth century. [illustration: fig. 8.--imprint of arnold ther hoernen, printer, of mayence.] as previously related, the revolution of mayence caused the flight of a crowd of artisans who found their liberty suddenly compromised by the conqueror. the want of money at this time always brought a diminution of patronage, and working printers have been at all times tenacious of their privileges. it so happened that their guild, in place of remaining established at mayence many years longer, was, as it were, turned out, scattered to the four cardinal points by the dispersion of its members, and scattered many years before the natural time. in point of fact, in the common order of things, a workman here and there quits the principal workshop to try the world. he makes his way timidly, unconscious apostle of a marvellous art. if he succeeds, he gathers some pupils round him; if he fails, no trace of him remains; in any case invention propagates itself more gradually. with printing it was a thunderclap. hardly had it made its appearance when the exodus commenced. the greater part of the mayence men went to italy: to subiaco and to rome, arnold pannartz, conrad sweynheim, ulrich hahn; to venice, john of spire, vendelin of spire, christopher valdarfer, bernard pictor (of augsburg), erhardt ratdolt, peter loslein; to ferrara, andrew belfort; to foligno, john neumeister; henry alding tried sicily; andrew vyel, of worms, printed at palermo. lambert palmart was at valencia, in spain, in 1477; nicholas spindeler at barcelona; peter hagenbach at toledo; not far from mayence--that is, at cologne--ulrich zell, a pupil of gutenberg, who dated his first work 1466. it was arnold ther hoernen who numbered a book with arabic figures; it was koelhof who first used signatures to indicate to the binder the order of the sheets; it was at eltvil that henry bechtermuncze, as we have already said, printed his _vocabularium_ in german, with the types of the _catholicon_; at basle, berthold rüppel, of hanau, was the first established in that city which after mayence did the most for printing; at nuremberg, koburger, who took nearly the first rank among his contemporaries, set as many as twenty-four presses to work, and was named by badius the prince of printers. and how matters went on! for instance, the very year that followed the death of gutenberg, monks, the brothers of the common life of marienthal, in the rheingau, themselves published a copy of the indulgences accorded by adolph of nassau, archbishop of mayence. before 1480, presses were everywhere in germany: at prague, augsburg, ulm, lubeck, essling, etc. it is to be remarked that the mayence men did not turn towards holland. is it that they found there the descendants of laurent coster firmly established in their workshops? must the coexistence, the simultaneous advance, of the invention in germany and in the low countries be admitted? it is a secret for us and for many others, but we know for certain that flemish printers were established at utrecht in 1473, at delft, bruges, gouda, zwoll, antwerp, and brussels. at louvain there was besides john of westphalia, who published in 1474 a work of peter crescens, and several other works. colard mansion was printing at bruges about 1473; and was employed by william caxton, who had been for some years trading as a merchant in the low countries, to print the "recuyell of the histories of troy," by raoul le fevre, which caxton had translated into english at the command of queen margaret. this was issued in 1474, and was the first book printed in the english language. in 1475 or 1476 caxton returned to england with a fount of types, which he had employed mansion to cut and cast for him, and established himself as a printer in the precincts of westminster abbey. in 1477 he produced the first book printed in england, "the dictes and sayings of the philosophers," followed by a large number of important works, many of them written or translated by caxton himself. thus was typography firmly established in england; and caxton's immediate successors, wynken de worde, richard pynson, william machlinia, have had a glorious roll of followers, which has never been broken to this day. from westminster the art spread in england to oxford, where theodoricus rood, from cologne, printed an _exposicio sancti jeronimi_ in 1478; and to st. albans in 1480 by a printer who has never been identified, and who produced the famous "chronicle" and "boke of st. albans." the invasion, we see, had been most rapid. in less than fifteen years, every important city had followed the movement, and was ready to establish printing offices. if we may credit a certain controverted document, charles vii. had on the 3rd of october, 1458, sent to mayence one of the best medal engravers of the mint of tours to study the process of which marvels were spoken: "the 3rd of october, 1458, the king having learned that messire guthenberg, living at mayence, in the country of germany, a dexterous man in carving and making letters with a punch, had brought to light the invention of printing by punches and types, desirous of inquiring into such a treasure, the king has commanded the generals of his mints to nominate persons well instructed in the said cutting and to send them secretly to the said place to inform themselves of the said mode and invention, to understand and learn the art of them, in order to satisfy the said lord king; and it was undertaken by nicholas jenson, who took the said journey to bring intelligence of the said art and of the execution of it in the said kingdom, which first has made known the said art of impression to the said kingdom of france" (bibliothèque de l'arsenal, hf 467, pp. 410, 411). nicholas jenson on his return met with a cool reception from louis xi., who did not continue the works of his father. it may be supposed that this coolness was the cause of his expatriating himself and retiring to a place where his industry could be better exercised. ten years after the above mission we find him established at venice, his art of engraver of letters joined to that of printer. his eusebius, translated by trapezuntius, and his justinian, were composed in 1470 with such marvellous and clear types that from that day the best typographers have imitated his founts. in spite of its success, he did not confine himself to these letters, but he made use also of gothic, in which he printed by preference pious books. [illustration: fig. 9.--imprint of nicholas jenson to a justinian, printed in 1470 at venice. this type has prevailed up to now.] in spite of the attempts of jenson in the name of the king of france--that is, if these attempts ever took place in the manner indicated above--the invention was not known to have commended itself to the powerful university of paris. in general, and especially for the introduction of innovations in that learned body, it was necessary to fight, to strike without much chance of success, save in case of having acquaintance in the place. we have seen john fust, obliged suddenly to retake the road to germany, in a fair way to find himself taxed with sorcery, not an inconsiderable matter. for others the sale of unauthorised books had had most unhappy consequences unless the parliament intervened. so ten years had passed since the journey of jenson, and ten or twelve since the first manifestations of typography at mayence, without the diabolical discovery finding admittance to the sorbonne. a still more extraordinary thing, a cologne printer issued about 1472 a small folio in gothic type, thirty-one long lines to a page, which was a work written in french. the _histoires de troyes_ of raoul le fevre, chaplain of the dukes of burgundy, first found a publisher in germany, and soon after another in england, before a single press was definitely installed at paris. as we have said of peter schoeffer, numerous german students were in the university, where they pursued their studies, and frequently remained later as masters. it has been found that in 1458 a former student of leipzig named john heinlein, a native of stein, in the diocese of spire, entered as regent of the college of burgundy, from whence he passed to the sorbonne in 1462, the year of the troubles in mayence. after the manner of latinising names so common at that time, he called himself lapidanus, from the name of his native place, which means stone in german. heinlein met in paris a savoyard, william fichet, born in 1433 at petit bornand, who became an associate of the sorbonne about 1461, and finally rector in 1468. these two men were great friends, and their particular instincts attracted them to men of elevated studies. they divined at once the enormous help printing would bring to their work. besides, it grieved them to see through the whole of france, especially in touraine, german colporteurs carrying on their trade under cover of other commerce, a practice from which the most grave inconveniences might result. it occurred to them that to prevent fraud they would themselves create a printing establishment; but if they deliberated on it, it must have been in secret, for the registers of the sorbonne are silent on their enterprise. if fichet conceived the idea, it may be believed that, from his german origin, heinlein put it into execution. m. philippe thinks that he was formerly at basle. in all probability it was from that city he tried to obtain his workmen. in 1468 six years had elapsed since the craftsmen were dispersed and fled from mayence. at all events, it was from basle that ulrich gering, michael freyburger, and martin krantz, printers recommended to the two sorbonnists, departed, and in due course arrived in paris. of these three men, who were the first to establish a printing office on the french side of the rhine, ulrich gering was a student as well as a printer, so was freyburger, originally of colmar. krantz was a letter-founder, and the only real workman of the three companions. we have often regretted with regard to these men, as also to gutenberg, fust, and schoeffer, that no really authentic portrait has transmitted their features to us. every one will recall the fur cap and loose pantaloons of the mediocre statue at mayence, but there is really no portrait of gutenberg. as to gering, m. philippe, in his _histoire de l'origine de l'imprimerie à paris_, publishes a grotesque figure muffled in the ruff of the sixteenth century, after a picture preserved at lucerne, but for which much cannot be said. lacaille, in his _histoire de l'imprimerie_, gives a full-length portrait of gering, said to be taken from a painting in the college montagu. the workshop of the three germans was set up within the walls of the sorbonne--_in ædibus sorbonnicis_--in 1469. there they set to work at once, their printing establishment consisting simply of a room, none too light, a table, a press, and formes. krantz doubtless struck the types chosen by the sorbonnists, for there were then in use two sorts of letters: german gothic and roman. they kept to the roman, as being more round and clear; and as soon as they obtained matrices and cast their type, they entered on their task with ardour. [illustration: fig. 10.--"letters" of gasparin of bergamo. first page of the first book printed at paris, in 1470.] the tendencies of fichet and heinlein were not towards transcendent theology, but rather towards the literature of the ancients and contemporary rhetorical works. besides, it may be said, considering that men are far from perfect, fichet counted on making the authorised presses serve his own purpose. we find him publishing a treatise on rhetoric in quarto in 1471; meantime he supervised the work confided to his artists. they commenced with a large volume of "letters" of gasparin of bergamo, which was set up in quarto with the roman type, the form of which had been accepted. at the end of the work, the impression of which cost much time--possibly a year--the three printers placed a quatrain in latin distichs, which is at once a statement of identity and a promise for the future. [illustration: fig. 11.--colophon in distichs in the "letters" of gasparin of bergamo, first book printed at paris, at the office of the sorbonne.] if we try to apportion to each of the three printers his share in the making of the book, it may be supposed that the intellectual part of the composition and the correction fell to freyburger and gering, while the heavier work of founding, placing in formes, and press work fell to krantz. this essay, satisfactory as it appeared, was far from perfection. the first parisian printers had multiplied abbreviations and irregular contractions, and enormous difficulties and inevitable faults ensued. further, either they had more than one punch, or the leaden matrix was deformed, for the characters frequently differ. at the same time, we must commend them for having used the _æ_ and _[oe]_, which were uniformly written _e_ in the manuscripts, thus giving rise to errors without number. their punctuation was the comma, semicolon, and full stop. [illustration: fig. 12.--_rhetorique_ of fichet, printed at paris in 1471. the marginal ornaments are drawn by hand.] fichet and heinlein had become the modest librarians of the sorbonne, and this new employment gave them greater facilities for surveillance. the printing office did not remain inactive. it issued successively the "orthography" of gasparin of bergamo, the "letters" of phalaris, two books of æneas sylvius, the "conspiracy of catiline" of sallust, the "epitome of titus livius" of florus, and finally the "rhetorics" of william fichet, which, if we may credit a letter addressed to bessarion, was finished in 1471. following came the "letters" of bessarion, the _elegantia latinæ linguæ_ of valla, the first folio volume from the sorbonne presses; and others, thirteen volumes in 1470-71 and seventeen in 1472. at the end of 1472 the workshop was somewhat broken up, fichet having left for rome and heinlein preaching in germany. the three printers had shown by their works that they were in earnest; besides, they had from the first gratuitously distributed copies among the nobles, who, being accustomed to pay highly for manuscripts, did not fail to note the difference. the associates then resolved to quit the sorbonne and create an establishment for themselves; their patrons being no longer there to sustain them in case of failure, and in giving up their presses and types it may be judged that they were not without anxiety on that point. their oldest dated book, the _manipulus curatorum_ of montrochet, was also the first that they printed in their new quarters, at the sign of the "golden sun" in the rue st. jacques. they remained united up to the year 1477, when gering alone printed at the "golden sun," but he obtained associates, george mainyal in 1480 and berthold rembold in 1494, who lived with him in the rue de la sorbonne, where he established himself on leaving the rue st. jacques. ulrich gering died on the 23rd of august, 1510, after a half-century of work. the movement inaugurated by the sorbonne was promptly followed. german workmen opened their shops nearly everywhere in france; then the french themselves scattered. at lyons in 1472 a frenchman was established, the same at angers, caen, metz, troyes, besançon, and salins. but in the central provinces we find henry mayer at toulouse, john neumeister at albi; in the east metlinger at dijon; and michael wensler, of basle, at macon, among others, about 1493. we have now arrived at an epoch of greater efforts. the lyons printers used ornamental letters, from which were developed engravings in the book. since the block books illustration had been neglected, as the means were wanting to distribute the plates here and there in the forme; schoeffer still employed initial letters in wood very like vignettes. john fust was now dead, but peter schoeffer continued to print without intermission. if we search for the precise epoch in which illustration appeared in the history of the book, we shall perhaps have to go back to the time of albert pfister, printer of bamberg, who issued in 1461 an edition of the "fables of ulrich bohner" with a hundred and one figures on wood. this may be said to be the unconscious combination of xylography with typography, a kind of transformation of old elements to new things without other importance; art had no place in this adaptation. up to this time germany had not, in its school of painters or miniaturists, men capable of giving a personal impulse to ornament. in the german editions of the block books the influence of van eyck had made itself felt very sensibly, and the flemish had preserved their supremacy on this point; on the other hand, the german printers who went to seek their fortune in italy fell into the middle of a circle admirably prepared to receive them and to communicate their ideas to them. it is believed that the first book printed in italy with woodcuts in the text and with an ascertained date is the work of a german established at rome, ulrich hahn, in 1467. an account in the _annuaire du bibliophile_, which, being without citation of authority, we quote for what it is worth, relates that ulrich hahn was established as a printer at vienna about 1462, but was driven thence by the publication of a pamphlet against the burgomaster of the city, and was attracted to rome by torquemada, who confided to him the impression of his work the _meditationes_. hahn was an engraver, as were also most of his _confrères_ at that time--that is, he cut in relief designs to be intercalated in the text--and passavant relates that the designs of the _meditationes_ were from compositions of fra angelico, who died in 1455. be that as it may, the book, the printing of which was finished on st. sylvester's day, 1467, is the first known with engravings, and only three copies of it exist: one at vienna, one at nuremberg, and one in lord spencer's library; it is composed in gothic type in folio. [illustration: fig. 13.--wood engraving of matteo pasti for valturius' _de re militari_: verona, 1472.] illustration found a true artist at verona, matteo pasti, who furnished designs for a volume on military art by valturius, printed in roman characters in folio, at the expense of john of verona, and dedicated to sigismond pandolfi. pasti's eighty-two figures are simple outlines, and we here reproduce one of the principal--an archer shooting at a butt. published in 1472, the volume of valturius followed soon after the _meditationes_, but the engravings enable us to see how the italian process, consisting mostly of lines without shadows, differed from the dutch and german. one thing to be remarked here is the purity of the design, in spite of the roughness of the engraving; we see in these figures italian art at its height, despite the somewhat coarse translation of the wood-cutter. at venice the german inventors had reaped their harvest. at the end of the fifteenth century, fifty years after the invention of typography, the printing offices and booksellers' shops were counted by hundreds. it was in this city that for the first time a title with frontispiece carrying indication of the contents, the place, the date, and the name of the printer, was given to the book. we give here this ornamental title, placed before a _calendario_ of john de monteregio, printed by pictor, loslein, and ratdolt in 1476, folio. the german erhardt ratdolt was probably the promoter of these innovations. he soon afterwards published the first geometrical book with figures, the "elements of euclid," 1482, folio; in the same year he produced the _poeticon astronomicum_ of hyginus, previously printed at ferrara, with illustrations on wood of excellent design, but laboriously and unskilfully engraved. yet the art of the book could not remain mediocre in this city, where the artists were creating marvels. john of spire and afterwards nicholas jenson, the emigrant from france, of whom we have spoken above, had created, after italian manuscripts, that roman letter, the primitive type of which has come down to our time very little retouched. at the death of jenson in 1481, his materials passed into the hands of andrew d'asola, called andrea torresani, who did not allow the good traditions of his master to die, and who produced among others a book bearing signatures, catchwords, and paging ("letters of st. jerome," 1488). torresani was the father-in-law of aldus manutius, who was to be for ever illustrious in the art of printing at venice, and raised his art to the highest perfection. [illustration: fig. 14.--title-page of the _calendario_, first ornamental title known. printed in 1476 at venice.] but if decoration by means of relief blocks found a favourable reception in italy and, above all, a group of artists capable of carrying it to success, there were at the same time other experiments conceived in a different way. the discovery of maso finiguerra gave to the art a new process of reproduction, and printing presses had now to render possible and practicable the working of engraved plates. in order to make that which follows comprehensible, we enter into a few technical details, the whole subject having been so admirably and fully treated by mm. delaborde and duplessis. in the engraved wood block, as in the printing type, it is a projection in the wood or metal which, being inked and passed under a press, leaves on paper its lines in black. naturally then the intercalation of an engraving of this kind in typographical composition is made without difficulty, and the impression of both is taken at once. on the other hand, a line engraving is obtained from incised lines on a plate of copper; that is, an instrument called a burin traces the lines, which are filled with greasy ink. these incised lines only are inked. the surface of the plate is cleaned off to avoid smudging. the sheet of paper destined for the impression has then to be made very pliable, so that at the striking of the press it runs, so to speak, to find the ink in the lines and hold it. it is therefore impossible to take a text from relief characters at the same time as an engraved plate. [illustration: fig. 15.--engraving on metal by baccio baldini for _el monte santo di dio_, in 1477.] however, this kind of reproduction, which, contrary to that from wood, allowed of half-tints or toning down, attracted in good time the workers at the book. it appeared to them possible to reconcile the two printings by the successive passage of the same sheet of paper through the press, to receive at first the impression from the type and afterwards to find the ink deposited in the incisions in the copper. the first manifestation of this new method of illustration was made at florence, the home of line engraving, by nicholas di lorenzo in 1477, for the work of antonio bettini, of siena, called _el monte santo di dio_. here the artists were never known. common opinion has it that baccio baldini borrowed from sandro botticelli the subjects of his plates. italian engraving always seeks its source in pollajuolo, botticelli, and baldini. it is not the simple work of a niellist, but it had not yet reached perfection either in the work or in the impression; the illustrations of the _monte santo_ are proof of this, as are also those of the _dante_, by baldini, in 1481, for the same nicholas di lorenzo. from this we reproduce the misers. [illustration: fig. 16.--metal engraving by baccio baldini from the dante of 1481.] at this epoch engravings from the burin were taken with a pale ink, the composition of which is very different from the fine black ink of schoeffer as well as of the old italian printers. and besides in most cases the proofs were obtained with the _frotton_, like the ancient block books, an eminently defective process. the press was not yet well adapted to the delicate work of line engraving, and the workmen, who did not apply the plates until after the text was printed, preferred not to risk the loss of their sheets by the use of inappropriate presses. these, with the insignificant attempts made by the germans in 1479,[a] are the beginnings of the process of line engraving in the ornamentation of the book. in fact, the process failed to take its due position for want of a more convenient mode of working. relief engraving had got ahead; with it the sheets used for the impression did not require working more than once to register the figures with the text; in a word, the labour was not so great. a century had to pass before line engraving completely dethroned the vignette on wood, a century in which the latter attained its height, and showed what able artisans could make of a process apparently the least flexible. [footnote a: _breviarium ecclesie herbipolensis_: et. dold., 1479, folio, copper plate engravings.] not to leave italy, which had the honour of making the book with engraved illustrations known to the world, we pass by some years, during which arnold bucking gave at rome a _cosmographia_ of ptolemy, 1478, with incised plates, which is the first printed atlas that was produced, whilst as regards ordinary publications there appeared in all parts classical and italian works, such as cicero, virgil, tacitus, pliny, eusebius, among the ancients, and dante, petrarch, boccaccio, etc., among moderns. among the editions of dante, we may cite that of peter of cremona, dated 18th november, 1491, with one engraving to each canto, of which the earlier are after botticelli, and perhaps drawn by him directly on the wood. passavant believes these figures to be cut in relief in the metal. on some of the plates there is a signature, a gothic b, the signification of which leaves a free field for conjecture, and perhaps for error. copies of this book with the complete series of twenty plates are extremely rare; one in the hamilton palace library sold in may, 1884, for £380; the royal library of berlin recently agreed to pay £1,200 for a proof set of the plates. [illustration: fig. 17.--plate from the _hypnerotomachia poliphili_, printed by aldus manutius, in 1499.] as we shall see later apropos of german vignettes of the same period, the characteristic of italian engraving was sobriety, the complete absence of useless work and the great simplicity of the human figure. this special manner will be found in the famous edition of the _hypnerotomachia poliphili_ of francis colonna, printed in 1499 by aldus, copied sixty years later by a french printer, and lately reproduced in reduced size. [illustration: fig. 18.--plate from bonino de bonini's dante, at brescia, in 1487.] the italian illustrators, whether they were working in wood, or, as some writers have it, in metal, adroitly brought their figures forward by contrasting some rudimentary work in the persons with the more accentuated and often stippled ground, which formed a dark background. this was also the ordinary process in their ornaments, among the most interesting of which are the borders of the plates to an edition of dante by bonino de bonini, brescia, 1487, of which a specimen is here reproduced. if we return from italy, which then took the lead, to germany, a school of _formschneiders_ is found about the year 1470 at augsburg, whose secluded workshops were of no benefit to the booksellers. these ill-advised artisans went still further. apparently furious to see printing so widely spread as to render their bad woodcuts difficult to get rid of, they united in a body to interdict gunther zainer and schüssler from putting engravings into their books. they must nevertheless have come to an ultimate arrangement, for zainer printed in 1477 a book on chess by jacopo da cessole, with vignettes. he was one of the few german printers who employed roman characters in place of the gothic of peter schoeffer. at cologne in 1474 arnold ther hoernen published a work entitled _fasciculus temporum_, with small illustrations engraved on wood. a bible without date contains most interesting illustrations. as to the celebrated _todtentantz_, or "dance of death," published about 1485, it contains forty-one relief plates of the most ordinary kind, the same as in the "chronicle of cologne" of 1499, of which the figures, though less german, less distorted, are worth little compared with those of the nuremberg books, more german, but more artistic. [illustration: fig. 19.--the creation of woman, plate from the _schatzbehalter_, engraved after michael wolgemuth.] at nuremberg, antony koburger, called by badius the prince of booksellers, directed an immense establishment, employing more than a hundred workmen, without counting smaller houses at basle and lyons. koburger was a capable and a fortunate man. he had at first put forth a bible very indifferently illustrated with the cuts of the cologne bible, but he had before him something better than copying others. michael wohlgemuth, born at nuremberg in 1434, was then in the full vigour of his talent. to his school the young albert dürer came to study; and as he was able to draw on wood as well as to engrave on copper and paint on panel, koburger was attracted to him, and engaged him to make a set of illustrations for a book. the projected work was the _schatzbehalter_, a sort of ascetic compilation, without interest, without arrangement. michael wohlgemuth set to work; and, thanks to the ability of his engravers, of whom william pleydenwurff was probably one, koburger was able to put the book on sale in the course of 1491 in three hundred and fifty-two folios of two columns. without being perfection, the designs of wohlgemuth, very german, very striking, present the vigour and merit of the future school of nuremberg. the figure is no longer a simple line, in the manner of the block books, but a combination of interlaced cuttings, intended to imitate colour. those representing the creation of eve and the daughter of jephthah are here reproduced. in the search for harmony between the text and engravings of this curious work, we shall find grace and gaiety laid aside, on the other hand a freedom and boldness that interest and permit us to appreciate at their value the nuremberg artists and koburger, the printer. in fact, the german artists are more individual, each one taken by himself, than the italian illustrators could be, condemned as they were to the hierarchical commonplace and to a certain form of idealism into which the art of italy entered little by little. the german painters, naturalists and believers, presented their heroes in the image of that robust nature that was before their eyes. it was in this rude and unpolished spirit that michael wohlgemuth decorated the _schatzbehalter_; he also composed the designs for the "nuremberg chronicle" of dr. hartman schedel, printed by koburger in 1493. [illustration: fig. 20.--the daughter of jephthah, plate taken from the _schatzbehalter_, engraved after michael wolgemuth.] with dürer, at the latter end of the fifteenth century, the book was no more than a pretext for engravings. thausing, his biographer, says that the great artist felt the necessity of designing an apocalypse at rome at the time that luther was premeditating his religious revolution in face of the worldly splendours of the pontifical court. the "apocalypse," published in 1511 in latin, with gothic characters, was an album of fifteen large wood engravings. the four horsemen is the best of these plates, and the boldest; but in this gross fancy, in these poor halting old hacks, the fantastic and grand idea which the artist meant to convey can hardly be seen. it may be said the genius of dürer was little adapted to vignettes, however large they were, and did not easily lend itself to the exigencies of a spun-out subject. the title of his "apocalypse" is of its kind a curious example of german genius, but, in spite of its vigour, it does not please like an italian headpiece or like a french or flemish frontispiece. the other works of dürer published in the fifteenth century, "the life of the virgin" and "the passion," were also sets of prints that received a text in the sixteenth century. [illustration: fig. 21.--title of the "apocalypse," by albert dürer, printed in 1498. first edition, without text.] [illustration: fig. 22.--title of sebastian brandt's "ship of fools," printed in 1497 at basle by bergman de olpe.] [illustration: fig. 23.--the _bibliomaniac_. engraving from the "ship of fools."] for the rest of his illustrations dürer belongs to the sixteenth century, and we shall have occasion to recur to his works. at present it remains to speak of a curious work printed at basle by bergman de olpe in 1497, which appears to be the first comic conception of fifteenth century artists: the _navis stultifera_, or "ship of fools," of sebastian brandt. this work of the school of basle lacks neither originality nor vigour. at the time when it was published its success was immense, from the strange tricks of its clowns, with fools' caps, with which every page was adorned. alas! the best things fall under the satire of these jesters, even the book and the lover of books, if we may judge by the sarcasms against useless publications volleyed by the personage here reproduced. "i have the first place among fools.... i possess heaps of volumes that i rarely open. if i read them, i forget them, and i am no wiser." brunet sees in these humorous caricatures more art than is really to be found in them. their value is owing more to their spirit and humour than to any other artistic merit. even the engraving is singularly fitted to the subject, with its peculiar cutting, somewhat executed in hairlines. the designer was certainly not a holbein, but he is no longer the primitive artisan of the first german plates, and his freedom is not displeasing. we have before spoken, apropos of engraving by the burin in italy, of the small share of germany in the essay at illustration by that means, and we do not see a real and serious attempt in the two little coats of arms in copper plate in the _missale herbipolense_, printed in 1479. the flemish had not taken any great flights in the midst of this almost european movement. the school of burgundy, whose influence was felt in all the surrounding countries, had lost its authority in consequence of the progress realized at mayence. without doubt the great flemish artists were there, but they were honoured painters, and their inclination did not descend to seeking the booksellers beyond making them offers of service. besides, the first of these, officially established in flanders, were two germans, john of westphalia and john veldener, of cologne, who established themselves in the university of louvain in 1473, three years after the first paris printers. john of westphalia, who took his own portrait for his mark, edited the _fasciculus temporum_, a book which had enormous success in the fifteenth century. at haarlem, in spite of the block books attributed to laurent coster, illustration was backward. about 1485, a dutch translation of the _malheurs de troye_ of le fevre was put on sale. this french book was published at cologne before france possessed the smallest typographical workshop. at bruges colard mansion illuminated the cuts of his _metamorphoses_ of ovid in 1484. simple engraving appeared to him far remote from manuscripts of which the vogue had not yet passed away. at zwoll peter van os, the publisher, cut up and used the xylographic plates of the _biblia pauperum_, while the master _à la navette_, john of cologne, an artist in the best sense of the word, was ornamenting certain popular publications with his designs. at utrecht veldener came from louvain to establish a workshop. he published for the second time a _fasciculus_ in 1480; he created a style of decoration with flowers and leaves, which shortly after developed into the trade of _rahmenschneiders_. antwerp had attracted gerard de leeu from gouda, and he produced the romance of _belle vienne_. schiedam had an inventive engraver who illustrated an edition of the _chevalier delibéré_ of oliver de la marche, in folio, with gothic letters, after 1483, as we read in the colophon:- "cet traittié fut parfait l'an mil quatre cens quatre vings et trois ainsi que sur la fin d'avril que l'yver est en son exil, et que l'esté fait ses explois. au bien soit pris en tous endrois de ceulx à qui il est offert par celui qui _tant a souffert_, la marche." the french language, bright and harmonious, thus found hospitality in other countries. for many examples of french books published abroad, we cannot cite one german work printed in france. spreading from the north to the south, typography had from 1490 its two principal centres at paris and lyons. after the success of the three germans at the sorbonne, events took their own course. in 1474 peter cæsaris and john stol, two students who had been instructed by gering and krantz, founded the second establishment in paris, at the sign of the "soufflet vert;" and they printed classical works. ten years later appeared antony vérard, simon vostre, and pigouchet, the first of whom gave to french bookselling an impulse that it has not since lost; but before them pasquier-bonhomme published his _grandes chroniques_ in 1476, three volumes folio, the oldest in date of books printed at paris in french. the french school of illustration was at its most flourishing point at the end of the fifteenth century, but solely in miniature and ornamentation by the pencil. the charming figures of the manuscripts had at this time a flemish and naturalistic tendency. the most celebrated of the great artists in manuscripts, john foucquet, could not deny the source of his talent nor the influence of the van eyck school, yet the touch remained distinctly personal. he had travelled, and was not confined to the art circles of a single city, as were so many of the earliest painters of flanders. he had gone through italy, and from thence he transported architectural subjects for his curious designs in the _heures_ of etienne chevalier, now at frankfort; a precious fragment of it is preserved in the national library of paris. side by side with this undoubted master, whose works are happily known, lived a more modest artist: john perréal, called john of paris, painter to charles viii., louis xii., and anne of brittany. in joining with these two masters, to serve as a transition between foucquet and perréal, john bourdichon, designer to the kings of france from louis xi. to francis i., we obtain already a not despicable assemblage of living forces. without doubt these men were not comparable either with the admirable school of flanders, or the germans of nuremberg, or the masters of italy; but, moderate as we may deem their merit, they did their tasks day by day, painting miniatures, colouring coats of arms, rendering to the kings, their masters, all the little duties of devoted servants without conceit, and preparing, according to their means, the great artistic movement in france of the seventeenth century. that these men, leaving the brush for the pencil, devoted themselves to design figures on wood, is undeniable. it is said that one of them followed charles viii. to the italian wars, and probably sketched the battles of the campaign as they took place. now in the books published at this epoch in france we meet with vignettes which so very nearly approach miniatures, that we can easily recognise in them french taste and finish. such are, for example, the illustrations of the _mer des histoires_, printed by le rouge in 1488, where suppleness of design is blended in some parts with extraordinary dexterity in engraving. nevertheless, others leave something to be desired; they maim the best subjects by their unskilful line and their awkwardness of handling. were not these engravers on wood printers themselves: the commins, guyot marchants, pierre lecarrons, jean trepperels, and others? we are tempted to see in certain shapeless work the hasty and light labour of an artisan hurried in its execution. as mentioned above, the part taken by the booksellers in the making of the plates does not make our supposition in itself appear inadmissible. [illustration: fig. 24.--mark of philip pigouchet, french printer and wood engraver of the fifteenth century.] printing had been established about twenty years in paris when philip pigouchet, printer and engraver on wood, began to exercise his trade for himself or on account of other publishers. formerly bookseller in the university, he transported his presses to the rue de la harpe, and took for his mark the curious figure here reproduced. at this moment a veritable merchant, simon vostre, conceived the idea of putting forth books of hours, until then disdained in france, and of publishing them in fine editions with figures, borders, ornaments, large separate plates, and all the resources of typography. the trials made at venice and naples between 1473 and 1476 warranted the enterprise. entering into partnership with pigouchet, the two were able on the 17th of april, 1488, to place on sale the _heures à l'usaige de rome_, octavo, with varied ornaments and figures. the operation having succeeded beyond their hopes, thanks to the combination of the subjects of the borders, subjects that could be turned and re-turned in all ways so as to obtain the greatest variety, simon vostre reapplied himself to the work, and ordered new cuts to augment the number of his decorations. passavant's idea is commonly received that the engraving was in relief on metal; the line in it is very fine, the background stippled, and the borders without scratches. wood could not have resisted the force of the press; the reliefs would have been crushed, the borders rubbed and broken. in all the successive editions hard work and wear are not remarked, and we are forced to admit the use of a harder material than the pear or box-wood of ordinary blocks. according to his wants, simon vostre designed new series of ornaments. among them were histories of the saints, biblical figures, even caricatures against churchmen, after the manner of the old sculptors, who thought that sin was rendered more horrible in the garb of a monk. then there were the dance of death and sibyls, allying sacred with profane, even the trades, all forming a medley of little figures in the margins, in the borders, nestled among acanthus leaves, distorted men, fantastic animals, and saints piously praying. the middle ages live again in these bright and charming books, french in their style, imbued with good sense and perfect toleration. [illustration: fig. 25.--border in four separate blocks in the _heures à l'usaige de rome_, by pigouchet, for simon vostre, in 1488. small figures from the "dance of death."] the book rose under simon vostre and philip pigouchet to the culminating point of ornamentation. here design and engraving improve and sustain each other. it is not only the stippled backgrounds of the borders that please the eye. and who was this unknown designer, this painter of bold conceptions, whose work is complete in little nothings? however, the large full-page figures have not always an originality of their own, nor the french touch of the borders. thus that of the passion here reproduced is inspired line for line by the german, martin schongauer. are we to suppose, that duplicates of blocks passed between france and germany, or was a copy made by a french designer? it is difficult to say. still the coincidence is not common to all the missals of the great parisian bookseller. the death of the virgin here reproduced is an evident proof of it. it forms part of the 1488 book, and is a truly french work. [illustration: fig. 26.--plate copied from schongauer's carrying of the cross, taken from the _heures_ of simon vostre.] [illustration: fig. 27.--the death of the virgin, plate taken from the _heures_ of simon vostre, printed in 1488. the border is separate.] it may be said that from the artistic association of philip pigouchet and simon vostre was born the art of illustration of the book in france; they worked together for eighteen years, in steady collaboration, and, as far as we know, without a cloud. at vostre's commencement in 1488 he lived in the rue neuve notre dame, at the sign of "st. jean l'evangeliste;" and in 1520 he was still there, having published more than three hundred editions of the missal, according to the use of the several cities. contemporary with simon vostre, another publisher was giving a singular impulse to the book by his extreme energy, true taste, and the aid of first-class artists. antony verard, the most illustrious of the old french booksellers, was a writer, printer, illuminator, and dealer. born in the second half of the fifteenth century, he established himself in paris on the pont notre dame, both sides of which were then covered with shops, and about 1485 commenced his fine editions with a "decameron" in french by laurent de premierfait. m. renouvier remarks in his notice of verard that his first books were not good, the plates were often unskilful, and were probably borrowed or bought from others; this may be very well understood in a beginner whose modest resources did not permit bold enterprises; the figures were in most cases groundworks for miniatures, outlines and sketches rather than vignettes. [illustration: fig. 28.--border of the _grandes heures_ of antony verard: paris, 1498 (?).] antony verard was accustomed to take a certain number of fine copies on vellum or paper of each book published by him, in which authorised painters added miniatures and ornaments. it is curious now to find what the cost to one of the great lords of the court of charles viii. was of one of these special copies in all the details of its impression, and we find it in a document published by m. senemaud in a provincial journal (_bulletin de la société archéologique de la charente_, 1859, part 2, p. 91), which enables us at the same time to penetrate into a printing office of a great french publisher of the fifteenth century. according to this document, verard did not disdain to put his own hand to the work, even to carrying the book to the house of his patron if he were a man of consequence. it is an account of charles de valois-angoulême, father of francis i. he was then living at cognac; and he ordered verard to print separately for him on vellum the romance of tristan, the "book of consolation" of boetius, the _ordinaire du chrétien_, and _heures en françois_, each with illuminations and binding. in the detail of expenses verard omits nothing. he reckons the parchment at three sous four deniers the sheet, the painted and illuminated figures at one écu the large and five sols the small. we give here the outline of one of the plates of the tristan, ordered by the duc d'angoulême, reduced by two-thirds, and from it it may be judged that the profession of the illuminator, even for the time, was by no means brilliant. the binding was in dark-coloured velvet, with two clasps with the arms of the duke, which cost sixty sous each. the work finished, verard took the route for cognac, carrying the precious volumes. he was allowed twenty livres for carriage; and this brings the total to 207 livres 10 sous, equivalent to £200 to £240 of present money. [illustration: fig. 29.--plate from the tristan published by antony verard, a copy of which was illuminated for charles of angoulême.] verard had preceded simon vostre in the publication of books of hours, but his first volume dated 1487 was not successful for the want of borders and frontispieces. at the most he had introduced figures intended for illumination, which, as well as the vignettes, were cut in wood. in 1488, the same year that simon vostre commenced his publications, verard put forth, by "command of the king our lord," the book called the _grandes heures_, which is in quarto, gothic letter, without paging, twenty lines to the full page. this _grandes heures_ contained fourteen engravings, large borders in four compartments, smaller subjects and initials rubricated by hand. he also published more than two hundred editions between 1487 and 1513, and among them the _mystère de la passion_, with eighty figures; the _grandes chroniques_, in three folio volumes, printed by john maurand; the _bataille judaïque_ of flavius josephus; the _legende dorée_ of voragine, all books for which he called to his aid rubricators, illuminators, and miniaturists. from the first he had two shops where he put his productions on sale: one on the pont notre dame, the other at the palace of justice, "au premier pilier devant la chapelle où l'on chante la messe de messeigneurs les présidents." from 1499, when the pont notre dame was burned, verard transported his books to the carrefour st. severin. at his death in 1513 he was living in the rue neuve notre dame, "devant nostre-dame de paris." [illustration: fig. 30.--page of the _grandes heures_ of antony verard: paris, fifteenth century.] besides verard, vostre, and pigouchet, many others will be found who imitated them in the publication of books of hours. the first was john du pré, who published a paris missal in 1481, and who was at once printer and bookseller. like pigouchet, du pré printed books of hours on account of provincial publishers, without dreaming of the competition he was creating for himself. the encroachments of the publishers upon one another, the friendly exchanges, the loans of plates and type, form one of the most curious parts of the study of the book. thielman kerver, a german, also began to put forth books of hours in 1497 in paris, ornamenting them with borders and figures on wood, and modelling his work completely upon that of simon vostre. but after having imitated him, he was associated with him in the publication and sale of the paris missal; the competition of these men was evidently an honest one, or the sale of pious works was sufficient to maintain all engaged in it. established on the pont st. michel, at the sign of the "unicorn," he sold his stock to gilles remacle about the beginning of the sixteenth century. thielman kerver in his own works shows himself as the rival of simon vostre. the hardouins, who followed the same profession, do not appear to have attained the success of their predecessors; and, excepting in the _heures à l'usage de rome_, published in 1503 by gilles hardouin on the pont au change, at the sign of the "rose," they servilely imitated them. there was also among the disciples of vostre william eustache, bookseller to the king, "tenant la boutique dedans la grant salle du palais du costé de messeigneurs les présidens, ou sur les grans degrés du costé de la conciergerie à l'ymage st. jean levangeliste." eustache made use of the work of pigouchet and kerver, not to mention the printers of the end of the fifteenth century. we have named the principal, the fortunate ones; but what becomes of the crowd of other publishers whose hopes vanished before the success of vostre and verard? there were denis meslier, with his quarto _heures de bourges_, and vincent commin, bookseller of the rue neuve notre dame, who thus appealed to his customers:- "qui veult en avoir? on en treuve a tres grand marché et bon pris a la rose, dans la rue neuve de nostre-dame de paris." [illustration: fig. 31.--plate from a book of hours of simon vostre, representing the massacre of the innocents.] there were also robin chaillot, laurent philippe, and a hundred others whose names have died with them or are only preserved on the torn pages of their works. [illustration: fig. 32.--dance of death, said to be by verard. the pope and the emperor.] [illustration: fig. 33.--dance of death of guyot marchant in 1486. the pope and the emperor.] but if books of this kind found vogue and a large sale at this epoch, the dealers did not keep to pious publications only. by a singular mixture of the sacred and the profane, the bookmen put on sale on their stalls the "decameron" of boccaccio as well as the "hours of the immaculate virgin," and the purchasers thought fit to make the acquaintance of the one as well as the other. besides, the end of the fifteenth century had its literary preferences, its alluring titles, its attractive frontispieces. at the commencement of the present century double titles--"atala; or, the child of mystery;" "waverley; or, sixty years since"--were common, although now out of fashion. since then came books of travels--_voyages au pays des milliards_, etc. in the fifteenth century, and even since the fourteenth, a series of titles was in public favour. there was first the _débats_, or "dialogues:" _débat de la dame et de l'escuyer_, paris, 1490, folio; "dialogue of dives and pauper," london, richard pynson, 1493; and many other eccentric titles. there came also thousands of _complaintes_, a kind of lay in verse or prose; _blasons_, light pieces describing this or that thing; _doctrinals_, that had nothing to do with doctrine. and among the most approved subjects, between the piety of some and the gaiety of others, the dances of death established themselves firmly, showing, according to the hierarchy of classes then prevalent, death taking the great ones of the earth, torturing equally pope, emperor, constable, or minstrel, grimacing before youth, majesty, and love. long before printing appeared, the dances of death took the lead; they were some consolation for the wretched against their powerful masters, the revenge of the rabble against the king; they may be seen painted, sculptured, illuminated, when engraving was not there to multiply their use; they may be seen largely displayed on walls, sombre, frightful, at dresden, leipzig, erfurt, berne, lucerne, rouen, amiens, and chaise-dieu. it was the great human equality, attempted first by the french, then by the inimitable holbein. we can imagine the impression these bitter ironies made on the oppressed and disdained lower classes. the first "dance of death" was produced by guyot marchant in 1485, in ten leaves and seventeen engravings, in folio, with gothic characters. marchant describes himself as "demeurant en champ gaillart à paris le vingt-huitiesme jour de septembre mil quatre cent quatre-vingtz et cinq." the book must have gone off rapidly, for it was republished in the following year, with additions and new engravings. french illustration was already moving forward, as may be judged by the reproductions here given from the folio edition of 1486. pope and emperor, glory and power, are led and plagued by death, hideous death, with open body and frightful grin. we could wish that the tendencies and processes of what may be called the second generation of printers were well understood. in a few years they surmounted the difficulties of their art, and made the book a model of elegance and simplicity. the smallest details were cared for, and things apparently the most insignificant were studied and rendered practical. speaking of titles, an enormous progress was here made in the publications of the end of the century. in italy the subjects of decoration ordinarily formed a framework for the front page, wherein were included useful indications. the most ancient specimen of this kind has already been referred to. a model of this species is the "st. jerome," published at ferrara by lorenzo rossi, of valenza, in 1497, folio; the title, much adorned, is in gothic letters; the engraved initial is very adroitly left in outline, so as not to burden or break the text. in germany there was already the appearance of bad taste and prodigality, the letters crossing each other, the gothic type covered with bizarre appendices, the titles intricate; later they became illegible even for the germans. [illustration: fig. 34.--typographical mark of thielman kerver.] in france the first page gave the most circumstantial indications of the contents of the work, the name and abode of the printer and bookseller. often these titles were ornamented with movable frameworks, printed in gothic, sometimes in two colours, which necessitated two printings, one for the black and one for the red ink. the mark of the printer or publisher generally appeared, and it was nearly always a charming work. these french marks were all more or less treated heraldically; that is to say, the initials occupy a shield, sustained by supporters and cut with extreme care. the first was that of fust and schoeffer at mayence, of admirable simplicity and grace. in france this early specimen of the trade mark took with simon vostre and verard the shape of delicate illustrations, finely designed and carefully engraved; but the custom of allusive marks did not prevail, as we shall have occasion to see, until the sixteenth century. the mark of pigouchet has already been given; that of thielman kerver is conceived in the same principles of taste and art. the sign of his house being the "unicorn," kerver took as supporters to his shield two unicorns _affrontées_. in these colophons are found philosophic aphorisms, satirical remarks, marvels of poetry. a certain bookseller paid court to the powerful university, which dispensed glory and riches to the poor tradesmen by buying many books. andrew bocard engraved on his mark this flattery as a border:- "honneur au roy et à la court, salut à l'université dont nostre bien procède et sourt. dieu gart de paris la cité!" the germans introduced into their colophons some vainglorious notices. arnold ther hoernen, already mentioned, who printed the _theutonista_ at cologne in 1477, boasted in it of having corrected it all with his own hands. jean treschel, established at lyons in 1493, proclaims himself a german, because the germans were the inventors of an art that he himself possessed to an eminent degree. he prided himself on being what we may call a skilled typographer; "virum hujus artis solertissimum," he writes without false modesty. at times, in the colophons of his books, he attempted latin verse, the sapphic verse of horace, of a playful turn, to say that his work was perfected in 1494. "arte et expensis vigilique cura treschel explevit opus hoc joannes, mille quingentos ubi christus annos sex minus egit. jamque lugduni juvenes, senesque, martias nonas celebres agebant magna reginæ quia prepotenti festa parabant." [illustration: fig. 35.--frontispiece to terence, published by treschel at lyons in 1493. the author writing his book.] the portrait is another element of illustration, the figure of the author prefixed to his work. it had already been a custom in the manuscripts to paint on the first leaf of the work the likeness of him who composed it, frequently in the act of presenting his book to some noble patron; and in this way is often preserved the only known portrait of either patron or author. printing and engraving rendered these effigies more common, the portraits of one often served for another, and the booksellers used them without very much scruple. as we shall see later, this became in the sixteenth century a means of illustrating a book plainly, but only at the time when the portrait, drawn or painted, commenced to be more widely used. previously the _clichés_ of which we speak went everywhere, from the italians to the french, from æsop to accursius; these uncertain physiognomies began with the manuscript romances of chivalry, from whence they were servilely copied in typography. from the first the italians mixed the ancient and the modern. thus in a _breviarium_, printed in 1478, there is an engraved portrait of paul florentin. on the same principle, the portrait of burchiello, an early italian poet, was later reproduced in england as a likeness of william caxton. in france the author is often represented writing, and it was so up to the middle of the sixteenth century. in an edition of _des cas des nobles hommes_, by jean dupré, in 1483, boccaccio is represented seated, having before him his french translator, laurent de premierfait. this plate is one of the oldest representations of authors in french books. in the _roman de la rose_, first edition of paris and lyons, in folio, probably published by william leroy about 1485, william de lorris, the author, is shown in his bed:- "une nuyt comme je songeoye, et de fait dormir me convient, en dormant un songe m'advint...." [illustration: fig. 36.--woodcut from caxton's "game and playe of the chesse."] there is also a portrait of alain chartier in his _faits_, printed in 1489. in the terence of treschel, of lyons, in 1493, we see a grammarian of the fifteenth century in a furnished room of the time occupied in writing at a desk; this is guy jouvenal, of mans, the author of the commentary. [illustration: fig. 37.--the knight, a woodcut from caxton's "game and playe of the chesse."] while this good work was progressing so nobly in france, italy, and germany, the typographers of england were by no means idle, although the illustration of the book in the fifteenth century was not there so forward. william caxton had produced over sixty works, the colophons of many of them revealing much of the personal life and character of the first english printer. some of them were ornamented with woodcuts; we reproduce two from the "game and playe of the chesse," printed in folio, about 1476. the first represents a king and another person playing at chess; the smaller cut is a representation of the knight, who is thus described in caxton's own words: "the knyght ought to be maad al armed upon an hors in suche wise that he have an helme on his heed and a spere in his right hond, and coverid with his shelde, a swerde and a mace on his left syde, clad with an halberke and plates tofore his breste, legge harnoys on his legges, spores on his heelis, on hys handes hys gauntelettes, hys hors wel broken and taught, and apte to bataylle, and coveryd with hys armes." the other caxton block which we reproduce is a representation of music from the "mirrour of the world," a thin folio volume of one hundred leaves printed in 1481, with thirty-eight woodcuts. these specimens will serve to show the rudimentary character of english wood engraving in the fifteenth century. no authentic portrait of caxton is known, and the one that is generally accepted is really a portrait of an italian poet, burchiello, taken from an octavo edition of his work on tuscan poetry, printed 1554; this was copied by faithorne for sir hans sloane as the portrait of caxton, and was reproduced by ames in his "typographical antiquities," 1749. lewis prefixed the portrait here given to his "life of mayster willyam caxton," 1737, which is a copy of faithorne's drawing with some alterations. john lettou and william machlinia issued various statutes and other legal works. [illustration: fig. 38.--music, a woodcut from caxton's "mirrour of the world."] [illustration: fig. 39.--william caxton, from rev. j. lewis' "life."] [illustration: fig. 40.--mark of wynken de worde.] wynken de worde continued printing up to 1534, and issued over four hundred works. he used no less than nine different marks, all of them bearing caxton's initials, evidencing the regard of the pupil for his master; the mark which we reproduce is one of rare occurrence. richard pynson began in 1493, and continued well into the sixteenth century, and was one of the first of the "privileged" printers, authorised to issue the legal and parliamentary publications. one of the marks used by him is here reproduced. julian notary began in 1498. the only style of illustration used by any of these early printers was the woodcut, and of this there was very little beyond the title-page and printer's mark. the artistic form of the book originated on the continent, but england was not slow to adopt it and fashion it to her own ends. [illustration: fig. 41.--mark of richard pynson.] thus was printing spread abroad, carrying with it to the countries where it was established the rules of an unchangeable principle; but, according to its surroundings, it was so transformed in a few years that its origin was no longer recognised. it was light in italy, heavy in germany, gay in france. painting, of which it was accidentally the issue, returned to it under the form of illustration a short time after its first and fruitful essays. the gothic character, generally used in germany, continued in france with the vostres, the verards, and others up to the middle of the sixteenth century, although the first artisans before this used roman type; it was also the prevailing type used in english books. in italy it was jenson, a frenchman, who gave to the matrix the alphabet preserved to the present time; and it was the venetians and florentines who learned before all others the art of judicious ornamentation of the book. the french came very near perfection, thanks to their printers and booksellers, at the end of the century; and the germans found illustrious artists to scatter their compositions in their large, heavy works. [illustration] chapter iii. 1500 to 1600. french epics and the renaissance--venice and aldus manutius--italian illustrators--the germans: _theuerdanck_, schäufelein--the book in other countries--french books at the beginning of the century, before the accession of francis i.--geoffroy tory and his works--francis i. and the book--robert estienne--lyons a centre of bookselling; holbein's dances of death--school of basle--alciati's emblems and the illustrated books of the middle of the century--the school of fontainebleau and its influence--solomon bernard--cornelis de la haye and the _promptuaire_--john cousin--copper plate engraving and metal plates--woériot--the portrait in the book of the sixteenth century--how a book was illustrated on wood at the end of the century--influence of plantin on the book; his school of engravers--general considerations--progress in england--coverdale's bible--english printers and their work--engraved plates in english books our simple division into chapters will be understood without difficulty as not corresponding exactly with the most momentous epochs in the history of the book in france and abroad. doubtless it would be easy for france alone to find some limits and to furnish scholastic formulæ by which contemporary publishers might be grouped. but in order to present, as in a synoptical table, an essential and abridged sketch of the book in all european countries, it appeared to us more convenient to begin with the confused and tangled notions by centuries and to unfold in our review the characteristic facts of each country conjointly. moreover, after the sixteenth century neither italy nor germany could compare with france, which, less fortunate, perhaps, at the beginning than her neighbours, surpassed them in all the pride of her genius. the commencement of the sixteenth century found the french army in italy, under the command of louis xii. marching from glory to glory, the french successively saw pisa, capua, and naples, and that which has since been called the renaissance displayed itself little by little to the conquerors. at venice was living aldus pius manutius, then the greatest printer of the entire world. aldus was proprietor of the celebrated printing office of nicholas jenson, through his father-in-law, andrea torresani, of asola, who acquired it on the death of the french printer; and he had in a few years reached a position in which he was without a rival. we have seen that he composed, at the end of the fifteenth century, the admirable volume _hypnerotomachia_, the renown of which became universal. aldus was fifty-two years of age, having been born in 1447; and his learning was increased by daily intercourse with learned italians, among them the celebrated pico de la mirandola. his establishment at venice in 1488 had for its object the creation of a chair in greek, in which language he was well instructed from his youth. occupied with the idea of issuing editions of the principal greek writers, which up to then remained in manuscript, he engaged himself in the formation of a printing office. he first published the _herone et leandro_ of musæus in 1494, quarto, in a greek character apparently designed by him, and perhaps engraved by francisco da bologna; then the greek grammar of constantine lascaris, with the date of 1494; and the works of aristotle in five folio volumes. at the time of the italian wars aldus was making a revolution in typography, by producing more practical sizes and finer characters, which would permit a volume of the smallest height to contain the matter of a folio printed with large type. legend says that the new letters were copied exactly from the handwriting of petrarch, inclining like all cursive writing; the name of _italic_ was given to this character, which was also called _aldine_, from its inventor. it was engraved by francisco da bologna. aldus published in octavo size, with this kind of letter, an edition of virgil in 1501, then a horace, a juvenal, a martial, and a petrarch in the same year. the following year, 1502, he gave an edition of the _terze rime_ of dante, and for the first time took as his typographical mark an anchor encircled by a dolphin.[a] [footnote a: tory in his _champfleury_ explains thus the mark of aldus and his device, which was in greek the "make haste slowly" of boileau: "the anchor signifies tardiness, and the dolphin haste, which is to say that in his business he was moderate."] [illustration: fig. 42.--the anchor and dolphin, mark of aldus manutius, after the original in the _terze rime_ of 1502, where it appears for the first time.] his marriage with the daughter of andrea torresani, of asola, brought together into his possession two printing houses. the burden became too heavy for manutius to think henceforth of publishing by himself. besides, the wars did not allow him any repose, of which he bitterly complained in his prefaces. he attracted learned greek scholars, who supervised, each one in his specialty, the works in progress, and founded a society, an aldine academy, in which the greatest names of the epoch were united. aldus conveys the perfect idea of a great printer of those times, doing honour to celebrated men, in spite of business preoccupations and of the annoyance caused by the war. it is said that erasmus, passing through venice, called on him, and not making himself known, was badly received by the powerful printer. all at once, at the name of the distinguished visitor, aldus, overwhelmed for an instant, rose in great haste and showed him how highly he appreciated men of letters. the war finished by ruining this state of affairs. in 1505 aldus quitted venice to travel, and on his return found it poorer than when he went away. andrea d'asola, his father-in-law, came to his aid; but the great printer had received his death-blow; and in spite of the activity which he brought to the new establishment, he further declined until 1515, when he expired, leaving an inextricable confusion to his son paul. he had early abandoned illustration for the scientific and useful in his publications; besides, the size of book chosen by him did not admit of plates; but other publishers employed artists in the ornamentation of the book. lucantonio giunta, the most celebrated among them, was printer and engraver, a striking example of the affinity of the two trades from their origin. in 1508 lucantonio zonta, as he then spelt his name, published a roman breviary in large quarto, with twelve engravings in the lombardo-venetian manner, signed "l. a.," in very good style. the same artist-publisher cut a portrait of virgil for an edition of that poet about 1515. furthermore, giunta did not alone illustrate the book from his own office. other designers lent him their assistance. we find evidence of this in the bible printed by him in 1519 in small octavo. [illustration: fig. 43.--mark of lucantonio giunta, of venice.] the most meritorious of the artists of venice at this time was john andrea, known as guadagnino. he designed the vignettes for florus's epitome of livy, printed at venice for melchior sessa and peter of ravenna (1520, folio); in 1516 he copied the plates of dürer's _apocalypse_ for that of alexander paganini, of venice. a venetian work which signalised the beginning of the sixteenth century was the _trionfo di fortuna_ of sigismond fanti, of ferrara, printed by agostino da portese in 1527. venice was the home of titian, and at the present time the great artist was at the height of his glory. in 1518 two brothers, nicholas and dominic dal gesù, published a translation of the celebrated "golden legend" of voragine. the plates which were added to the work were manifestly inspired by the school of the venetian master. unhappily the engravers have not always equalled the genius of the drawings. to resume, the city of venice was, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, one of the most prolific in publishers and artists of talent. since the first establishments of the germans, typography had successively employed in venice nicholas jenson, a frenchman, inventor of the roman character; erhard ratdolt, the first to employ illustration there; and aldus manutius, scholar and printer, whose progress in printing elevated that art to the highest rank among human discoveries; there were also remarkable engravers and draughtsmen, among others guadagnino and giunta, besides the anonymous masters of the school of titian. the part of venice in the movement, then, was great, but it may be explained by the riches of its citizens, the extent of its commerce, and the genius it possessed. if we now return from venice to the north, to milan, the school of leonardo da vinci will make itself apparent in the book. in order of date we will mention the _mysterii gesta beatæ veronicæ virginis_, published by gotardo de ponte 1518, small quarto, with figures in the style of luini, and vitruvius in italian by cesariano. on the testimony of the author, the wood engravings in a book of fra luca pacioli, _de divina proportione_, are attributed to leonardo da vinci. m. delaborde does not believe this, but m. passavant does. [illustration: fig. 44.--title of the _theuerdanck_. the flourishes of the letters are printed.] in germany, nuremberg continued, with albert dürer and the artists of his school, to furnish book illustrations at the beginning of the century. the master reprinted his valuable engravings of the "life of the virgin" in 1511, and also the "apocalypse." but after him the art commenced to decline; a hundred years later nothing remained of the honour and glory gained by germany in the commencement. among the most interesting of the nuremberg publications is a chivalric poem by melchior pfinzfing, composed for the marriage of maximilian and mary of burgundy. as m. delaborde in his _débuts de i'imprimerie_ well remarks, this is not a book destined for sale by a bookseller; it is a work of art destined by an emperor for his friends, and he saw that it was an unapproachable work. [illustration: fig. 45.--plate taken from the _theuerdanck_, representing maximilian and mary of burgundy. engraved on wood after schäufelein.] bold strokes, majestic letters, intertwined ornaments, are here multiplied. three persons worked upon it for five years; these were, peutinger says, hans leonard schäufelein, the painter, jost necker, the engraver, and schönsperger, the printer of augsburg, who quitted his native city for nuremberg. when they were able to take a proof, craftsmen were unwilling to believe it to be a book composed in movable characters; they were sure, on the contrary, that it was a true xylograph, cut in wood; and, in fact, from the title here reproduced, the error was excusable. this work, which is now called the _theuerdanck_, from the name of the hero of the romance, is ornamented with a number of wood engravings, numbered by arabic figures. we reproduce one of the last plates, in which theuerdanck--maximilian--is introduced to the queen--mary of burgundy. the designs of schäufelein recall very nearly the work of albert dürer, his master; but, as we said of him, these works, heavy and dull, although very clever, do not always suit as vignettes. again, our criticism does not extend so much to the _theuerdanck_, whose letters, excessively ornamented and much flattened, furnish a framework more suitable for the engravings than would a more slender character, which would be completely overshadowed by the german plate. when we have mentioned the _passional christi_ of lucas cranach, published by j. grünenberg at wittemberg in 1521--twenty-six mediocre wood engravings--we shall have cited the most important of the interesting and rare volumes published in germany at the commencement of the sixteenth century. the netherlands, spain, and england were working, but without great success. in the low countries plantin and his gigantic enterprises may be recalled. in spain the taste had not yet developed itself; and although the drawing of illustrations may be careful enough, the wood-cutting is pitiable. we will mention the seneca of toledo in 1510, and the "chronicle of aragon" in 1523. of england we will speak later. in france, on the contrary, we find an enormous commerce in books at the commencement of the sixteenth century. all the publishers mentioned in the preceding chapter were still living, and they were feeling the effects of the french conquests in italy. the dithyrambic literature then inaugurated, and which had its origin under louis xii., exercised a bad influence equally upon the printers and decorators of the book. doubtless the composition of the text and engravings was done hastily, for the great people did not like to wait for this kind of history. _le vergier d'honneur_, written by octavian de st. gelais and andry de la vigne, was thus published about the end of the fifteenth century and ornamented with hasty vignettes, probably at the expense of antoine verard. upon the accession to the throne of louis xii., claude de seyssel, his master of council, composed _les louenges du roy louis xii._, and soon after translated it from latin into french for the same verard, who printed it in 1508. the taste for historical works induced the publishers to produce _la mer des histoires_, which had already been published in the fifteenth century; thielman kerver put forth the "compendium" of robert gaguin in 1500 on account of durand gerlier and john petit. the french version of this work was given in 1514 by galliot du pré, with vignettes, and afterwards under the name of _mirouer historial_, by renaud chaudière in 1520, by nyverd, and others; the same with the _rozier historial_, with figures, in 1522 and 1528. among the most popular works was the _illustrations de la gaule et singularitez de troye_, by john le maire de belges, printed in paris and ornamented. in 1512 it was published by geoffroy de marnef, in 1515 by john and gilbert de marnef, by regnault, by philip le noir, and others, always in the gothic characters which prevailed in france at the beginning of the sixteenth century. we give from the curious book of john le maire an interesting woodcut representing queen anne of brittany as juno, in which we can without much difficulty see a remarkable sketch by a bourdichon or a perréal. the truly french style of this figure leaves no doubt as to its origin. at the same time, it may possibly have been inspired by the virgin of a german master, say one of 1466, judging from the accessories, and even from the pose. this engraving will be found in the edition of 1512 of gilbert de marnef, in gothic letter, quarto. on the reverse are the arms and device of john le maire de belges. [illustration: fig. 46.--vignette taken from the _illustrations de la gaule et singularitez de troye_. queen anne of brittany as juno.] the time that elapsed from the death of louis xi. until the accession of francis i.--that is to say, from 1483 to 1515--was, to employ an old expression, the golden age of french printing and illustration. under charles viii. and louis xii. the designers on wood were not yet affected by the neighbouring schools; neither the accentuated italian influence nor the german processes had reached them; they did in their own way that which came to them, and they did it in their own fashion and habit, without foreign influence. further, the kings did not ignore them, and louis xii. preserved to the printers of the university all their rights and privileges in a magniloquent ordinance, in which the art of typography was extolled in the highest terms. it restores to them all the advantages that they had lost. it recites, "in consideration of the great benefit that has come to our kingdom by means of the art and science of printing, the invention of which seems more divine than human, which, thanks to god, has been invented and found in our time by the help and industry of booksellers, by which our holy catholic faith has been greatly augmented and strengthened, justice better understood and administered, and divine service more honourably and diligently made, said, and celebrated, ... by means of which our kingdom precedes all others," etc., etc. (blois, 9th april, 1513). certainly louis made the best of himself and his kingdom in this preamble, but it must be recognised that france already held a predominant rank in the new industry, and that beyond the italians she had no fear of serious rivalry. the school of ornamentists made constant progress. before the books of hours, the booksellers contented themselves with miserable blocks, placed side by side, forming a framework of good and bad together; but after simon vostre, verard, and the others they were singularly refined. the borders, at least in the books of hours, had become the principal part of the book; they had in them flowers, architectural, complicated, and simple subjects, all of perfect taste and extreme elegance; and, as we have observed in the representation of anne of brittany in the _illustrations de la gaule_, the figure subjects were no longer mechanical, commonplace, and tiresome blocks, but, on the contrary, more often works specially designed and engraved by artists of merit. [illustration: fig. 47.--title of the _entree d'eléonore d'autriche a paris_, by guillaume bochetel. printed by geoffroy tory in may, 1531, quarto.] geoffroy tory, born at bourges in 1480, continued after vostre and verard the onward march of illustration of the book. he was a sort of encyclopædist, who knew and foresaw everything, but with a singularly subtler and finer genius than his predecessors. there is now very little doubt that at first tory was an engraver and printer. moreover, he published with jean petit one of his first volumes, the geography of pomponius mela, printed by gilles de gourmont in 1507. tory was then an erudite and diffusive commentator. later he published a book with poor engravings (_valerii probi grammatici opusculum_, 1510), waiting until his good star should place him on the right road. he had for his mark, say the bibliographers, the cross of lorraine [symbol: double cross], small enough to be lost in the ornamentation of his plates. really this sign is found in tory's mark--the "pot cassé"--the broken jar--and also sometimes in the letter g, which was his ordinary signature. this opinion, which we will not try to contradict in a popular work like this, appears to us to err, as others used this mark, as may be judged from the essentially different touches of engravings bearing the cross of lorraine, and particularly those of woériot in the middle of the century. if m. a. bernard[a] may be credited, geoffroy tory cultivated all the sciences with equal success. for our purpose, suffice it to recognise his right to one of the first places in the art of decoration of books of hours. doubtless his travels in italy had contributed to modify his taste and to detach him a little from the sober and simple manner that then characterised french engraving; but he nevertheless preserved the indelible traces of the origin of his art, in the same way as some people cannot correct their provincial accent. the _heures de la vierge_, which he designed, and which he had engraved about 1520, on account of simon de colines, is marvellously surrounded by ornaments, until then unknown in france; at the same time, and in spite of other tendencies, it is purely a french work, and the specimen given here is a convincing proof. [footnote a: _geoffroy tory, peintre et graveur, premier imprimeur royal, réformateur de l'orthographe et de la typographie_: paris, 1857, 8vo.] [illustration: fig. 48.--full page of the _heures_ of simon de colines, by tory.] [illustration: fig. 49.--_heures_ of geoffroy tory. the circumcision.] [illustration: fig. 50.--_heures_ of simon de colines, with the mark of the cross of lorraine.] geoffroy tory composed a curious book, as poetic as learned, in which he studied at once the form of the letter from the typographic and the emblematic point of view, and also the french orthography of the time. he tells us himself that he was brought to commence this book on the fête-day of the kings, 1523, when, after a frugal repast, he was, he says, "dreaming on my bed and revolving my memory, thinking of a thousand little fancies, serious and mirthful, among which i thought of some antique letters that i had made for monseigneur the treasurer for war, master jehan grolier, councillor and secretary of our lord the king, amateur of fine letters and of all learned personages." tory called his book _champfleury, auquel est contenu l'art et science de la deue proportion des lettres ... selon le corps et le visage humain_, and he published it himself in small folio, putting upon it the sign of gilles de gourmont, in 1529. at heart tory had been fascinated by the theories of dürer on the proportions of the human body; and he says, "the noble german painter albert dürer is greatly to be praised that he has so well brought to light his art of painting in designing geometrical forms, the ramparts of war, and the proportions of the human body." he wished to indicate the true measure of letters to his contemporaries, "the number of points and turns of the compass that each one requires." the most amusing part of this curious treatise is his short academical preface, where, under a playful form, the great publisher studies the orthography of his time, and exclaims against the forgers of new words, the latinisers of the language, "the skimmers of latin, jesters and gibberers, ... who mock not only their shadows, but themselves." the entire passage was copied by rabelais, nearly literally, and it indicates that its author was possessed of good sense, which, unhappily, all his contemporaries were not. for the technical part, he added to his theories a number of designs of geometrical letters, but he was carried away, after the fashion of the time, by greek and roman models, perhaps a little further than he meant, losing himself in the midst of idle dissertations. to these geometrical engravings he added small and charming figures, said to be by jean perréal, as well as emblematical letters of the nature of the y which is here given, with explanatory text and commentary. to him this y had two branches: one of virtue and one of vice; that of virtue shows palms, crowns, a sceptre, and a book; that of vice birches, a gallows, and fire. [illustration: fig. 51.--emblematical letter y, taken from the _champfleury_ of geoffroy tory.] with the importance that cannot be denied to his works, geoffroy tory founded a school; and it was from his workshop that the plates came for the book of paulus jovius on the dukes of milan, published by robert estienne in 1549, quarto. the portraits of the dukes in this work have been attributed to tory himself, but he died in 1533, and there is not the least indication that he engraved these sixteen portraits with his own hand sixteen years before their publication. besides, our doubts as to the cross of lorraine being the exclusive signature of tory, as has been believed, lead us to think it the collective mark of a workshop, as we meet it on works long after the death of the master. as a proof, the mark is found on the engravings of _l'entrée du roi à paris_ in 1549, which cannot be taken as a posthumous work of tory, for these engravings had their origin at a certain and special date. but in spite of the absence of the monogram, the admirable block from the diodorus siculus of antoine macault might, from its design and engraving, be considered as by tory himself. holbein, who, about the same time, designed a somewhat similar scene, the king of france seated on a throne receiving poison from the hands of death, never did anything better. within the scanty proportions of the design, all the figures are portraits. duprat, montmorency and the three sons of the king may be recognised; macault, on the left, is reading his translation to a circle of nobles and men of letters. this admirable page is one of the truest and most skilful of the monuments of french engraving; it is equal to the best inventions of holbein, and it marks the culminating point of the illustration of the book before the exaggerations of the school of fontainebleau. geoffroy tory was not the publisher. the diodorus siculus, doubtless prepared two or three years before, was not published until 1535, in quarto, with his ordinary mark of the "pot cassé." [illustration: fig. 52.--macault reading to francis i. his translation of diodorus siculus. wood engraving attributed to tory.] we have now arrived through him at the reign of francis i., who was called the father of letters, and who for various reasons favoured the arts. doubtless grand paintings and the decoration of the royal palaces interested him more than vignettes in books and the efforts of printers; but, at the same time, books occupied him. he studied much, and in his travels accumulated many volumes. an account in the french national archives shows that claude chappuis, his librarian, packed entire cases, which were sent to dauphiné at the time of the wars of piedmont, the carriage costing twenty livres tournois. francis had, moreover, following sudden impulses, curious fits of wantonness and mischief. it was perceived a little later that the doctrines of luther were propagated by the book; and the sorbonne was up in arms, on the pretence of imposing its own expurgated text of the bible on the publishers and tolerating no other. theodore beza, enemy of the sorbonnists, said with regard to this (we translate the antique french literally), "our great doctors with cherubic visage have forbidden men to see the holy bible in vulgar language, of which every one has knowledge, because, they say, the desire of knowing everything engenders nothing but error, fear, and care. _arguo sic_, if they so, for its abuse, wish to take away this book, it is clear also that it is their duty to put away the wine with which each of them makes himself drunk." [illustration: fig. 53.--robert estienne, after the engraving in the _chronologie collée_.] this piece is only cited to show to what lengths matters had gone, thanks to printing. it is very certain that all the pamphlets, placards, and other horrors published to raise religious warfare, did not aid in the progress of the book. the king was not always disinterested on the technical question; books merited encouragement, at least as much as castigation, and besides, as time passed, they gradually transformed men and ideas. in spite of apparent severities, was not the king himself a little touched by contact with the new religion, like his sister marguerite, or his sister-in-law, renée of ferrara? however that may be, he twice showed himself a resolute partisan of the celebrated robert estienne, son-in-law and associate of simon de colines, whose works in point of erudition and typography assumed day by day more importance. robert estienne had the great honour of being chosen from all his contemporaries by king francis as the royal printer. this prince had ordered to be engraved for him by claude garamond, after the design of ange vergèce, the first cutter of matrices of his time, a special greek character in three sizes, which was used in 1544 to compose the "ecclesiastical history" of eusebius. these are the famous royal types--_typi regii_--as estienne did not fail to indicate on the title-pages of his works. it has been said since that francis i. founded the royal printing house, but the truth is that estienne kept these characters in his own office for use in the royal editions; they may now be seen in the imprimerie nationale at paris. robert estienne married the daughter of josse badius, of asch--badius ascencianus, one of the first parisian typographers of the time. we reproduce the mark of badius, representing the interior of a printing house, and shall return in a special chapter to the functions of these workshops. meantime it appears proper to present to the reader a printing office of the time of robert estienne and geoffroy tory. [illustration: fig. 54.--printing office of josse badius at the commencement of the sixteenth century.] robert estienne does not appear to have concerned himself much about the decoration of the book. the purity of the text and the characters were essentials with him, erudition, and not art. he published many works in latin and greek, among them the _thesaurus_, a great latin dictionary published in 1532, also a bible, with notes by vatable, revised by leon de juda. from that came trouble. leon de juda was a partisan of zwingli; the sorbonne accused the bible of leaning towards the huguenots; francis i. took the part of estienne, but when that prince died estienne fled to geneva, where he was accused of having imported the royal types. the truth was that he simply imported the matrices. [illustration: fig. 55.--portrait of nicholas bourbon. wood engraving of the commencement of the sixteenth century.] at this time everything served for the decoration of the book: portraits, blazons, topographical plates, costumes, and emblems. small portraits engraved on wood usually ornamented the works of the poets, like that of nicholas bourbon, for example, marvel of truth and skill. the blocks of frontispieces in the folios were multiplied; large initial letters, ingeniously engraved and stippled, like that at the commencement of this chapter, were used. jacques kerver reproduced in 1545 for himself, and with plates made for him, the famous _songe de poliphile_, published by aldus in 1499. the widow of the publisher denis janot, jeanne de marnef, published one of the most delightful books of the time, _l'amour de cupidon et de psyche_ of apuleius, with delicious figures in wood after italian engravings. many more could be named in the extraordinary profusion of charming books. [illustration: fig. 56.--king and death. vignette from the "dance of death" by holbein.] without entering into detail, something must be said of lyons, then a most extensive and prosperous centre of bookselling. lyons had the signal honour of publishing first in france the celebrated cuts of the "dance of death" of holbein, the basle painter. doubtless treschel, the printer, was not the first, as a copy of a german edition is known, because in the lyons edition the cuts are worn and broken. however, the cabinet d'estampes of paris has some of the figures of the dance with a german text, probably printed by froben at basle. treschel's title was _les simulachres et historiées faces de la mort autant elegamment pourtraictes que artificiellement imaginées_, and the volume in quarto was printed by frelon. the _icones veteris testamenti_, which preceded the publication of the "dance of death," had also been printed at basle before lyons. with holbein, as with geoffroy tory, we arrive at the zenith of illustration and marvellous skill of the engraver. if we were to institute comparisons, it was hans lutzelburger who cut the blocks after the designs of the basle master, but, contrary to what generally happens, the translator reaches almost to the height of his model; the line is perfection itself, it is precise and intelligent, simple, and, above all, explicit. if the work of lutzelburger be admitted, it must also be admitted that holbein designed his cuts before 1526, date of the death of the basle engraver; but it was precisely before 1526 that holbein lived in basle, and it was after he had travelled. we will add nothing to the universal praise of the book of treschel, of lyons; everything has been written of holbein, and repetitions are unnecessary. we would ask the reader to compare the francis i. of tory and the king in holbein's "dance of death;" there is a certain family resemblance between the two cuts, which is a singular honour for tory. at the commencement of the century basle had a school of _formschneiders_ working for export. besides the numerous products used at lyons, it had also a trade in wood blocks, which, having been used, were afterwards sold. among these exchanges of engravings were many plates of brandt's "ship of fools," sold in 1520 to galliot du pré, publisher, of paris, who used them in the _eloge de la folie_ of erasmus. the reign of francis i. saw a great advance in the national art of illustration. the arrival at the court of italian artists of the decadence, such as rosso and primaticcio, produced a revolution in taste. the exaggerated slightness of the figures brought by these artists from beyond the alps was considered as of supreme distinction; in their twisted draperies and mannered poses was seen a precious beauty that tempted the ready intelligence of the court of france. the simple and ingenuous figures of the old french artists were ranked among the refuse of another age, and their compositions were regarded with contempt, and deemed antique. the rage for emblems and for allegories and mythological figures generally was well suited to these eccentric and bizarre inventions. from another side, an entire class of artists or artisans, book illustrators first, then enamellers and jewellers, made use of these italian models, with which the king encumbered his galleries, and which, at great expense, covered the walls of fontainebleau. one can understand what these skilful men made of such a movement and of so thoughtless an infatuation. the publishers saw the demand, and composed works of which the sale was assured by the subjects that they furnished to other designers. this explains the quantity of alciati's "emblems" and ovid's "metamorphoses" published at lyons and paris, and copied and recopied a hundred times by the art industries of the time. without it the enormous success of mediocre productions, as the "emblems," for example, in which the meaning of the enigma or rebus cannot always be seized, is ill understood. it was alciati who made this literature the fashion. he was a sort of epicurean and miserly jurisconsult, who had as many lords and masters on earth, as the kings and princes who liked to bid against each other to engage him. he had quitted italy, seduced by the offers of francis i., but when sforza paid him a larger sum, he returned, giving as reason for his vacillation that the sun had to travel the earth and warm it by its rays; this was an emblematic answer, for his emblems had all the coarse, sceptical humour which not a few had then already discovered. at most these philosophical aphorisms, if we take them seriously, have their droll side in that their author often practised the reverse of his teaching. a miser, he abuses the avaricious; flying his country for the love of gain, he blames those to whom "a better condition is offered by strangers." yet he is sometimes logical and consistent, as when he assures us that "poverty hinders the success of intelligence," and when, finally, lover of good cheer, he died of indigestion in 1550. [illustration: fig. 57.--page of the "metamorphoses" of ovid, by petit bernard. edition of 1564.] his book of "emblems" had a vogue that lasted until the seventeenth century, and repetitions were infinitely multiplied: at paris by wechel in 1534; at lyons by hans de tornes, of suabia, one of the greatest lyons publishers; by roville, also one of the first lyons publishers, and by bonhomme; at venice by the alduses; in fact, everywhere, translated into french, spanish, and italian. bernard salomon, called _le petit bernard_, born at lyons, was one of the designers of the school of fontainebleau--that is to say, of the franco-italian school of which we have spoken above--who furnished many of the engravings for books printed at lyons. he illustrated the edition of alciati's "emblems" published by bonhomme in 1560; and designed skilful little plates, which, with the text, were surrounded by a border from the workshop of geoffroy tory, for ovid's "metamorphoses," published by hans de tornes in 1564. bernard had all the defects and all the qualities of those of his time, from john cousin to the least of them; he was a primaticcio on a small scale, but agreeably so. his designs for the new testament were also very careful, but in them more than elsewhere the manner and the affectation of the school of fontainebleau are apparent. [illustration: fig. 58.--portraits of madeleine, queen of scotland, and of marguerite, duchess of savoy, after the originals of cornelis of lyons.] [illustration: fig. 59.--portraits of francis, dauphin, and of charles, duke of angoûleme, after the originals of cornelis of lyons. woodcuts taken from roville's _promptuaire des médailles_.] the workshops of the second city of france, we see, had at this time attained considerable importance; but before the books of which we shall speak, roville published two anonymous books, one _l'entrée du roi henri ii. à lyon_, in 1549, ornamented with very graceful woodcuts, the other the _promptuaire des médailles_, comprising a series of charming portraits under the pretence of reproductions from the antique. the designs of the _entrée_ are often attributed to john cousin, as it is a rule with certain amateurs to give a known name to a work; but it must be remembered that lyons then had celebrated artists, petit-bernard, alluded to above, and cornelis de la haye, of whom we have more to say; and it is not necessary to go to paris or to rome to find the author of these illustrations. [illustration: fig. 60.--captain of foot from the _entree de henri ii. à lyon_ (1549).] cornelis de la haye was a painter who executed nearly the same work as francis clouet in paris, portraits on panel, in a clear and harmonious tone, then much the fashion. during a journey of the king, he had, if brantôme may be credited, portrayed the entire court, keeping the sketches for himself. ten or fifteen years after, catherine de medicis, passing through lyons, saw these portraits and highly praised them, recognising the old costumes, astonished at the courtiers of the day, whom she had never seen in such dress. this artist is now known, thanks to various works that have been found, among others two portraits of the sons of francis i., preserved by gaignières, who attributed them resolutely to cornelis, doubtless on the faith of inscriptions that have disappeared. both of them were engraved on wood at lyons and published in roville's book the _promptuaire des médailles_, mentioned above, with small differences of detail altogether insignificant. it is not impossible then that cornelis designed these portraits, and that they were drawn on wood after the cabinet models spoken of by brantôme. the delicate figures of the _promptuaire_ are the work of a master; and the differences mentioned are those of the artist, not of the copyist, who would not be permitted to change anything. it is the first time, we believe, that these comparisons have been made; they will perhaps help the learned lyonnais to pierce the mystery, but in any case our suppositions are more honourable to cornelis de la haye than the fancies of robert dumesnil (_peintre-graveur français_, tome vi., p. 343). to judge by the four little medallions here reproduced, the art of engraving on wood was rarely more skilful than in these portraits. it would not be astonishing if a man like cornelis had designed the figures of the _entrée de henri ii._ in any case, why should we choose john cousin instead of petit-bernard? at this time, we know, the kings carried in their suite their ordinary painters; but we do not know that john cousin followed the court to lyons in 1549. he did not hold an official position, like clouet. this artist produced well-authenticated works; one of them is signed, and leaves no doubt: the _livre de perspective de jehan cousin senonois, maistre painctre_, published in 1560 by jean le royer, printer to the king for mathematics. this profession of printer for mathematics had its difficulties of engraving, for le royer tells us in his preface that he had himself finished the plates commenced by albin olivier. in another practical treatise, entitled _livre de portraiture_, published in 1593, john cousin is styled _peintre géometrien_. it is beyond doubt that this master produced for many works figures and ornaments, but what were the books? the manner was then to repeat the engraved borders of titles, the _passe-partout_, in the centre of which the text was printed. cousin designed many of these title-pages on wood; that of the _livre de portraiture_ affords a curious element of comparison; but he was not by any means the inventor. in 1555 was sold at antwerp a book printed from engraved plates after john vriedman, by gerard juif, which is simply a collection of engravings for title-pages for the use of publishers. [illustration: fig. 61.--title of john cousin's _livre de portraiture_, published in 1593 by le clerc. (the spot on the title is in the original, preserved among the prints of the bibliothèque nationale.)] it is about this time that metal plates may be seen in conjunction with wood engraving in the illustration of the book, and the best artists attached their names to important publications of this kind. we have explained in a former chapter in what this process is least convenient in the impression of a book. in fact, two successive printings, that of the plates and that of the text, were additional trouble and a frequent cause of errors; but wood-cutting was somewhat abandoned in the middle of the sixteenth century, especially for separate plates, and engraved plates took a considerable importance under different artistic influences. the first was the facility of engraving a metal plate compared to the difficulty of cutting a wood block. it thus naturally happened that the artists of the burin wished to employ their art in illustration, and taste was soon drawn to the new process. in france the first volume of this kind was printed in 1488 by topie de pymont in folio: the _pérégrinations en terre sainte_ of bernard de breydenbach, with figures on engraved plates copied from the mayence edition of 1486. since this manner was abandoned until about 1550, as much for the reasons given above as for others, we only meet with a stray plate now and again, which remains as a bait, and relates to nothing. under the reign of henri ii. the smallness of the volumes did not always admit of wood engravings, and the artists in metal found a footing among illustrators; they made attempts, such as that of the _histoire de jason_ of réné boivin in 1563, which came out under charles ix. in a charming volume of engraved plates by p. woériot. the "emblems" of georgette de montenay were also in the burlesque style of alciati, but they had an advantage, as the author assures us:- "alciat fist des emblèmes exquis, lesquels, voyant de plusieurs requis, désir me prist de commencer les miens, lesquels je croy estre premiers chrestiens." this orthodoxy does not make them more intelligible, but the engravings of woériot, unskilful as they are, import an element of interest which surpasses the rest. it was always at lyons, the rival and often the master of paris in typography, that the author printed his work. by the privilege dated 1566, five years before publication, we see that it is permitted to peter woériot, engraver of the duke of lorraine, to portray, engrave, and cut in copper the said figures called emblems for the time and term of five years (18th october, 1566). peter woériot sometimes signed his prints with the small lorraine cross adopted by geoffroy tory's workshop, as may be seen in our engraving. copper plate engraving had by this time established itself, and the works that were so illustrated spread themselves. du cerceau published his admirable collection of _plus beaux bastiments de france_ in folio 1576-79, which had numerous plans and views of the royal and princely castles. thevet put forth his _cosmographie universelle_ and his _hommes illustres_, the latter adorned with skilfully engraved portraits. in paris the publishers mamert patisson, who married the widow of robert estienne and took his mark, adrien le roy, and robert ballard, published the celebrated _ballet comique de la royne faict aux nopces de monsieur le duc de joyeuse_, composed by balthasar de beaujoyeux, valet de chambre to henri iii.; and in this book, in which were put hasty etchings, the king displayed all his immodesty and depravity. the book has often had the unconscious mission of transmitting to posterity the unworthiness of its author or of its heroes. from this time the book has left its golden age to enter into the boastings of courtiers and political abstractions. [illustration: fig. 62.--engraving by p. woériot for georgette de montenay's _emblèmes_.] among the publications opposed to the government of the time, the two associates james tortorel and john perrissin, of lyons, had published a celebrated collection of plates on the religious wars that stained the reign of charles ix. with blood. at first engraved on metal, these plates were worn out, and were gradually replaced by others engraved on wood, on which several artists worked, among them james le challeux and also john de gourmont, one of the most celebrated wood-cutters of the sixteenth century. this was a work composed of single leaves in folio size, which had an extraordinary sale among the religious people of the time. at the same time, illustration on wood did not stand still. the portraits of authors diffused by the pencil of clouet and his school were commonly put at the head of their works. we cannot say whether clouet himself designed the portraits of tiraqueau and of taillemont in 1553; of du billon, the author of the _fort inexpugnable_, in 1555; papon and ambroise paré in 1561; grevin, ramus, and others; but the precision of these physiognomies recalls the peculiar manner of the french artists of the sixteenth century. the "poems" of ronsard in 1586 contains a series of very clever portraits, among them that of muret, his commentator, one of the most perfect of its kind. christopher de savigny, author of the _tableaux accomplis de tous les arts liberaux_, published by john and francis de gourmont in 1587, is represented at full length in the frontispiece of his work, offering the book to the duc de nevers, to whom it is dedicated. this plate in folio, probably engraved by john de gourmont, is the best finished that we have seen. the work of savigny, forgotten as it may be now, had a great reputation in its own time; and bacon took from it the idea of his "advancement of learning." speaking of the duc de nevers, it will not be without interest to our readers to mention here a manuscript found by us in the bibliothèque nationale, which enables us to give an account of the work then necessary for the publication of an illustrated book. in 1577 the duke arranged for the impression of an apologetic book, of which no trace remains; and his _intendant_ writes a long letter to him on the subject of composition and bindings. it was necessary that the work should be produced quickly, bound and gilt, for presents. the _intendant_ thinks calf will be the most expeditious covering. "it would be much the best to use black or red calf, ... well gilt above, and not vellum, which is a thin parchment that quickly shrinks." the statements of this man of business show that five proofs of each sheet were taken for typographical correction, and that twelve full days were wanted for the binding. the most interesting part of this memoir is that which treats of the engraving on wood of the portrait. the plate was designed by an artist who had afterwards gone away; it was not satisfactory, but the ornaments would pass. the _intendant_ proposes to "fix a little piece of wood in the block that could be drawn upon." here we see correction by elimination. the pear-wood on which the original figure was engraved was to be cut out, and a square of boxwood substituted, "forasmuch as in this task the pear-wood, which is the successful, well-cut block, is the wood that is harder." [illustration: fig. 63.--portrait of christopher plantin, printer of antwerp. engraved by wierix.] the portrait of the duchesse de nevers was better, yet the pear-wood had given way under the work. "that of madame is more passable. nevertheless, there is still something to say to one eye. the wood cannot carry the subtlety of the line." here, in a few clear and explicit lines by a man of the time, we see the economy of a publication of the sixteenth century, at a time when wood engraving was declining, to give place to engraving on metal, which was soon to reign supreme, through the most important book house of the century: the plantins of antwerp. christopher plantin, like jenson, came originally from tours. after having learned his art with macé at caen, he went to paris, from which the wars soon drove him. he left for the low countries, and there philip ii. nominated him as chief printer--"architypographus." established at antwerp in 1555, he surrounded himself, as had the estiennes and alduses, with most of the learned and literary men of his time, among them justus lipsius, to whom balzac attributed the latin prefaces signed by plantin. it is certain that he was neither an estienne nor an aldus. his artistic probity caused him to submit the proofs of his works to strangers, with promise of recompense for faults indicated; the estiennes employed the same system. plantin, not to be behind any of his contemporaries in typographical perfection, brought from france the celebrated type-founder william lebé, and charged him to furnish a special fount.[a] under the orders of philip ii., he printed the celebrated polyglot bible, in eight folio volumes, absolutely perfect in its execution; unfortunately the spanish government, having advanced funds in the course of publication, prosecuted him with the utmost rigour to obtain repayment. this very nearly shut up his printing house, but he took courage and overcame his difficulties, until he became, in 1589, the year of his death, the principal publisher of flanders. his mark was a hand holding a compass, with the motto "labore et constantia." [footnote a: in the bibliothèque nationale is a copy of an octavo _album de caractères_, in which lebé has written, "this gloss, made in paris (1574) by me, is my fourteenth letter, and the text is made on the pattern of the preceding one for size, but of a better art; and from this was printed the great bible of antwerp by plantin, to whom i sold a fount" (folio 6). on folio 20 he wrote, "i do not know whence came this small hebrew that i received from plantin to make a smaller one for him. he sent me this half-sheet, and i have not seen at venice another part."] [illustration: fig. 64.--plantin's mark.] plantin died at the age of seventy-four, leaving a prosperous business to be divided between his three daughters. his first house at antwerp employed seventeen presses even at the time when he was in trouble, and he had branches at paris and leyden, of less consequence. his second daughter married moretus, and to him descended the antwerp workshop; he and his descendants continued the printing house until recently; the house of the great printer and publisher is now a typographical museum. the plantin printing office--"officina plantiniana"--was as well managed by its descendants as by himself. the fashion of engraving in metal spread itself before the death of the head of the house, and his successors continued it. the principal engravers with the burin of the low countries were employed by them: wierix, galle, pass, mallery, van sichern; it was a real school of illustration, that created by degrees a precious and sustained style, not without influence on the artists of that epoch. it was from this particular manner that came thomas de leu and leonard gaultier in france; and from antwerp came those small religious figures that have lasted to our time in their incomprehensible mysticism. the title-pages of the plantin printing office inaugurated the _passe-partout_ engraved by the burin, overloaded and complicated, of which the seventeenth century took advantage. to tell the truth, these elaborate displays, blackened by ink, do not accord well with the titles; and there is a long distance between this decadence and the books ornamented with wood blocks by the italians and french of the commencement of the century. exception must be made in favour of rubens, who designed many of these titles. the heavy and squat architecture of the time was least of all appropriate to these decorations, which wanted grace. it passed from plantin into france through the engravers; it went to rome with martin de vos and john sadeler; it imposed itself everywhere; and from that day to this it has not ceased. at the time of which we write it had taken its flight in france, and spread itself in europe with extraordinary success. engraving in relief, holding its own until then, gave way little by little before this invasion. when henri iv. mounted the throne wood engraving had finished its upward movement, it still remained in the _canards_, or popular pieces sold at low prices, but it is easy to see what these hasty vignettes are worth. [illustration: fig. 65.--frontispiece of a book from plantin's printing office. metal engraving.] we have now seen the history of the book and its decoration in the sixteenth century in france: at first french epics in italy, books of hours, romances of chivalry; then about 1550, with the reign of henri ii., the religious pamphlets commenced, bookselling spread itself; the strife between illustrations on metal plates and those in relief assumed shape, it continued under henri iii., and terminated abruptly by the victory of the first at the extreme end of the century. with political passions, printing had become a weapon of warfare, which it will never cease to be. they knew in the sixteenth century what perfidious accusations or excessive praises were worth. the book followed the fate of its author. if the writer was burned, so was his book. witness the _christianismi restitutio_ of the catholic servetus, printed at vienne, in dauphiné, and consigned to the flames with its author at geneva in 1553. a single copy was saved from the fire, and is now preserved in the bibliothèque nationale; it is the identical copy annotated by colladon, the accuser of the unhappy servetus, and still bears traces of fire on its leaves. typography and the illustration of the book in england in the sixteenth century did not make the same progress as in france and italy. much good work was done, but it was mostly with foreign material. type was obtained from french and dutch founders, and most of the woodcuts had the same origin. in the early part of the century most of the publications were translations of popular foreign books, such as voragine's "golden legend," caxton's translations of cicero, boetius, etc. too many restrictions and privileges obtained to encourage or allow of the establishment of an english school, which was to come later with the spread of wealth and education. books were mostly printed in gothic type, or "black letter," and the woodcuts were of the coarsest kind. an exception was the beautiful prayer-book of john day, 1578, known as queen elizabeth's prayer-book, from the fine portrait of the queen, which we reproduce, on the previous page; but in this the woodcuts were designed by albert dürer and hans holbein. pynson was the first to use roman type in england, in the _oratio in pace nuperrimâ_, 1518, quarto; and the first english bible in roman type was printed at edinburgh in 1576. it is thought that until about 1600 printers were their own type-founders, as no record exists of founding as a separate trade until that time. [illustration: fig. 66.--portrait of queen elizabeth from the "book of christian praiers," printed by john day, 1578.] the greatest achievement of the sixteenth century in england was the printing of the first english bible, in coverdale's translation, in 1535, folio, but even this was printed abroad, the latest investigation giving it to van meteren at antwerp. the woodcuts in it are by hans sebald beham; we reproduce one representing cain killing abel. tyndall had previously printed abroad an english new testament. another importation was brandt's "shyp of folys," printed by pynson, 1509, and john cawood, 1570, the woodcuts in both being copied from the originals before referred to. [illustration: fig. 67.--woodcut from coverdale's bible, 1535. cain killing abel.] folio was the size usually adopted, and in this size the series of chronicles appeared: arnold, printed abroad in 1502; fabian, in 1516; froissart, by pynson, in two volumes, 1523-5; harding, by grafton, 1543; hall, by the same, 1548; holinshed, in two volumes, 1577. in the same size chaucer was first given to the world entire by t. godfrey in 1532, and many times reprinted, and sir thomas more in 1557. polemical and religious treatises were mostly printed in quarto, as were the poets: spenser's _faerie queene_, in 1590; langland's _pierce plowman_, in 1550; and sidney's _arcadia_, in 1590. plays were also printed in quarto, in which shape at the end of the century some of shakespeare's single plays were issued. from the great perfection to which the liturgies, or books of hours, had been brought by vostre, verard, and others in france, it is not perhaps extraordinary that the service books for english use should have been mostly printed abroad. those for salisbury and york were produced at paris, rouen, and antwerp. a salisbury primer in english was printed by john kyngston and henry sutton in 1557, and wynken de worde printed a york manual in 1509. the first english common prayer book, known as edward vi.'s, was printed by grafton in 1549, who also printed in 1545 henry viii.'s primer in latin and english. edward's book is curious as having on the last page a royal order as to the price at which it was to be sold: "no maner of persone shall sell the present booke vnbounde aboue the price of two shillynges and two pence. and bound in forell for ii_s._ x_d._, and not aboue. and the same bound in shepes lether for iii_s._ iii_d._, and not aboue. and the same bounde in paste or in boordes, in calues lether, not aboue the price of iiii_s._ the pece." cranmer's catechism was printed by nicholas hill in 1548, with twenty-nine woodcuts by hans holbein, one of which we reproduce, representing christ casting out devils. translations from the classics were popular, and in the second half of the century arose that passion for voyage and travel which has so largely contributed to the wealth and extension of england. this was begun by eden's translation of peter martyr's "decades of the new world; or, west india," london, 1555, quarto, followed by hakluyt's "principall navigations, voyages, and discoveries," 1589, folio. many accounts of single voyages and discoveries were issued, and the taste thus created culminated in the establishment of the east india company in the last year of the century. the first specimen of copper plate engraving for books in england is a frontispiece to galen's _de temperamentis_, printed at cambridge 1521, and the number of books containing copper plates engraved before 1600 is extremely limited, the most notable being portraits of queen elizabeth, lord leicester, and lord burleigh in archbishop parker's bible of 1568; saxton's atlas, 1579, the first atlas in england; harrington's translation of ariosto, 1591, with forty-seven engraved plates. [illustration: fig. 68.--woodcut by hans holbein from cranmer's catechism, 1548.] the first printer at cambridge was john siberch, 1521. peter of treves established himself at southwark in 1514. among his productions is a higden's _polychronicon_, 1527, folio. john oswen printed at ipswich 1538, and among the english towns in which printers established themselves in the century were york, canterbury, tavistock, norwich, and worcester. the establishment of the reformed church, and the diffusion of education among the people which followed, created an original english school of literature in the sixteenth century, and this gave employment and great impetus to typography in england, so that by the time we reach the end of the century we find a great improvement in the art of the book, to be carried to still greater perfection in the next. [illustration] chapter iv. 1600 to 1700. tendencies of the regency of marie de medicis--thomas de leu and leonard gaultier--j. picart and claude mellan--lyons and j. de fornazeris--the book at the beginning of the seventeenth century in germany, italy, and holland--crispin pass in france--the elzevirs and their work in holland--sebastian cramoisy and the imprimerie royale--illustration with callot, della bella, and abraham bosse--the publishers and the hotel de rambouillet--the reign of louis xiv., antoine vitré syndic at his accession--his works and mortifications; the polyglot bible of le jay--art and illustrators of the grand century--sébastien leclerc, lepautre, and chauveau--leclerc preparing the illustration and decoration of the book for the eighteenth century--the book in england in the seventeenth century. [illustration: fig. 69.--letter engraved by a. bosse.] now we have arrived at a critical epoch, in which the science of the old printers transformed itself gradually into commerce, in which taste lost itself under the influence of religious architecture. the title of the book represents the portico of a cathedral, with columns, mitred saints, and crosses, of little decorative aspect. figures on copper plates replaced the foliage and arabesques of the older booksellers. through the plantins and their imitators, the architectural passion was far spread. it inundated france, ran through germany and italy, and reigned pre-eminent in holland. literary taste also underwent change; manners were no longer those of the sixteenth century: bold, free, and gay; from the religious wars a certain hypocrisy arose; bombast replaced the natural; the gods were preparing, as a contemporary said, to receive louis and his spirit. it is not that artists were wanting at the opening of the seventeenth century who could, in giving scope to their talent, show themselves worthy successors of those who went before them. unhappily the booksellers no longer had a loose rein; they had the rope, for they were hung or burned at the least infraction of political or religious propriety. yet the reign of henri iv. was relatively an easier period for the artisans of the book, in which they were less confined to the strict terms of excessive regulations; but after this prince severity increased, and during the year 1626 a new law was promulgated punishing with death the printers or distributers of prohibited books. doubtless the books that were thus secretly sold, and prohibited in defence of good manners, were neither _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of typography nor art. the author threw off the indecencies by which he hoped to make profit and fame, regardless of type or illustration. but during the regency of marie de medicis, it was not only the authors of a bad standard that were in danger of being hung; the printer or seller of the pamphlet or book of a reputed heterodox author was also hung, and it became difficult to steer safely among the prohibitions. enormous numbers of works were made with frontispieces decorated with colonnades and mitred saints, and bearing high-sounding titles of sound orthodoxy. a somewhat gross mysticism, from the office of plantin, formed the most solid stock of every respectable dealer. [illustration: fig. 70.--title of the _metanealogie_, engraved by leonard gaultier.] under henri iv. and the minority of louis xiii., two french illustrators received from the school of antwerp their inspiration for the ornament of the book. thomas de leu, probably from flanders, was allied with the old parisian painter and engraver of celebrated portraits, antoine caron, in furnishing the engraved plates for the _images de plate peinture des deux philostrates, sophistes grecs_, paris, claude cramoisy, 1609, folio; and leonard gaultier, his contemporary, collaborated with jaspar isaac and other artists in the book. leonard gaultier contributed most to spread in france the plantinian style, and his somewhat cold but characteristic talent suited this art more than that of any one else then could. he was an engraver of portraits, now rare and valuable, in the style of wierix or thomas de leu; but, at the demand of publishers and booksellers, he composed other plates, at first historical figures representing the royal family and the nobles for the publisher leclerc, in a simple and true manner; he also designed pious figures, recording a miracle or representing the ceremonies of a jubilee and other devotional things. but he made his great success in the composition of frontispieces to theological and pious works, printed for nearly all the booksellers. leonard gaultier had a fashion of his own with pilasters and grecian columns, under which he boldly placed entire councils of cardinals and bishops; witness the heading of the _bibliotheca veterum patrum_, into which he crowded nearly forty figures. he united also with a certain grace the sacred and the profane, placing among ideal saints the sinning fine ladies of the time, with their large collarettes and jewels falling on naked breasts. the work of andrew valladier, chaplain of the king, entitled _métanéalogie sacrée_, published by peter chevallier in 1609, was adorned with a title of this particular kind, in which gaultier had no rival, and which preserves the precision of flemish masters in the detail of ornaments of the toilet. he was one of the first to work for sebastian cramoisy, printer and publisher, who had established his shop in the rue st. jacques at the sign of the "stork." we shall have occasion to speak of him later in connection with the royal printing house, of which he was the first director; he is mentioned now because in 1611 leonard gaultier engraved for him the frontispiece of _l'aigle français_, a collection of sermons by thomas girault. the publisher used the same plate in 1618 for the sermons of raymond de hézèque. besides the publications of sebastian cramoisy and chevallier, leonard gaultier adorned also those of nicholas buon and many other publishers of the time in paris and lyons. with such a profusion of works emanating from a single artist, without reckoning those which were produced in great quantity by men of less note, wood engraving was dead. at most it dared to put a wood block of a printer's mark on a title; more ordinarily this mark was not alone sufficient, and showed the disdain in which taste then held wood-cutting. thus goes fashion, heedless of the most elementary rules of art. to put type within an engraved title, or to ornament a printed text with engravings, is a heresy of principle that was established in the eighteenth century, by the strength of its cleverness and talent. but at the beginning of the seventeenth, in spite of leonard gaultier or thomas de leu, these overloaded titles, overpowering the opening of the book, offend the eye by their excessive blackness, and incontestably make us regret the admirable frontispiece on wood of the preceding century. this is all the ornament, properly so called, of the reign of louis xiii. leonard gaultier composed also small vignettes for an edition of homer, but they are mediocre and unskilful, and it must be said that there were others following the same path. john picart made a frontispiece with architecture and figures for the _histoire de la maison de châtillon-sur-marne_ for account of sebastian cramoisy. a cold and hard artist he was, the rival of gaultier, and one of the most employed of the vignette engravers of paris. there was also jaspar isaac, a mediocre craftsman, but who could design clever titles, among them that of the continuation of the _annales_ of baronius for the publisher denis de la noue. then claude mellan, whose great and clever talent did not disdain second-rate works, in which he gave free play to his burin. it must be said, however, that his bold touch did not well accommodate itself to reduced spaces, and that he was not working in the field necessary to his inventive powers. we mention his portrait of louis xiv. at the head of the _code louis xiv._; the title of the _perfection du chrestien_, in which is included a portrait of cardinal richelieu, a. vitré, 1647, folio; that of the _instruction du dauphin_ for cramoisy, 1640; that of the works of st. bernard for the royal printing house; and, perhaps the best of all, the _poésies_ of pope urban viii., of which we here give a copy. [illustration: fig. 71.--title engraved by claude mellan for urban viii.'s _poésies_, printed at the royal printing house, in 1642.] lyons did not remain far behind in the movement, but how changed from its great reputation of the sixteenth century! j. de fornazeris engraved the frontispieces to justus lipsius, published by horace cardon in 1613. peter favre and audran imitated them. c. audran designed for claude landry the _theologia naturalis_ of theophilus reynaud, and the bookseller picquet ordered from him the title for the _annales minorum_ in 1628. everywhere taste was modelled on the works of the capital, to name only the principal centres, rouen, rheims, sens, down to venes, a small town of tarn, where william de nautonnier published in 1603 his curious book _mécométrie_, whose frontispiece was bordered by views of cities, with an equestrian portrait of king henry. and if we pass to germany, we find mayence with mediocre engravings for titles according to the formula and process used elsewhere, the title of the _droit civil_ of aymar vailius, that of the works of st. bonaventura in 1609 for the bookseller antoine hiérat, and that of the _viridarium virtutûm_, rather cleverly treated by the burin in 1610. what a period had passed since gutenberg, fust, and schoeffer! there was still one yves schoeffer at mayence, but only the name lived; nothing more remained of the old printers of the other century. it was the same at bamberg, cologne, nuremberg, and basle, in all the cities that made the honour of typography and the book in former times. cologne was neither better nor worse favoured than others. the booksellers boetzer, kinck, and de binghy had passable engravings for their titles; and the commentaries of salmeron may be mentioned, with portraits from the german originals of the fifteenth century. at nuremberg there was a curious specimen treating of natural history by basil besler, in which the artist gives the interior of a zoological cabinet of the time; but the blocks and the typography of the city of koburger are wanting. basle held its own later in relief engraving. meantime there was a mediocre set of the dance of death on copper, published by miegen, 1621. at jena and frankfort-on-the-main were prosperous printing houses, but engravings and ornamentation were neglected. frankfort employed the frontispiece in the _traité du commerce_ of sigismond scaccia, published by zuner in 1648; it was divided into compartments, in which the bourse, the exchange, and the port of the city were represented. it is scarcely necessary to mention the italian cities which followed the movement. venice from the middle of the sixteenth century had used engraved frontispieces, among which was that of domenic zenoi for the _portraits des hommes illustres_ of nicholas valegio. in the same city james piccini worked for account of sgava in 1648, but he was equally at the service of roman publishers, for whom he designed a number of titles. along with him frederic greuter adorned the publications of alexander zanetti, not without talent, but without individuality. bologna, brescia, florence, and naples, had no original sentiment; they followed indifferently the manner of the day. in holland, artists were rather numerous. the family of the passes designed vignettes for books, and engraved frontispieces, admirably studied and composed. the clear and truly personal style of their works places their illustrations in the first rank among those of their time. they had, at the same time, the genius that created and the intelligent burin that faithfully translated an idea. they imagined with art the scenes that they depicted without at all copying their predecessors. from 1599, the date of the publication of the _hortus deliciarum_, one of their best works, up to about 1623, they were in holland, at arnheim and at amsterdam. in 1623 we find one of them, the most celebrated, crispin the younger, designing figures for the _manège royal_ of pluvinel, published by angelier in paris, and for another edition, with folding plates, in 1624 for william lenoir, at the sign of the "white rose crowned." this magnificent work, in which the king, louis xiii., is represented receiving lessons from the rider pluvinel, had a third and more complete reimpression in 1625 with another publisher, michael nivelle. here we see the dutch accredited in france, in paris, in the city then the most ready to understand and pay for the works of eminent artists. in 1624 gombauld published an _endymion_--boileau later associated gombauld with other poets to declare him a maker of pitiable sonnets--nicholas buon, the bookseller named above, undertook the publication, and employed pass, leonard gaultier, and j. picart to furnish plates in octavo size. heavy and black as were these vignettes, they do not the less make a good appearance in the edition of the forgotten poet; and it is due to truth to recognise how much pass was above his collaborators. the following year, 1625, he engraved the _dionysiaques_ of nonus, for robert fouet, and the _roman des romans_ of du verdier, comprising more than ten engravings, in a very free and bold manner. the _berger extravagant_ and the _académie de l'espée_ came in 1628, among numerous others. [illustration: fig. 72.--title of pluvinel's _manège royal_, engraved by crispin pass in 1624.] to speak truly, crispin pass did not devote himself entirely to parisian publishers; he always preserved interests in flanders so as to return there from time to time; but he did not find in his own country the ready and assured sales of paris. still the city of leyden had then one of the most renowned workshops of typography; the elzevirs had commenced to make a good place for themselves among the printers of europe by the extreme correctness of their editions, the distinctness of their work, and their marvellous art in the taste and economy of the book. in reality, the sizes and characters of their books were very small, but if the smallness of the page did not allow room for vignette or ornament, they bore a certain practical elegance that was not without charm. the origin of the printing house was due to louis elzevir, who published in 1592 an edition of eutropius at leyden. he left sons, who associated themselves together, and founded a house which was unrivalled. [illustration: fig. 73.--title of the _imitation_ of the elzevirs.] bonaventure elzevir, grandson of louis, was the most illustrious of this family, so remarkably devoted to its art. he took abraham as partner, and together they put forth those little latin classics in duodecimo of which the value is now so great. among others, pliny issued from their presses in the year 1635, in three volumes, virgil in 1636, and cicero in 1642. to-day amateurs, above all those afflicted with bibliomania, hunt for unbound elzevirs, because they have full margins. from about 1633 to 1639 these volumes were composed of paper of rather small size, making a page of a hundred and thirty to a hundred and thirty-three millimetres; from 1639 onwards the paper was larger, and the page from about a hundred and thirty-five to a hundred and thirty-seven. one must be a book-lover to understand the interest attaching to these figures, and employ his entire activity in the discovery of these undiscoverable books, which are concealed as soon as they are met with. one of the most esteemed of their works is the _de imitatione_ of thomas à kempis, printed by john and daniel elzevir about 1653, and known as the edition without date. but as the association of john and daniel is known to have lasted from 1652 to 1654, the date 1653 appears to be very plausible. we reproduce the entire title of this typographical _bijou_, which merited a cleverer engraver. the rarest of all the numerous elzevirs, possibly by reason of the popularity of its subject, is the _pastissier françois_, louis and daniel elzevir, amsterdam, 1655, of which m. morgand had an uncut copy, measuring a hundred and forty-three millimetres, in 1878. the benzon copy sold in 1875 for three thousand two hundred and fifty-five francs. it is to be remarked that the elzevirs frequently avoided dating or even signing their books, for reasons easy to comprehend. publishing numerous works, they were afraid of compromising themselves in the eyes of the powerful, and they let them go forth without any trade mark. these artists in typography were, besides, the most prudent and subtle of men. working at a time when bookselling had become an acknowledged commerce, and a trade requiring all the skill and resources of others, they wisely availed themselves of these, gathering for themselves honour and profit without having done more than seize their opportunity. employing the characters of claude garamond, of james sanlecques, and the papers of angoulême, m. didot thence claims them as french publishers. in france the elzevirs had no rivals; but a fashion was introduced from the end of the sixteenth century of associating together publishers in the production of important and costly books. there were, among others, the company of the "grand navire" in 1610, of the "source" in 1622, and of the "soleil" in 1629. in 1631 several publishers united and founded a second company of the "grand navire." these were the two cramoisys, sebastian and gabriel, denis béchet, john branchu, denis moreau, claude sonnius, and denis thierry. the associates took a ship as their mark, but without putting their names on the masts, as the original company of the "grand navire" had done. they published, at common expense and divided profits, great works, of which each one of them had the right of sale, but of course reserving to themselves the right to publish such others as they pleased. sebastian cramoisy passes as the chief, the moral director of another company, formed to publish the fathers of the church, with the royal types, a company affiliated to the "grand navire" and signed in 1638 by denis moreau, gille morel, stephen richer, claude sonnius, and gabriel cramoisy. but as regards their personal works, if they had neither the perfection nor the aspect of those of froben, aldus, the estiennes, or even of plantin, they at least surpassed the french books of the time. formerly syndic of the corporation in 1602, twenty-nine years before the constitution of the "grand navire," cramoisy was besides sheriff of paris, and he exercised his trade in a shop in the rue st. jacques which had been that of father nivelle, the _doyen_ of booksellers, who died in 1603 at the age of eighty years. the position of cramoisy made it natural for cardinal de richelieu to fix his eyes on him for the direction of the royal printing house. this establishment, founded by the king in 1640, was installed within the louvre, in a long series of rooms which formed a workshop without rival in the world. sublet des noyers was named superintendent, trichet du fresne corrector; and under this triple direction the presses commenced to work. the first book was the _imitation de jésus-christ_, dated 1640, folio, a fine book enough, but not to be compared to the elzevir editions. the types used in this book are attributed to claude garamond, founder of the sixteenth century, to whom are due the greek types of francis i. with the royal printing house, as often happens with state enterprises, the cost was great, and the return nothing. only a few years after its foundation it had swallowed up nearly 400,000 livres, a very heavy sum for a badly balanced treasury; it had produced sixty or seventy volumes of moderate value; and after cramoisy the management was so little in earnest that it turned the workshops into a stable, called "the little stable of the king," at the commencement of the eighteenth century. [illustration: fig. 74.--plate taken from the _lumière du cloistre_. copper plate by callot.] to return to the artists of the book under louis xiii. and cardinal richelieu, we must go back a little, before the foundation of the royal printing house, and we shall find the french school of illustration at a time when callot was giving it a vigorous lift and trying to do away with its affected and hard style. it must be acknowledged that callot was not a vignettist, a special designer; his art aimed higher, and ordinarily succeeded better; yet he did not disdain frontispieces, and made them for the _coustumier de lorraine_, the _harpalice_ of bracciolini, and for a crowd of others of which the enumeration would be tedious. certain of his works passed into italy, where they raised a little the debased level of the book. then he adorned several works with etchings, among them the _lumière du cloistre_, published by francis langlois 1646. it was one of the symbolic and sententious works with which the public taste is never satiated, and a kind of guide for the priest. at the bottom of the little etching here given, representing birds falling from a tree, we read,- "ses petits hors du nid le courbeau jette en bas, lorsque par leur blancheur ils lui sont dissemblables. le bon prélat de mesme au cloistre n'admet pas ceux qui n'ont rien d'esgal à ses moeurs vénérables." callot also made another set of emblems on the life of the virgin mary, and published in 1620 a series of prints in quarto for the tragedy of _soliman_ of bonarelli, for the account of cecconnelli. france imposed herself on fallen italy, she got her works dispersed there, and if an engraver arose there, he did not disdain to consecrate himself to france. witness della bella, who went from italy to france, where he was taken under the protection of cardinal richelieu. it was about the time of the establishment of the royal printing house, and it was expected that employment would be found at once for him. callot was the model chosen by the young italian artist, and this choice might have been less happy. della bella took from his master the philosophic vein, the drollery of design, which he exercised at first in humorous frontispieces, among others that of scarron's works, where nine fish-women, taking the place of the muses, dance around the poet. but he passed from gay and pleasant to severe, and made large pages of architecture for serious titles. in 1649 he designed the plates for the large and undigested volume of valdor on louis xiii., published by antoine estienne at the royal printing house. his success was not there; della bella was a painter of groups, of ornaments, of subjects somewhat heavy and overdrawn, but which, after numerous transformations, opened a new way to the vignettists of the eighteenth century. [illustration: fig. 75.--title of the _manière universelle_, by desargues, in 1643, by abraham bosse.] with abraham bosse the decoration of the book took a considerable extension. numerous and charming ornamented letters, heads of pages, and tailpieces appear. there are few artists that have done so much as he for graceful illustration and harmony between the vignette and the printed page. his prodigious fecundity made him attempt every style; and after the gaieties of the print in which he laughed with his contemporaries, he adopted a grave air to trace more severe subjects on copper. however, the book entitled _la manière universelle_, by desargues, with numerous geometrical figures and an agreeable frontispiece, bearing the dedication to the seigneur de noyers, superintendent of the royal printing house, was a critical work, in which bosse, under a serious standard, did not spare an enemy. we do not bear ill-will to the artist, however, for the following year he published fourteen plates for the suetonius printed at the louvre. he successively designed plates for the _histoire de st. louis_, numerous vignettes for pious books, figures for the _pucelle_ of chapelain and for the _larcins de la fortune_. he was always himself, refined and ingenious, whether in the most barren or the most complicated subjects. [illustration: fig. 76.--print by abraham bosse representing the booksellers of the palace under louis xiii.] he has left us in a celebrated print a representation of a bookseller's shop of his time. it is for us an interesting page, in which is shown simply and rather naïvely the picturesque side of these stores, with the dealer and his wife selling new works to their customers. the shop is compact, and very much like the open-air stalls of to-day; posting-bills above the shelves indicate the "new books;" and if the inscriptions given by bosse be credited, the palace dealer offered his books with singular eclecticism: boccaccio, aretin, the _astrée_ of d'urfé, the bible, and machiavelli. in the hands of the woman is seen the romance _marianne_: "icy les cavaliers les plus adventureux en lisant les romans s'animent à combattre; et de leur passion les amants langoureux flattent les mouvements par des vers de théâtre," says the text of bosse. what was commonly done then is still done, shopping and rummaging the stalls, and those of the palace were attractive. if we credit sauval, the great number of booksellers, in the middle of the century, was due to the wits of the hotel de rambouillet. the passion for novelty, for recent works, had produced that quantity of publishers, he says, that we have seen on the pont neuf, and that we still see to-day at the palace and the university, but of which the number is so multiplied in all these places that in the palace they count more than other dealers; and as to the neighbourhood of the university, they are obliged, in order to lodge the rest, to extend the ancient bounds from st. yves to the river (sauval, _antiquités de paris_, viii., 354). in fact, each year saw an increase in the number of publishers in corporation, with syndicate and adjuncts. under the reign of louis xiii., the single year 1610 had fifty to take rank, and among them antoine vitré, who was to become the most illustrious of his contemporaries. but, as there were no more than six printers, it may be inferred that all the rest were booksellers, in the true sense of the word, of those who encumbered afterwards the great _salle_ of which sauval speaks. antoine vitré was syndic in may, 1643, on the accession of louis xiv. he had four adjuncts. with him the book marked the solemn style that the commencement of the century had given to it. royal printer for the oriental languages from 1621, he undertook a syriac work, the first that was attempted in paris. the project of a polyglot bible gave him the idea of acquiring for the king the oriental manuscripts and matrices of savary de brèves. the king left to him the care of negotiating the business, but did not reimburse him without numerous difficulties, in the midst of which the printer was made to lose the means of conveniently continuing his trade. the advocate le jay charging himself with the enormous expenses necessitated by the polyglot bible, it was composed in the hope that cardinal richelieu would pay the cost. he was willing to do so, but required that his name should figure on the book; and as le jay, an independent man, formally opposed it, vitré met with ill-will from the minister, which increased from day to day. in 1645 the impression was finished, but le jay was ruined, and if we admire the paper, the type, and the extraordinary size of the nine volumes of the polyglot bible, we find in it so many faults, errors, and misprints that it has fallen to nearly nothing, hardly being worth its binding. there were terrible mortifications in the business, and vitré had to submit to them more than any one. nevertheless he did not let his presses stand still, and he published successively arabic, turkish, and persian works. his action against the savary heirs, as representing the king, in the acquisition mentioned above, continued also after the impression of the bible, and hindered his progress. he struggled on; and the assembly of clergy, of which he was the printer, sought to help him out of his difficulties. the matter being once terminated, the cardinal being dead, and vitré having been named by colbert director of the royal printing house in place of cramoisy, he died in his turn, and was later accused of having destroyed the types and matrices of the polyglot bible, so that they should not be used after him. this fable, long accredited, has since been ascertained to be false, for the punches and matrices passed to the royal library, thence to the royal printing house, reorganised in 1691. antoine vitré, in spite of his misfortunes, was a great personage. he was painted by champagne and engraved by morin, as was richelieu himself. the portrait was reproduced in the book of m. delaborde, _la gravure_ (p. 189). such was the man whom we meet at the beginning of the reign of louis xiv. as syndic of booksellers; and it was by no means a sinecure, a canonry giving honour and profit, quite the other way. with the draconian rules on the subject, the syndic assumed a heavy burden towards the king, as well as towards his kinsmen. religious quarrels envenomed questions, and the revocation of the edict of nantes was to have for its immediate corollary new and more severe royal ordinances. the reign of louis xiv. saw the zenith of engraving with the burin, but not that of printing or illustration. doubtless it would be puerile to pretend that typography had not made any material progress; it had done so in engraving and in composition; work was done more quickly, because the presses had been made more perfect. but the wise harmony of the old printers, their sure taste, even in their old irregular blocks, was no longer there to form a graceful and charming whole, which is to modern precision as a picture by van eyck is to a chromo-lithograph. under louis xiv., titles became regular, following, as we have said above, and modelling themselves on, the affected and peruked people who read them. all art entered on this path of sublimity and grandeur. the painter le brun is the highest exponent of this false olympus, where an heroic pose became necessary for the most humble movements. made popular by engraving by pesne, audran, poilly, edelinck, and a hundred others, this tendency overran everything: art and industry, painting and tapestry, illustration and typography itself. all was grand, in reverse of other times, when all was small and mean. the embellishments of the book were full of gods in perukes and goddesses in armour, louis xiv. as apollo, as the sun illuminating the world. "nec pluribus impar" was not the device of one man; it was the mighty and glorious cry of a whole people, from great to small, from the sublime painter to the modest printer. ordinarily these exaggerations are not useful to the arts. here they were. but, for the matter that specially occupies us, it does not appear that the book was much advanced. it approached a marvellous epoch of a delicate and graceful art; but it did not find its form; it dragged painfully after the plantinian works, heavily throwing its etchings and burins in the middle of texts, gross and in bad taste. yet taste in literature had an onward tendency; molière and la fontaine produced on their contemporaries the effect that in our day the naturalists have produced on the romanticists; but this was not for long. majesty recovered its rights with bossuet, boileau, and the others. [illustration: fig. 77.--tailpiece of sébastien leclerc for the _promenade de st. germain_.] sébastien leclerc was one of the rare artists of the end of the seventeenth century who dreamed of the vignette in the midst of this invasion of pompous commonplace. successor of callot in manner, induced by the publishers, he began this style with a romance of la calprenède, and continued with the _promenade de st. germain_ of louis le laboureur, bailie of montmorency, of whom boileau said such curious things. this is one of the rarest books of leclerc, and we reproduce one of the pages, with a charming tailpiece, which comes very near those of the eighteenth century. there was, moreover, a charm in this ingenious designer; he adorned the works of his contemporaries with graceful vignettes and decorations full of suppleness. it may be believed, besides, that he did not remain behind his _confrères_ in figure composition or allegorical and divine emblems. his art did not throw off the errors of the existing school; he was content not to copy any one and to make his works truly his own. such were, for example, the vignettes of the _histoire de turenne_, where the heads of the chapters, the ornamented letters, and the tailpieces, harmoniously agree, and make the book, a little heavy in impression, a most agreeable work. leclerc then found himself ready to design vignettes for the works of racine for the publisher, claude barbin, another name frequently encountered in boileau. the title of vol. ii. merits attention. the same year of this last publication, 1676, sébastien leclerc illustrated the "metamorphoses" of ovid for benserade, the engraving of which cost the king more than 10,000 livres. thus adorned, the book had not a bad appearance, but a satirist of the time, hardin very probably, made on it this quatrain:- "mais quant à moi j'en trouve tout fort beau: papier, dorure, images, caractère, hormis les vers qu'il fallait laisser faire a la fontaine." it may be imagined what an engraver could produce working from 1650 and dying in 1715, that is, a life of work the longest that could be hoped for. leclerc was the absolute contemporary of the king. he died, like him, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, leaving work widely scattered among books, funeral orations, and placards. after the example of callot and bosse, he did not disdain satire. one of his prettiest vignettes served to illustrate some pamphlet of richesource against the journalists of his time; it represents a dandy of about 1679 offering his gazette. by the side of this unrivalled antagonist it is permitted to place lepautre, twenty years older than leclerc, but whose studies had been principally on architecture. in the moments that he left his special work he devoted himself to frontispieces and vignettes; nevertheless, although he had before him the charming designs of leclerc, he confined himself to a cold and hard manner, keeping, besides, as much as possible to titles, in which his particular talent could find scope. he designed also the chartreux missal of 1679, the _gallia christiana_ after marot, the _dioptrique oculaire_ of p. chérubin, engraved by edelinck, and a thousand other works of small repute. [illustration: fig. 78.--small figure of sébastien leclerc for richesource's pamphlet.] very different was francis chauveau, who, without having the delicacy of sébastien leclerc or his art of arrangement, treated at least with grace little figures and illustrations. certainly there is an enormous distance between these correct and commonplace engraved plates and the delightful wood engravings of the time of geoffroy tory, for example. but, be their worth what it may, they suited very well; and even with molière they did not make such a bad figure. chauveau was associated with many of the works of leclerc, who caused him often to be less heavy, inasmuch as leclerc corrected in engraving many of his compositions. it was so with molière, and still more with racine in the plate of the _plaideurs_, in which chauveau revealed himself a precursor of the eighteenth century. unhappily he did not always follow this manner. successively, and with various luck, he illustrated _alaric_, _andromaque_, and the "metamorphoses" of ovid for benserade, with leclerc; the _pucelle_ of chapelain, and the _tragédies_ of racine, to which le brun did not disdain to put his hand. in short, the connecting link between the beginning of the seventeenth and that of the eighteenth century in the development of illustration is sébastien leclerc. he had known the artists of the first period; he was to see at his death appear one of the precursors of the vignettists of the following century, claude gillot. thanks to him, overburdened titles and unskilful vignettes underwent a gradual transformation. in the delicacy and tenuity of his designs may be seen the dominant note of the eighteenth century, coquetry, and choffard is divined. he was nearly the only one who did not fall into the exaggerations of the engravers of the time; he kept beside them without touching them, and preciously preserved his own well-accentuated personality. by the smallness and slenderness of his figures, leclerc recalls somewhat the school of fontainebleau; but he is above all the reflection of callot, a lorrainer like himself. in holland, a frenchman, bernard picart, son of stephen and pupil of leclerc, was making a great name as an illustrator. he established himself as a print-seller at amsterdam at the sign of "l'etoile," and successively designed vignettes for many works, among others the boileau of 1718. his vignettes and tailpieces, without possessing either the spirit of leclerc or the grace of the eighteenth century, express an ingenious and inventive art that had broken with the strained traditions of preceding epochs. from these two artists the decoration of the book rapidly advanced. the form is found, and charming designers are not wanting to apply it. the troubled state of england during the greater part of the seventeenth century no doubt accounts for the fact that the art of the book made but very little progress. theological controversies, the persecutions by the puritans, and, above all, the great civil war and its antecedents and results, gave rise to a flood of publications of an ephemeral kind, which from their nature were hurriedly produced; and there was little room for pure literature and art. in the early part of the century, under the influence which elizabeth left, and which james fostered, some important works were issued, with finely engraved illustrations; but wood engraving declined further and further, until it was artistically dead, to be revived in the next century. the works of the numerous poets and dramatists were printed in quarto, and collected editions of them in folio. thus were issued the works of shakespeare, first collected by jaggard and blount, 1623, folio, with an engraved portrait by droeshout, the faithfulness of which was vouched in an opposite page of verse signed by ben jonson. "don quixote" first appeared in an english dress in 1612-20, published by e. blount in quarto; and jaggard, blount's partner in the shakespeare, published boccaccio's "decameron," in two volumes folio, 1620. among other notable works of the early part of the century were drayton's "polyolbion," 1613; chapman's homer, 1611-15, folio, three volumes; lord bacon, whose essays and other single publications appeared in the seventeenth, to be collected as his "works" in the next century; and william prynne, whose _histrio mastrix_, 1633, so offended charles i. by its references to the queen and the court ladies, that the author had to undergo a severe and degrading punishment. many of these works were illustrated with meritorious engravings on steel and copper by w. hollar, p. lombart, w. marshall, hole, w. pass, w. faithorne, and r. vaughan. so that here were all the materials for the foundation of an english school, to be cruelly broken up shortly afterwards by the distractions of civil warfare. in 1611 robert barker first printed the authorised version of the holy bible, which has been more often reprinted than any other book, and which exists to this day as the great standard of the english language. the taste for books of travel which arose in the last century was largely increased by the voyages and discoveries of the english in north america and the subsequent puritan exodus there. these early accounts of virginia and new england, many of which are tracts of a few leaves only, now command fabulous prices. the great collection of voyages under the name of "purchas: his pilgrimes," was printed in five folio volumes, 1625-6, while de bry, hulsius, and linschoten were enriching the world with their collections of travels, printed in germany and holland. all of these works were adorned with finely engraved plates, those to "purchas" being engraved by elstrack, and, besides, it had a famous map of the world, engraved by hondius. the controversial spirit engendered by the religious quarrels of the century and by the great civil war gave incessant work to the printers; and the many tracts and pamphlets thus produced were frequently illustrated by rude and coarse woodcuts, of no value from an artistic point of view, but curious from the indications they afford of the costumes and manners of the time. the first edition of walton's "angler" was printed by r. marriott in 1653, 16mo, with plates in the text, engraved on steel by lombart. butler's "hudibras" appeared in 1663-78, and milton's "paradise lost" in 1667, quarto. fuller's "worthies of england" was printed 1662, folio. we have roughly mentioned the principal english books of the century, and next approach the revival of literature and art in the eighteenth century. [illustration] chapter v. the book in the eighteenth century. the regency--publishers at the beginning of the eighteenth century--illustrators in france; gillot--the school of watteau and boucher--cars--the younger cochin; his principal works in vignettes--french art in england; gravelot--eisen--choffard--the _baisers_ of dorat; the _contes_ of la fontaine--the publisher cazin and the special literature of the eighteenth century--the younger moreau and his illustrations--the revolution--the school of david--duplessis-bertaux--the book in germany; chodowiecki--in england; boydell and french artists--caslon and baskerville--english books with illustrations--wood engraving in the eighteenth century; the papillons--printing offices in the eighteenth century. [illustration: fig. 79.--letter by cochin for the _mémoires d' artillerie_ of suvirey de st. remy.] like experience has shown us in our time, but in another manner, the beginning of the eighteenth century produced, in the manners and tastes of the french, an unconscious but tenacious reaction. it seemed as if the conceptions of romanticism had lasted long enough, and that the cycle of middle age chevaliers had passed away, and that a return to what is called nature was effected in literature and art. at the death of louis xiv., olympus and its gods, majestic poses and suns, had become wearisome. by a little half-open door, gaiety escaped from its prison and fled. for the book that door was the hand of sébastien leclerc. the ancient school was replaced. constrained during three quarters of a century, french manners began to be joyous under the regency of the duc d'orleans. if the representatives of another age still lived, if rigaud always painted his portraits in peruke, there were new-comers, enlivened by the new fashions, less solemn and more bewitching. le brun was then far in the past, and as amusing to the ladies of the regency as are now to us the fashions of the second empire. the book, after its manner, followed the movement, and gradually found the elements of its decoration in the tendencies of the day. small sizes were multiplied, types showed elegance, and vignettes became more and more agreeable and intellectual. amateurs had their _ex-libris_ engraved. the smallest pamphlets were covered with ornamental letters, vignettes, and tailpieces, already very clever. costume also, in its shorter and lighter form, gave to designers a means of agreeably composing a page of illustration and disseminating fancy in the figures. these revolutions worked themselves simply from day to day, as taste became more pronounced and exacting. the commerce of the book was still extending from the end of the preceding century; and if the number of printers was limited and arrested by certain somewhat hard laws, production in paris was enormous. among regulations that weighed most heavily on publishers figured the obligation put upon them by the ordinance of 1713 to deposit eight copies of illustrated books. in 1725 the king issued other regulations to affirm the rights of the university against the corporation, forcing the masters to assist in a body at the processions of the sorbonne and to offer on the day of the purification a candle to the rector. in spite of this ordinance, more religious than useful to commerce, the fashion of vignettes increased. the principal shops were searched, as they are still, for novelties; the rue st. jacques and the quai des augustins, where they were grouped, were resorted to. the most important booksellers in 1727 were coignard, the barbous--who essayed afterwards, with lengley dufresnoy, to copy the elzevirs,--cavalier, robustel, fournier, ballard, and d'houry. of the two last, d'houry printed the calendars, and ballard had the privilege for music. another, leonord, published the books of the dauphin. at these and other publishers', recent works were examined, those who did not buy gave their advice and took ideas, and so fashion slowly formed itself. it was thus that houdart de la motte published with g. dupuis in 1719 a collection of fables, with illustrations of claude gillot, which was the talk at the booksellers'. in this book all was original: the author, who had had, five years before, the eccentric idea of translating the iliad without knowing a word of greek; the text, a kind of imitation of la fontaine, without salt or savour; the size, quarto, admirably printed by dupuis, in the rue st. jacques, with plates by coypel, massé, and, above all, the charming vignettes of gillot, the most pleasing and clever of all his collaborators, a sort of callot fallen into the eighteenth century, and who ought to take the first place by birthright. gillot has been called, not without reason, "the last pagan of the renaissance;" and this pagan had the honour to give us watteau. [illustration: fig. 80.--vignette by gillot for the _chien et le chat_, fable by houdart de la motte, in 1719.] the count de caylus tells the story. gillot had quitted the pencil for the etching needle on seeing the work of his pupil. he had no reason to complain; his pictures were of no value, and his prints gave other artists the idea of imitating them. the whole french school of the eighteenth century may have had its origin in this forgotten book, illustrated by the master of watteau. in fact, in the manner of the little etching here given we may easily perceive the coquetry and affectation that were later the dominant tone of vignettes. for, it may well be said, the graceful, feminine, and arch manner of which we speak was, above all, conventional and false. in opposition to the designers and engravers of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, who reproduced naturally scenes of daily life in ideal conceptions, it came, through the moral education of the artists, that they put forth the ideal in the most ordinary things of life. shepherds were no longer the gross, rustic peasants that we find in primitive flemish paintings or in the "hours" of simon vostre; they were coxcombs, pomaded and adorned with ribbons, playing the bagpipes, and making love to the shepherdesses of the court. at first it was watteau who influenced all the engravers in the pretty and the smart; boucher did the rest; and fatally the book followed, and followed impetuously, surpassing, if possible, the painted works. if the severe poses, the grave touch, of the preceding century are no longer found, they often go a little far in the contrary sense. it may be well said here that the arts are ordinarily the result of the manners of an epoch. the system of law was not without influence on the entire eighteenth century, by the terrible manner in which he upset fortunes, awoke appetites, gave rein to aspirations hitherto held in check. claude gillot, the designer, was one of the first victims of the scotch banker; he lost his fortune on the exchange; but who may say what his artistic ambition dreamed of in the midst of all these disorders? one thing is certain: that watteau, his pupil, broke off very short with the style of the seventeenth century. laurent cars was the engraver who multiplied the compositions of boucher, and made them the fashion. he engraved also, after the painter of shepherds and nymphs, illustrations to molière, the most agreeable that there are for style and spirit. in engraving certain works of lemoyne, cars did not completely desert the ancient school. he appears at the beginning of the eighteenth century as if divided between two manners each equally possible to him. the work of these engravers was almost exclusively in etching, biting with acid a copper plate covered with varnish, on which the drawing was made by means of a point. this process, always previously used for sketches, served also for finishing vignettes, which up to then had been finished by the burin. the suppleness of the work was greater, and the artist remained more himself than he could be with the stiff cutting instrument of the seventeenth century. the sizes of books had not yet all come to octavo or duodecimo. the works of molière published by prault in 1734 in six volumes quarto, under the direction of marc antoine joly, give the idea of an important work, not at all of theatrical pieces. to tell the truth, these somewhat exaggerated dimensions allow artists more room for illustration; later, when smaller forms predominated, text and engravings were so compressed that they were not always clear and readable to every eye; but the quarto was not graceful, it was not in harmony with the finikin, the pastoral pieces, then presented, and it had to disappear as a current size in illustrated publications. the class of artisans employed on the book is not identical in the eighteenth century with that of printers and publishers. in the beginning, as we have seen, the cutters of wood blocks and the printers were often the same people, preparing their characters or their blocks, and afterwards putting them under the press. large printing offices had very quickly changed that. each particular work had its special workman. typography had its type-founders, compositors, forwarders, inkers, and pressmen. in the eighteenth century this was complicated by designers, engravers, plate-printers, and these different professions occupied themselves on the book in manipulating the sheets in their turn. in the midst of this crowd, the designers and engravers, esteemed as was their collaboration, were not the most honoured. their homes often reflected the effect of their life as clever artists, quick to spend the money earned during the week; and we shall have occasion to name some of the more miserable among them. the booksellers, on the contrary, had become great personages. in the preceding chapter we have seen cramoisy and vitré, to name only them, acquire the greatest honours, the latter painted by philip de champagne, with many others lords of the court. in the eighteenth century there were brunet, ballard, mariette, chardon, didot, and a host of others, during the time of watteau, boucher, and cars, of which we shall shortly speak; and these several publishers had houses of their own, and furnished shops and printing offices with the best apparatus. saved from falling into negligences by royal regulations on printing, they composed with admirable characters, on paper of the first order, imperishable works; and, usual consequence of their high situation, they paid the artists badly charged with their work. it would be long and tedious to enter into this matter in detail. they made progress by slow degrees, and in good time they marvellously united copper plate engraving to printed text, so marvellously, that in comparing their works to the wood blocks of the sixteenth century, it may be asked which of the two styles is superior in elegance and good taste. [illustration: fig. 81.--vignette for _daphnis et chloe_ by cochin, for coustelier's edition.] one of the ancestors of this group of vignettists was the younger cochin, who had engraved the plate of the monks in the fables of houdart, illustrated by gillot. cochin, in spite of his passion for allegory and his very marked taste for affectation, gave, it may be said, with the designer-engraver st. aubin, an enormous impulse to the art of adorning books. from the beginning of his career he worked for the publishers, composing frontispieces, ornamented letters, and tailpieces, or transferring to copper the drawings of others. singular type of artist, besides, educated, well brought up, epicurean and spendthrift, friend of great lords, and protected by madame de pompadour. when he travelled in italy with her young brother abel poisson, cochin did everything, was ready at the least request, inventing curious menus, giving representations of fêtes, and yet finding the time to decorate books and design vignettes profusely. he worked chiefly for jombert, a sort of learned bookseller, king's printer for the artillery, who dates from july, 1736. jombert was visited by painters. he gave little private soirées, which cochin attended, and where he daily made numerous friends. it was in this house, of so special a character, and, it may be said, so little artistic at first sight, that cochin invented his best frontispieces, among them that of the _calcul différentiel_, that of the _astronomie physique_, and the plates of the _méthode de dessin_, after boucher. he was one of the first to produce engraved titles, with which the publisher prault ornamented his dainty volumes, and which were imitated, up to the end of the eighteenth century, by all the illustrators who followed. in that to the works of madame deshoulières the letter itself is engraved. since then the open letter has been copied in typography. these vignettes were used many times by publishers, sometimes simply effacing the inscription, sometimes reproducing the original design by a different artist. the boy with the swan had decorated in 1744 a "jerusalem delivered" in italian, by the same publisher, prault; it was then engraved by aveline. fessard engraved the second plate, which is here reproduced. [illustration: fig. 82.--title-page engraved by fessard after cochin for the works of madame deshoulières, 1747.] nearly all the frontispieces of the book with vignettes of the eighteenth century preserve this arrangement: an ornamented and draped border, with garlands of roses, symbols, and cupids, in the middle the title, in red and black, composed in open letter, often a scroll with the address of the publisher, but rarely a mark. it was the time of little winged cupids, goddesses, and gods. the goddesses were the favourites of the kings, madame de pompadour or the princesses, but rarely the virtuous marie leczinska, too homely and too much ignored to tempt the artists; the kings or the princes were the gods. after jombert, prault, and coustellier, cochin worked for françois didot, syndic of the printers, for whom he prepared a set of illustrations to molière. unfortunately didot died in 1757, and the project fell with him. of the work of cochin there only remains the set of _tartufe_ etchings in octavo. in the vortex into which he was plunged, he successively illustrated the works of rousseau, published at brussels, quarto; those of boileau, published by david and durand, octavo; and henault's "history of france," in the same size, with numerous vignettes. one of these should be noted in a book treating of printing; it is that in which cochin pretends to show to his contemporaries the interior of a workshop in 1470. without doubt the sketch of this print was taken in one of the houses frequented by him--at jombert's, didot's, or david and durand's--for that room in which compositors are working and printed sheets drying was not an invention of cochin, and served to reproduce a printing office of the eighteenth century. [illustration: fig. 83.--vignette taken from p. corneille's _théâtre_, by gravelot.] with cochin soon worked a number of designers and aqua-fortists, too prudent to lose the opportunity. the fashion arrived for books beribboned, festooned, and flowered. hubert françois gravelot had carried to london this style of new works, which he knew how to decorate, in his manner, better than any one, with letters, figures, and tailpieces. he did not engrave much himself, leaving this work to lesser artists, and contenting himself with subtle invention and graceful subjects. with eisen, cochin, and moreau, he is the french artist in the sense of the time, free, bold, and ingenious, but perhaps a little out of place in england. he published his plates to the "decameron" in 1757, one of the most curious of his sets of plates, and a hundred various vignettes. on his return to france he designed the _théâtre_ of p. corneille, from which the _galerie de palais_ is here reproduced, on account of the illustration of bookselling which it gives. in 1764 the large _salon_ of the palace was still, as in the time of abraham bosse, a place where shops were fitted up and the new books discussed. side by side with the dressmakers and merchants of every category, the bookseller offers to his customer the recent products of parisian presses. certain works were sold under cover and not shown; there is here something to pique the curiosity of unoccupied young men who strolled about and prolonged their stay in the galleries. [illustration: fig. 84.--border designed by choffard in 1758.] eisen has a simplicity, a good taste, and a special and singularly perfect economy of artistic effect combined with typography. it appears hard that the designer had no consultative voice in the choice of impression and disposition of the book. the union of the two forces, the vignette and the composition, is so close that it may be believed one was made for the other, neither venturing to assert itself. in the pretty and elaborate inventions of the artists reigned a lackadaisical affectation that was delightfully becoming; the rock-work, which it still had, suited admirably the borders of the first page. the _lettres d'une peruvienne_ has a very agreeable title, but little different, on the whole, from that of madame deshoulières, by cochin. it is the same with the _lettres turques_, published at amsterdam in 1750, and generally in all the frontispieces signed by him. as to the other decorations of the book, there were also a number of ingenious artists, confusing cupids and flowers, imposing blazons, delighting in playing with accumulated difficulties. under this assuredly involuntary but real direction, publications attained proportions of luxury and coquetry until then unknown. the volume of _baisers_ of dorat would not have lived but for eisen and the delightful fancies with which he adorned it. at the same time, we find choffard, another designer and etcher of much repute, and sought after by the booksellers. under his pencil the vignette became a _chef-d'oeuvre_, the tailpiece was a delightful compound of judicious and sportive ornament, the taste for which grew more and more. from delicate foliage are suspended roses, shepherds' pipes, lyres, and zithers. with the zephyrs scrolls or ribbons float, carried by winged cupids. the initial letters are real pictures, of such fineness and precision that the difficulties of their reproduction prevent us from putting them before the reader. when the _fermiers généraux_, those great amateur financiers of the last century, conceived the idea of an edition of the _contes_ of la fontaine at their expense, their eyes naturally fell upon the artists best prepared to illustrate the inimitable fancies of the great poet, eisen and choffard. the first had for his task the composition of the plates, choffard the general decoration. ficquet was added for the portrait of the _bonhomme_ la fontaine--ficquet, whose specialty in this _genre_ was dazzling in its delicacy and spirit; diderot wrote a short introduction; the composition was confided to a printer of the first order, and it was put on sale by barbou. [illustration: fig. 85.--vignette by eisen for the quiproquo in the contes of la fontaine, in the edition of the fermiers généraux.] it is not a book to be recommended from a moral point of view, but the typographical art, joined to that of designers and engravers, never obtained a more complete success: the size in octavo, the impression clear, united with the dimensions of the plates in a harmonious elegance, well calculated to please the three rich personages and the joyous amateurs to whom the _contes_ address themselves. true, eisen has dressed the greater part of the characters in the costume of his time, which is a little hurtful to one's feelings to-day; it may be imagined, however, that it was la fontaine who was mistaken, so that these delicate, risky tales appear to be created for the seigneurs of the time of louis xv. all the special literature sought for then by rich people had not the value of the _contes_. there was at rheims a person, who has to-day become the _mode_, as he was in the time of louis xvi., who sold under cover a quantity of licentious books of the better kind, adorned with figures by eisen, marillier, or cochin; this was cazin, an artist in his way, but whose good name suffered under a scandalous trial. an order of the council of state in 1764 enjoined him to cease his trade in the place royale at rheims, where he sold his particular merchandise. it appears that the sentence was not without appeal, for we find cazin at paris about 1785. he was one of those who were ruined by the revolution, after he had popularised the editions known as _petits formats_, printed by valade, of paris. [illustration: fig. 86.--card of the publisher prault, uncle by marriage of moreau le jeune.] we have come to the most beautiful illustrated books of the eighteenth century, and to the illustrious artists of whom we shall speak in good time should be added the younger moreau and st. aubin, the former nephew by marriage of the publisher prault, and therefrom a decorator of the book, the other thrown by gravelot into full work, and rapidly becoming the most subtle and adroit of the etchers of the time. moreau did not wait long after his marriage before setting to work. he began with ornaments destined for the _histoire de france_ of president henault; then he composed, in his own personal manner, titles and tailpieces for his uncle. in the book he is the propagator of garlands of roses, which he grouped with an ideal grace; he twined them in the borders of his frontispieces, and put them judiciously in his tailpieces. he excelled in inventing subjects referring to the text which were not commonplace ornaments suitable for anything. the tailpiece on p. 202, taken from the works of molière, brings forcibly to mind the _médecin malgre lui_, with its wood-cutter unmercifully beaten with sticks and muffled in a scientific robe. it is the same with other illustrations, that cannot be displaced from the position assigned to them by the artist without disappointment. [illustration: fig. 87.--tailpiece from the _médecin malgre lui_, by moreau le jeune.] the year 1773, which saw the publication by de bret of the works of molière, may perhaps be considered as that in which the french book of the eighteenth century reached its culminating point. m. de laborde, first valet de chambre of the king and governor of the louvre, published with de lormel, printer to the academy of music, his celebrated collection of _chansons_, dedicated to the young dauphiness marie antoinette, and partly illustrated by the younger moreau. the work is exquisite, of powerful yet simple grace. the sentimental note of the century was struck in it, the insipid love of shepherdesses there tenderly sighed, and the designer has delightfully rendered this arch side of the pastoral song. our task does not permit us to linger over the works of this prodigious and charming artist, but we must mention his inimitable plates to j. j. rousseau, the finest and most agreeable of his compositions and vignettes, also his _chef-d'oeuvre_, the _histoire du costume_. [illustration: fig. 88.--vignette of the "pardon obtenu," designed by moreau le jeune, for laborde's _chansons_, in 1773.] as evidencing the activity of french artists of the book in the eighteenth century, we cite the number of works illustrated by the respective artists enumerated in the last edition of m. h. cohen's valuable _guide de l'amateur de livres à gravures du xviii^e siècle_:- aliamet, 34. audran, 16. aveline, 33. baquoy, 87. basan, 9. binet, 48. borel, 29. boucher, 47. bovinet, 34. cars, 13. chedel, 21. chenu, 18. choffard, 50. cochin, 143. coypel, 24. dambrun, 77. delaunay, n., 95. delignon, 50. delvaux, 66. duclos, 49. duflos, 56. dunker, 15. duplessis-bertaux, 22. eisen, 135. elluin, 14. fessard, e., 69. ficquet, 14. flipart, 24. fokke, 14. folkema, 17. fragonard, 10. freudeberg, 7. gaucher, 55. ghendt, 78. godefroy, 29. gravelot, 86. grignion, 13. gutenberg, 20. halbou, 58. helman, 22. ingouf, 18. langlois, 18. le barbier, 54. le bas, 39. lebran, 21. leclerc, 11. legrand, 45. lemire, 77. lempereur, 68. leveau, 31. longueil, 97. marillier, 116. martinet, 27. masquelier, 42. massard, 40. monnet, 67. monsiau, 22. moreau, 138. née, 48. pasquier, 18. patas, 65. pauquet, 23. petit, 23. picart, 62. ponce, 65. prévost, 40. prud'hon, 14. queverdo, 54. rigaud, 18. roger, 17. romanet, 26. rousseau, 24. st. aubin, 70. scotin, 27. sève, 29. simonet, 83. tardieu, 64. tilliard, 15. trière, 39. doubtless some of these ascriptions are for frontispieces only, but as a list of the principal book illustrators of the time, and as showing the measure of their popularity, this table is of much interest. with the revolution the decline of the book arrives, as that of all the arts. moreau, friend of david, had become affected by the new ideas and the burlesque renaissance of greek and roman art. he made his apology on the altar of the gods, and engraved portraits on wood to punish himself for having painted the elegancies of fallen tyrants. at this game, nerve, as well as suppleness, was lost; and if he had had only the artistic knack of the revolution, his daughter, married to charles vernet, could not have written of him, "that which can be most admired is, at the same time, the fecundity and flexibility of moreau's talent, that marvellous facility of conceiving a picturesque scene and disposing it in an interesting and truthful manner in the least extended space." this was true before, but after? in spite of his passion for the ideas and men of the revolution, moreau found himself at the end of his resources. renouard, the publisher, received him as he had received st. aubin, to whom he advanced sum after sum to prevent him dying of hunger. like most of his contemporaries, moreau, pressed by want, "took, quitted, and retook the cuirass and the hair-shirt." he had drawn for everybody: for louis xvi., for the republic, for napoleon i. the worst of it is that after his designs for ovid, molière, and rousseau, dating from the reign of louis xvi., he should have done them again in 1804, 1806, and 1808. the difference was great, even probably for his publishers, renouard and dupréel. it does not appear that the pontiff of the new school, david, knew of his distress; and moreau succumbed in 1814 to a cancerous scirrhus of the right arm, forgotten and in the greatest misery. we have passed a little quickly to the end of the century because it is of no importance to name each of the publishers and artists, but only to sketch briefly their tastes or their manner. we have not dwelt long on the engravers so called, because of their number; but their dexterity remains proverbial; they handled etching with extreme suppleness, and often interpreted the drawings of illustrators in remitting them to the needle. many of these, not to say all, made use themselves of the etching needle, st. aubin for example, who knew how to give to the work of others his personal mark and distinction. [illustration: fig. 89.--title designed by moreau le jeune in 1769 for the publisher prault.] the revolution passed over some among those that it ruined, and, as stated above, they followed the movement, and lost themselves in the school of david. it was duplessis-bertaux who, after having furnished to cazin, the publisher, vignettes for his _recueil des meilleurs contes en vers_, 1778, and many other books, after having worked for didot, devoted himself to patriotic engraving and to the reproduction of scenes of the revolution. when he published his _tableaux historiques_, in three volumes folio, adorned with nearly two hundred large plates, it was under the consulate, that is to say far from the time when the work was begun. renouvier assures us, with his exclusive disdain for the eighteenth century, that duplessis-bertaux was a mystifier, and that his scenes of the revolution were a hoax, "in the kind of spirit in vogue under the directory." the truth is that the artist, in place of being a cheerful callot, as might be thought from his manner of engraving, so like that of the lorraine artist, was imbued with the emphatic and exaggerated impressions of the first republic, its _sans-culottes_ in the poses of the sabines and its _tricoteuses_ apeing penelope. the immense artistic advance made in france in the eighteenth century in the manufacture and illustration of the book made itself felt throughout europe. in germany, chodowiecki, born at dantzic of a family of apothecaries, developed his talent from ornamenting the boxes of his father, and from 1758 to 1794 he designed numerous plates for books and almanacs, a little heavy in engraving, but singularly clever in composition. there were a few others also designing, and kilian, folkema, and ridinger produced some fine engravings, but the book did not make so much progress in germany as in france and england. in england a vast improvement was manifested. fine types were cast by baskerville and caslon; printing machines were perfected. the illustration of books by engraved plates was in the first half of the century almost entirely done by foreigners, but an english school was arising, which attained perfection in the latter half of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century. wood engraving also, which, with the exception of blocks for head and tailpieces, had become almost a lost art, was revived by bewick, to become later one of the chief adornments of the book. before 1716 english printers obtained their best founts of type from holland, but the establishment of the caslon foundry rendered them independent. william caslon, the first great english type-founder, was born 1692, and died 1766. the foundry still exists, pre-eminent in the beauty of its characters. baskerville established a foundry about 1750, and printed at birmingham with his own types a number of extremely beautiful books. the impetus given to fine printing by these two men rapidly spread itself, and laid the foundation of the perfection which english book-making reached. as mentioned above, gravelot illustrated many english books in the early part of the century. he designed a set of plates to shakespeare in 12mo, 1740, and another in quarto, 1744, besides numerous frontispieces and other plates in all kinds of books. among other foreigners who engraved for english publishers were grignion, kip, van der gucht, houbraken, and bartolozzi. bartolozzi, who was very prolific in the production of engraved plates, may perhaps be called the founder of that great english school of engraving which arose with the establishment of the royal academy in 1769 and the encouragement given by alderman boydell. houbraken and vertue engraved a set of fine portraits in folio for rapin's "history of england," 1736; william hogarth designed plates for butler's "hudibras," 1744; and among other curiosities of english engraving before 1750 were sturt's edition of the common prayer, entirely engraved on copper plates, 1717, and an edition of horace entirely engraved by pine, 1733. that the taste for illustrated books soon grew to be great is evidenced by the publication of such expensive works as boydell's edition of shakespeare, in nine volumes folio, commenced in 1791, and adorned with a hundred plates from pictures specially commissioned by the spirited publisher; claude's _liber veritatis_, with three hundred engravings by richard earlom 1777, sir robert strange's engravings of fifty historical prints about 1750, collections of views in great britain by kip, buck, and boydell; holbein's "collection of portraits" 1792, a hundred and fifty plates to shakespeare engraved by s. and e. harding 1793, all of which cost great sums to produce, and greatly contributed to the elevation of public taste. among the artists of the latter half of the century who contributed to the decoration of the book are thomas stothard, whose very beautiful designs, extending into the next century, excelled those of all his contemporaries in their grace and spirit; robert smirke, best known by his plates for shakespeare, "don quixote," and "gil blas;" burney; and richard westall. it may be said generally that the english books of the eighteenth century were of a more solid character than the french, although english art, especially in the decoration of the book, owes much to french initiation. it is curious to read now the opinion of a contemporary french engraver on english art. choffard, in the preface to basan's _dictionnaire_ 1767, wrote, "they" (the english), "having been supported by some foreign talent, are trying to create talent among themselves; but they have not seized the flame of genius that vivifies all art in france." [illustration: fig. 90.--tailpiece engraved on wood by john baptist papillon (before 1766).] however, what had become of engraving by cutting in reverse, the figure in relief, from which printing could be done? it had, we may think, nearly disappeared in the midst of the continued invasion of the burin and etching. it only appeared from time to time in head and tailpieces, remaining purely typographical and lost in other decorations. there were always wood engravers, not very clever, capable only of working simple lines without charm. one of them resolved to resuscitate the art, and made various attempts about the end of the reign of louis xiv. and beginning of that of louis xv. he was named john papillon, and was born at st. quentin in 1661. his experiments did not go beyond a book of prayers, with thirty-six figures in relief after sébastien leclerc. his son, john baptist, succeeded him, and continued to engrave without ceasing subjects of ornament, letters, often tailpieces, of a good style upon the whole, and taking an excellent place in an elaborate book. unfortunately, grace had fled; the processes that the practitioners exhibited one after the other were lost; and the papillons reconstituted, we may say, a vanished art. john baptist also published in 1766 a theoretical treatise on wood engraving, abounding in historical errors, but in which something to learn may be found if taken with discernment. he says in his preface, "now that excellent work is done on copper, wood engraving is neglected, and the use lost of designing and cutting the shadows of the pencil on the wood block; most of those who work in it have neither design nor taste, and only follow their own ideas; it is not astonishing that only very mediocre pieces come from their hands, to say nothing stronger; the profound ignorance of nearly all who meddle with it contrives more and more to destroy the beauties of this art in which many people find neither pleasure nor grace. to obviate all this, if it be possible to me, i have undertaken to give my precepts and observations to those who wish to apply themselves to my engraving." it was probably the essays of papillon that provoked curious experiments on the part of other wood engravers. duplat, at the beginning of this century, proposed to prepare a relief on stone, and as this would be broken under pressure, he invented a mould; that is to say, he took a leaden matrix from the stone cutting, and ran a resistant metal into this mould, thus obtaining a relief similar to the stone. renouard, the publisher, made the trials; and the younger moreau made the designs. moreau become an essayer of processes in 1811! one of the plates of la fontaine's _fables_, published by renouard in 1812, in two volumes, 12mo, is here reproduced. [illustration: fig. 91.--experiment in engraving in relief by moreau le jeune for renouard's edition of la fontaine's _fables_.] it appears, however, that the publisher was thwarted by bad printing. the printers of didot or mame, much as they consecrated all their care to it, did not yet know perfect workmanship; they put the most intense blacks into fine sheets. the great publishers trusted that better days would leave to more clever men the task of perfecting the invention. [illustration: fig. 92.--portrait of thomas bewick.] wood engraving owes its revival and almost perfection in england to thomas bewick, who published his first work in 1770, his "general history of quadrupeds" 1790, and his "birds" 1797. in these works he not only depicted his subjects with the most scrupulous fidelity, but in the tailpieces of the several chapters he drew the most quaint, humorous, and faithful representations of country life. he, with his brother, john bewick, and their pupils, among whom was luke clennell, had an influence upon english art and the decoration of the book in england which exists to our day. not alone with us, for he may be said to have repaid the debt which we owed to france for her illustrated books of the eighteenth century by stimulating the art of wood engraving, which was practised by tony johannot and the other illustrators of the nineteenth century. to return to the eighteenth century, with which this chapter is specially occupied, we have said that the royal printing house, after various fortunes, still existed; and in 1788 it worked, for better or for worse, at the louvre. according to the budget of that year, it cost the king 90,000 livres, of which the director had 1,400. there were, on the other hand, a certain number of official printing offices, that of war, for example, which was devoted entirely to the work of the ministry. it was situated at versailles, and was created in 1768. it is told of louis xv. that, being one day in this workshop, he found a pair of spectacles, left as if in inadvertence on a printed sheet. as his sight was weakening, he took the spectacles and looked through them. the sheet was a hyperbolical eulogium composed, as if at random, by the director bertier, in honour of the king. louis xv., having read the dithyramb, replaced the spectacles, and quietly said, "they are too strong; they make objects too large." who would believe that at the end of the century of voltaire and rousseau a craftsman would be found desirous of leading back the typographical art to its cradle, and of making xylographs again, under the name of polytypes? a german was the original who conceived the plan. he obtained an order of council for the establishment of his presses in 1785, but the same council suppressed them 1st november, 1787. his process was to substitute for movable characters a plate of fixed letters, and probably engraved. another eccentricity of typography at the end of the century was the introduction of "logography" by john walter, the proprietor and printer of the _times_ newspaper, which consisted in casting whole the words in most common use, in place of separate letters. the system had soon to be abandoned, but the early numbers of the _times_, which was started january 1st, 1785, were printed on it. in the eighteenth century there was a printing establishment for each of the constituted bodies; the king, the queen, the princes, each had their own. the royal lottery occupied a special printing house. the young inmates of the blind asylum worked under the direction of m. clousier, royal printer. louis xvi. authorised the celebrated haüy, their master, to allow them to print; and in 1786 they composed an essay on the education of the blind. pierre françois didot was in 1785 printer to the prince, afterwards louis xviii.; and he published the _aventures de télémaque_, in two quarto volumes, from this special printing office. the english colonies in north america early established printing there, their first book, the "book of psalms," known as the bay psalm book, being dated 1640. by the middle of the eighteenth century literature held a strong position in the colonies, the greater part of it being, as might be expected, english; but the revolution and subsequent establishment of the united states created a national american literature, which has flourished to this day. among the printers of north america in the eighteenth century, the most famous was the celebrated philosopher dr. benjamin franklin, who served his apprenticeship to the printing press in london. he returned to america in 1726, and worked as a printer with his brother at philadelphia. [illustration] chapter vi. the book in the nineteenth century. the didots and their improvements--the folio racine--the school of didot--fine publications in england and germany--literature and art of the restoration--romanticism--wood engraving--bewick's pupils, clennell, etc.--the illustrators of romances--the generation of 1840--the book in our days in europe and america. political imitators had not been found for the french revolution in all the neighbouring countries of europe, but its greco-roman art established itself, and by degrees was introduced into the studios of painters and the printing offices. prud'hon, gerard, girodet, and later desenne, without counting the younger moreau and his contemporaries of the older regime, rallied to the new study, forming a school of illustrators and vignettists with which the publishers could resolutely advance. england followed suit with flaxman, west, fuseli, barry, and a crowd of others. among the publishers the powerful family of the didots took first rank, and its members, at once type-founders, printers, booksellers, and _savants_ of the first order, were the best fitted to direct an artistic and literary movement. when napoleon crowned himself emperor of the french, the elders of the family had already brought about a number of perfections and discoveries in their profession by which their workshops had profited. françois ambroise, who died in the year of the empire, had given an exact proportion to types, a free and elegant turn, but perhaps too regular and precise to be agreeable. he had also invented a press called the _presse à un coup_, in which the impression was taken by a single pull instead of being produced by a series of successive strikings. his brother, pierre françois, spoken of in the preceding chapter, was a type-founder and paper-maker at essones, and counted among his official titles "printer to the comte de provence," as françois ambroise was to the comte d'artois. of these two branches equally faithful to typography, pierre didot, son of françois ambroise, became the head on the death of his father. born in 1760, he had studied his art with passion, and had merited the installation of his workshops in the louvre, where he published a celebrated collection known as the louvre editions, the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of which was the works of racine. the splendid execution of this book, in three large folio volumes, was a true typographical revolution. never in any country had scrupulous perfection of detail been joined to so masterly a knowledge of disposition and form of characters. the great artists of the davidian school had the honour of seeing their drawings reproduced as illustrations, and those named above designed the fifty-seven plates with which the edition was adorned. pierre didot displayed a great affectation in only printing two hundred and fifty copies of his irreproachable and marvellous work, of which a hundred had proofs of the plates before letters. published by subscription, the ordinary edition was issued at 1,200 francs, and with proofs 1,800 francs. to these superb works firmin didot, his brother, added ingenious discoveries. struck with certain difficulties of printing as well as of correction, he imagined the welding together of the types of a forme, when once obtained without faults, so as to avoid the trouble of new composition. this process, useless for books of small number, had a capital importance in the case of reimpressions of popular and successful works. he named this method stereotype, and from 1799 he published a racine in 18mo by this method; but the originality of the method, which he was the first to call stereotype, ended with its name, for the process had already been discovered by william ged, a goldsmith of edinburgh, in 1725, the first book produced in this manner being an edition of sallust, printed in 1744, 8vo, "non typis mobilibus ut vulgo fieri solet, sed tabellis seu laminis fusis, excudebat." this admirably directed house, we may indeed say this school of typography, formed with renouard, claye, rignoux, and others, the greater number of the french publishers of the middle of the century. when the czar alexander went to paris, he wished to do honour to the greatest french practitioners in the science of printing, in the persons of the brothers pierre and firmin didot. but these were not the only ones. the sons of pierre françois, henri and pierre françois ii.--the latter specially applied himself to paper-making, under the name of didot st. leger--followed in the footsteps of their father and uncle. pierre françois made at essones an excellent paper, which he brought to the perfection of making it in endless rolls, such as are made to-day for rotary machines. bernardin de st. pierre retired to essones about the end of the last century, and there married the daughter of pierre françois ii. it is a curious coincidence that the same village contained at once the man whose works at the beginning of the century had so extraordinary a success and the great family of printers who had given definitive impetus to typographical work. it was in this tranquil circle that the author of "paul and virginia," at the age of sixty, sought repose; that the publication of his book was resolved upon with all the luxury due to its success, with admirable type and with plates by prud'hon and others. he added to it the _chaumière indienne_, written in 1790, on the eve of the terror, which is one of the most delicate novels of the time. the homely and sweet literature of bernardin de st. pierre, the heroic inventions of girodet, gerard, and chaudet in the greek or roman style, the clever but severe typography of the didots--such is the composition of the book at the beginning of the century, and also its avowed tendency and good taste. under louis xv. the nymphs carried panniers; polyeucte had peruke and sword. it would be unbecoming not to give juno or venus the head-dress adopted in paintings and vignettes. at the time which now occupies us fashion in clothing directed designers also. the hair of goddesses was _à la titus_; the waist was under the arms; golden circles were on the brow. simple mortals walked naked on the roads, with plumed casques and superb shields. there were heroes putting forth their disproportioned arms, others raising their eyes to heaven in impossible attitudes. such were all the vignettes, from girodet to the humblest, the last, the most forgotten. it happens, by an oddity of which the cause is vainly sought, that this classic and revolutionary school of david identifies itself so well with the napoleonic epoch, then with the people of the restoration, that it seems expressly made for them. at the same time, under louis xviii. and charles x. the romans and greeks had not the bold carriage of their early days; they became more citizenised, and assumed the air of the national guards of the kingdom of which later an excessive use was made. england also had a splendid series of publishers and printers. from boydell, harding, the murrays, fisher; from bulmer, bensley, strahan, the whittinghams, and hansard, to our day, there has been an unbroken and constantly increasing line of clever, practical men, adorning the professions to which they devoted their energies, often realising that fortune which properly directed energies command. in the first half of the century a vast number of splendidly printed books were issued, ornamented in the most lavish manner with beautiful illustrations, engraved on steel or copper plates, and with delicate woodcuts. book illustration in england may be said now to have reached perfection. when the banker-poet samuel rogers wished to bring out an illustrated edition of his works, he employed the two most capable artists of the time, thomas stothard and j. m. w. turner; and they produced an admirable series of designs, which were exquisitely engraved by finden, goodall, and pye. the work was printed by t. davidson, in two volumes, octavo: the "italy" in 1830 and the "poems" in 1834; these two volumes, from the perfect harmony of the typography and illustration and their combined beauty, may be referred to as the perfection of book-making. a very charming series of volumes is found in the "annuals," "keepsakes," "amulets," and similar annual publications, illustrated with beautiful steel plates by the best engravers. the splendidly printed and illustrated bibliographical works of dr. t. f. dibdin may also be mentioned. they extend to several volumes, and were printed by bulmer and his successors nicoll and t. bensley, illustrated by engraved plates and woodcuts by f. c. lewis and others. h. g. bohn, besides the fine series known as "bohn's libraries," numbering over six hundred volumes, in every branch of literature, art, and science, published many finely illustrated books, and as a bookseller had the largest stock of his day. charles knight did marvels in popularising literature in his day. william pickering published a long series of very beautiful books, and in conjunction with charles whittingham, printer, of the far-famed chiswick press, revived the aldine or old-faced types; one of the most beautiful of his publications was sir harris nicolas's edition of walton's "angler," in two volumes, imperial octavo, with a very fine set of steel plates, designed by stothard and engraved by augustus fox and w. j. cooke, besides engraved vignettes and representations of fish drawn by inskipp. in germany perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the century is the extraordinary series of volumes of english authors, now (1887) numbering 2,500, issued by baron tauchnitz, of leipzig, which, although eminently popular in their character, are well and tastefully printed. among the most notable of the printing and publishing houses of germany, many of them combining the two trades, are j. g. cotta, dating from 1640; breitkopf and härtel, dating from 1719; justus perthes, founded 1796; t. o. weigel, 1797; f. a. brockhaus, 1805; b. g. teubner, 1811; w. drugulin, 1829; j. j. weber, 1834, etc. germany has advanced with england and france in fine typography and illustration in their several kinds. the modern school of book illustration in germany undoubtedly has its origin in the influence given to it by the designs of the artist adolph menzel, amongst which a series of two hundred illustrations to the works of frederick the great, engraved on wood by the vogels, unzelman and müller, show him to be one of the most powerful and accurate draughtsmen of the century. to return to france, a new literature arose that was to react against the greek full of gallicisms; but the movement, in reversing the ancient state of things, in wishing to replace antiquity by the middle ages, old romans by old french, completely changed the physiognomy of the book. the engraved vignette and the copper plate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were to lose their supremacy and to give way to etching and wood engraving, also a revival of the middle ages. [illustration: fig. 93.--wood engraving by clennell after west, for the diploma of the highland society.] it is not sufficiently known that wood engraving, after the unfortunate attempts of papillon in france, was restored in england by thomas bewick, who founded a school, of which, at the commencement of our century, clennell and the brothers thompson were members. one of the thompsons went to france about the middle of the restoration, doubtless with the hope of profiting by his art, and he offered to the print department of the national library the diploma of the highland society, a large folio wood block, very adroit and very curiously cut, after the drawing of the celebrated benjamin west, and copied from clennell's original block of the same subject. m. duchesne, then keeper of the prints, speaks of this last process as of an apparition: "this print makes apparent the long-neglected and often reappearing art of wood engraving, which, though it could never equal copper engraving, nevertheless merits the attention of amateurs when a capable hand is exercised upon it." it was, we see, a curiosity then, this relief cutting, of which the resurrection was to give an enormous impulse to the book from the facilities of printing and the economies realised by the possibility of intercalation in periodicals. in fact, metal printing necessitated so much trouble, more for engraving than for the impression. with wood blocks surrounded by type the ordinary press sufficed. the _magasin pittoresque_, which was commenced in 1833, and the success of which from the first was very great, was born of these new combinations. before it the _messager boiteux_ of strasbourg and other popular almanacs progressed very well with their illustrations on wood. a kind of firm of engravers, at the head of which were best and andrew, undertook the illustrations of the _magasin pittoresque_. in a few years progress was immense, other publications came into existence, and a definitive return was made to the vignette in relief. the french illustrated paper preceded our _illustrated london news_ by nine years. lavish use was now made of wood engraving, which had thus been suddenly revived in the very midst of the new romantic effervescence, amid a war of books, which, in order to please, had above all to captivate the eye, reacting at once against the spirit and the art of the restoration. never before had artists to such an extent taken active part in a purely literary warfare. all the fantastic tendencies of young france were embodied in the lame and halting lines of the time and similar wretched doggerel. doubtless the leaders of the school did not go quite so far, and their reputation even suffered from such theories; but, as always happens in such cases, the disciples outstripped their masters. [illustration: fig. 94.--vignette by devéria for the _fiancé de la tombe_.] the brothers johannot were the first to join in the fray, under the flag of the poets and others of the romantic school, such as victor hugo, de vigny, paul lacroix, george sand, and devéria, most ruthless of illustrators. the last-named had designed vignettes on wood, of all others, for baour-lormian, that is to say for the foe of the new ideas, at once the interpreter of ossian and the bourgeois bard, full of fire and fury against everything in turn. the _légendes, ballades, et fabliaux_, illustrated by devéria in 1829, although a sort of compromise with the lovesick swains of mediæval times, did not escape the shafts of ridicule. in the midst of this movement the book became democratic; it was printed on sugar-paper for reading-rooms and scullery maids. the generation of romancists diffused its paper-covered works, printing a thousand copies and selling five hundred with great difficulty. poets publishing five hundred were happy with a sale of two hundred and fifty. unheard-of titles were then needed to catch the eye, ridiculous and ghastly frontispieces to tickle the fancy of the riffraff. paul lacroix called himself the "bibliophile jacob," and invented surprising headpieces and foolish designs. and then, as in the fifteenth century, as in the old times, certain signs become popular with the reading public. in the place of the doctrinals, complaints, and disputes, so common in the titles of those epochs, new fancies spring up and have their day. eccentric devices recommend romantic trash, in which the assassin's dagger, blood, and the horrors of the tomb have replaced the insipid fantasies of the fallen regime. pétrus borel, the werewolf, a sort of historic ghoul prowling about the graveyards, enjoyed a monopoly, as it were, of the ghastly titles and contents of this charnel-house literature; it was for his _champavert_, published in 1833, that gigoux composed a kind of bluebeard surrounded by female skeletons, that opened the eyes of publishers to his value as a vignettist. although he threw himself soul and body into the romantic movement, the young artist did not alone design subjects called "abracadabrants," following the neologism of the time, any more than the booksellers only published romances. an attempt was made, by publishing them in parts, to still further popularise the old writers at all harmonising with the current taste. the publisher paulin thus issued the _gil blas_ of le sage, with illustrations in the text by the younger gigoux, of which the best was hoped. the history of this celebrated enterprise has been written by the artist himself in the curious _causeries_ published recently by him, fifty years after his work on gil blas; and this interesting view of an epoch already far distant gives us in a few words the ordinary economy of these popular impressions in parts. [illustration: fig. 95.--vignette by john gigoux for _gil blas_.] it appears that paulin, publisher in the rue de seine, not being very well off, had associated himself with a man of business named dubochet, who had before made an enormous fortune with gas. the two represented fifteen thousand to twenty thousand francs, and they ordered a hundred drawings on wood from the young artist. he set to work with precaution, for dubochet was hard to please, without knowing much about the business, and fined the engravers for the least faults. gigoux set himself to give his compositions in simple line, without complicated shadows, so as to allow the wood-cutters to preserve a free outline. it was nearly the same thing as the process of the old artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, of vostre and holbein: true engraving in relief. the success of the first sheets was extraordinary; new vignettes were ordered from gigoux; in place of a hundred they wanted three hundred, then four hundred; then at the end of the work they counted six hundred at least. money filled the chests of the firm, but when the artist claimed a small share of the benefits, they laughed in his face. properly speaking, it was the first serious attempt at illustration by the recovered method of engraving in relief, but it was not the only one. curmer, the publisher of the rue richelieu, prepared a bible in 1835 and several other volumes, among which were the "paul and virginia" and the _chaumière indienne_ of bernardin de st. pierre. he had also collected around him a circle of artists that included wattier, devéria, and meissonier, who was the most perfect and correct of the designers on wood. meissonier designed very soberly, without effects of light, little scenes admirably cut by an engraver named lavoignat, a master in the largest sense of the word. curmer wrote in 1835 in the preface to one of his books, "we hope we have raised a monument to wood engraving. it is easy to judge of the resources presented by this art. we are compelled to have recourse to england to accomplish our work. peace to willing publishers!" [illustration: fig. 96.--vignette by daumier for the _cholera à paris_.] curmer acknowledges the importance of english specialists in this new process for vignettes, and the willing publishers were not wanting; they came from all parts. he himself did not stop on the way; he continued his work on a large scale; and charles blanc was able to say of him later, as well as of furne, "he desired to illustrate books for everybody, as the great booksellers of the last century had illustrated their rare editions for a small number of privileged persons." but he did not always confine himself to wood engraving; he also employed etching and lithography. these, requiring separate printing, did not make intercalation with the text any easier than engraving with the burin; but they served to illustrate periodicals, the _charivari_ and _l'artiste_, as well as some books, where they replaced the engraved plates of the preceding century. at the same time, the latter process was not altogether neglected; about 1840 it was revived, and steel was used in place of copper, as it better resisted repeated impressions. the publisher furne, while he employed wood engraving, adorned with separate plates on steel his better publications. for him worked raffet, one of the romanticists enamoured of the napoleonic epic, which he had popularised, with charlet and bellangé, by the pencil, wood, and lithography. raffet had transferred upon wood, as if in play, the three hundred and fifty-one vignettes of the _histoire de napoléon_, by de norvins, which would to-day suffice for the glory and reputation of many artists. in fact, the analytical and inductive spirit of the artist led him to leave nothing to the chances of inspiration and commonplace of illustration. he laboriously reconstituted, fragment by fragment, the physiognomy of the "old army;" and imbued with the perfect science of detail, he allowed his pencil full play in bold and luminous inventions, where may be seen again, with their peculiar appearance, the heroes of other days, the soldiers of the rhine and italy, of austerlitz and waterloo. a truly lively period was that of 1840, a living and unthinking generation. by the side of those great artists of whom we have spoken, and who will be more admired some day, there were the fantasists traviès and daumier, who adorned the illustrated journals with innumerable sketches, and grandville and gavarni, one caricaturing animals in a celebrated book, _les animaux peints par eux-mêmes_, which is more than a _chef-d'oeuvre_; the other coolly studying the vices and faults of his time, with the precision of an anatomist, in _les anglais peints par eux-mêmes_ of labedollière, in the _diable à paris_, without counting a thousand other works which his penetrating imagination produced. [illustration: fig. 97.--vignette by gavarni for _paris marié_.] presently photography came, which was to reverse completely the conditions of illustration of the book by the numerous means of reproduction to which it gave birth. then wood engraving entered on a new phase, a complete transformation of its ordinary terms, under the influence of gustave doré. little by little it had been attempted to render in relief that which engraved plates only had hitherto done. black, half-tints, lowered tones, were tried where formerly a simple line, bold and spirited, signified everything. the house of hachette, founded by one of the normal teachers of the liberal movement, at the beginning of the century, was, together with lahure, the promoter of relief so inclusive and practical. the numerous periodicals of these publishers spread the taste afar. england, for its part, entered on the road, followed by america and germany. to-day wood engravings have reached perfection, finesse, and suppleness; but they are not, properly speaking, engravings on wood. [illustration: fig. 98.--balzac writing his _contes drôlatiques_. vignette by gustave doré.] [illustration: fig. 99.--wood block by bewick, from his "fables," 1818. the fox and the goat.] we have seen that french publishers were largely indebted to english wood engravers for their blocks. the school that was established by bewick and his pupils made enormous progress. from the "fables," published in 1818, we reproduce an illustration as also a specimen from the second volume of the "british birds." luke clennell was one of the most distinguished of bewick's pupils; and he made some excellent blocks, among them the illustrations to an edition of rogers's "poems" (1812), engraved from pen-and-ink drawings by thomas stothard. it was stothard's opinion that wood engraving best reproduced pen-and-ink drawings. other pupils of bewick were j. jackson, john thompson, who engraved harvey's beautiful illustrations to milton and henderson's "history of wines," s. williams, orrin smith, robert branston, and c. nesbit. the most prolific and perhaps the most popular book-illustrator of the century in england, was george cruikshank, who engraved most of his own designs on wood, steel, or with the etching needle; the catalogue of his works by mr. g. w. reid, formerly keeper of the prints in the british museum, occupies three quarto volumes. the designs of "phiz," as h. k. browne called himself, largely contributed to the popularity of the works of charles dickens; and the mere mention of richard doyle and john leech will recall the palmy days of _punch_, although both of these artists did excellent work in book illustration. from the days of the bewicks to the present wood engraving has formed the most widely used means of illustration in england and the united states. its adaptability to the printing machine renders it admirably suited to the production of books in large numbers and at low expense. without it we could not have our _graphics_ and _illustrated news_, nor the floods of cheap but splendidly illustrated magazines which are appearing on both sides of the atlantic. true, many of these blocks are due to the "processes" which photography has made available, but they are nevertheless the outcome of wood engraving. we cannot leave this subject without mentioning the admirable "treatise on wood engraving," by w. a. chatto, with numerous illustrations, published originally by h. g. bohn in 1839 and since reprinted. [illustration: fig. 100.--wood block from bewick's "british birds." the common duck.] [illustration: fig. 101.--wood engraving by clennell, after stothard, for rogers's poems, 1812.] in our days the great paris publishers have returned to the books of the eighteenth century, ornamented with vignettes on copper; many of them purely and simply imitate by photographic processes the pretty editions of eisen and moreau, but they do not merit the name which they bear. as to those whose specialty is handsome books with figures by contemporary artists, those who always are in the front, as the mames, quantins, hachettes, plons, jouausts, of france; the longmans, murrays, macmillans, kegan pauls, cassells, and chattos of england; the harpers, scribners, lippincotts, and houghtons of the united states, they are to us what the ancients of whom we have spoken were to their contemporaries. now the processes of illustration are without number: wood, metal, heliogravure, phototype, and others. and if the mechanical means, if the heliogravures, have at present the importance claimed, they by no means add to the intrinsic value of wood engravings, but to the rapidity and economy of their manufacture. the book, the true book, has nothing to do with all these inventions, and may well confine itself to the burin or the relief block. but as regards the book, properly so called, it never was the object of more excessive care or of more unfortunate precipitation. it may be remarked that works least destined to live in the libraries, those thousands of lame pamphlets on questions of small provincial erudition or the cap-and-sword romances, are ordinarily the best and most carefully printed, in opposition to other more important works composed in heads of nails and on worn-out paper. there are in reading-rooms a good number of pamphlets that will not be found in fifty years, and will be worth their weight in banknotes, even if dirty and tattered, on account of their intrinsic value. [illustration] chapter vii. types, impression, paper, ink. after this summary, and necessarily very compressed, sketch of the general history of the book, it will not be without importance to place some technical information before the reader, to explain as clearly as possible the function of the presses, the practical side of typography, from the engraving of the character and the founding of types up to the binding, taking by the way composition, impression, and collation. many of these operations have been already sketched in the preceding part of our work; we have spoken of engraving of the punch, of impression, of the thousand details that constitute the typographic art, and the knowledge of which is so little diffused. we return to it now, with more method, on the different subjects, and shall try to point out the principal features. we have seen in our first chapter what patient researches the discovery necessitated for the mayence printers in the founding of the character in matrix. true, the punch and the matrix had existed from time immemorial for coins and seals. to engrave in relief a punch of material hard enough to strike a resisting metal, and to run into the space obtained by this blow a melted alloy, which took at its extremity the same form as the punch had given, is, in a few words, the whole economy of the process. for the engraving of the punches a sort of burin of tempered steel was used, which scooped out the part intended to remain white in the letter. from the beginning the printers themselves engraved their own characters. the most ancient, whose constant preoccupation was the imitation of manuscript, copied the gothic letter of ordinary writing. soon afterwards, jenson, the french refugee at venice, designed a round letter, like that of sweynheim and pannartz, the roman publishers, in 1467; and his type, absolutely perfect, is used to this day. in france the introducers of the invention in paris also imitated the roman, but multiplied abbreviations until they became tedious. we can imagine what the engraving of a character could be where so few letters stood alone, where lines abridged the nasals; the words _pro_, _pre_, figured as in manuscripts; the sign 9 signified _cum_ or _con_ in latin or french words, without reckoning a thousand other rigorous usages. this truly perplexing profusion of signs as well as the want of precision and clearness in the letter enables us now to recognise the first parisian _incunabula_.[a] [footnote a: see above, figs. 10, 11, 12.] the first english printers used gothic or black letter. caxton brought his first fount from cologne, but that which he made afterwards for himself was of the same character. wynkyn de worde, pynson, and their successors used the same style; and for official publications and bibles the black letter was used up to the seventeenth century. [illustration: fig. 102.--type-founder in the middle of the sixteenth century. engraving by jost amman.] but the art of the founder-engraver was destined to specialise itself. there were artisans in this branch, and among them in france, in the fifteenth century, simon de collines, who engraved good roman characters about 1480. later was claude garamond, of paris, who died about 1561, a pupil of geoffroy tory, the most celebrated of all of them; tory definitely proscribed the gothic character, of which vostre and verard had made constant use. garamond worked in this way, producing with microscopical precision new letters, among others those of robert estienne, the most marvellous and the most distinct. it was he who was charged by francis i. to form the celebrated royal greek types. he assisted in getting up the _champfleury_ of geoffroy tory. on his death william lebé succeeded him, and inherited his punches. lebé engraved by preference hebrew characters, of which he made a specialty. his travels to rome and venice had given him a singular value in his art; and when he died about the end of the century, he was incontestably the first cutter of oriental characters in the whole world. philip ii. of spain had begged him to engrave the letters of the bible of which plantin had undertaken the impression, and francis i. had charged him to make types for the estiennes. at the commencement of the seventeenth century we find james sanlecque, pupil of lebé, and his son. during this period several women succeeded their husbands as type-founders. in the eighteenth century philip grandjean, an artist who was royal printer to louis xiv., was keeper of the foundry afterwards united, in 1725, to the royal printing house; fournier succeeded the lebés, then p. s. fournier the younger, who engraved with great success. in our days we have seen above the didots themselves working their punches; and one of them, henri, founded microscopical characters for a la rochefoucauld about the middle of the nineteenth century. we have referred to english type-founders of the eighteenth century in chapter v. the type, or character used in printing, is a composition of lead and pure antimony, which, melted, form a resisting and at the same time supple mixture. lead alone would be crushed, and the first printers often suffered in making their experiments. the proportion of the mixture is four of lead to one of antimony. the matrix is combined in such manner that the _eye_--that is to say, the part of the character intended to produce the impression--and also the shank intended to hold the letter are cast together. the letters, once founded according to their different forms, are afterwards disposed in boxes with compartments, or "cases." these cases serve to classify the character by letters, italics, capitals, lower case, punctuations, accents, etc. as we have said, the relation of letters among themselves in the composition of a language is called the "fount." for example, it is certain that the italian employs the letter _a_ more than _b_, the letter _a_ appearing in nearly every word; a compositor to compose in this language should therefore have more of _a_ than of _b_. the relation between these two letters and all the others is the "fount." in french the proportion of a fount is about 5,000 _a_ for 800 _b_, 3,000 _c_, 3,000 _d_, 11,000 _e_, etc. the fount varies with the languages. in english the proportion is 8,500 _a_ to 1,600 _b_, 3,000 _c_, 4,400 _d_, etc. before 1789 there were in all twenty different "bodies" of letters that bore fantastic names. the "parisienne" was the smallest size, and the "grosse nonpareille" the largest. in the sixteenth century a character called "civilité" was invented. it sought to imitate fine cursive writing. in the last century this idea was reproduced, and the "bâtarde coulée," which did not have great success, was made. in english types, joseph moxon in 1669 had eleven sizes; caslon in 1734 had thirty-eight. [illustration: specimen of imposition] when a printer wishes to compose a work, he first decides in which body he will print it. his choice made, he places in the compositors' "cases"--that is, in the boxes placed before each one of his workmen--the chosen character, with its italics, capitals, signs, etc. then he gives them the "copy," that is to say the manuscript of the author to be reproduced. the compositors take a "galley" according to the size of the book; and, letter by letter, by running their fingers through the different cases, they place side by side the words laboriously composed, and necessarily presenting their reverse, so that they will show their proper face when printed. the composition terminated, the process of "imposition" takes place. this is the disposition by pages in an iron chase, in such manner that the sheet of paper shall be printed on both sides, the pages exactly following one another. it will be seen by the specimen on the preceding page that if the two sheets be brought together, page 2 of ii. will fall exactly opposite page 1 of i, page 7 opposite page 8, and so on. nothing is easier than this combination for folio, quarto, or octavo sizes, but as the smaller sizes are multiplied even to 128mo, tables are necessary to prevent error. the imposition is completed by building up the composition in a chase by means of pieces of metal called "furniture," which regulate the margins. when the whole is in proper place, it is squeezed up and adjusted by means of sunk reglets. the chase may now be placed under the press without fear of the characters falling out or getting mixed. a pressman takes a "proof" after having rubbed the relief of the characters with ink, and on this proof are corrected the author's or compositor's faults by indications in the margin by understood signs. by this amended proof the compositor amends his faults one by one: leaves out superfluous characters, puts turned characters straight, spaces or draws closer the lines, etc. the corrections finished, the time has come to print. in the time of geoffroy tory this operation was made as we shall explain; it was the same before and the same after. two pressmen have tempered with water the tympan, or more elastic part of the carriage, against which will be directed in good time the blow from the type; they have also damped the paper intended for the impression, so that it may retain the greasy ink with which the characters are charged; then the formes are washed before putting them under the press. in the figure which we reproduce, which dates from about 1530, we see the workshop of jodocus badius, of asch, father-in-law of two celebrated printers, vascosan and robert estienne. the press rolls--that is to say, the formes--have been placed in the "carriage," or movable chase, which, coming forward, receives the sheet of paper and the ink, and returns under the press to receive the blow of the "bar." in the room, lighted by two windows, the compositors work. in front one works at the bar, while his comrade distributes the ink on the "balls." these balls are leather pads, on which the greasy ink, made of lampblack and oil, is spread, to more easily rub the forme after each blow. ordinarily the inker had two functions: he prepared the ink, distributed it, and kept his eye on the printed sheets to correct faults, blots, and difference of tint. here the workman is simply occupied by the balls. printed sheets and prepared paper are on a table by the side of the press. this press is composed of the rolling chase, the tympan, and the "frisket," a smaller tympan, which work against one another. the tympan, we have said above, receives directly the blow. and it was so for nearly four centuries; the mechanical means of our days have a little changed the work, but the principle is always the same. [illustration: fig. 103.--mark of jodocus badius of asch, representing the interior of a printing office about 1535. engraving _à la croix de lorraine_.] towards the end of the sixteenth century, a press cost about a hundred and twenty-seven crowns, with its diverse utensils, as may be seen in an unpublished piece analysed by dr. giraudet, of tours, in a very interesting pamphlet: _une association d'imprimeurs et de libraires de paris réfugiés à tours au xvi^e siècle_. the workshop of jamet métayer, of tours, cost a rent of eighty-three crowns--about twenty pounds of current money. workmen were then paid by the "day;" and it came to be one of the expressions then so much used in manual labour, corresponding to the sum of the least work of a good workman. m. ladevèze, printer, thought that the "day" represented the work of about twenty thousand roman or cicero letters employed by a compositor. with us the "day" of compositors and pressmen is differently calculated. the latter have to take a certain number of sheets. the sheet, composition and press work, cost nearly seven crowns, or nearly two pounds. jamet métayer paid twenty crowns for four sheets in italics; he demanded three months for the work. the primitive presses were wooden screw presses, and they so remained until the beginning of this century, when lord stanhope, a celebrated electrician, author, and politician, perfected them and gave his name to a new machine. his improvement consisted in that the bar was no longer fixed to the vice, but to a cylinder outside. a counter-weight brought back the platen at each blow. pierre didot had previously made metal platens. in 1820 the use of the stanhope press commenced in france. england had, besides, taken a preponderating place in typographical invention. the printer of the _times_, john walter, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, seeking to publish his journal quicker, associated himself with craftsmen who constructed mechanical presses for him. the didots lost no time, and themselves made improvements. in 1848, the presses of the _constitutionnel_, thanks to the application of steam, produced twenty thousand papers an hour. in our time there are machines that print only on one side, as well as double machines, printing both sides at once. the rotary machines, with endless paper, take thirty-five thousand impressions an hour. in the newspaper machines of marinoni, the great inventor, the paper is unrolled, printed, cut, and folded without leaving the machine, and falls into a place from which it is taken ready for the subscriber. the latest perfection of the printing press is the walter press and the rotary machine of r. hoe and co., of new york, extensively used throughout the world. the elaborate book has little to do with these marvellous processes, although in its turn it largely benefits by the improvement of the printing machine. it is apart from our purpose to speak at length on the manufacture of paper. it is certain that it was well made before the invention of printing, for most of the accounts of the fifteenth century are written on linen paper, very resisting and well sized. later on rags were used in this manufacture; and here, in a few words, is how paper was made in the mould, or "hand-made" before the invention of machinery for the purpose:-[illustration: fig. 104.--paper-making. workman engaged on the tub with the frame of wires. engraving by jost amman.] the rags, having been thoroughly cleansed, were put into vats, where they were worked up under a beating press until they were reduced to pulp. this pulp was thrown into hot water and stirred until the mixture was uniformly made. then a mould of fine wire cloth, fixed upon a wooden frame, and having a "deckle" to determine the size of the sheet, was taken; in the middle of this frame was disposed, also in brass wire, a factory mark, intended to appear in white in the sheet of paper, and called the "water mark." this mould was dipped into the vat of pulp and drawn out again. after gently shaking it to and fro in a horizontal position, the fibres of the pulp became so connected as to form one uniform fabric; and the water escaped through the wires. the deckle was then removed from the mould, and the sheet of paper turned off upon a felt, in a pile with many others, a felt intervening between each sheet, and the whole subjected to great pressure, in order to absorb the superfluous water. after being dried and pressed without the felts, the sheets were dipped into a tub of size and again pressed to remove surplus size. this primitive method of paper-making is represented in fig. 104, and the same principle is still in use for the production of hand-made paper. machinery has effected many improvements and economies in the production of woven paper. china and japan have their special paper manufacture. in japan the material employed is the bark of the _morus papifera sativa_. [illustration: balance used by jenson, at venice.] according to their fineness, size, and weight, papers have received different names, proceeding from the water mark. faust at mayence used paper marked with a bull's head. jenson at venice used a balance of which the form varied. this latter came from a mill which furnished vicenza, perugia, and rome. jenson used, besides a crown, a cardinal's hat. the bull's head underwent transformations, it had stars and roses, and was special to germany, and it may sometimes be found in italy. the wires and bridges served to determine the size of a book. looking at a folio leaf against the light, the wires will be seen to be horizontal, and the bridges vertical. in quarto they will be reversed, the paper having been folded in four instead of in two. the bridges become horizontal. they return to the vertical in octavo, and so on. as for ink, it was from the beginning a composition of lampblack and oil of different quality and nature, mixed with resin to obtain a greater and quicker dryness. ink for engravings was more carefully made. for coloured inks various powders are mixed with the oil and resin, and a title in red and black has to go through the press twice: once for the red and once for the black. from the above it can be understood that illustrations in relief can easily be introduced into the composition, whether in combination with text or in separate pages. another question presents itself: did the old printers employ casting, or did they print directly from the wood block itself? in other words, the block having been cut, did they make with it a mould into which melted metal could be poured to obtain a more resistant relief? the fact is difficult to elucidate. it appears to-day that simon vostre, verard, and others printed relief engravings on metal, but were they cut directly or obtained by casting, as they are now? it cannot be determined yet. chapter viii. bookbinding. the binding of the first printed books--ancient german bindings--binding in the time of louis xii.--italian bindings--aldus--maioli--grolier--francis i.--henri ii. and diane de poitiers--catherine de medicis--henri iii.--the eves--the "fanfares"--louis xiii.--le gascon--florimond badier--louis xiv.--morocco leathers--cramoisy--the bindings of the time of louis xiv.--the regency--pasdeloup--the deromes--dubuisson--thouvenin--lesné--the nineteenth century--english binders--roger payne--francis bedford. leading the reader now towards the final perfection of the book: printing, which had stirred up and reversed so many things, created, so to speak, the art of binding. previously the binder was simply a workman sewing together the leaves of a manuscript, with no science or device but to clasp the whole together solidly with cord and string. as luxury increased the old binder was no longer thought of. on the wooden boards which closed the book, jewellers encrusted their wares, lavishing ivory and precious stones to the taste of the amateur or the bookseller. generally these works covered books of precious miniatures, the _horoe_, or manuscripts that were deemed worthy of such magnificent clothing, rarely copies without importance. printing at once disordered the tribe of copyists as well as the binders did jewellers. the demand increasing, rich bindings were soon abandoned, and each bookseller applied himself to the work, or at least covered in his own house books intended for sale. the fashion was not then to expose for sale, as now, unbound books. purchasers wanted an article easy to handle, and which they were not obliged to return for ulterior embellishment. so to the public were presented the works laboriously composed by gutenberg, schoeffer, and fust, somewhat after the manner of manuscripts, which they pretended to imitate, with their solid wooden boards covered with pig or calfskin. at the four corners, copper nails, with large heads, prevented rubbing against the shelves of the bookcase, for at that time books were ranged on their sides, and not as they are to-day. we must return to the bibliomaniac of the "ship of fools" to get an idea of these depositories; before him may be seen ranged on a desk large folios, with nails on their sides, in the shelves, so defying the dust, in place of being placed upright on their edges, which rendered them liable to spots and stains. (see fig. 23.) unhappily the wooden sides had in themselves a germ of destruction, the worm, capable first of reducing the sides to powder and then ravaging the body of the work, the ligatures and cords. certain preparations destroy the insect, but the precaution often has no effect, and it is thus that the disappearance of volumes formerly so abundant, but almost impossible to find now, may be explained. [illustration: fig. 105.--bookbinder's shop in the sixteenth century. engraving by jost amman.] from the beginning the operations of the binder were what they still are, except for improvements. they consist in the collation of the sheets of a book, folding them, beating them to bring them together and give them cohesion, and sewing them, first together, then on the cords or strings, which form the five or six bands seen on the backs. primitively these cords were united to the wooden boards, and over both was placed a resistant skin, on which from relief or metal engravings were struck the most pleasing decorative subjects. pigskin, white and fine, lent itself, especially among the germans, to these fine editions; and although they were issued in great number, the wooden boards have not permitted them all to exist in our time. the most ancient that we are able to cite are german works of the time of louis xi.; they are very strong and coarse. the cords in them form an enormous and massive projection. the inside of the board was often without lining of paper or stuff. in the case of fine editions a sombre velvet was sometimes used, such as verard used to bind the books of the father of francis i., as we have before said. art did not enter into these works of preservation until about the end of the fifteenth century, with arms and emblems. at the beginning of the sixteenth century, some bindings were ornamented for louis xii. and the queen, anne de bretagne; but not more than five or six specimens remain. they are of coarse aspect. the workman who tooled the binding here reproduced from the curious example of m. dutuit, of rouen, has thrown his subjects one upon another. arms, porcupines, ermines, are treated so as to be confusing, and form a medley that is not pleasing. in recalling the delightful borders of vostre and pigouchet, contemporaries of this mediocre work, it is astonishing to see the degree of inferiority reached by a profession that should be inspired by graceful subjects of decoration. [illustration: fig. 106.--binding for louis xii. collection of m. dutuit, of rouen.] it happened that france again found in italy masters capable of revealing secrets of composition and arrangement to enable her to strike out a new road. the italian wars would not have had these artistic results if it had not been for the enormous sums that they swallowed up. the curious part of the enterprise was that a war treasurer, a financier, employed by the french kings in these expeditions, through his relations of taste and friendship with the alduses of venice, brought to france the love of sumptuous bindings, of editions superbly clothed. he was named jean grolier, that bibliophile of the sixteenth century, who was, above all others, even king francis, the first to appreciate the art of binding. it is not too much to say art, for if better had not been done before, it may safely be said that nothing better has been done since; and the books of grolier remain as the most perfect and most admirable types of this kind of decoration. born of an italian family established at lyons, where most of his relatives did a great business, jean grolier had the good fortune to succeed his father, stephen grolier, treasurer of the duke of milan. he became in his turn minister of finances, and was called to accompany the kings in their expeditions in italy. the situation of the treasurers during these campaigns was important; they handled the pence levied with great trouble in the cities of france "for making war." many abused their trust, and were punished, and among others the lallemants, whom documents show us to have been in connection with grolier, and who suffered, with semblançay, the most terrible trials of the time. italian art gave then a free course in the decoration of books. of the interior we have spoken in our first chapters on the wood engravings; for the exterior, the cover of the volume, foliage, golden flowers worked with a hot iron, and polychromatic compartments obtained by coloured pastes were multiplied. thus was produced on the outside that which it was not sought to obtain on the inside, the variation of tints so select among the italians, and so forsaken since the invention of printing. in the midst of these literary men was a lover of books and fine connoisseur who, not content with choosing the best editions, such as those of ferrara, venice, and basle, bound them superbly, with compartments of admirable tone, and had his name and device inscribed on the sides in the fashion of the time. he was named thomas maioli, and following the custom of the amateurs of the time, he offered the enjoyment of his library to his friends. "tho. maioli et amicorum," he inscribed, as did later grolier, as also did others, but he somewhat modified the enthusiasm of his friendship by a sceptical device, "ingratis servire nephas," which might very well be the cry of the owner of books betrayed by his borrowers. maioli did not alone use these devices; he had also a macaronic phrase of which the sense is not very clear: "inimici mei mea michi, non me michi." he also sometimes used his monogram, which was composed of all the letters of his name. the relations of grolier with this unknown and mysterious bibliophile, whose name is not always found outside his volumes, are not doubtful. brunet possessed a volume that had belonged to maioli and had passed through the hands of grolier. what better proof could be wished of the communion of ideas and tastes between the two collectors? but these amateurs were not alone. beside them were princes and great lords, lay and ecclesiastic. from the commencement of the sixteenth century bookbinding had received an enormous impulse from the tastes and the predilections for these lofty fancies. and it cannot be ascribed to the simple skill of the workmen experimenting in that line. in the century that saw italian artists occupied in making designs for mounted plates and painting beautiful ladies, the courtesans of venice could not be alarmed at finding them painting models for bindings, with compartments of varied tone and style. maioli affected white on a dark background, that is to say on a background of dark leather. he made scrolls of foliage in white or clear paste with a very happy effect. this was the time when grolier travelled in italy, in the suite of the french, and when he began his collections. he had adopted as his heraldic emblem the gooseberry bush, which in french came very near to his name--_groseillier_; and his motto was "nec herba nec arbor" ("neither tree nor herb"), explicative of the moderation of his wealth. he was soon in connection with the alduses, and through them with the principal learned men and binders of the time, for it was not in the offices of the manutiuses that could be found workmen, like those of the chamber of accounts in france, obliged to swear that they did not know how to read. the master was not hindered by details of difference of language, and it followed that his workmen understood greek and latin, for he often gave them instruction in those languages. how far off these erudite and conscientious workmen appear to-day! following the fashion, grolier put his name on the upper side of his books--"jo. grolierii et amicorum"--in gold letters, and on the other side a pious motto, the sense of which was a hope often uttered by the financiers of the sixteenth century, imprisoned and hung every instant: "portio mea, domine, sit in terra viventium." generally all the grolier books which came from the alduses have the name on the upper side and the motto on the other side; the title was placed above the name, and often disposed in rows. some large volumes had the cover ornamented with an architectural design, like the jamblichus of the libri collection, which had on the front the façade of a temple, with the title in rows on the door. this volume was printed by aldus in 1516, and probably decorated by him for the account of the great french amateur. jean grolier is said to have himself designed some of the subjects of his ornaments, and their perfection indicates an active and enlightened supervision. on his return to france, where he had a house near the porte de bucy, he was put in relation with geoffroy tory, the artist best fitted to understand him, and who was at once painter, engraver, printer, and binder. it was there that, in the leisure of his financial functions, between two projects of revictualling the forts of outre seine and yonne, grolier invented combinations, sought interlacings, and laid out foliage. tory himself teaches us these works in combination. he invented antique letters for grolier, he tells us in his _champfleury_. it was for him, too, that he interwove so finely his compartments for binding, and that he reproduced the delightful ornaments of his books of hours in golden scrolls. as we have said, grolier placed his titles on the sides of his books on account of the arrangement of the works on the shelves of the library where they were laid. for this reason also the back was neglected, and no ornament used upon it; thick and heavy with its projecting bands, without decoration between the bands, this part of the bound volume was a kind of waste in a splendidly cultivated garden. the profusion of books brought about a revolution. there was no longer room to place on their sides the innumerable books that were produced; they were then placed on their edges, as now, and the back also was decorated. for this the bands were made to disappear, and replaced by decorative subjects in compartments like the sides. then with grolier the bands reappeared, and the title was placed between them, as it still is. the books of grolier have been divided, according to their production, in four or five principal classes, in which they may always be placed. first were the works ornamented in compartments, gilt, with scrolls in full gold; then the same with the scrolls _azurés_, that is to say equally gilt, but having parallel lines like the _azure_ of heraldry. following comes the school of geoffroy tory, with gilt compartments in the style of the great french decorator; last the polychromatic bindings, in which, by the aid of colour or mastic, the alternating tones are mixed. grolier also had some mosaic bindings, composed of little pieces of leather connected by incrustation or paste, pure italian bindings; but these were not numerous, especially if compared with those conceived in the manner of geoffroy tory. one of these latter works is here reproduced from one of the beautiful books in the collection of m. dutuit. this copy has the back flat, and the interlacings of the decoration are most complicated and clever. [illustration: fig. 107.--binding for grolier in the collection of m. dutuit.] grolier got his levant moroccos through the dealers of venice, to make sure of the material he employed. born in 1479, the treasurer-general of outre seine lived until 1565. in 1563 an original manuscript shows him much occupied with finance at over eighty-four years of age; but his passion for bindings had cooled down, for few books signed with his name are found the manufacture of which could descend to the son of henri ii. after great trials, after having seen semblançay suffer at montfaucon, john lallemand beheaded, and himself having come nearly to losing life and fortune at one blow, grolier passed away quietly in his house, having collected most of the fine books of the time and many curious medals. christopher de thou, his friend and _confrère_ in the love of books, had saved his reputation before the parliament of paris. after his death his library was transported to the hotel de vic, and from there dispersed in 1675, a hundred years after. thus from italian art came french binding, still remaining original. the kings did not fail to follow the movement, and even to anticipate it, thanks to the means at their disposal. we have seen francis i. at work with the energy of an artisan at least; but geoffroy tory was his principal inspirer, and who knows but that he was the chief operative for the prince, as for the great financier? [illustration: fig. 108.--binding for francis i., with the arms of france and the salamander.] [illustration: fig. 109.--mark of guyot marchant, printer and bookbinder. he published the _danse macabre_ of 1485.] we have said that louis xii. knew nothing of fine bindings. during his travels in italy he had received presentation copies of magnificently covered books, and among others that of _faustus andrelinus_, that was bound in calf in honour of the king. he, who was so little expert in fine arts, purchased the entire library of the sire de la gruthuse, and substituted his own emblems for those of the high and mighty lord. francis i., with innate sentiment for masterpieces and the powerful protection he had given them, did not allow the experiments of grolier to pass unnoticed. the king did not desire to be behind the treasurer, and the workmen were put to the task. he adopted the salamander, which emblem he used on his castles and furniture and the liveries of his people; he lavished it also on the sides of his books. on the side the "f" is often seen crowned, then the emblem of france and the collar of st. michael. in the binding of which a facsimile is here given, geoffroy tory has singularly inspired the gilder, if he did not himself make the design. for it must not be thought that this work is done at a single blow by means of an engraved plate or a block. on the contrary, every line is impressed by the hot tool that the workman applies by hand to the gold laid on in advance, making it, so to speak, enter into the skin or morocco. there is the art; blocks serve only for commercial bindings, quickly impressed and intended for ordinary purchasers. [illustration: fig. 110.--binding for henri ii., with the "h" and crescents.] under the reign of francis i. the binders were the booksellers, as verard and vostre were. the king was ordinarily served by a publisher named pierre roffet, and he frequently figures in accounts that have been preserved. roffet not only bound, but it appears that he rebound books to patterns which the king desired. philip lenoir and guyot marchant were also royal workmen. the latter, whose mark is here reproduced, frequently added to it the saints crispin and crispinian, patrons of the leather-dressers, who prepared the leather for the binder. [illustration: fig. 111.--binding for henri ii. (mazarine library)] the discoveries of grolier did not allow the binders much time to be idle. thousands of volumes were then destroyed to make the boards for sides. from this many discoveries are made in our days by pulling to pieces sixteenth century work, unknown playing cards, and early printed works. to mention only one example, twenty leaves of the "perspective" of viator were discovered in the national library of paris. the board thus formed was covered indifferently with sheepskin, parchment, calf, morocco, or goatskin; the books were sewn on raised or sunk bands, according to the owner's taste; the edges were gilt, sometimes gauffered, and designs often impressed upon them to match those of the sides. in large folios wooden boards were still used, more solid, and protected from rubbing by nails in relief. but the inside of the cover was as yet only covered with paper. leather linings were very uncommon. the reign of henri ii. increased yet more the importance of bindings; it was the time when grolier collected, and clever artists came from all parts. geoffroy tory had given the best models for letters and interlacings. the queen, catherine, derived from her parents the taste for decoration in gold and colours, and patronised the artists called by her from the court of florence; and the favourite, diane de poitiers, duchess of valentinois, rivalled her in luxury and expenditure. henri ii. in the decoration of his castles, as well as his books, introduced equivocal emblems, of which the signification may be doubtful, but those of his mistress may be recognised, not those of the legitimate queen. he interlaced two reversed "d's" by an "h," in the form shown in the border on the preceding page. strictly speaking, we ought to see there two "c's" back to back; but as we find the "d" on all the bindings displaying the arms of diana, there can be no doubt, and queen catherine doubted less than anybody. other emblems of diana are to be found in the arcs and crescents that are plentifully displayed. the library of diana was large, owing to the king not hesitating to take valuable books from the public collections for her. two centuries after her death it was dispersed, and the greater part of the books belonging to the national collections were restored on the deaths of those who then purchased them. hence the largest number of the bindings of henri ii. and diana of poitiers will be found in the national library of paris. [illustration: fig. 112.--italian binding for catherine de medicis, with the initials "c. c."] queen catherine also had special patterns with a monogram identical with the double "d" mentioned above, but the branches of the "c" were a little longer than the branches of the "h;" she also used a "k" on the sides of her books. the specimen which we reproduce is a purely italian work. from kings and queens the fashion passed to the great lords, it having come to the kings and queens from a private individual. the constable anne de montmorency adorned his bindings with a cross and spread eagle. among the amateurs of binding of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries using distinctive marks, we may mention philip desportes, the poet, who used two [phi] enlaced, as did also superintendent fouquet in the seventeenth century. the brothers dupuy adopted the double [delta], arranged as a star. colbert had a curled snake (_coluber_ for colbert!), the gondis two masses of arms, madame de pompadour three towers, etc. fouquet beside the [phi] used a squirrel on some of his bindings. [illustration: fig. 113.--binding with the arms of mansfeldt, with _azure_ scroll work, from the didot collection.] in germany, count mansfeldt adopted the ornamental style with arms, of which a specimen is here given; and marc laurin de watervliet also decorated and dedicated his books to his friends, using the motto "virtus in arduo." among the lords of the french courts who favoured polychromatic ornament and bold compositions were the young valois, louis de sainte maure, marquis of nesle, and henri de guise, called "le balafré." charles ix. had his emblems and devices, the double "c" crowned the legend "pietate et justitia," but his brother, henri iii., loved the decoration of books more than he did. the passion of the king for miniatures which he cut out of books is known; this passion for golden things he repeated on bindings, for which he chose special designs. henri iii. was an amateur of dances of death; he visited cemeteries, attended funerals, and took a death's-head for his emblem. this emblem was not his invention; long before him marot had addressed an epigram to a lady in which he brought love and death into close conjunction. however that may be, the king chose skeletons and penitents' tears to ornament his books. he also tolerated diamonds, although he absolutely prohibited them in the clothing of ladies or fixed the number _pro rata_ with the rank of the authorised person. there was in this prince a singular mixture of taste and artistic acuteness by the side of a mania or hallucination which was reflected on the most intimate objects of his apparel or of his furniture. thus if we find, at the end of the sixteenth century, a death's-head on the sides or the back of a volume, the binding is of the period of henri iii. the binders of his time are known by the mention that is made of them in the royal accounts; the eves were the most celebrated among all of them. nicholas eve was charged with the binding of the statutes of the order of st. esprit, with which the king gratified his friends. mention of this work is found in the clairambault manuscripts, where we read, "to nicholas eve, washer and binder of books and bookseller to the king, forty-seven and a half escus for washing, gilding, and squaring the edges of forty-two books of statutes and ordinances of the order, bound and covered with orange levant morocco, enriched on one side with the arms of the king, fully gilt, and on the other of france and poland, with monograms at the four corners, and the rest flames, with orange and blue ribbons," etc. [illustration: fig. 114.--sixteenth century binding, called _à la fanfare_. in the dutuit collection.] louise de lorraine, wife of henri iii., counted for little in the life of her husband; nevertheless she had a certain number of books decorated with their united escutcheons. the bindings attributed to eve were decorated all over the sides and back with interlacing patterns of geometrical character, the spaces between the parallel lines and in the middle of the figures left at first quite blank, but afterwards filled in with palm branches and wreaths of foliage; to these delicate and elaborate yet brilliant toolings have been given the name of bindings _à la fanfare_. this designation requires explanation, and is a good example of the grotesque style adopted by modern amateurs in their appellations. [illustration: fig. 115.--le gascon binding.] the fine work of that time prepared for the coming in the seventeenth century--about 1620--of the works of le gascon, or at least for the artist with whom in our days are connected the works of the reign of louis xiii. under henri iv. the fleur-de-lys occupied most of the covers of the royal books, from vellum to levant morocco; works in this class had nothing very remarkable. the first years of louis xiii. revealed a new process, inspired by the eves. le gascon embroidered delightfully on the fanfare ornaments; showing the fibres of the leaves, he made a new kind of ornament, consisting of minute gold dots elaborated into lines and curves of singular brilliancy and elegance. of this style, called _pointillé_, we give a specimen from the collection of m. dutuit. the fashion had arrived all at once; lace, banished from clothing by severe edicts, found a refuge on the covering of books. the times were hard then for binders; they were constrained to live in the university and to employ only its workmen. a binder was never his own gilder; he employed the _gaufreurs_ of shoe-leather, more expert and bolder, to gild his leather. among these artisans was one named pigorreau, whom the edict found living in the midst of publishers and working for them; he was compelled to choose either to remain bootmaker or become bookseller; he chose the latter, against the syndics of the trade, against every one, and he made enemies for himself. he revenged himself by turning the masters into ridicule in a placard. [illustration: fig. 116.--le gascon binding for cardinal mazarin.] le gascon was probably the assumed name of an artist in this style. the _guirlande de julie_, worked by him for mademoiselle de rambouillet, gave him great honour in the special circle of this little literary court. it was the fashion then for poor authors to put a fine covering on their works and to offer them to the great for their own profit. tallement des reaux notably signalises the poet laserre, who displayed his luxury in irreproachable bindings. and then the farmers of the revenue, successors of grolier in financial trusts, formed libraries for pure fashion, never opening the volumes covered for them in sumptuous attire. if we may believe sauval, author of the _antiquités de paris_, they went further, and on covers without books inscribed imaginary titles and fantastic squibs to mislead their visitors. the bookcase being carefully closed, it was difficult to discover the imposition. sauval writes, "in place of books, they are content with covers of levant morocco, on the backs of which, in gold letters, are inscribed the names of the most celebrated authors. a binder of the university assured me that not long since he and his _confrères_ had made them for a single financier to the amount of 10,000 crowns!" the works of le gascon will be found more among great personages than with the so-called collectors, which gives value to their grace and charm. the king's brother gaston possessed them, then mazarin, an example from whose library is here reproduced. on this binding le gascon worked gilt compartments and elaborate arabesques; in the middle of the sides are the arms of the cardinal and his pretentious device: "arma julii ornant franciam!"--"the arms of jules the ornament of france!" in spite of the profusion of subjects, nothing could better please the eye or indicate a man of taste. but if le gascon be a legendary personage, he had an imitator or rival, very near to him, named florimond badier, whose works had at least the advantage of being signed. at the bottom of the inside cover of an inlaid morocco binding in the national library at paris is the inscription "florimond badier fec., inv." the analogy between this work and those known as le gascon's is palpable; inside and outside, the cover is stippled with small tools (_au petit fer_) in the same manner. florimond badier was not appointed bookseller until 1645, and so could not have composed earlier bindings attributed to le gascon, but this resemblance of style evidences the existence of a parisian school, the adepts of which copied one another, as they do nowadays. the work was soon simplified; pallets and wheel-shaped tools were invented to produce that which was improperly called _dentelle_; this mechanical work was done by a wheel-shaped tool, previously heated, on gold in sized leaves, on which it impressed its projections. with louis xiv. the passion for gilding increased. charming festoons were designed, but they were soon abused, and inundated the libraries. on the sides were seen rising suns, arms, and golden garlands. cramoisy directed the royal bindings, the king having devoted large sums to the purchase of levant leathers. in 1666 the director of works ordered red moroccos; in 1667 he received twenty-two dozen skins, amounting, with the expenses of transport, to 1,020 livres tournois. successive supplies were made, and were used for the royal library, sixty-nine dozen in 1667, forty-six dozen in 1668, and three hundred and thirty-three dozen in 1670, costing the king more than 12,000 livres. on these admirably dressed skins, which, in spite of incessant use, still remain now as in their first days, the king caused to be applied, according to the size, tools of borders, having in the middle the arms of france, with the collar of st. esprit. among the binders mentioned in the very useful work of m. j. j. guiffrey on the expenditure of louis xiv., we find gilles dubois, who died before 1670; levasseur, binder of huet, bishop of avranches; la tour, mérins or mérius, who died before 1676; and also ruette, the reputed inventor of marbled paper for fly-leaves of books: to him the bindings of the chancellor de séguier, with their ornament of the golden fleece, and of madame de séguier, are attributed. it was probably these men who decorated the books of the brothers dupuy, fouquet, and colbert, marvellous works of solidity, if not always of elegance, which have resisted all assaults. unhappily, in many instances the mechanical _dentelle_ overburdened the work, and gave it a commonplace regularity. in the condé, colbert, and perhaps even madame de longueville's collections, there are many specimens of this kind with two or three filleted borders. we have come to an epoch when the difficulties resulting from confusion between the booksellers' and binders' trades began to be understood. the revocation of the edict of nantes had implicitly prepared a crowd of measures and rules in all branches of national industry. it was a good occasion to prevent the artisans of binding unduly parading themselves as booksellers and selling merchandise of which they understood nothing; louis xiv. interfered, and separated the two communities. the binders then became the _relieurs-doreurs_ of books; they had their own organisation, but remained subject to the university; the heads of the fraternity were called the "guards." the principal arrangements of the regulation of 1749 were: the members of the corporation had the sole right to bind books, from the elegant volume to registers of blank paper. five years of apprenticeship and three of companionship were necessary to obtain the brevet of freedom and to hold a shop. moreover, it was indispensable to read and write. one regulation ordained that the workman should be "able to bind and ornament ordinary books or others, to render them perfect and entire, to sew the sheets at most two together with thread and real bands, with joints of parchment, and not paper, and in case of infraction the said books were to be remade at the expense of the offender, who was besides condemned to a penalty of thirty livres for each volume." their establishment was confined to the quarter from the rue st. andré des arts to the place maubert; they regulated the sale of calfskin and of tools; in a word, they were surrounded by precautions by which the production remained always under the supervision of the masters and completely satisfied the client. this calculating policy was, in fact, a close imitation of the royal ordinance of 1686. [illustration: fig. 117.--mosaic binding of the eighteenth century for the _spaccio de la bestia trionfante_.] the mosaic bindings used from the end of the reign of louis xiv. were an application of pared leathers of colours different from the background, pasted on to the side. the binders of the regency composed a great number, attributed now to pasdeloup, as all the crayons of the sixteenth century are called clouets, and all the panels on wood holbeins. it is not that there was great originality in these works, or a particular art; more often the workman did no more than transcribe le gascon or eve or the older binders, and accommodated the processes of these artists to the fashion of his time. in this style we may cite the _spaccio de la bestia trionfante_, printed at paris 1584, for which the binder designed a cover of doubtful taste and, above all, an undeniable want of proportion. the tendency was then to flowers occupying three-fourths of the page, to compartments too large, to open pomegranates, like the _spaccio_ here reproduced. if pasdeloup had discovered these mediocre combinations, he could not be proclaimed the regenerator of a fallen art. the bastard style of these works may be compared to their mosaics, constructed of pieces; it is a little of everything, and together it is nothing. however, in the midst of the quantity of mediocre things, some pleasing decoration is from time to time met with; the design of a volume with the arms of the regent and his wife, mademoiselle de blois, wants neither elegance nor taste; without being perfection, it has better proportion and balance. [illustration: fig. 118.--mosaic binding of the eighteenth century, with the arms of the regent. m. morgand's collection.] we should, however, hesitate to give names to all these works. besides pasdeloup, there were the deromes, abandoning a little the mosaics, devising flowers and _dentelles_ in combination, and no longer the simple products of the fillet. they formed a dynasty; and if the pasdeloups were at least twelve, there were fourteen deromes all booksellers and binders from the reign of louis xiv. the most celebrated was james anthony, who died in 1761. peter paul dubuisson was not only a binder; he was a designer. he invented heraldic ornaments, and composed models of gilding tools, in which his contemporaries emulated him. he was intimate with the delicate vignettist eisen, and the counsels of an artist of this value could not but be useful to him. it is an extraordinary thing that in this world of celebrated printers, amateur financiers, and notable painters and engravers, not a single man can be met to give a real impulse to the art of which we speak, and to prevent the dull continuance of experiments on the whole so poor. doubtless the _dentelles_ of derome had a certain air of gaiety, to which the books of the eighteenth century accommodated themselves perfectly; the tools of dubuisson produce most pleasing designs; but the old, the great binders, had altogether disappeared. besides, derome massacred without pity the rarest works. he loved edges very regularly cut, and he did not fail to hew down margins opposed to his taste. he sawed books as well; that is to say, in place of sewing the sheets on to projecting bands, he made a groove in the back, in which the cord was embedded. the books have no resistance. to these celebrated names of french binders of the eighteenth century we may add le monnier, who worked for the orleans princes; tessier, his successor; laferté, who decorated the small volumes of the duc de la vallière as chamot covered the large ones; in 1766 chamot was royal binder. there was also pierre engerrand, then biziaux, an original, who worked for madame de pompadour and beaumarchais. boyet, or boyer, worked (1670-80) in the style of le gascon, with the same minute tooling, but simpler in character. duseuil put very elaborate and delicate tooling on his covers from about 1710 to 1720. the revolution effaced many of the fine works which displayed the symbols "of a royalty justly detested," and mercier wrote certain wicked little poems against binding. lesné was the poet of bookbinding, and he invented the process of plain calf without boards. certainly from grolier to lesné there were numerous changes, so numerous that, in spite of the nude calf, it may be said that the art was nearly dead. in our days it has a little recovered. amateurs have found new names, and often artists, to patronise: trautz-bauzonnet, capé, duru, lortic, marius michel, in france; bedford, rivière, zaehnsdorf, pratt, in england; matthews, bradstreet, smith, in the united states; and many others. unhappily, fortune does not permit every one to furnish his library luxuriously; the true connoisseur searches rather for groliers, eves, and le gascons, than concerns himself about modern workmanship. whatever may be its value, it is only fit to clothe the works of the time. a book published by lemerre and bound by petit is in true character, but a fifteenth or sixteenth century book passed under the hands of trautz-bauzonnet himself will be very much like an ancient enamel in a modern frame newly gilt. bookbinding in england has, with very few exceptions, never attained the artistic excellence reached in france. from the earliest times to the present day servile imitations of foreign work only are seen. the one purely original english binder is roger payne, who from about 1770 worked for thirty or forty years in london, performing with his own hands every stage of the work, even to cutting his own tools. the result was good, solid work, with perfectly original and often very beautiful decoration, appropriate to the character of the work itself. his favourite style was drooping lines of leaf ornaments in the borders and geometrical patterns in small tools. after him came charles lewis, who was an artist in the true sense of the word, and, coming down to our own time, francis bedford, who, never pretending to originality, copied the best designs of the old french and italian binders. his full calf books, with handsomely tooled backs, are models of solidity and taste; and his decorations on the sides of morocco-bound books are always in good taste, and often of great elegance. the binders of the present day, perhaps for lack of patronage, seem to have abandoned originality; and although much excellent work is done, it is no more than a copy of the eves, le gascon, derome, and the older artists. parallel with the luxurious bindings with which we have been exclusively occupied, there has always been the commercial work, prepared in advance. liturgical works, above all, are sold in this form. books in the grolier style or other grand personages were worked from a pattern engraved in relief, leaving nothing to the caprice of the artist, by being applied to the side by a press. this process is termed blocking. germany made use of this process principally; also vostre, verard, and tory employed the same means. even the interlacings and the capricious arabesques of grolier were imitated by means of a fixed plate, parts of which were finished by hand to make it appear a complete work of imagination and handicraft. [illustration] chapter ix. libraries. art, science, and literature took refuge in convents before the invention of printing, and libraries did not count many books. according to daily wants, the monastery scribes copied the treatises lent by neighbouring houses, and the collection was thus painfully made during many centuries. two or three hundred works constituted ordinary collections; the powerful abbeys found in their staff the means of enriching their libraries, as we have said, but they were the privileged ones. excepting kings and some princes, few people possessed a library. the great expense of transcription, the want of facility for procuring originals, and the enormous price of manuscripts left no hope to bibliophiles of moderate fortune. typography, on the contrary, having multiplied books and put at relatively modest prices reproductions formerly inaccessible, private collections commenced. we have had occasion to speak before of grolier and maioli; they were the most illustrious, but not the only ones. at first a public library was an unknown thing. the richest and the most easily got together, that of the king of france, was private. since john the good in france the acquisitions were numerous, and gutenberg's invention contributed to augment the stock of volumes everywhere. charles viii. and louis xii. found or took in their expeditions in italy, and were able to add to the original nucleus, many rare editions, especially from the sforzas at pavia, who had marvels without number. brought together at blois, under the care of john de labarre, the royal library did not yet occupy a very large space, in spite of its increase. under charles v. the number of books was about a thousand; about 1500 or 1510 they were nearly doubled, and the printed books did not number more than two hundred. so restricted, the royal library travelled with the other treasures of the crown; francis i. transported it from blois to fontainebleau, and even parts of it to the italian wars, as related above. in its new quarters the royal collection, in spite of the successive accessions of the books of john d'angoulême, grandfather of the king, and of those of the dukes of orleans, counted but 1,781 manuscripts and a hundred and nine printed books on the shelves. the king, ambitious in literature no less than in arts, nominated an illustrious _savant_, guillaume budé, to the office of master of his library; and this qualification was maintained by his successors until the fall of the royal power. with budé commenced the system of continuous acquisitions. the treasury was liberally opened to vendors of rarities. at this time the books, placed upon their sides, one upon another, gave no idea of a modern library, with its volumes ranged on end, having their titles between the bands of the back. in speaking of grolier, we remarked that the sides of a binding alone had importance on account of their place on the shelves; it was the same with francis i. under henri ii. the fontainebleau collection was somewhat pillaged for diana of poitiers, but, as a corrective for this dilapidation, the king adopted a measure, since preserved, which substituted for acquisitions a regular and uninterrupted supply; this was the contribution by publishers to the library of one bound copy on vellum of all the works printed under privilege. the ordinance was made in 1556; the successors of henri ii. had only this means of increasing the number of their volumes, with the exception that charles ix. expended a large sum in the purchase of grolier's collection of medals. such was the working of the royal library for about a half-century, but the idea of making it public had not come. diffused as was then the passion for books, it had not yet been democratised to the point of being understood by the people. amateurs and lovers of reading formed special collections in their houses, at times rivalling that of the king. then the fashion was no more to lay the books on their sides, but they were now ranged to allow room for new acquisitions. henri iv., who had not his great-uncle's predilection for fontainebleau, commanded the removal to paris of the books buried in the castle. he added to them those of catherine de medicis coming from marshal strozzi; and as the college of clermont had become vacant by the dispersion of the jesuits, he lodged the library in 1599 in one of the rooms of that establishment, under the care of james augustus de thou, master of the library. we now see the royal collection brought to paris, which it has never quitted; but before its definitive installation, before it was made public, it passed through a century, during which additions were made, purchases increased, and the number of manuscripts and printed books augmented in enormous proportions. henri iv. desired to place it near the court, to avoid pillage and to have the chief librarian near to him. the return of the jesuits in 1604 upset the first establishment a little; the college of clermont was evacuated; the books were transported to the cordeliers and distributed in rooms on the ground and first floors, whence the names of upper and lower libraries. there was a mass of volumes very little used, for the public did not enjoy them, and the king held them as his own; but the time was near when the collection was to take a very serious step under the influence of the brothers dupuy in 1645, and afterwards of jerome bignon. always shut up in the incommodious chambers of the cordeliers, the library contained 5,259 volumes, manuscript and printed, perhaps less than some private libraries; after the dupuys it had at least 10,329 printed books. mazarin was the first to comprehend the natural use of collections of books: publicity. his private library, placed before 1651 in his magnificent house in the rue richelieu, where later was definitively lodged the royal library, was opened to readers every tuesday, from eight to eleven and two to five. dispersed in 1651, at the fall of the cardinal, it was later reconstituted, and in less than ten years afterwards the former minister was able to open it in its new quarters, the college of the four nations, where it is still. while the mazarin library was administering liberally to the wants of the public, that of the king remained closely shut up in the rooms of the cordeliers. colbert, influenced by this state of things, offered two houses in the rue vivienne to the king, where the books could find a more convenient lodging, and allow room for increase. the removal was made in 1666. the royal collection for fifty-five years was lodged only a few steps from its final resting-place, the hotel de nevers. so was called at the end of the seventeenth century the splendid mansion of mazarin, situated near the porte de richelieu, in the street of the same name, whence his books had been previously torn and sold to all the dealers. divided into two parts at the death of the cardinal in 1661, the palace fell, one part to the duc de mazarin, the other to the duc de nevers, his nephews. at first the king dreamed, under the advice of louvais, of acquiring the land in the neighbourhood of the rue vivienne and of elevating a monument for his library, for the thought of putting the hotel de nevers to this use had not then occurred to him; but the duc de mazarin having alienated his part of the palace in favour of the company of the indies, abbé bignon, then royal librarian, perceived the part he could play from that fact. thanks to the administration of colbert and the liberalities of the king, the collection had been augmented threefold. at the time of the removal to the rue vivienne, nicolas clément worked at the classifying and cataloguing of 35,000 volumes. he distributed them into methodical classes, and devoted nine years--1675 to 1684--to his work. but this first unravelling was soon insufficient. less than four years after, he commenced a new inventory in twenty-one volumes, which occupied thirty years, having been finished in the course of march, 1714. this time the numbers amounted to 43,000 printed volumes; his twenty-three principal divisions, containing all the letters of the alphabet, are very nearly preserved up to our day. in 1697 the question of publishing this enormous work was agitated, and on this point clément had a curious correspondence with a learned dane named frederick bostgaard; he also, in a celebrated pamphlet, _idée d'une nouvelle manière de dresser le catalogue d'une bibliothèque_, indicated practical observations; he resolved this arduous question for important collections by difference of sizes; but his project was not executed, although favoured from the first by abbé bignon. as the collection was not available for workers, the work of clément had only a relative importance. a councillor of the prince of waldeck, a german of the name of nemeitz, who travelled in france in the beginning of the eighteenth century, having seen it in the houses of the rue vivienne, says that the library occupied then twenty-six rooms and contained 75,000 volumes in all; it was shown voluntarily to strangers, but not to the public. nemeitz gives some other curious particulars as to the libraries of paris (_séjour à paris:_ leyde, 1727, 8vo). the bank of law, that had been lodged for some time in the hotel de nevers, alienated by the heirs of mazarin, soon disappeared with the ruin of his system. as we have said above, bignon appreciated the importance of the neglected palace for commodiously lodging the royal collections. this was in 1721. the collection was about to be subdivided into four sections, or, as they were then called in the administrative style, four distinct departments: manuscripts, printed books, titles, and engraved plates. the master of the library pressed the regent to profit by the occasion, to which he agreed. in the month of september the removal commenced, and from the rue vivienne, the royal library, the first in the world and the most valuable, as naudé says, entered the former palace of the cardinal, which it was never to quit again. we approach the epoch when this great scientific establishment was to quit its private character and to open its doors to the learned of all countries. in 1735 it was decided to print the catalogue of some divisions only: theology, canonical law, public law, and _belles lettres_. this resolution coincided precisely with the opening of the doors which took place in 1737, in which year appeared the first volume of the catalogue comprising the sacred scriptures. at the end of the eighteenth century the royal library was finally established; the printed books then comprised about 200,000 volumes, and access was had by a staircase leading to six grand saloons, which were surrounded by galleries. from this moment the rooms became too small. at the revolution the number of books had increased to 300,000, and projects of enlargement commenced, to be continued to our time; but, in spite of these proposals, the surface occupied by the library has remained the same since the time of louis xv. enlargements and alterations have been made year after year on the same ground without much new construction. but how the treasures have been augmented to this time! if the printed books at the revolution represented a little more than 300,000 volumes, to-day they exceed two millions; the prints number two and a half millions; the medals, 100,000; the manuscripts, something over 90,000. if we have thus brought the summary history of the national library of paris to our days, it was to avoid mixing it with other matters. we have entered into such detail regarding it as is fitting for the most important library in the world. we now return to the seventeenth century. at the time when henri iv. carried from fontainebleau to paris the nucleus of volumes that was to have so brilliant a destiny, the passion for books had singularly spread itself in france. we have already spoken of mazarin; after him cardinal richelieu designed to open his private collection to the public, and in his will he manifested his clearly held intention. he went further in his last wishes: he prescribed the daily sweeping and dusting of the precious collection, and its augmentation by a thousand livres tournois each year. the great personages of the time were not behind; and sauval says that in the seventeenth century there were 1,000 or 1,200 private libraries in paris, numbering 1,700,000 volumes. in the provinces there were few public libraries. the communities and learned societies, the jesuits and other religious houses, and the universities had collections at orleans a library was opened for germans, and the students of that country were able to work at their ease under the supervision of two librarians. at the end of the eighteenth century the number of libraries had increased in large proportions; the amateurs had made their influence felt. the book was not sought only for what it contained, but also for its exterior clothing. only the great libraries open to everybody remained eclectic, and provided a little of everything. besides the royal library, there were in paris a great number of other collections, which the revolutionary storm upset and often destroyed. that of st. germain des près was burnt in 1794. that of st. geneviève, founded in 1625, had benefited by celebrated donations, among others those of the cardinals de berulle and de la rochefoucauld; the arsenal, created by the marquis de paulmy, was successively enriched by important acquisitions, among which was the collection of the duc de la vallière. these collections still exist, and are open to the public, as also are the national library, the mazarine, the sorbonne, the museum, the school of fine arts, the city of paris, the institute, the louvre, and the several scientific faculties. the provinces have not been behind in the movement. many of the great cities contain a considerable number of books easily accessible, among them the libraries of bordeaux and rouen, amounting to 150,000 volumes; troyes and besançon, 100,000, etc. few important centres have less than 20,000. these collections have been generally composed of those of the religious establishments, closed by the revolution. in our time public libraries are augmented by the legal deposit, gifts of the state, legacies of private persons, and purchases. the legal deposit in france relates almost exclusively to the national library, and proceeds from the measures taken by henri ii. in 1556. each french printer has now to deposit a certain number of copies of the works that he issues, and these volumes go to swell the number of books in the rue de richelieu. at the rate of 30,000 a year, the time is easily anticipated and very near when the space will be found insufficient. some measures will have to be taken. germany, the cradle of printing, was not favoured in the beginning. it had, however, in the seventeenth century, in wolfenbüttel, a little town in the duchy of brunswick, a curious collection of books, in a detached building, of which the engraver merian has preserved for us the physiognomy; it contained nearly 200,000 volumes, an enormous number for the time. the rather low rooms were shelved all round; in the middle were cases of the height of a man, also filled with books; the readers helped themselves, and were seated for working. the exterior of the building, without being sumptuous, was isolated and detached. in our time this collection includes the bible, glass, and inkstand of luther and his portrait by lucas cranach. another curious library, dating from the beginning of the seventeenth century, is that of the city of leyden. an engraving by woudan shows its state in 1610, with its classifications and divisions. the books were ranged in cases provided with breast-high desks. the books were placed with the edges in front, and not as now, and were so attached that they could only be consulted in their place. each body of shelving contained a series of authors: theology, philosophy, mathematics, history, medicine, law, and literature. the room, of square shape, was lighted by windows right and left. between the bays were portraits, views of cities, and maps. on the right, in a shrine, was enclosed the legacy of joseph scaliger. communication was less liberal than at wolfenbüttel; the readers were obliged to take the books from the shelves themselves and read them standing before the desks. in england, the celebrated oxford library should be mentioned, augmented and restored in 1597 by sir thomas bodley, ambassador of queen elizabeth. the generous overtures of this rich gentleman met with unanimous approbation. he offered to the library of the university the volumes collected by him during his travels on the continent, whose value exceeded £10,000. the first stone of a new building was laid in 1610, but from 1602 the collection was open to readers in a provisional locality. david loggan, the engraver, has preserved for us interior views of the bodleian of the seventeenth century. the rooms are disposed in the form of the letter h, with pavilions to east and west, united by a gallery. the books were and are still in the body of the library, placed against the walls, with tables and immovable seats. the volumes were not displaced; they were consulted in their own place. each room had two floors, with access to the second by stairs. in london it was hans sloane who had the idea of founding a great collection by offering to the state for £20,000 his collection of books, which was valued at £50,000. created in 1753 by an act of parliament, the british museum, as it was named, was quickly augmented by many private libraries, among which was the library of printed books and manuscripts collected by the kings of england from henry vii. to william iii., which was added in the reign of george ii. the very extensive and valuable library of george iii., 250,000 volumes, was added by george iv. the harleian collection added 7,500 volumes, and robert cotton his manuscripts. to-day the printed books amount to 1,300,000, and are only surpassed by the national library of france as well in number of books as in number of readers. this immense collection increases at a great rate, one source being the compulsory deposit of a copy of every new book in order to secure copyright. donations and legacies are constantly being made, and an annual sum for purchases is voted by parliament. besides the copy deposited by publishers in the british museum, the law of copyright compels the deposit of four other copies, which go to augment the collections of the bodleian library of oxford, the university library of cambridge, and the libraries of edinburgh and dublin. if we search among the cities of europe where establishments of this kind are most honoured, berlin will take the third place with 900,000 printed books and 20,000 manuscripts, preserved in the imperial library. the building, constructed between 1775 and 1780, owes its special form to frederick ii., who desired that it should take the form of a chest of drawers. on the façade an inscription in the latin tongue, but conceived in german spirit, indicates that here is a spiritual refectory--_nutrimentum spiritus_. following come munich, with 800,000 printed books; vienna 400,000; dresden, 300,000; then the universities: leipzig, whose library, founded in 1409 and reorganised in 1830, contains 150,000 books and 2,000 manuscripts; heidelberg; göttingen, etc. in italy, florence keeps, in the national library, 300,000 volumes, proceeding from various amateurs, and formed since 1860. the collection of the goldsmith magliabecchi, that was open to readers since 1747, has been transported there. besides this library, florence possesses the celebrated laurentian, created by cosmo de medicis in the middle of the fifteenth century, where are united more than 8,000 manuscripts of an incalculable value. milan has at the brera a collection of 200,000 printed books and 50,000 medals, and at the ambrosian, due to cardinal frederick borromeo, 160,000 printed books and 8,000 manuscripts. rome possesses a dozen collections and celebrated deposits. the vatican, not numerous, is most choice; the importance of its manuscripts is known to the entire world, but only a part of the 50,000 printed books are catalogued. the library of victor emmanuel, formerly of the jesuits, amounts to about 66,000 volumes. at venice the splendid monument called the antiqua libraria di st. marco has changed its destination; constructed in the sixteenth century and commenced by sansovino for a library, it is now a royal palace. this city has lost that which had made its glory, and its collections are very modest in our days. the magnificent educational establishments in the form of public libraries provided in the united states deserve special mention. nearly every city has its public library, supported by a small tax; and many large libraries are wholly supported by private munificence. the first to be established was founded in 1732 by benjamin franklin in philadelphia, and still exists as the library company; many important bequests have been made to it, the latest being £200,000 by dr. richard rush. the library now numbers 150,000 volumes. the congressional library of washington, besides its annual income from government, receives by deposit for copyright a copy of every work published in the united states; it now has 565,000 volumes. the astor library and the lenox library of new york were both founded and endowed by the families whose name they bear; the former has 223,284 volumes, the latter 25,000. the city of chicago recently fell heir to the magnificent sum of over one million sterling for the establishment of a library of reference, and new york was benefited by the late mr. tilden to the extent of £800,000 for a public library. when we have named the libraries of st. petersburg and moscow for russia, stockholm for sweden, and the escurial for spain, we shall have mentioned very hastily the most important establishments in the world. for more than four centuries the love of books has preserved and fortified itself, and increases each day. if we were to endeavour to approximately imagine the number of printed books diffused, we should be frightened at it. it is by miles that to-day are counted the shelves of the national library or of the british museum; and each year the production is accelerated, as is also the number of readers. the end. index. albi, first printer at, 47. alciati, books of emblems, 126. alding, henry, printer in sicily, 35. aldus manutius, son-in-law of torresani, 51; printer in venice, 99, 103, 128; books for grolier, 260. america, north, printing in, 216. antwerp, early printing at, 67; plantin, 140. _ars memorandi_, block book, 10. _ars moriendi_, block book, 8. asola, andrew d', successor of jenson, 50. audran, c., engraver, 158. augsburg, _formschneiders_ at, 58. badier, florimond, bookbinder, 280. badius, jodocus, printer in paris, 122, 246. baldini, designs for early italian books, 54. ballard, printer for music, 186. bamberg, early printing at, 25, 29. barcelona, first printer, 36. bartolozzi, engraver, 209. baskerville, printer of birmingham, 208. basle, first printer, 36; school of engraving, 125. beaujoyeux, balthasar de, _ballet comique_, 136. bechtermuncze, henry, pupil of gutenberg, 25, 36. bedford, francis, bookbinder, 288. belfort, andrew, printer at ferrara, 35. berlin, imperial library of, 301. bernard, _le petit_, designer, 128. bewick, thomas, engraver, 209, 213, 225, 234. bible, gutenberg's, 15, 20; of 1462, the mayence, 27; first english, 146; authorised version, 182; the polyglot, plantin's, 141; richelieu's, 173. _biblia pauperum_, block book, 8. bignon, jerome, royal librarian, 293. binding, early, 253. biziaux, bookbinder, 287. blind asylum, printers in 1786, 216. bocard, andrew, printer in paris, 88. bodleian library, 300. bohn, h. g., publisher, 223. bologna, francisco da, engraver of type, 100. bonhomme, printer in lyons, 128. book, the, earliest forms of, 1, 6. books of hours, 70, 112; for english use, 147. booksellers of paris, 170, 186, 190, 196. bosse, abraham, engraver, 170. botticelli, plates to dante, 55. boucher, designer, 188. bourdichon, john, artist, 69. boydell, alderman, publisher, 210. boyet, bookbinder, 287. brandt's "ship of fools," 65. british museum, library, 301. brothers of common life, printers, 1468, 36. browne, h. k., book illustrator, 235. bruges, early printing at, 37, 67. buckinck, arnold, printer at rome, printed the first atlas, 55. budé, guillaume, royal librarian, 291. cæsaris, peter, and john stol, second paris printers, 68. callot, engraver, 167. cambridge, first printing at, 149. cars, laurent, engraver, 189. cases for type, 243. caslon, william, type-founder, 208. catherine de medicis, bindings for, 270. "catholicon," the, of 1460, printed by gutenberg, 23. caxton, william, first english printer, 37, 92, 240. cazin, publisher, 200. cerceau, _bastiments de france_, 1576, 135. chaillot, robin, publisher in paris, 82. challeux, james le, wood engraver, 137. chamot, bookbinder, 287. _champfleury_, geoffroy tory's, 116, 261. characters, variety of, 243. charles vii. sends jenson to mayence, 38. charles viii., royal library, 291. charles ix., bindings for, 274. charles of angoulême, books specially printed for him, 78. chauveau, francis, engraver, 179. chess, caxton's book on, 92. chodowiecki, engraver, 208. choffard, engraver, 198, 211. clement v., _constitutiones_, 1460, printed by schoeffer, 26. clément, nicholas, royal librarian, 294. clennell, luke, wood engraver, 215, 225, 234. cochin the younger, engraver, 191. colbert, bindings for, 272, 282. collines, simon de, type-founder, 241. cologne, first printer, 36. "cologne chronicle," 58. colonna, francis, poliphilus of, 1499, 56; in french, 1545, 123. colophons, use of, by early printers, 88. commin, vincent, bookseller in paris, 82. companies of printers in france, 165. copper plate engraving, 135; in england, 149. coster, laurent, alleged inventor of printing, 6, 30. cousin, john, designs for books, 132. cramoisy, sebastian, printer of paris, 155, 165; director of bindings for louis xiv., 281. cranach, lucas, his _passional christi_, 106. cranmer's catechism, 1548, 148. cruikshank, george, book illustrator, 235. curmer, publisher of paris, 230. dances of death, 58, 72, 85, 124. dante, 1481, with engraved plates, 54; 1491, with botticelli plates, 55; 1487, printed by bonnini, 58. day, john, printer, 146. della bella, engraver, 168. deromes, bookbinders, 286. desportes, philip, bindings for, 272. devéria, engraver, 227. dibdin, t. f., bibliographical works, 223. didot, françois, printer of paris, 194. didot, pierre f., printer of paris, 216, 219. didot family, 218, 242. dijon, first printer at, 47. diodorus siculus, geoffroy tory's edition, 118. donatus, the latin syntax of, 4, 30. doré, gustave, influence on illustration, 234. doyle, richard, book illustrator, 235. dritzehen, andrew, associate of gutenberg, 13. dubois, gilles, bookbinder, 281. dubuisson, peter paul, bookbinder, 286. duchesne on wood engraving, 225. duplat, relief engraving on stone, 213. duplessis-bertaux, engraver, 206. du pré, john, printer of books of hours, 80. dupuy brothers, bindings for, 272, 282; royal librarians, 293. durand's _rationale_, 1459, printed by schoeffer, 26. dürer, albert, pupil of wohlgemuth, 60; "apocalypse," 62, 104; influence on geoffroy tory, 116. duseuil, bookbinder, 287. eisen, engraver, 196. eltvil, first printer, 36. elzevirs, printers at leyden, 162. emblems, books of, 126, 135. england, bookbinding in, 288; public libraries, 300. english books, in the fifteenth century, 92; in the sixteenth century, 144; seventeenth century, 181; eighteenth century, 208; nineteenth century, 222, 234; school of engraving eighteenth century, 209. engraved plates, first book with, 52; in france, 134, 190. engravers, employed by plantin, 142; in relief, the first, 3. engraving, introduction of metal plates for, 32; the process, 52; in the books of hours, 71. erasmus, visit to aldus, 101. estienne, robert, printer in paris, 121, 242. etching, process of, 189. eustache, william, printer of books of hours, 82. eve, nicholas, bookbinder, 274. ferrara, first printer, 35. fichet, william, ascribes invention of printing to gutenberg, 31. flemish, illustration, 66; printers, early, 36, 106. florence, national library of, 302. foligno, first printer, 35. fontainebleau school of engraving, 128. fornazeris, j. de, engraver, 158. foucquet, john, artist, 69. fount of type, 243. fouquet, superintendent, bindings for, 272, 282. fournier, type-engraver, 242. france, early printing in, 47. francis i., father of letters, 120; bindings for, 266; royal library, 291. frankfort, books of the seventeenth century, 159. franklin, benjamin, printer at philadelphia, 217; founded first american public library, 303. french book illustration, 68, 76, 106, 166, 203; provinces, public libraries of, 298. fresne, trichet du, corrector of royal printing house, 166. furne, publisher of paris, 232. fust, john, 12 _et seq_.; in partnership with gutenberg, 15. garamond, claude, type-founder, 121, 166, 241. gaultier, leonard, engraver, 142, 154. gavarni, designer, 233. ged, william, inventor of stereotype, 220. gering, freyburger, and crantz, first printers in paris, 41. german books, in the seventeenth century, 158; eighteenth century, 208; nineteenth century, 224. german public libraries, 299. gigoux, john, vignettist, 228. gillot, claude, engraver, 180, 186. giunta, lucantonio, printer at venice, 102. gondi, bindings for, 272. gourmont, john de, wood engraver, 137. grandjean, philip, royal printer, 242. grandville, designer, 233. gravelot, hubert francis, engraver, 196, 213. grolier, john, bindings for, 256. guadagnino, artist of venice, 102. guise, henri de, "le balafré," bindings for, 274. gutenberg, john, 12 _et seq_.; at mayence, 15; death of, 29. haarlem, book illustration at, 67. hachette, publisher of paris, 234. hagenbach, peter, printer at toledo, 36. hahn, ulrich, printer at rome, 35; printed first illustrated book in italy, 48. hardouins, printers of books of hours, 82. haye, cornelis de la, painter, 130. heilmann, andrew, associate of gutenberg, 13. heinlein and fichet introduce printing into paris, 40. henri ii., _entrée à lyon_, 1549, 130; bindings for, 270; royal library, 292. henri iii., bindings for, 274. henri iv., royal library, 292. hoe printing machines, 249. holbein, "dance of death," 86, 124; cranmer's catechism, 148. holland, artists in the seventeenth century, 160. illustrations, first, in books, 47; in the sixteenth century, 123. imposition, process of, 245. ink, composition of, 252. ipswich, first printer, 149. isaac, jasper, engraver, 156. italian, books in the seventeenth century, 159; influence on french illustration, 125; on bindings, 256. italic type introduced, 100. italy, public libraries of, 302. jenson, nicholas, sent to mayence to learn type-founding, 38; printer at venice, 38, 103. johannot brothers, engravers, 227. john of cologne, master _à la navette_, 67. jombert, printer of paris, 192. junius, hadrian, narrator of the coster legend, 6, 12. kerver, thielman, printer of books of hours, 80, 88. knight, charles, publisher, 223. koburger, first printer at nuremberg, 36, 60. koelhof, first printer to use signatures, 36. labarre, john de, royal librarian, 291. laborde, _chansons_, 202. laferté, bookbinder, 287. la fontaine, the _contes_, 198. la marche, oliver de, his _chevalier delibéré_, 67. laserre, luxury in bindings for, 278. la tour, bookbinder, 281. lavoignat, wood engraver, 230. lebé, william, type-founder, 140, 242. le brun, painter, 175. leclerc, sébastien, engraver, 176. leech, john, book illustrator, 235. leeu, gerard de, printer at antwerp, 67. le gascon bindings, 276. le jay and the polyglot bible, 173. le maire, john, _illustrations de la gaule_, 107. le monnier, bookbinder, 287. lenoir, philip, bindings for francis i., 268. lepautre, engraver, 179. lesné, poet of bookbinding, 287. letters of indulgence, the first printed, 17. lettou, john, early english printer, 95. leu, thomas de, engraver, 142, 154. levasseur, bookbinder, 281. lewis, charles, bookbinder, 288. leyden, the elzevirs at, 162; public library of, 299. libraries, 290. library, national, of paris, 291. lipsius, justus, employed by plantin, 140. logography, invention of, 216. lorenzo, nicholas di, printer of _el monte santo di dio_, first book with engraved plates, 52. loslein, peter, printer at venice, 35. louis xii., ordinance on printing, 108; bindings for, 256, 264; royal library, 291. louis xiv., bindings for, 281; regulations for bookbinders, 282. louvain, printer in 1474, 37. lutzelburger, hans, engraver of "dance of death," 125. lyons, first printing at, 47; in the sixteenth century, 124; seventeenth century, 158. machlinia, william, early english printer, 37, 95. macon, first printer at, 47. _magasin pittoresque_, 226. mainyal, george, associate of gering, 47. maioli, thomas, bindings for, 259. mansfeldt, count, bindings for, 272. mansion, colard, printer at bruges, 1473, 37. manuscripts, influence of printing upon, 34. manutius. see aldus. marchant, guyot, his "dance of death," 86; bindings for francis i., 268. marinoni printing press, 249. marnef, geoffroy and gilbert, french printers, 107. mayence, revolution at, in 1462, 27; printing in the seventeenth century, 158. mayer, henry, printer at toulouse, 47. mazarin, cardinal, bindings for, 280; his library, 293. meissonier, designer on wood, 230. mellan, claude, engraver, 156. menzel, adolph, book illustrator, 224. _mer des histoires_, 1488, 70, 107. mérius, bookbinder, 281. meslier, denis, publisher in paris, 82. metal plates used for illustration, 134. metlinger, printer at dijon, 47. milan, printing in the sixteenth century, 103; public libraries of, 302. montenay, georgette de, his emblems, 135. monteregio, _calendario_, first book with title-page, 50. montmorency, anne de, bindings for, 272. moreau the younger, engraver, 200. moretus, printer of antwerp, 141. mosaic bindings, 284. motte, houdart de la, his "fables," 186. necker, jost, engraver of the _theuerdanck_, 105. neumeister, john, printer at albi, 47. neumeister, john, printer at foligno, 35. nevers, duc de, book published in 1577, 138. notary, julian, early english printer, 96. noyers, sublet de, superintendent of royal printing house, 166. nuremberg, first printer, 36; books of the sixteenth century, 104; chronicle, 1493, 62; books of the seventeenth century, 159. orleans, public library at, 298. os, peter van, his _biblia pauperum_, 67. oswen, john, first printer at ipswich, 149. oxford, first printer, 37; bodleian library, 300. palermo, first printer, 35. palmart, lambert, printer at valencia, 1477, 36. pannartz, arnold, printer at rome, 35. paper, manufacture of, 249. papillons, wood engravers, 212. paris, fust's visit to, 27; first book printed at, 42; public libraries of, 298. pasdeloup, bookbinder, 284. pasquier-bonhomme, printer in paris, 68. pass family, engravers, 160. pasti, matteo, designs for valturius, 49. paulin, publisher of paris, 228. payne, roger, bookbinder, 288. perréal, john, artist, 69. pfinzfing, _theuerdanck_, 104. pfister, albert, printer of bamberg, 25. philippe, laurent, publisher in paris, 82. photography, use in illustration, 233. picart, bernard, engraver, 180. picart, john, engraver, 156. piccini, engraver, 159. pickering, william, publisher, 223. pictor, bernard, printer of venice, 35. pigouchet, philip, printer of paris, 68, 70. plantin, christopher, printer of antwerp, 140. pluvinel, _manège royal_, 160. poitiers, diane de, bindings for, 270. poliphilus, printed by aldus, 1499, 56; by kerver, 1545, 123. polytypes, invention of, 216. pompadour, madame de, bindings for, 272. portraits as illustrations, 89, 123, 137. prault, publisher of paris, 192. prayer-book, queen elizabeth's, 146; edward vi's., 148. presses, printing, 248. press work, process of, 246. printers' marks, 87. prohibitions on printers, 152, 185. _promptuaire des médailles_, printed by roville, 130. psalter of 1457, the first dated book, 23. ptolemy, 1478, first printed atlas, 55. pynson, richard, early english printer, 37, 95, 146. racine, works, the louvre edition, 219. raffet, wood engraver, 232. ratdolt, erhardt, printer at venice, 35; printed first title-page, 50, 103. rembold, berthold, associate of gering, 47. richelieu, cardinal, his library, 297. roffet, peter, bindings for francis i., 267. rogers, samuel, his poetical works, 222. roman character, 38, 240. rome, first printers, 35; public libraries of, 302. rood, theod., first printer at oxford, 37. roville, printer of lyons, 128, 130. royal printing house in paris, 166, 215. royer, john le, printer for mathematics, 1560, 132. ruette, bookbinder, 282. rüppel, berthold, first printer at basle, 36. st. albans, first printer, 37. st. aubin, designer and engraver, 192, 200. st. pierre, bernardin de, and the didots, 221. salomon, bernard, designer, 128. sanlecque, james, type-founder, 242. schäufelein, designs for the _theuerdanck_, 105. schiedam, early printing at, 67. schoeffer, peter, associate of gutenberg and fust, 16. schongauer, martin, influence on french art, 72. schönsperger, printer of augsburg, 105. séguier, bindings for, 282. siberch, john, first printer at cambridge, 149. sicily, first printer, 35. sizes of books, 147, 189. sloane, sir hans, founder of the british museum, 300. smirke, robert, book illustrator, 210. southwark, first printer at, 149. spain, book illustration in, 106. _speculum humanæ salvationis_, 7. spindeler, nicholas, printer at barcelona, 36. spire, john and vendelin of, printers at venice, 35. spyes, weigand, pupil of gutenberg, 25. stanhope press, 248. steel plates for illustrations, 232. stereotype, invention of, 220. stothard, thomas, book illustrator, 210, 222, 234. strasbourg, gutenberg's retreat to, 13. sweynheim, conrad, printer at rome, 35. _tailleurs d'images_ of the middle ages, 3. tauchnitz, baron, publisher of leipzig, 224. tessier, bookbinder, 287. ther-hoenen, arnold, first printer using arabic numerals for pages, 36, 58, 88. _theuerdanck_, printed at nuremberg, 104. thevet, books with plates, 135. thompson brothers, wood engravers, 225. thou, james augustus de, royal librarian, 293. titian, influence on book illustration, 103. title-page, the first, 50, 86; illustrated, 133, 142. toledo, first printer, 36. tornes, hans de, printer in lyons, 128. torresani, andrea, succeeded jenson, 50. tortorel and perrissin, plates on the religious wars, 137. tory, geoffroy, printer and engraver, 110, 241, 261. toulouse, first printer, 47. travel, books of, 148, 182. treschel, john, printer at lyons, 88, 124. treves, peter of, first printer at southwark, 149. trithemius, account of peter schoeffer, 16. turner, j. m. w., designs for rogers' works, 222. type-founding, 239, 243. united states, printing in, 216; public libraries in, 302. utrecht, early printers at, 36, 67. valdarfer, christopher, printer at venice, 35. valencia, first printer, 36. valladier, andrew, _métanéologie_, 155. valturius, _de re militari_, 1472, 49. veldener, john, printer at louvain, 67. venice, first printers, 35; first title-page printed at, 50; sixteenth century work, 102; seventeenth century, 159; libraries of, 302. verard, antony, printer in paris, 68, 76; his books of hours, 78. versailles, printing office of the minister for war, 215. vinci, leonardo da, influence on book illustration, 103. vitré, antoine, publisher of paris, 172. voragine, "golden legend," venice, 1518, 103. vostre, simon, printer in paris, 68; his books of hours, 70. vyel, andrew, printer at palermo, 35. walchius, story of fust's visit to paris, 28. walter, john, printer of the _times_, 216, 249. water marks in paper, 251. watervliet, marc laurin de, bindings for, 272. watteau, engraver, 187. wechel, printer in paris, 128. wensler, michael, printer at macon, 47. westminster, caxton first printer at, 37. westphalia, john of, printer at louvain, 1474, 37, 67. whittingham, charles, printer, 223. woériot, peter, engraver of emblems, 135. wohlgemuth, michael, designs for the _schatzbehalter_, 60. wolfenbüttel, public library of, 299. woodcuts, first book printed with, 48. wood engraving, revival of, 209, 213, 230. wynken de worde, early english printer, 37, 95. xylographs of the fifteenth century, 8. zainer, gunther, printer at augsburg, 58. zell, ulrich, pupil of gutenberg, 25, 30, 36. zwoll, book illustration at, 67. transcriber's note in this text version, symbols and greek letters in the text are replaced by their name, enclosed in square brackets, e.g. [phi], [double cross]. in addition, oe ligatures are replaced with the letters oe, and superscripts are introduced with the caret character, e.g. xviii^e the pictorial press. [illustration: heading of 'the jacobite's journal,' 1747. (_supposed to be drawn by hogarth._) (_see page 197._)] the pictorial press its origin and progress. [illustration] by mason jackson. with one hundred and fifty illustrations. london: hurst and blackett. publishers. 13 great marlborough street. 1885. _all rights reserved._ note. some of the chapters of this book in a condensed form were published a few years ago in the _illustrated london news_, and my acknowledgments are due to the proprietors of that journal for permission to reprint such of the woodcuts as accompanied the text in that form. i have also to thank them for their courtesy in allowing me to use several other engravings from the _illustrated london news_, including some from the early numbers, which must now be reckoned among the curiosities of the pictorial press. m. j. contents. page chapter i. 1 the pictorial taste universal--the early 'news-books'--development of the newspaper press--general use of newspapers--establishment of illustrated journals--wandering ballad-singers the first newsvendors--the _english mercurie_ of 1588--the abolition of the star chamber and its effect on the press. chapter ii. 8 illustrated broadsides--sir francis drake's operations against the spaniards--papers of news in the reign of james i.--the first periodical newspaper published in england--illustrated tracts relating to storms and floods--remarkable murders favourite subjects with the early newswriters--murder of the rev. mr. storre--murder in cornwall--apparition of three skeletons--visions in the air--attempt on the life of the duke of buckingham--fall of meteors at bawlkin green, berkshire--the _swedish intelligencer_--passage of the river leck by gustavus adolphus--the sallee rovers--the _weekly news_ of 1638, an illustrated paper--the irish rebellion of 1641--the plague in london--murder on board an english ship--the earl of strafford--his execution on tower hill--archbishop laud--a burlesque play about him--attack by the mob on lambeth palace--caricature of the devil offering laud a cardinal's hat. chapter iii. 63 ben jonson's ridicule of the early newspapers--fondness of the old news-writers for the marvellous--the smithfield ghost--the wonderful whale--the newbury witch--satirical tracts and caricatures at the commencement of the civil war--religion tossed in a blanket--caricatures of the pope and the bishops--pluralists and patentees--taylor, the water poet--_mercurius aulicus_--activity of the pamphleteers--welshmen satirised--satires on prince rupert--on the king and queen--the ladies' parliament--illustrated tracts relating to social and political subjects--sir kenelm digby's duel--the king entertained by the city of london, 1641--executions in 1641--the liquor traffic and sunday closing in 1641--abuses of the ecclesiastical courts--ritualism and nunneries in 1641--truths enforced by lieing--stage players and the plague in 1641--bartholomew fair in 1641--destruction of charing cross and cheapside cross--strange apparition--method of enforcing their views adopted by the puritan pamphleteers--parodies of roundhead sermons--matthew hopkins the witch-finder--the _welsh post_ of 1643--william lilly the astrologer--three suns seen in london on the king's birthday. chapter iv. 108 the civil war--flying sheets of news--disturbance at kingston-on-thames--plot against london--riotous proceedings at york, and conspiracy in edinburgh--the house of commons--the royal standard raised at nottingham--battle of edgehill--prince rupert--the lord mayor of london--_mercurius civicus_--the _scottish dove_--the _flying post_--the _kingdomes weekly post_--cruelties of the cavaliers--the 'levellers'--the king's escape from oxford--funeral of the earl of essex--the great seal broken--fairfax--cromwell--sea fight in the channel--the prince of wales's squadron--mutiny at norwich--siege of colchester--execution of sir charles lucas--the king at carisbrooke castle--execution of the king--confession of richard brandon. chapter v. 153 decrease of newspapers after the civil war--_mercurius democritus_--the _faithful post_--the _politique post_--broadsides for the people--the hollow tree at hampstead--prodigious monster taken in spain--the restoration--trial of the regicides--execution of the regicides--licenser of the press appointed--popular taste for the supernatural--apparition in the air in holland--revival of _mercurius civicus_--murder of archbishop sharpe--the _loyal protestant_--frost fair on the thames--monmouth's rebellion--the bloody assizes--funeral of queen mary, consort of william iii.--increase of newspapers after the revolution. chapter vi 180 constant attempts at illustrated news--increase of caricatures--the _postman_, 1704--fiery apparition in the air, seen in london--caricature against the jacobites--the south-sea bubble--eclipse of the sun, 1724--the _grub street journal_ an illustrated paper--the _daily post_--admiral vernon's attack on porto bello--the _penny london post_--henry fielding and the _jacobite's journal_--_owen's weekly chronicle_--_lloyd's evening post_, and the trial of lord byron for the murder of mr. chaworth--the _st. james's chronicle_--illustrated account of a strange wild beast seen in france--the _gentleman's journal_ of anthony motteux--the _gentleman's magazine_ of edward cave--the _london magazine_--the _scot's magazine_. chapter vii 219 revival of wood-engraving by thomas bewick--the _observer_ started, 1791--the _times_ an illustrated paper--illustrations of news in the _observer_--st. helena and napoleon bonaparte--abraham thornton and the 'assize of battle'--mr. william clement and illustrated journalism--the cato street conspiracy--trial of queen caroline--the house of commons in 1821--coronation of george iv.--royal visits to ireland and scotland--murder of mr. weare--illustrations of the murder in the _morning chronicle_, the _observer_, and the _englishman_--_bell's life in london_--prize-fight at warwick--liston as 'paul pry'--'gallery of comicalities,' &c.--_pierce egan's life in london_--death of the duke of york--death of mr. canning--opening of hammersmith bridge, 1827--mr. gurney's steam coach--the thames tunnel--the murder in the red barn--the siamese twins--death of george iv.--opening of new london bridge, 1831--coronation of william iv. and queen adelaide--fieschi's infernal machine--funeral of william iv.--queen victoria's first visit to the city--coronation and marriage of the queen--christening of the prince of wales--the _weekly chronicle_--the greenacre murder--mr. cocking and his parachute--the courtney riots at canterbury--burning of the tower of london, 1841--the _sunday times_--burning of the houses of parliament, 1834--the _champion_--the _weekly herald_--the _magnet_--removing the body of napoleon i.--the _penny magazine_--charles knight--humorous journalism of the victorian era. chapter viii 284 the _illustrated london news_--the early numbers--the burning of hamburg--facetious advertisements--bal masque at buckingham palace--attempted assassination of the queen--the queen's first trip by railway--first royal visit to scotland--political portraits--r. cobden--lord john russell--benjamin disraeli--the french revolution, 1848--the great exhibition, 1851--the crimean war--coloured pictures--christmas numbers--herbert ingram--the _pictorial times_--other illustrated journals. chapter ix 315 how an illustrated newspaper is produced--wood-engraving--boxwood--blocks for illustrated newspapers--rapid sketching--drawing on the block--method of dividing the block for engraving--electrotyping--development of the printing machine--printing woodcuts--machinery for folding newspapers--special artists--their dangers and difficulties--their adventures in war and peace. chapter x 355 artists who have assisted in founding the pictorial press--sir john gilbert, r.a., g. h. thomas, and others--wood-engraving and its connexion with the pictorial press--other methods of producing illustrations--wood-engraving in england before and after bewick's time--its wide diffusion owing to the kindred art of printing--the resources of the art developed by pictorial newspapers--conclusion. newspapers a necessity of civilised life--the _acta diurna_ of the romans--early newspapers in venice, germany, and the low countries--list of illustrated newspapers published abroad. the pictorial press: its origin and progress. chapter i. the pictorial taste universal--the early 'news-books'--development of the newspaper press--general use of newspapers--establishment of illustrated journals--wandering ballad singers the first newsvendors--the _english mercurie_ of 1588--the abolition of the star chamber and its effect on the press. the inherent love of pictorial representation in all races of men and in every age is manifest by the frequent attempts made to depict natural objects, under the most unfavourable circumstances and with the slenderest means. the rude drawing scratched on the smooth bone of an animal by the cave-dweller of pre-historic times, the painted rocks of the mexican forests, and the cave-paintings of the bushmen, are all evidences of this deeply-rooted passion. the child of civilised life looks with delight on his picture-book long before he can make out the letters of the alphabet, and the untutored esquimaux treasures up the stray number of an illustrated newspaper left in his hut by the crew of some whaling ship, though he cannot understand one word of the printed page. but the pictures speak a universal language, which requires no teaching to comprehend. when the printing-press came into use this love of pictures had a wide field for development. some of the first books printed in england were illustrated with woodcuts, and many of the tracts, or 'news-books,' which preceded regular newspapers, were adorned with rude engravings. it mattered not how graphic was the pen, its work was deemed incomplete without the aid of the pencil. it often happened that the pen was none the better for the fellowship, but the public taste was not fastidious, and the work sufficed for the occasion. in tracing the origin and progress of pictorial journalism we shall find in 'the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time' many curious illustrations of contemporary history. the subject is not without interest now that the illustrated newspaper has become a prominent feature in the journalism of every country. the development of the newspaper press and its unrestricted use as the exponent of public opinion is one of the most interesting signs of modern progress. when we consider the liberty of thought and action that prevails in our own day, it is difficult to believe that our forefathers were liable to the pillory and other degrading punishments when they ventured to publish their opinions without first obtaining the sanction of the ruling powers. we are accustomed to the daily exercise of the right which cost prynne his ears and brought fines and imprisonment on defoe. newspapers have become almost as necessary to our daily life as bread itself. the mind demands its breakfast as well as the body; and to many a busy man the loss of his morning paper would be as great a deprivation as the want of his usual matutinal meal. in london, and in all our great centres of population, the newspaper has become the unfailing accompaniment of the city man's journey to business. at the railway stations journals of every kind tempt the loitering passenger, while the illustrated papers appeal to him in a language of their own. whether in the railway carriage, the omnibus, or the steam-boat, the newspaper is eagerly conned, and its contents form the food of conversation. most of these newspapers are cast aside at the end of the twenty minutes' or half hour's journey; and then, at second hand, they amuse the leisure moments of the railway porter, or, better still, they are collected together, and perhaps serve to solace the sick poor during many lingering hours in hospitals and refuges. day by day the demand is made, and the supply is ready. the printing-machine never sleeps and is never tired. its voice is one of the voices of the night--most unmusical, yet with a mysterious meaning. the daily newspaper, so potent in diffusing the light of knowledge, is itself the offspring of darkness. the busy brains and active fingers which create it turn night into day in the execution of their quickly recurring tasks, and with unflagging energy they labour on, that the slumbering world may be properly amused and instructed when it wakes. the intelligent foreigner who happens to reach our southern coast on a monday morning in summer or autumn, and travels to london by one of the early trains, is astonished, when the train stops, to see most of the gentlemen rush from the carriages and surround a small boy, whom they appear to hustle and threaten with violent gesticulations. the boy appears to buy off the hostility of his assailants by dealing out to each a paper, which he takes from a large bundle under his arm, and with which the appeased passenger returns to his carriage. cries of '_times!_ _daily news!_ _telegraph!_ _standard!_--here, give us one--anything!' reach the ears of the wondering stranger, who beholds the boy at length take refuge in an empty railway carriage on the opposite side of the platform, and from that place of vantage he continues to deal out the mysterious papers. after a time the intelligent foreigner learns that these are the london papers of that morning, which are sent out to meet the trains, and are eagerly bought by the gentlemen who have been spending from saturday to monday at the seaside, and, having fasted from all newspapers during that time, they are now of course famishing for news. such is their eagerness that politics are thrown to the winds. the conservative will put up with a liberal newspaper rather than have none at all; and he whose ill luck or inertness has left him without the coveted sheet is glad to borrow of his neighbour, that he may not be walking in the darkness of ignorance when he arrives at his place of business. as the train moves off, the intelligent foreigner, if he thrusts his head out of the carriage window, may behold in the distance the newsboy pensively counting his gains and endeavouring to make his receipts tally with the number of papers that have vanished. one of the most remarkable phases of newspaper history has been the establishment of illustrated journals. though this idea, in an immature form, is as old as the newspaper itself, yet it was never fully developed till the late mr. herbert ingram brought out the _illustrated london news_ in 1842. since that time the removal of the newspaper stamp and the repeal of the paper duty have imparted a freedom and a vigour to newspaper enterprise previously unknown. journals of all kinds have sprung into existence, and cheapness has become the rule. penny and even halfpenny papers compete with the leading journals in activity and enterprise. no expense is spared in obtaining the earliest and most authentic intelligence. correspondents are sent to every part of the world where any information is to be gleaned, and the presence of the newspaper 'special' is now expected at every great event. each class has its organ, and 'he who runs may read.' when we consider the immense amount of printed matter that is published every day by the newspapers, we cannot but wonder at the public appetite. and this appetite is fed from one year to another upon a diet that is only varied when there occurs a war, a revolution, an unusually disastrous shipwreck, or a murder of uncommon atrocity. then the monotony of ordinary life gives place to the temporary excitement. there is a run upon the newspapers, which are as susceptible as barometers, and rise or fall according to the state of public feeling. the calamities of nations and the misfortunes of individuals are sources of profit and prosperity to the newspaper. it was a happy idea to gather together the principal events of the week, to illustrate them with authentic pictures, and place them before the public in the form of a pictorial newspaper. considering the great cost of production, and the restrictions under which newspapers lay at that time, to say nothing of the difficulty of bringing out news with appropriate illustrations, so that both should be fresh, the _illustrated london news_ was a bold undertaking. like most things that are successful, it soon had many imitators, and there are now few large cities in the civilised world that have not their illustrated newspapers. but the full development of illustrated journalism was immediately preceded by many significant symptoms. several of the then existing newspapers, on the occurrence of any unusual or interesting event, introduced into their pages rough woodcut illustrations. a great fire--a remarkable murder--a fatal balloon ascent--these were the subjects seized upon at the moment to satisfy the public craving for illustrated news. all this seems to have been the working of an impulse or instinct which existed even before the days of newspapers; for, as i shall presently show, attempts were made to illustrate the news of the hour in tracts or 'news-books' before the beginning of regular newspapers in england. the idea of illustrated journalism may be traced from the earliest years of the seventeenth century to 1842, the date of the first number of the _illustrated london news_. the art of wood-engraving had fallen very low in the seventeenth century, and the illustrations to be found in early newspapers are mostly of a very rude description; but they show the existence of a germ which eventually grew into full and flourishing life. the english newspaper, like many other great inventions, was a thing of gradual growth. the news that was sung or recited by wandering ballad-singers at the village cross, or in the court-yard of the squire's mansion, and the written newsletter furnished to the wealthy aristocracy, were the precursors of the early news-books and the periodical sheets of news. as the art of printing extended, many of the productions of the press assumed the character of news to attract readers. sermons, satires, and travels, were all put forward under the name of _news_, and sometimes a single grain of truth was deemed sufficient to leaven a whole bushel of fiction. most of these publications were small tracts, and published at irregular intervals. some of them were adorned with engravings on the title-pages, which show that even at this early period the authors or printers of these papers were imbued with the pictorial spirit. the idea of illustrating current events had already taken root, and we find examples of it long before the establishment of regular newspapers. the earliest form of the newspaper is known to have come into existence during times of war and tumult, and it was for a long time believed that the first english newspaper was brought forth under similar circumstances. but when the _english mercurie_ of 1588 was proved to be a forgery, the enthusiast in newspaper history received a heavy blow and sad discouragement. it seemed so highly probable, when this country was threatened with the descent of the spanish armada, that something like a newspaper might have sprung into existence, that people were only too ready to adopt the imposture. when the whole nation was greatly excited and anxious to learn something about the reality of their danger, nothing was more natural than for the sagacious minister of queen elizabeth to appeal to the people through the printing-press, and by its means endeavour to calm the public mind by circulating printed sheets of intelligence, 'for the contradiction of false reports.' but we were compelled to admit that lord burleigh had missed his opportunity, and neglected to use the most powerful means for exciting the patriotism or allaying the fears of his countrymen. the author of this remarkable imposition showed great skill and acuteness in constructing his false newspaper, and fixing the date of its supposed publication. the forgery has been attributed to lord hardwick; but what were his motives it is difficult to understand. unlike chatterton and ireland, he never brought his imposture before the world, and if he intended it merely for an antiquarian _jeu-d'esprit_ he had the enjoyment of the joke entirely to himself. the abolition of the star chamber, in 1641, was an important event for the press of this country. the so-called newspapers then began to print english news and discuss home affairs, no longer dreading the fines, imprisonments, and mutilations, that had been so liberally dispensed by that obnoxious tribunal. there was not, however, any considerable increase in the number of newspapers till the civil war reached its height. during that remarkable contest many hundreds of tracts and newspapers were published, some of them numbered consecutively and published at regular intervals; but the great majority bore no continuous title, and treated of one subject only. during the reigns of charles ii. and james ii. the press was more or less under a censorship, from which it was not emancipated till the seventh year of william iii. lord macaulay dates the commencement of english newspapers from this period, when a great many new journals made their appearance. they included political news amongst their contents; and they more nearly resembled in character, but not in appearance, what we now understand by a newspaper than anything that had preceded them. this press revival was not accompanied by any corresponding activity in the direction of pictorial illustration. art of every kind was in a low condition in england at this time. even if the art of popular illustration had been better understood, the means of production were exceedingly limited. newspapers multiplied greatly, but illustrated journalism had to struggle with difficulties, and its existence was only made known by the occasional appearance of a rough woodcut or an indifferent copper-plate. chapter ii. illustrated broadsides--sir francis drake's operations against the spaniards--papers of news in the reign of james i.--the first periodical newspaper published in england--illustrated tracts relating to storms and floods--remarkable murders favourite subjects with the early newswriters--murder of the rev. mr. storre--murder in cornwall--apparition of three skeletons--visions in the air--attempt on the life of the duke of buckingham--fall of meteors at bawlkin green, berkshire--the _swedish intelligencer_--passage of the river leck by gustavus adolphus--the sallee rovers--the _weekly news_ of 1638, an illustrated paper--the irish rebellion of 1641--the plague in london--murder on board an english ship--the earl of strafford--his execution on tower hill--archbishop laud--a burlesque play about him--attack by the mob on lambeth palace--caricature of the devil offering laud a cardinal's hat. [illustration: the valiant exploits of sir francis drake, 1587.] before, and for a long time after, the general use of newspapers, illustrated broadsides were published relating to particular events, or satirising the vices and follies of the period. in a broadside adorned with a woodcut representing death and time, and entitled, _the doleful dance, and song of death_, allusion is made to the 'fatal assizes' of oxford, when three hundred persons, including the high sheriff, died of a distemper, which was supposed to have originated among the prisoners. a sheet of a later date refers to the spanish armada and the gunpowder plot; while a third, entitled, _tittle-tattle_, &c., satirises the gossiping habits of the fair sex, and contains many illustrations of manners, costume, and character. such were the publications that did duty for newspapers in the days of queen elizabeth, whose subjects, however, were not left wholly without information as to passing events. in 1587 there was published an illustrated tract giving an account of the doings of sir francis drake, who was employed by queen elizabeth to harass the spaniards in their harbours, and hinder them in their preparations for invading england. these operations, which drake himself described as 'singeing the king of spain's beard,' delayed the sailing of the armada, and gave elizabeth time to prepare for defence. the tract referred to is entitled, '_the true and perfect newes of the worthy and valiant exploytes performed and done by that valiant knight syr frauncis drake; not only at sancto domingo, and carthagena, but also nowe at cales, and upon the coast of spayne, 1587_. _printed at london, by j. charlewood, for thomas hackett._' there is an account, in verse, written by one thomas greepe, of the doings of sir francis drake and other sea captains. the author tells his reader, 'here hast thou, gentle reader, set forth unto thee the most worthy and valiant exploytes and enterpryses, lately atchieved and done by that valiant knight syr frauncis drake & others not pend in lofty verse, nor curiously handled, but playnly and truly, so that it may be well understood of the reader.' there is no attempt made to illustrate the events related in the tract, but on the title-page there is a woodcut of a ship in full sail, which was perhaps intended to represent the admiral's own vessel. i have reproduced it on a reduced scale, as an early specimen of marine draughtsmanship. thomas greepe commences his poem with the following rhapsody:- 'triumph, o england, and rejoice, and prayse thy god incessantly for this thy queene, that pearle of choyce, which god doth blesse with victory! in countryes strange, both farre and neere, all raging foes her force doth feare. yee worthy wights that doo delighte to heare of novels strange and rare, what valors, woone by a famous knight, may please you marke i shall declare. such rare exploytes performde and done as none the like hath ever woone.' he gives a list of the ships under drake's command:- 'twenty-five ships were then preparde, fifteene pinnaces, brave and fine, well furnished for his safe garde, preventing foes that would him tyne. with masters good and marriners rare as ever tooke charge, i dare compare. * * * * * the _bonaventure_, a ship royall, cheefe admirall then of the fleete, sir frauncis drake, cheefe generall, as by desertes he was most meete. most worthy captaynes of hand and heart in this boon voyage then tooke hys part. the _primrose_ next, vice-admirall, appoynted by thyre best device, captayne frobisher, vice-generall- a valiant captayne, ware and wyse. captayne carelell they did ordayne lieftenant-generall on the mayne.' the poem thus winds up:- 'god save our queene of merry england, his sacred word long to maintaine; her graces navie and royall bande, through his good grace, may long remaine. lord blesse her counsell, and keepe them aye with all true subjects night and day. finis, quoth thomas greepe.' this curious poem is supplemented by a letter, written by sir francis drake, 'to the right reverende, godly, learned father, my very good friend, m. john fox, preacher of the word of god.' this was john fox, the martyrologist, who died in 1587. the letter proceeds: 'mister fox, whereas we have had of late such happy successe against the spanyardes, i do assure myselfe that you have faithfully remembered us in your good prayers, and therefore i have not forgotten, breefly to make you partaker thereof. the 19. of aprill we arrived within the road of calles, where we found very many shipping, but amongst the rest 32 of exceeding burden, lade and to be laden with provision, and prepared to furnish the king's navie, intended with all speede against england, the which when we had boorded, and also furnished our severall ships with provision as we thought sufficient, wee burnt; and although by the space of two dayes and two nights that we continued there, we were still endangered, both with thundering shott from the towne, and assailed with the roaring cannons of twelve galleys; yet we suncke two of them, and one great argosey, and still avoyded them with very small hurt, and so at our departure we brought away foure ships of provision, to the great terror of our enemies, and honour to ourselves, as it may appeare by a most curteous letter written unto me with a flagge of truce by duke petro, generall of the galleys. but whereas it is most certayne that the king doth not onely make speedy preparation in spayne, but likewise expected a very great fleete from the straytes, and divers other places, that should joyne with his forces to invade england; we purpose to sette apart all feare of danger, and by gods furtherance to proceed by all the good means we can devise to prevent their coming; wherefore i shall desire you to continue faithfull in remembrance of us in your prayers that our purpose may take that good effect, as god may be glorified, his church, our queene and country, preserved, and these enemies of the trueth utterly vanquished, that we may have continuall peace in israel. fro aboord her majesties good ship the _elizabeth bonaventure_. 'your loving freende, and faythfull sonne in christ jesus, 'frauncis drake.' in the reign of james i. papers of news began to be published, but they only appeared occasionally, and were chiefly devoted to foreign intelligence. in 1619 we have 'newes out of holland,' followed by others in 1620, 1621, and 1622. these occasional tracts were afterwards converted into a regular weekly publication, entitled the '_weekly news_,' printed by j. d. for nichs. bourne and t. archer. this was the first periodical newspaper published in england. but long before this many illustrated tracts and pamphlets were published relating to events of recent occurrence. in one dated 1607 occurs the earliest instance i have met with of an attempt to illustrate the news of the day. it is entitled '_wofull newes from wales, or the lamentable loss of divers villages and parishes (by a strange and wonderful floud) within the countye of monmouth in wales: which happened in january last past, 1607, whereby a great number of his majesties subjects inhabiting in these parts are utterly undone_.' the writer of this news-book describes the flood, and then, taking it for his text, preaches a sermon upon it. it is printed in old english, and is plentifully interspersed with pious exhortations and scriptural references. it has on the title a woodcut, a fac-simile of which is given on the next page. this interesting little tract has a preface, in which the author explains the difficulty he felt in producing it in the short time that was allowed him for the purpose:--'reader, when these newes were brought, and an importunitie used to me that i would give the same forme, and bestow an exhortation on them, i was unwilling, both in regard of that short space (of lesse than one day which was limited to undertake the matter) and also in respect of the usual unfaithfulness of men ordinarily in reporting of such accidents as these bee; whereby it often falleth out that the relation of them reapeth much discredit. but when i could not have these just excuses taken, i began and finished this businesse, as the shorte space wold permit me.' the old story of the child washed away in a cradle, so often related as having occurred in great floods, and which mr. millais has immortalised in one of his pictures, is here told probably for the first time:--'another little childe is affirmed to have bene cast upon land in a cradle, in which was nothing but a catte, the which was discerned, as it came floating to the shore, to leape still from one side of the cradle unto the other, even as if she had been appointed steersman to preserve the small barke from the waves' furie.' [illustration: great flood in monmouthshire, 1607.] another tract of the same date is illustrated with a woodcut similar to the one here copied, but it has in addition several more figures, including a cradle with a child in it floating on the water. this tract is entitled '_a true report of certaine wonderful overflowings of waters now lately in summersetshire, norfolk, and other places in england, destroying many thousands of men, women, and children, overthrowing and bearing downe whole townes and villages, and drowning infinite numbers of sheepe and other cattle_.' it is written in the same sermonising style, beginning by calling men to repent, and to take warning from these signs of god's anger. then follows the narrative. the inundation was caused by an irruption of the sea, and many incidents are related of the flood. here the cradle story is again told:--'an infant likewise was found swimming in a cradle, some mile or two fro' ye place where it was known to be kept, and so was preserved; for the cradle was not of wicker, as ours are here, but of strong, thicke bordes, closely joynted together, and that saved the infant's life.' this narrative of the somersetshire flood was reprinted in another tract with '_an addition of other and more strange accidents happening by these flouds, and brought to light since the first publishing of this booke_.' this second edition is illustrated with the identical woodcut that is used in the tract relating the floods in wales. the two tracts recounting the somersetshire floods were 'printed at london by w. i. for edward white, and are to be sold at the signe of the gunne, at the north doore of paules.' that describing the flood in wales was 'printed for w. w., and are to be sold in paules church-yarde at the sign of the grey-hound.' in those days printers frequently combined the functions of engraver and printer; and as regards the tracts under notice, we must conclude that the printer supplied each of his customers with the same woodcut, or that the booksellers of the time were in the habit of lending their woodcuts to each other. storms, floods, and burnings were favourite themes with the early newswriters, and several illustrated tracts exist describing such calamities. they are more or less interspersed with pious exhortations, but the narrative is rarely allowed to flag, and every incident is minutely described. there is '_woeful newes from the west parts of england of the burning of tiverton_,' 1612; and a small quarto pamphlet of 1613, printed in old english, affords another good example of this kind of news. it is entitled--it will be observed how fond the old newswriters were of alliterative titles--'_the wonders of this windie winter, by terrible stormes and tempests, to be losse of lives and goods of many thousands of men, women, and children. the like by sea and land hath not been seene nor heard of in this age of the world. london. printed by g. eld for john wright, and are to be sold at his shop neere christ-church dore._ 1613.' on the title-page is a woodcut, a copy of which is annexed. [illustration: great storm, 1613.] the tract opens very much in the manner of a sermon, and declares the dreadful occurrences related are intended to 'move sinful mankind to repentance and newnesse of life.' it then goes on to describe 'that within these three fore-passed months of october, november, and december, the devouring gulfes of the sea hath swallowed up above two hundred saile of ships, as well of our own country as of neighbouring nations, with great store of passengers, seafaring men, and owners of the same, adventuring their dear lives in the managing of the aforesaid ships, with all their goods, and merchandizes, making for our country all lost; yea, all, i say, in these three fore-passed months, hath been lost and drenched in the deep vaults of this watery world, a thing both lamentable and fearfull, that in so short a time, nay, in a small part of the yeare, even in an instant, so many heavy mischances should happen, and so many worthy vessels of adventure miscarrie, which had bin sufficient (if goodspeed had prevailed) to have inricht a whole citie and bettered a kingdome; but such is the will of god, and such is his just indignation against us. 'by certification from men of good accompt and calling, it is reported and knowne for truth, that in the month of october last, a fleete of fourteene sayle of ships making from newcastle towards london, laden with sea-coale and other commodities of those parts, had their passage, by the tyranny of the windes, most untimely stopt, and violently caste into the ocean's wombe, in which ships were perished to the number of a hundred and forty seafaring men, besides other passengers, both of men and women, which at that time made their watery graves in the deepe sea. this first strooke feare into the hearts of people, which hath been since seconded with many calamities, which lieth heavy upon the heart of the reporter.' the writer then goes on to relate that between 'dover and calice there hath been found floating upon the waters in one weeke of fowle weather above seven hundred drowned persons of divers nations, as of english, dutch, french, and spanish, with parts and parcels of many splitted ships.' further details are given at great length, and in rather a wordy manner. for instance, the writer describes the great number of women who are made widows by the disasters at sea, 'besides fatherlesse children and children fatherlesse.' several examples are related of the force of the wind. 'a man and his wife riding over maidenhead bridge upon one horse, by the fierceness of the wind, were blowne beside, and there drowned both horse and all. god be merciful unto us and preserve us from all such like mischances. the like mishap befell in november last unto two yorkshire men, as it is verified by some gentlemen of the inns of court and chancery, which knew the parties, the one of them a tanner, named francis browne, the other a clothier, called richard smith, both dwelling in a towne neere wakefield side called thorby; which two countriemen falling out upon small occassions wilfully purposed to come up to london, and their put their causes of themselves to the lawes tryall; yet notwithstanding came they up together, where in riding over a bridge about bedfordshire, and conferring of their inward grudges, they were blowne both beside into the river, where, by the fierceness of the windes, they were most lamentably drowned, both horse and men; and thus by sodaine death ended their malice, to the fear and amazement of all such as well could witness their envious proceedings. these and such like accidents may be fearful examples for the world to behold, especially for rich men, shewing to them the certaintie of life and goods subject to the chances of death and fortune, according to the saying of a worthy philosopher, "full little thinks the man at morning sun what hap to him befalls ere day be done."' a great many other instances are related of the fury of the tempests, all of which the writer feels certain 'have been laid upon us for our sinnes;' and winds up with a pious exhortation to take warning. [illustration: floods and tempests, 1613.] another tract of the same character and date, also printed in black letter, has a larger and more elaborate woodcut on the title-page, representing sinking ships, the shore strewed with dead bodies, and on the outside of a church tower the devil is seen throwing down the broken steeple. the following is the address to the reader:--'reader, i do here present unto thee and to thy understanding (if thou hast any) some part of the lamentable losses and unrecoverable mischances that have happened by occassion of these late blustering stormes of winde, and an innumerable deal of rayne, the which a great many thousands have too true cause to beleeve, because they are sharers in the misfortunes that this outragious weather hath caused. now, if thou hast sustained no loss thyselfe, perhaps thou wilt not beleeve these things to be true that i have written; but if thou wilt or doest beleeve, then pray to god that it will please him to give them patience that are loosers, and humilitie that are winners, and give god thanks that he hath so blessed thee that thou hast no share in these mishaps. but if thou wilt not beleeve, goe and looke, or else remaine still in thy unbeliefe.' a copy of the woodcut is given on the preceding page. another pamphlet, of 1613, has the annexed woodcut, and is entitled '_lamentable newes, shewing the wonderful deliverance of maister edmond pet, sayler, and maister of a ship, dwelling in seething-lane, in london, neere barking church; with other strange things lately hapned concerning those great windes and tempestuous weather, both at sea and lande_. _imprinted at london by t. c., for william barley, dwelling over against cree church, neere algate._ 1613.' it describes the wreck of a newcastle ship on the east coast, and how 'maister pet,' after being exposed to the winds and waves for forty-eight hours, was rescued by a dutch man-of-war, he being the only survivor from his ship. it will be seen the woodcut represents two seamen lowering what appears to be an arm-chair into the sea. this was probably the artist's notion of the safest and most comfortable way to rescue shipwrecked persons. the same tract relates other occurrences during the stormy weather, such as 'a man neere bedford, being thaching a house, was blowne off and kild; trees blown up by the rootes, houses and chimnies quite blown downe,' &c. 'all which is for our sinnes.' [illustration: rescue of edmund pet, mariner, 1613.] remarkable murders were even more favourite subjects with the early news-writers than storms and floods, a partiality that has continued down to our own time. a tract of 1613 is devoted to the details of 'three bloodie murders,' but it is mainly taken up with an account of the murder of the rev. william storre, of market rasen, lincolnshire. the full title runs thus:--'_three bloodie murders. the first committed by francis cartwright upon william storre, m. arts minister and preacher at market rasen in the countie of lincolne. the second committed by elizabeth james on the body of her mayde, in the parish of egham in surrie: who was condemned for the same fact at sainte margaret hill in southwark, the 2 of july 1613, and lieth in the white lion till her deliverie; discovered by a dombe mayde and her dogge. the third committed upon a stranger very lately near highgate foure mile from london, very strangely found out by a dogge. also the 2 of july 1613._' the circumstances relating to the murder of the rev. william storre are given at great length and with much minuteness:--'not long since, there happened some controversey between the lords and the rest of the inhabitants of market raisin in the countie of lincolne concerning the commons and libertie in the towne fields; and the matter being mooted by one of them in the church immediately after evening prayer on a sabaoth day, divers hot intemperate speeches passed among them; whereupon their minister, whose name was mr. storre, much disliking so indiscreete a course, wished them to have respect both to the time and place where they were: and further advised, seeing the cause in hand concerned a multitude, (amongst whom, some of the least government would always be the readiest to speake) that they would therefore make choice of two or three of the fittest and most substantial men, to answere and undertake for all the rest. this motion seemed to please them well, and therefore they intreated him, that he would first, as a man indifferent speake what he thought concerning the cause. but he not wishing to intermeddle in that matter, twice or thrice denied their request; and the rather, for that there was present one francis cartwright, a young man of an unbridled humour, the only sonne and heire to one of the same lordes of the towne, betwixt whom and himselfe, there was growne no small unkindnesse. yet in the end being pressed thereunto by their importunities with the consent of both the parties he delivered his opinion, useing therein such discretion and reasons to confirme the same that they could not directly except against him. notwithstanding, seeing him incline more to the right of the freeholders and the rest of the commons than to favour their intended purpose, they seemed to dislike his speaches, and to cavill at the same. 'young cartwright standing by, not able any longer to contain himselfe tooke occassion hereupon to breake forthe abruptly into these wordes: the priest deserveth a good fee, he speaketh so like a lawyer. maister storre having often aforetime had experience of his hotte stomacke and hastinesse as well towards others as himselfe, thought it best to reply little against him for that present.' the rev. mr. storre's forbearance was of no avail, for next day young cartwright took occasion to renew the quarrel, and in the public market-place 'proclaymed that storre was a scurvie, lowsie, paltrie priest; that whoever sayd he was his friend or spake in his cause, was a rogue and a rascall, that he would (but for the law) cut his throat, tear out his heart, and hang his quarters on the may-pole.' these sanguinary threats caused mr. storre to seek the protection of the magistrates; and he afterwards preached a sermon containing words which young cartwright thought were purposely directed against him, so that he 'more and more thirsted for revenge.' 'about a week after, he espied mr. storre walking about eight of the clocke in the morning alone, by the south side of the towne in his cloake, went to a cutler's shop, and tooke out of the same a short sword, formerly provided and made very sharpe for that purpose, and presently overtooke him.' the young man attacked the clergyman, and the pamphlet gives a minute account of the dreadful wounds he inflicted upon him until 'a mayde coming that way by occassion of businesse, cried out, whereupon he fledde.' the clergyman died of the frightful wounds he received, and the murderer was taken and carried before a justice, 'where, either for lacke of their due information of the truth, or by the corrupt and favourable affection of the magistrate, or both, there was a very slender bayle taken, and the malefactor by this flight sent away.' cartwright's friends 'laboured by corrupt dealing and wrong information' to procure his pardon; but so barbarous a murder could not be hushed up, and the culprit eventually 'fled beyonde the seas.' [illustration: murder of the rev mr. storre, 1613.] on the title-page of the pamphlet is a woodcut representing the murder of the rev. mr. storre, which is copied above. the two other murders are not related at such great length, and are not illustrated. this is the earliest example i have met with of a kind of illustrated news that is very popular even in our own day. from the pains taken to describe all the circumstances of the crime and its consequences, the author evidently regarded it as a subject of the highest interest, and worthy of all the elaboration he was capable of bestowing upon it. [illustration: news from penrhyn in cornwall, 1618.] there is a very curious and rare tract of the date of 1618, which describes the circumstances of another remarkable murder. it is entitled '_news from perin (penrhyn), in cornwall, of a most bloody and unexampled murther very lately committed by a father on his owne sonne (who was lately returned from the indyes), at the instigation of a mercilesse step mother, together with their severall most wretched endes, being all performed in the month of september last, anno 1618._' on the title-page is a woodcut representing the discovery of the murder, which is reprinted in the body of the pamphlet. another woodcut illustrates a scene before the murder is committed, where the son hands his bag of treasure to his step-mother. the story is a very minute history of a scapegrace son, who, after various adventures, returns to his father's house a penitent and reformed man. many years having elapsed, the son is not recognised by his father, who has married a second wife and is in straitened circumstances. the son begs a night's lodging and resolves not to make himself known till next morning. in the meantime, to show that he will be able to recompense his host and hostess for their hospitality, he gives the latter a bag of gold and jewels to take care of for him till the morrow. the woman, excited by the possession of the gold, thinks how easy it would be to relieve themselves from their embarrassments by murdering their guest and keeping possession of his treasure. she urges her husband to do the deed. after many refusals he consents, and the father murders his own son. in the morning it is made known to him who his victim is, and, in a fit of remorse and despair, he kills himself; upon which the guilty wife also commits suicide, and the tract thus winds up:--'and to the end it may be a warning to all covetous step mothers, and a content for all easie fathers to avoyde the like hereafter. at the entreaty of divers gentlemen in the countrey, it is as neere the life as pen and incke could draw it out, thus put in print.' william lillo, the author of _george barnwell_, is said to have founded his play of 'fatal curiosity' on this tract. lillo was a prosperous london jeweller and a successful dramatic author. he depicted the harrowing details of this tragic story with great power; and the agonies of old wilmot, the father, constitute one of the most appalling and affecting incidents of the drama. a curious black-letter tract of 1616, which is illustrated with a fearful apparition of three skeletons, is entitled, '_miraculous newes from the cittie of holdt, in the lordship of munster (in germany), the twentieth of september last past 1616, wherein there were plainly beheld three dead bodyes rise out of their graves, admonishing the people of judgements to come_.' the truth of this miraculous news is vouched for by 'divers worthy persons and burgimasters of the same citty,' whose names are given. this miraculous appearance was preceded by a fearful tempest of thunder and lightning. 'when this great tempest of thunder and lightning was ceased, there was heard throughout all the parts and places of the citty a most hideous and dolefull clamour or outcry, striking terror into all the people, yet no man could perceive whence it came, or where this clamour should bee. the people came over all the citty after the noise, but could not finde it; for when they were at one corner of the citty they then heard it at another; and when they were come to that other corner there it seemed to them to be in the middle of the citty; and to them that were in the middest it seemed farther off. so that all heard it, but none could find where it was, or from whence it came. 'at length the people assembling in the churchyard behelde there so strange and incredible judgements sent by the lord, that for the most part the beholders fell flatt on their faces to the ground, crying loude unto the lord for mercy. for there they beheld coming out of their graves three most ghostly and fearfull dead bodyes. 1. 'whereof the first that was seen to arise out of the earth, seemed very white, cleane, and cleere, who opening his mouth and beating his handes together spake thus: "blessed be god in the highest heaven, that our releasement is come, for we have wayted many a hundred yeare for this time." the people hearing this fell upon their knees and prayed unto the lord with weeping and great lamentation, saying: o lord beholde us with thy merciful eyes, and let us not be overwhelmed or smothered in our sinnes. 2. 'the second dead man that arose out of the earth caused farre greater feare and trembling then the former, for the beholders saw him altogether from the toppe to the toe, like unto a burning fire; he likewise opened his mouth, and wringing his handes, and tearing his haire, cryed with a loude voyce: repent yee, repent yee; almighty god hath taken his chastising rodde in hand, to punish the people for their sinnes, for their great wealth, for their great talke or presumptious wordes, for their pompe, and for their pride: the which the lord will no longer suffer nor endure, for the cry and complaint of these sinnes is asended up into his eares; wherefore hee will destroy you with a suddaine sicknesse, and fiery pestilence, so that you shall not have so much time as one houre, to utter one worde, to call upon god. [illustration: miraculous news from munster in germany, 1616.] 3. 'after this fiery apparition and threatening speech ended, there appeared likewise rising out of the grave a third dead man, grinding and gnashing his teeth together, striking his handes the one against the other, and crying with a most fearful and hideous voyce, insomuch that it seemed to all the multitude there present, that the earth would certainly have rent in sunder; and spake that all the people plainly heard and understood his wordes, which were these; woe, woe, woe, to the wicked; this is the time that wee have long attended and looked for; wherefore (ye people) looke to it, and beware lest the great day of the lord come upon you suddainly, and fall upon you unprovided; for the time of his comming is neerer than you thinke. 'after the uttering of these wordes, the three dead bodyes vanished and the graves were shut againe, the heavens became cleere, the tempest ceased, and all the people being released of their present horror and feare, rejoyced, and assembling themselves together, gave glory and laude, and praise unto the lord for his fatherly mercy and unspeakable goodnesse, in the mitigation of his furie, and withdrawing his heavy hand for the present. and thereupon appointed a sett day of supplications, prayers, and fasting, with true and unfained repentance to be proclaimed, and observed.' this account is supplemented by an 'apology,' setting forth that men must not be incredulous because they hear of miraculous occurrences--that god is able to bring back the age of miracles, &c. the writer evidently thought his readers might require to be strengthened by argument before they could place implicit faith in his narrative, and so he takes some pains in his 'apology' to convince them that however unnatural and uncommon may be the appearances he relates, the wickedness of the world was a sufficient justification for this and other extraordinary events. a copy of the woodcut that illustrates this curious production is shown on the preceding page. [illustration: 'good newes to christendome,' 1620.] in 1620 nathaniel butter printed an illustrated tract entitled _'good newes to christendome, sent to a venetian in ligorne, from a merchant in alexandria, discovering a wonderfull and strange apparition, visibly seene for many dayes together in arabia over the place where the supposed tombe of mahomet (the turkish prophet) is inclosed; by which the learned arabians prognosticate the reducing and calling of the great turke to christianitie. with many other notable accidents: but the most remarkable is the miraculous rayning of bloud about rome_.' this tract, which is very long and discursive, relates, among other things, the apparition of a woman in the air, with a book in her hand, being the same apparition that is described at great length in a tract of 1642, which i shall quote hereafter. in the tract under notice there is a woodcut representing an army in the clouds--the clouds raining blood over a city; a woman with sword and book; and a crowd of men below watching the aerial phenomenon. the writer, in winding up his narrative, thus addresses his reader:--'if you cannot beleeve it as truth, yet to make that use of it as if it were true; and then shall you know, there is but one way to happiness, and all the predictions, prophesies, visions, apparitions, comets, inundations, stormes, tempests, famine, warre, alteration, and subversion of kingdomes, with all the cabinet of mysteries, tend to this end that _premium_ and _poena_ be the mastering curbs of the world; that is, that god hath a _magazine_ of judgements to inflict on the obstinate sinner with punishments: and a store-house of mercy to support the penitent soule with comfort.' in 1627 we come upon a very curious and literal example of illustrated news. in that year charles i., having declared war against france, fitted out an expedition of a hundred sail and an army of 7000 men for the support of the protestant cause in that country. the king's favourite, the self-confident and vainglorious duke of buckingham, took the command of the expedition, although he was totally unfit for that position. he was personally brave, but possessed no other quality of a commander. he had no knowledge or experience of the art of war, and was too proud and presumptuous to be guided by the advice of others. the expedition was destined for rochelle, then in possession of the huguenots; but buckingham went to sea without any understanding with his allies; and, when he anchored off rochelle, he was refused admission to the town. he then directed his course to the neighbouring isle of rhã¨, where he succeeded in landing his men under the fire of his ships, and defeated a small french force commanded by the governor of the island. instead of immediately following up his success, buckingham allowed the french commander to secure and strengthen the fortress of st. martin; and when he did advance he foolishly left the enemy in possession of another fort in his rear. he besieged the castle of st. martin for many weeks, and then led his men to storm the place without having made a single breach in the walls. they were repulsed at all points with considerable loss, and attempted to retreat to their ships; but marshal schomberg with a french army had thrown himself between the duke and the fleet, and had put a strong corps and artillery into the fort of la prã¨e, which buckingham had left in his rear. no precautions whatever had been taken, and they suffered great loss before they could re-embark. the expedition was a total failure, and buckingham returned to england beaten and disgraced. while the duke of buckingham was besieging the citadel of st. martin, an attempt was made, or was said to have been made, upon his life by a french papist or jesuit, with a thick four-edged knife. an account of the duke's proceedings while in the isle of rhã¨ appears to have been sent home, and was published probably with a view of influencing the people in his favour and showing to what dangers he was exposed in the national service. there is in the british museum a tract entitled '_a continued journal of all the proceedings of the duke of buckingham his grace, in the isle of ree since the last day of july. with the names of the noblemen as were drowned and taken in going to releeve the fort. as also the portraiture of the knife with which his excellence should have been murdered, which very knife was brought over by captaine buckestone and delivered unto the duchess of buckingham her grace on monday night last. published by authoritie. london, printed for thomas walkley, and are to be sold at his shop at the eagle and childe in britaines bursse, 1627._' the following account is given of the intended assassination of the duke:- 'received the 27 of august. 'here i have sent you all the remarkable newes that i have upon the last of _july_. there was taken by a _perdue_ of ours, in the night (a frenchman), that was sent by _monsieur de thorax_, the governour of the citadell, with a full intent to kill my lord duke; and for the speedy effecting of the same he had prepared a strange and dangerous _poynado_, which, although it was taken about him, he confidently denied that he came not with any intent to kill the _duke_ untill he came to the tortures, which being presented before him he promised to discover all to my _lord_ if he would promise him life, the which he did, and doth so performe with him, like a noble and mercifull generall.' the tract contains a large woodcut of a knife, a reduced copy of which is given above, and underneath the engraving is the following description:--'this is the true portraiture of the poysoned knife, both in length and breadth, having foure edges, with which a jesuited vilaine was sent out of the fort by monsieur de thorax, the governour of that island, with an intent to have killed his excellence, but by god's providence was delivered. his grace hath used the french so nobly in all respects that he rather deserved their love than any wayes to have his life thus treacherously sought after, under the pretence that it was a meritorious act. which knife was brought over into england by captaine buckestone, and by him delivered unto the dutches of buckingham her grace on monday night last.' [illustration: knife intended for the assassination of the duke of buckingham, 1627.] whether the attempt on buckingham's life was a reality or was got up for the purpose of endearing the court favourite to all good protestants, it foreshadowed his ultimate fate. in the following year, while he was at portsmouth, and about to embark on a second expedition to rochelle, he was stabbed by felton, who had served under him in the expedition to the isle of rhã¨. besides the subjects already noticed, the old news-writers delighted in signs and portents in the air, and failed not to improve the occasion whenever they met with a text so much to their liking. there was a fall of meteorites in 1628, which was chronicled at the time in an illustrated pamphlet, entitled, '_looke up and see wonders: a miraculous apparition in the ayre, lately seen in barke-shire, at bawlkin greene, neere hatford, april 9th, 1628._' the author, like his fellow-chroniclers, already quoted, regards the occurrence as a sign of heaven's displeasure, and addresses his readers thus:--'so benummed wee are in our sences, that albeit god himselfe holla in our eares, wee by our wills are loath to heare him. his dreadfull pursiuants of _thunder and lightning_ terrifie vs so long as they haue vs in their fingers, but beeing off, wee dance and sing in the midst of our follies.' he then goes on to tell how 'the foure great quarter-masters of the world (_the foure elements_) ... haue bin in ciuill warres one against another.... as for _fire_, it hath denied of late to warme vs, but at vnreasonable rates, and extreame hard conditions. but what talke i of this earthy nourishment of _fire_? how haue the _fires_ of heauen (some few yeares past) gone beyond their bounds, and appeared in the shapes of comets and blazing starres?... the _aire_ is the shop of thunder and lightning. in that, hath of late been held a muster of terrible enemies and threatners of vengeance, which the great generall of the field who conducts and commands all such armies (_god almighty, i meane_) auert from our kingdome, and shoote the arrowes of his indignation some other way, vpon the bosomes of those that would confound his gospell.... many windowes hath he set open in heauen, to shewe what artillery hee has lying there, and many of our kings haue trembled, when they were shewne vnto them. what blazing starres (euen at noone-dayes) in those times hung houering in the aire? how many frightfull ecclipses both of sun and moone?... it is not for man to dispute with god, why he has done this so often ... but, with feare and trembling casting our eyes vp to heauen, let vs now behold him, bending his fist onely, as lately he did to the terrour and affrightment of all the inhabitants dwelling within a towne in the county of barkshire.... the name of the towne is _hatford_, some eight miles from _oxford_. ouer this towne, vpon wensday being the ninth of this instant moneth of _april_, 1628, about fiue of the clocke in the afternoone this miraculous, prodigious and fearefull handy-worke of god was presented.... the weather was warme, and without any great shewe of distemperature, only the skye waxed by degrees a little gloomy, yet not so darkened but that the sunne still and anon, by the power of the brightnesse, brake through the thicke clouds.... 'a gentle gale of wind then blowing from betweene the _west_ and _north-west_, in an instant was heard, first a hideous rumbling in the _ayre_, and presently after followed a strange and fearfull peale of thunder, running vp and downe these parts of the _countrey_, but it strake with the loudest violence, and more furious tearing of the _ayre_, about a place called _the white horse hill_, than in any other. the whole order of this thunder, carried a kind of maiesticall state with it, for it maintayned (_to the affrighted beholders' seeming_) the fashion of a fought battaile. 'it beganne thus: first, for an onset, went off one great _cannon_ as it were of _thunder_ alone, like a warning peece to the rest that were to follow. then a little while after was heard a second; and so by degrees a third, vntil the number of 20 were discharged (or thereabouts) in very good order, though in very great terror. 'in some little distance of time after this was audibly heard the sound of a drum beating a retreate. amongst all these angry peales shot off from heauen, this begat a wonderful admiration, that at the end of the report of every cracke, or _cannon-thundering_, a hizzing noyse made way through the _ayre_, not vnlike the flying of _bullets_ from the mouthes of great ordnance; and by the iudgement of all the terror-stricken witnesses they were _thunder-bolts_. for one of them was seene by many people to fall at a place called _bawlkin greene_, being a mile and a half from _hatford_: which _thunder-bolt_ was by one mistris _greene_ caused to be digged out of the ground, she being an eye-witnesse amongst many others, of the manner of the falling. 'the forme of the _stone_ is three-square, and picked in the end: in colour outwardly blackish, some-what like iron: crusted ouer with that blacknesse about the thicknesse of a shilling. within it is soft, of a grey colour, mixed with some kind of minerall, shining like small peeces of glasse. 'this _stone_ brake in the fal: the whole peece is in weight nineteene pound and a halfe: the greater peece that fell off weigheth fiue pound, which with other small peeces being put together, make foure and twenty pound and better.... 'it is in the countrey credibly reported that some other thunder-stones haue bin found in other places: but for certainty there was one taken vp at _letcombe_, and is now in the custody of the _shriefe_.' this curious account is illustrated with a quaint woodcut, in the foreground of which the thunder-bolt seen by mistress green is being 'digged out of the ground.' [illustration: fall of meteors at bawlkin green, berkshire, april 9, 1628.] amongst the many publications relating to the victorious career of gustavus adolphus, king of sweden, there was one entitled the _swedish intelligencer_, printed at london, in 1632, for nathaniel butter and nicholas bourne, both of them names associated with the first establishment of newspapers in england. the _swedish intelligencer_ gives very full accounts of the exploits of gustavus, and it is illustrated with his portrait, a bird's-eye view of the siege of magdeburg, a plan showing how the king of sweden and his army crossed the river lech into bavaria, and a plan or bird's-eye view of the battle of lutzen, where gustavus was killed. the portrait, the siege of magdeburg, and the battle of lutzen, are engraved on copper, but the passage of the lech is a woodcut. i have copied the latter, the others being too elaborate for reproduction on a reduced scale. the three last named are very curious as illustrations of war news. gustavus had crossed the danube, and his troops overspread the country between that river and the river lech. field marshal tilly was in front of him, waiting for reinforcements from the army of wallenstein, in bohemia, and the junction of fresh levies raised in bavaria, with which he hoped to drive the invaders back across the danube. the account in the _swedish intelligencer_ of this celebrated passage of the river lech is too long for quotation, but i give a condensed version of the circumstances from other sources. the lech takes its rise among the mountains of the tyrol, and, after washing the walls of landsberg and augsburg, falls into the danube at a short distance from the town of rain. the banks are broken and irregular, and the channel uncertain. nor are there many rivers of the same size in germany which can be compared with it in the strength and rapidity of its current. the united forces of bavaria and the league, with this efficient means of defence in front, extended their right wing towards the danube and their left towards rain, while the banks of the river, as far as the city of augsburg, were observed by their patrols, supported by detached bodies of infantry. tilly had taken the precaution of breaking down the bridges over the lech, and had thrown up field works at points where he judged the passage might be considered attended with fewest difficulties. that the swedes would attack him in his main position was a pitch of daring to which, well as he was acquainted with the enterprising spirit of the king, he could scarcely suspect him of having yet attained. such, however, was the full determination of gustavus. after he had reconnoitred the course of the lech for some miles, at the imminent peril of his life, he fixed upon a point between rain and thierhauppen, where the river makes a sweep to the eastward, as the spot for carrying his venturous design into effect. the king's first intention was to throw a floating bridge over the stream, but the attempt was no sooner made than it was found to be rendered hopeless by the rapidity of the current. it was then imagined that tressels might be sunk, and firmly secured by weights in the bed of the river, on which the flooring of the bridge might afterwards be securely laid. the king approved of this plan, and workmen were commanded to prepare the necessary materials at the small village of oberendorf, situated about half a mile from the spot. during the night of the 4th of april the work was entirely finished, the supports fixed in the stream, and the planks for forming the bridge brought down to the water's edge. the king had, in the meantime, ordered a trench to be dug along the bank of the river for the reception of bodies of musketeers, and several new batteries to be constructed close to the shore, the fire from which, as they were disposed along a convex line, necessarily crossed upon the opposite side; those upon the left hand of the swedes playing upon the left of the enemy, and those on the right upon the wood held by the bavarians. another battery, slightly retired from the rest, directed its fire against the entrenchments occupied by tilly's centre. by daybreak on the 5th, all necessary preparations having been made, the bridge was begun to be laid, and completed under the king's inspection. three hundred finland volunteers were the first who crossed, excited by the reward of ten crowns each to undertake the dangerous service of throwing up a slight work upon the other side for its protection. by four in the afternoon the finlanders had finished their undertaking, having been protected from a close attack by the musketry of their own party and the batteries behind them, from which the king is said to have discharged more than sixty shots with his own hand, to encourage his gunners to charge their pieces more expeditiously. the work consisted merely of an embankment surrounded by a trench, but it was defended both by the direct and cross fire of the swedes. as soon as it was completed, gustavus, stationing himself with the king of bohemia at the foot of the bridge, commanded colonel wrangle, with a chosen body of infantry and two or three field-pieces, to pass over, and after occupying the work, to station a number of musketeers in a bed of osiers upon the opposite side. the swedes crossed the bridge with little loss, and after a short but desperate struggle the imperialists were routed. the whole of the swedish army was soon upon the eastern bank of the lech, where the king, without troubling himself with the pursuit of the enemy, commanded his army to encamp, and ordered the customary thanksgivings to be offered for his victory.[1] the account in the _swedish intelligencer_ is wound up in these words: 'and this is the story of the king's bridge over the _lech_, description whereof we have thought worthy to be here in figure imparted unto you.' then follows an 'explanation of the letters in the figure of the _bridge_,' given below the illustration. the engraving does not appear to have been entirely satisfactory to the author, for on its margin the following words are printed: 'our cutter hath made the ordnance too long, and to lye too farre into the river. the hole also marked with r, should have been on the right hand of the bridge.' [illustration: passage of the river lech, by gustavus adolphus. from the 'swedish intelligencer,' 1632.] references to passage of the river lech. 'a the king of sweeden, and the king of bohemia by him. b the bridge. c a trench or brestworke, in which the kings musketeers were lodged, betwixt the severall batteryes of the great ordnance, which musketeers are represented by the small stroakes made right forwards. d divers little field-pieces. e plat-formes or batteryes for the kings greater cannon. f the halfe-moone, with its pallisadoe or stocket, beyond the bridge, and for the guard of it. it was scarcely bigge enough to lodge a hundred men in. g a little underwood, or low bushy place. h a plaice voyd of wood; which was a bache, sometimes overflowne. i a brestworke for tillyes musketeers. k k tilly and altringer; or the place where they were shot. l the high wood where the duke of bavaria stood. m tilleyes great batteryes to shoot down the bridge. n a small riveret running thorow the wood. o tillyes great brestworke; not yet finished. begun at sixe in the morning; and left off when he was shot. p some horse-guards of tillyes: layd scatteringly here and there all along the river from rain to augsburg. q the kings horse-guards, and horse-sentryes. r a hole in the earth, or casual advantageable place; wherein some of the kings foot were lodged. s the hill behind tillyes great worke. t the fashion of the tressels or arches for the kings bridge.' in 1636 the sallee rovers had become very troublesome, and not only hindered british commerce, on the high seas, but even infested the english coasts. they had captured and carried into slavery many englishmen, for whose release a 'fleete of shippes' was sent out in january, 1636. assisted by the emperor of morocco, the nest of pirates was destroyed and the captives released. a full account of this expedition is given in a curious pamphlet, entitled, '_a true journal of the sally fleet with the proceedings of the voyage, published by john dunton, london, mariner, master of the admirall called the leopard. whereunto is annexed a list of sally captives names and the places where they dwell, and a description of the three townes in a card. london, printed by john dawson for thomas nicholes, and are to be sold at the signe of the bible in popes head alley, 1637_.' this tract is illustrated by a large plan of sallee, engraved on copper, with representations of six english vessels of war on the sea. after minutely describing the proceedings of the voyage, and giving a long list of the captives' names, the journalist winds up in these words: 'all these good shippes with the captives are in safety in england, we give god thanks. and bless king charles and all those that love him.' at the end of the pamphlet is printed the authority for its publication: 'hampton court, the 20. of october, 1637. this journall and mappe may be printed.' there is an illustrated pamphlet of this period which i have not been able to see. it is entitled, '_newes, and strange newes from st. christopher's of a tempestuous spirit, which is called by the indians a hurrycano or whirlwind; whereunto is added the true and last relation (in verse) of the dreadful accident which happened at witticombe in devonshire, 21. october, 1638_.' the _weekly news_, begun in 1622, had been in existence sixteen years when the idea of illustrating current events seems to have occurred to its conductors; for in the number for december 20, 1638, there is, besides the usual items of foreign news, an account of a 'prodigious eruption of fire, which exhaled in the middest of the ocean sea, over against the isle of saint michael, one of the terceras, and the new island which it hath made.' the text is illustrated by a full-page engraving showing 'the island, its length and breadth, and the places where the fire burst out.' i have not been able to find a copy of the _weekly news_ for december 20, 1638, either in the british museum or elsewhere. my authority for the above statement is a letter in the _times_ of october 13, 1868. as far as i have been able to ascertain, no other illustrations were published in the _weekly news_, so that we must conclude the engraving of the 'prodigious eruption of fire' was an experiment, which in its result was not encouraging to the proprietor or conductors of the journal. [illustration: taking of the castle of artaine, ireland, 1641.] when the irish rebellion of 1641 broke out, many news-books were published describing the transactions in that country, and several of them are illustrated. i may here remark that the illustrations of events in these pamphlets, as well as many of those contained in the numerous tracts published during the civil war in england, appear to be works of pure imagination, and were, probably, invented by the artist just as a modern draughtsman would illustrate a work of fiction. others, again, were evidently old woodcuts executed for some other purpose. a few instances occur, however, where drawings have been made from actual scenes, and sometimes maps and plans are given as illustrations of a battle or a siege. this rising of the roman catholics in ireland began with a massacre of the protestants, and, according to the tracts published at the time, the atrocities of recent wars in bulgaria and elsewhere were equalled in every way by the roman catholics in ireland in the seventeenth century. the illustrations in these tracts are very coarse woodcuts. one represents the arrest of a party of conspirators, and another is a view of a town besieged, while a third gives a group of prisoners supplicating for mercy. the best illustration that i have met with of this irish news is contained in a pamphlet entitled, '_approved, good and happy newes from ireland; relating how the castle of artaine was taken from the rebels, two of their captaines kild, and one taken prisoner by the protestants, with the arrival of 2000 foot, and 300 horse from england. also a great skirmish between the protestants and the rebels at a place near feleston, wherein the english obtained great renowne and victory: whereunto is added a true relation of the great overthrow which the english gave the rebels before drogheda, sent in a letter bearing date the 27 of february to sir robert king, knight, at cecill house in the strand. printed by order of parliament. london, printed for john wright 1641._' the woodcut on the title-page of this tract represents the taking of the castle of artaine, but there is only the following very short paragraph relating to it:--'the last news from ireland 7 march 1641. the 10 of february our men went to _artaine_ against a castle so called, which had before done some mischiefe, to some of our men, the enemy being in it. but the enemy fled before our second coming, and left the castle, and a garrison was left in it by us.' the other news is related more at length, and one of the paragraphs runs thus:--'on the 13 a man was brought to our city, being taken by some of our scattering men scouting about our city, who confest without constraint, that he had killed an _englishwoman_ at a place called _leslipson_, 6 miles west of our city, and washed his hands in her bloud, being set on by the popish priests so to doe; he was presently hanged, but dyed with much repentance and a protestant, which few do.' the concluding paragraph of this pamphlet shows the writer to have been a man of a commercial spirit:--'tis to be feared that a famine is like to be in our city, in that still men come to us and provision is short, and none of yours that come to us bring any vittailes, great taxes are upon us, more than can be borne. he that had butter, and cheese, and cloath, at between 6 and 14 shillings a yard here sent by any out of london might make a good trade of it. cheshire cheese is sould here for sixpence a pound already. some of your londoners are come hither (acquaintance of mine) that will send for such things, for great profit may be made by them and quicke returne.' annexed is a facsimile of the woodcut representing the taking of the castle of artaine. several other pamphlets relating to the irish rebellion are illustrated, but, with a few exceptions, the cuts bear very little relation to the subject, and were probably not executed for the purpose. one gives an account of a victory obtained by the english at dundalk in 1642, and it has a woodcut of a man firing a cannon against a town, a copy of which is appended. [illustration: victory at dundalk, 1642.] the description is in the following words:--'newes from ireland. on monday morning came three gentlemen to our city of dublin from sir henry tichbourne, who brought a message to the state of a great and happy victory obtained by the aforesaid sir henry tichbourne with 2000 horse and foot marched to ardee, and there put 400 of the rebels to the sword, yet lost not one man of our side; from thence upon the saturday following, he mustered up his forces against a place called dundalke some 14 miles northward from tredath, where the enemy was 5000 strong, and well fortified. at his first approach there issued out of the towne 3000 of the rebels who all presented themselves in battallia, our forlorne hopes of horse and foot had no sooner fired upon them, but they routed the rebels. captaine marroe's troope of horse setting on killed great store of the rebels who thereupon retreated to the towne, made fast the gates, and ran out at the other end to their boats beforehand provided: our army coming in fired the gates, entred, and killed those within. captain marroe followed the flying foe, and slew abundance of them upon the strand, and it is reported by them that if he had known the fords and the river, he had cut them all off, if he had gained the other side of the river, but being a stranger, could not doe it (wanting a guide) without endangering the troope. there was slaine of the rebels in this sudden skirmish not less than 1100 besides what they took prisoners. sir philomy o'neale fled with the rest of the commanders; but 10 common soldiers were lost of our side. sir philomy o'neale made speed away to a place called newry, a chiefe garrison of the rebels. sir henry tichbourne hath sent 600 men more to dublin, intending that place shall be the next he begins withall, which is granted, and tomorrow there goeth to him 500 men, if not 5000, for whose safety and prosperity in the meantime is the subject of our daily prayers that he may have as good success as in all his other designs from the first till this time; for no man was ever so beloved by his souldiers, that protest to follow him while they can stand. we are in great hope he will recover the newry very shortly; it is credibly reported, that they got 20,000 pounds at least in pillage at dundalke.' in another pamphlet, dated 1642, there is an account of a battle at kilrush, which is also illustrated with a woodcut. the circumstances are related in detail, but they are sufficiently set forth in the title, without further quotation:--'captaine yarner's relation of the battaile fought at kilrush upon the 15th day of aprill, by my lord of ormond, who with 2500 foot and 500 horse, overthrew the lord mountgarret's army, consisting of 8000 foot and 400 horse, all well armed, and the choyce of eight counties. together with a relation of the proceedings of our army, from the second to the later end of aprill, 1642.' [illustration: battle of kilrush, 1642.] many other illustrated pamphlets relating to current events were published at this time. it would appear that in 1641 there was a visitation of the plague in london, and a tract of that date has reference to it. it is entitled:--'_london's lamentation, or a fit admonishment for city and country, wherein is described certain causes of this affliction and visitation of the plague, yeare 1641, which the lord hath been pleased to inflict upon us, and withall what means must be used to the lord, to gain his mercy and favour, with an excellent spirituall medicine to be used for the preservative both of body and soule._' the 'spiritual medicine' recommended is an earnest prayer to heaven at morning and evening and a daily service to the lord. the writer endeavours to improve the occasion very much like a preacher in the pulpit and continues his exhortation thus:--'now seeing it is apparent that sin is the cause of sicknesse: it may appear as plainly that prayer must be the best means to procure health and safety, let not our security and slothfulnesse give death opportunity, what man or woman will not seem to start, at the signe of the red crosse, as they passe by to and fro in the streets? and yet being gone they think no more on it. it may be, they will say, such a house is shut up, i saw the red crosse on the doore; but look on thine own guilty conscience, and thou shalt find thou hast a multitude of red crimson sinnes remaining in thee.' i have copied the illustration to this tract, and it will be seen that it is divided into two parts--one representing a funeral procession advancing to where men are digging two graves--the other showing dead bodies dragged away on hurdles. the first is labelled 'london's charity.' the second 'the countrie's crueltie.' this was perhaps intended to impress the reader in favour of the orderly burial of the dead in the city churchyards, a subject on which public opinion has very much changed since that time. [illustration: the plague in london. 1641.] we have already noticed that the vicissitudes of the sea and the accidents of maritime life, which supply so much material to modern newspapers, were not less attractive to the early news-writers. there is a very circumstantial account of the voyage and wreck of a ship called the _merchant royall_ in a pamphlet published in 1641. the engraving it contains is the same block used by thomas greepe in 1587. it is entitled, '_sad news from the seas, being a true relation of the losse of that good ship called the merchant royall, which was cast away ten leagues from the lands end, on thursday night, being the 23 of september last 1641 having in her a world of treasure, as this story following doth truly relate_.' another illustrated pamphlet, dated 1642, contains a long and minute narrative of how a certain ship called the _coster_ was boarded by a native of java, who, watching his opportunity, murdered the captain and several of the crew, but who was afterwards killed when assistance arrived from another ship. there is a woodcut representing the murders, and the title runs as follows:--'_a most execrable and barbarous murder done by an east indian devil, or a native of java-major, in the road of bantam, aboard an english ship called the coster, on the 22 of october last, 1641. wherein is shewed how the wicked villain came to the said ship and hid himself till it was very dark, and then he murdered all the men that were aboard, except the cooke and three boyes. and lastly, how the murderer himselfe was justly requited. captain william minor being an eye-witnesse of this bloudy massacre. london: printed for t. banks, july the 18, 1642._' the very full particulars given in this pamphlet show how minute and circumstantial the old news-writers were in their narratives. it will be seen by the following extracts that the story has an air of truth given to it by careful attention to various small matters of detail:-'on friday the 22 of october last 1641 towards night there came aboard an english ship called the _coster_, in a small prow (or flat boat with one paddle) a proper young man, (a java, which is as much as to say as a man born or native of the territory of java.) this man, (or devill in mans shape) with a pretence to sell some hews, (hatching mischiefe in his damned minde,) did delay and trifle time, because he would have the night more dark for him to do his deeds of darknesse. at last he sold 6 hews for half a royall of 8 which is not much above two shillings. there came also another java aboard, (with the like small prow or boat) to whom he gave the half royall, sent him away and bade him make haste; he being asked for what the other java went for, the answer was that he had sent him for more hews and goates to sell. 'night being come, and very dark, (for it was the last night of the wane of the moone) this inhumane dog staid lurking under the half deck having 2 crests (or dangerous waving daggers) and a buckler, of which he would have sold one and the buckler with it, and as he was discoursing he took off one of the crests hefts and put cloth about the tongue of the blade, and made it sure fast: on the other crest he rolled the handle with a fine linnen cloth to make it also sure from slipping in his hand; these things he did whilst the master, robert start, stephen roberts, his mate, hugh rawlinson, chirurgeon, william perks, steward, james biggs, gunner, and 3 boys or youths attending. at supper they were very merry, and this caitiffe took notice of their carelessnesse of him to suffer him to sit on the quarter deck upon a cot close by them. 'supper being ended about 6 at night the master went to his cabin to rest, the gunner asked leave to go ashore, (the ship riding but half a mile from landing.) afterwards robert rawlinson and perks walked upon the quarter deck; and the devilish java perceiving the master to be absent, he asked the boyes where he was, who answered he was gone to sleepe. this question he demanded 3 or 4 times of the boyes, and finding it to be so, he arose from the place where he sate, which was on the starboard side and went about the table next the mizzen mast (where roberts, rawlings and perks were walking) with his target about his neck for defence against pikes, or the like; and his 2 crests in his hand, and upon a sudden cries _a muck_, which in that language is i hazard or run my death. then first he stabd roberts, secondly he stabd rawlinson, thirdly perks, all three at an instant. after that he let drive at the boyes, but they leapd down, and ran forward into the forecastle, where they found the cooke, to whom the boyes related what had happened.' further details are given at great length, showing how the savage continued his bloody work, and how he was finally overpowered. the narrative thus winds up:-[illustration: murders on board an english ship, 1642.] 'it is observable that of all these men that were thus butchered, the hel-hound did never stab any man twice, so sure did he strike, nor did he pursue any man that kept clear of his stand under the quarter-deck. so there dyed in all (in this bloody action) robert start, master, stephen roberts, his mate, hugh rawlinson, chirurgeon, william perks, steward, walter rogers, gunner's mate, and francis drake, trumpeter of the _mary_. and after the muck, java, or devill, had ended the first part of this bloody tragedy, there was only left in the ship, the cooke, 3 boyes, and one john taylor, that was almost dead with a shott he foolishly made. so that 7 men were unfortunately lost (as you have heard) and the gunner escaped very narrowly through god's merciful prevention, from the like of these related disasters and suddaine mischiefs, good lord deliver us.' the engraving, like all those belonging to this period, is very rough; but it was evidently prepared specially for the occasion, and some care appears to have been taken to represent the '_java_' as he is described. it is a genuine attempt to illustrate the story, and on that account is more interesting than some of the woodcuts in the early newspapers. the earl of strafford, who was executed on tower hill, may 12, 1641, forms the subject of more than one illustrated tract of this period. in 1642 was published a curious pamphlet, consisting of an engraved title and eight pages of illustrations, representing the principal events of 1641-2. there are sixteen illustrations, exclusive of the title, two on each page. they are all etched on copper, and are done with some freedom and artistic ability. i shall have occasion to refer to this pamphlet hereafter; but at present i have copied the engraving entitled, 'the earle of strafford for treasonable practises beheaded on the tower-hill.' in this example of illustrated news the artist has faithfully represented the locality in his background, but there the truth of his pencil stops. strafford himself, although his head is not yet severed from his body, lies at full length on the scaffold, and instead of the usual block used for decapitations the victim's head rests on an ordinary plank or thick piece of wood. there is no one standing on the scaffold but the executioner, whereas history asserts that the earl was attended in his last moments by his brother, sir george wentworth, the earl of cleveland, and archbishop usher. these omissions, if they were noticed at all, were no doubt looked upon as trivial faults in the infancy of illustrated journalism, and before a truth-loving public had learnt to be satisfied with nothing less than 'sketches done on the spot.' what appears to be a more correct view of the execution was, however, published at the time. in the british museum are two etchings by hollar (single sheets, 1641), representing the trial and execution of the earl of strafford. they both look as if they had been done from sketches on the spot, that of the execution giving a correct view of the tower and the surrounding buildings, but they are too crowded to admit of reproduction on a reduced scale. [illustration: execution of strafford, 1641.] the taste of the time tolerated the publication of satires and petty lampoons even upon dead men. soon after strafford's death a tract was published entitled '_a description of the passage of thomas, late earle of strafford, over the river of styx, with the conference betwixt him, charon, and william noy_.' there is a dialogue between strafford and charon, of which the following is a specimen:-'_charon._--in the name of rhodomont what ayles me? i have tugged and tugged above these two hours, yet can hardly steere one foot forward; either my dried nerves deceive my arme, or my vexed barke carries an unwonted burden. from whence comest thou, passenger? '_strafford._--from england. '_charon._--from england! ha! i was counsailed to prepare myselfe, and trim up my boat. i should have work enough they sayd ere be long from england, but trust me thy burden alone outweighs many transported armies, were all the expected numbers of thy weight poor charon well might sweat. [illustration: strafford crossing the styx, 1641.] '_strafford._--i bear them all in one. '_charon._--how? bear them all in one, and thou shalt pay for them all in one, by the just soul of rhodomont; this was a fine plot indeed, sure this was some notable fellow being alive, that hath a trick to cosen the devil being dead. what is thy name? '(strafford sighs.) '_charon._--sigh not so deep. take some of this lethã¦an water into thine hand, and soope it up; it will make thee forget thy sorrows. '_strafford._--my name is wentworth, strafford's late earle. '_charon._--wentworth! o ho! thou art hee who hath been so long expected by william noy. he hath been any time these two months on the other side of the banke, expecting thy coming daily.' strafford gives charon but one halfpenny for his fare, whereat the ferryman grumbles. then ensues a conversation between strafford and william noy, part of which is in blank verse. the tract is illustrated with a woodcut, representing strafford in the ferryman's boat with william noy waiting his arrival on the opposite bank. [illustration: a burlesque play about archbishop laud. act i. 1641.] no man of his time appears to have excited the hostile notice of the press more than archbishop laud. the archbishops of canterbury had long been considered censors of the press by right of their dignity and office; and laud exercised this power with unusual tyranny. the ferocious cruelty with which he carried out his prosecutions in the star chamber and court of high commission made his name odious, and his apparent preference for ceremonial religion contributed to render him still more unpopular. men were put in the pillory, had their ears cut off, their noses slit, and were branded on the cheeks with s. s. (sower of sedition), and s. l. (schismatical libeller). they were heavily fined, were whipped through the streets, were thrown into prison; and all for printing and publishing opinions and sentiments unpleasing to archbishop laud, under whose rule this despotic cruelty became so prevalent that it was a common thing for men to speak of so-and-so as having been 'star-chambered.' no wonder, when the tide turned, that the long-pent-up indignation found a vent through the printing-press. amongst the numerous tracts that were published after the suppression of the star chamber were many which held up laud to public execration. he was reviled for his ambition, reproached for his cruelty, and caricatured for his romish sympathies. during the four years between his fall and his execution, portraits of him and other illustrations relating to his career may be found in many pamphlets. i propose to introduce the reader to some of these, as examples of the kind of feeling that was excited by a man whose character and actions must have contributed not a little to bring about a convulsion which shook both the church and the throne to their foundations. it must have been with a peculiar satisfaction that prynne, one of the chief sufferers under laud's rule, found himself armed with the authority of the house of commons to despoil his old enemy. probably a similar feeling caused many others to chuckle and rub their hands when they read, '_a new play called canterburie's change of diet_, printed in 1641.' this is a small tract illustrated with woodcuts, and is written in the form of a play. the persons represented are the archbishop of canterbury, a doctor of physic, a lawyer, a divine, a jesuit, a carpenter and his wife. the doctor of physic is intended for either dr. alexander leighton, or dr. john bastwick, both of whom had their ears cut off; the lawyer is prynne; and the divine is meant for the rev. henry burton, a london clergyman, who also suffered under laud's administration. in the first act enter the archbishop, the doctor, the lawyer, and the divine. being seated, a variety of dishes are brought to the table, but laud expresses himself dissatisfied with the fare placed before him and demands a more racy diet. he then calls in certain bishops, who enter armed with muskets, bandoleers, and swords. he cuts off the ears of the doctor, the lawyer, and the divine, and tells them he makes them an example that others may be more careful to please his palate. on the previous page is a copy of the cut which illustrates the first act. [illustration: a burlesque play about archbishop laud. act ii.] [illustration: a burlesque play about archbishop laud. act iii.] in the second act the archbishop of canterbury enters a carpenter's yard by the waterside, and seeing a grindstone he is about to sharpen his knife upon it, when he is interrupted by the carpenter who refuses to let him sharpen his knife upon his grindstone, lest he should treat him (the carpenter) as he had treated the others. the carpenter then holds the archbishop's nose to the grindstone, and orders his apprentice to turn with a will. the bishop cries out, 'hold! hold! such turning will soon deform my face. o, i bleed, i bleed, and am extremely sore.' the carpenter, however, rejoins, 'but who regarded "hold" before? remember the cruelty you have used to others, whose bloud crieth out for vengeance. were not their ears to them as pretious as your nostrils can be to you? if such dishes must be your fare, let me be your cooke, i'll invent you rare sippets.' then enters a jesuit confessor who washes the bishop's wounded face and binds it up with a cloth. there is also an illustration to this act which is here copied. [illustration: assault on lambeth palace, 1642.] in the third act the archbishop and the jesuit are represented in a great cage (the tower) while the carpenter and his wife, conversing together, agree that the two caged birds will sing very well together. the woodcut to this act represents a fool laughing at the prisoners. there is a fourth act in which the king and his jester hold a conversation about the bishop and the confessor in the cage. there is no printer's or publisher's name to this play, only the date, 1641. the pamphlet previously referred to as containing a picture of strafford's execution, has also an engraving showing how the tide of public feeling had set against archbishop laud. the powerful churchman had been impeached for high treason; he was deprived of all the profits of his high office and was imprisoned in the tower. all his goods in lambeth palace, including his books, were seized, and even his diary and private papers were taken from him by prynne, who acted under a warrant from the house of commons. the engraving under notice is entitled 'the rising of prentices and sea-men on southwark side to assault the archbishops of canterburys house at lambeth.' in a tract entitled '_a prophecie of the life, reigne, and death of william laud, archbishop of canterbury_,' there is a caricature of laud seated on a throne or chair of state. a pair of horns grow out of his forehead, and in front the devil offers him a cardinal's hat. this business of the cardinal's hat is alluded to by laud himself, who says, 'at greenwich there came one to me seriously, and that avowed ability to perform it, and offered me to be a cardinal. i went presently to the king, and acquainted him both with the thing and the person.' this offer was afterwards renewed: 'but,' says he, 'my answer again was, that something dwelt within me which would not suffer that till rome were other than it is.' it would thus appear that the archbishop did not give a very decided refusal at first or the offer would not have been repeated; and that circumstance, if it were known at the time, must have strengthened the opinion that he was favourably inclined towards the church of rome. at all events, the offer must have been made public, as this caricature shows. though laud behaved with dignity and courage when he came to bid farewell to the world, if we are to believe the publications of the time, he was not above petitioning for mercy, while any hope of life remained. in 1643 a pamphlet was published with the following title, '_the copy of the petition presented to the honourable houses of parliament by the lord archbishop of canterbury, wherein the said archbishop desires that he may not be transported beyond the seas into new england with master peters in regard to his extraordinary age and weaknesse_.' the petition is dated 'from the tower of london this 6th of may 1643,' and in it the petitioner sets forth that out of a 'fervent zeal to christianity' he endeavoured to reconcile the principles of the protestant and roman catholic religions, hoping that if he could effect this he might more easily draw the queen into an adherence to the protestant faith. he deplores that his endeavours were not successful, and he begs the honourable parliament to pardon his errors, and to 'looke upon him in mercy, and not permit or suffer your petitioner to be transported, to endure the hazard of the seas, and the long tediousnesse of voyage into those trans-marine parts, and cold countries, which would soon bring your petitioners life to a period; but rather that your petitioner may abide in his native country, untill your petitioner shall pay the debt which is due from him to nature, and so your petitioner doth submit himselfe to your honourable and grave wisdoms for your petitioners request and desire therein. and your petitioner shall humbly pray &c.' [illustration: caricature of the devil offering laud a cardinal's hat, 1644.] if archbishop laud was really the author of this petition he appears to have expected that his long imprisonment would end in banishment rather than death. he was beheaded on tower hill, january 10, 1645. there is a woodcut portrait of the archbishop printed on the title-page of the petition. [illustration: archbishop laud.] footnote: [1] _life of gustavus adolphus_. family library. chapter iii. ben jonson's ridicule of the early newspapers--fondness of the old news-writers for the marvellous--the smithfield ghost--the wonderful whale--the newbury witch--satirical tracts and caricatures at the commencement of the civil war--religion tossed in a blanket--caricatures of the pope and the bishops--pluralists and patentees--taylor, the water poet--_mercurius aulicus_--activity of the pamphleteers--welshmen satirised--satires on prince rupert--on the king and queen--the ladies' parliament--illustrated tracts relating to social and political subjects--sir kenelm digby's duel--the king entertained by the city of london, 1641--executions in 1641--the liquor traffic and sunday closing in 1641--abuses of the ecclesiastical courts--ritualism and nunneries in 1641--truths enforced by lieing--stage players and the plague in 1641--bartholomew fair in 1641--destruction of charing cross and cheapside cross--strange apparition--method of enforcing their views adopted by the puritan pamphleteers--parodies of roundhead sermons--matthew hopkins the witch-finder--_the welsh post_ of 1643--william lilly the astrologer--three suns seen in london on the king's birthday. when ben jonson called the newspaper 'a weekly cheat to draw money,' and ridiculed the growing taste for news, he had some reason for satirising the journalism of the period. to satisfy the craving for news all kinds of impositions were freely circulated. nothing was too wonderful for the credulity of the age, and people eagerly accepted what was placed before them, fully believing that whatever was in print must be true. it was not, however, till many years after ben jonson's death that the so-called newspapers put forward their full powers as purveyors of the marvellous. _mercurius democritus_ was the _punch_ of that day. while he satirised men and things he laboured to satisfy the popular taste for the wonderful, as in the following account of a ghost that was said to haunt the neighbourhood of smithfield:--'there is a great report of a ghoast that walks every night amongst the butchers at _smithfield barrs_, the _shambles_, white-_chappell_, and _eastcheape_, in the habit of _mallet_, the lawyer, pulling the meat off the butchers tainters; many have adventured to strike at him with cleavers and chopping-knives, but cannot feel anything but aire, every saturday at night between 9 and 12, he walks his stations, in this very habit as you see, doing more mischiefe to the _butchers_ than ever _robin goodfellow_ did to the country hindes.' [illustration: the smithfield ghost. from 'mercurius democritus,' 1654.] another example of the marvellous occurs in a tract entitled, '_the sea wonder: a true and wonderful relation of a whale pursued in the sea, and incountered by multitudes of other fishes as it was certified by divers mariners of weymouth, who, comming from france in the good ship called the_ bonaventure, _did shoote the said whale, which making to land did strike upon the shore, within three miles of weymouth, where being opened there was found in the belly of it a romish priest, with pardon for divers papists in england and ireland, whose names are here inserted_.' great pains appear to have been taken to give an air of truth to the narrative, which begins thus:--'on the 19th of october being the lord's day the good ship called the _bonaventure_ of _weymouth_ being bound for _england_ was bringing home her merchandise from _france_ which was wines, linning cloth, and abundance of wall-nuts, the day was very fair and no wind stirring, so that the ship for above three hours space lay hulling upon the seas, being not able to move either one way nor other for want of wind, although she was full sayled and prepared to take the advantage of every gale.' the author gravely explains that the excitement of the fishes and their attacks on the whale were caused by their instinctively feeling the presence of the popish priest. annexed is a copy of the woodcut on the title-page of this curious tract. [illustration: the wonderful whale, 1645.] '_newes, true newes, laudable newes, citie newes, country newes; the world is mad, or it is a mad world my masters especially now when in the antipodes these things are come to pass._' such is the lengthy title of a pamphlet containing an imaginary account of things at the antipodes, and illustrated with a fanciful woodcut on the title-page. then we have news from boston in new england of a strange and prodigious birth of a child with two heads, also illustrated. _mercurius democritus_, besides such waggeries as giving an account of 'a sight seen in the air by a blind philosopher,' communicates '_many strange wonders out of the world, in the moon, the antipodes, maggy land, tenebris, fary-land, greenland, and other adjacent countries_. _published for the right understanding of all the mad-merry-people of great bedlam._' another example of the wonderful stories put forth to entertain the multitude relates to the discovery and punishment of a witch during the civil war. it occurs in a pamphlet entitled '_a most certain, strange and true discovery of a witch, being taken by some of the parliament forces, as she was standing on a small planck-board and sayling on it over the river of newbury_.' the illustration is of the rudest description, and the story is told in a breathless sort of way, without a full stop in the whole narrative:-'a part of the army marching through newbury, some of the souldiers being scattered by the reason of their loytering by the way, in gathering nuts, apples, plummes, blackberries, and the like, one of them by chance in clambring up a tree, being pursued by his fellow or comrade in waggish merriment, jesting one with another, espied on the river being there adjacent, a tall, lean, slender woman, as he supposed, to his amazement, and great terrour, treading of the water with her feet, with as much ease and firmnesse as if one should walk or trample on the earth, wherewith he softly calls, and beckoned to his fellows to behold it, and with all possible speed that could be to obscure them from her sight, who as conveniently as they could they did observe, this could be no little amazement unto them you may think to see a woman dance upon the water, nor could all their sights be deluded, though perhaps one might, but coming nearer to the shore, they could perceive there was a planke or deale overshadowed with a little shallow water that she stood upon, the which did beare her up, anon rode by some of the commanders who were eye witnesses, as well as they, and were as much astonished as they could be, still too and fro she fleeted on the water, the boord standing firm boult upright, indeed i have both heard and read of many that in tempests and on rivers by casualty have become shipwracked, or cast overboard, where catching empty barrells, rudders, boards, or planks have made good shift by the assisting providence of god to get on shore, but not in this womans kind to stand upon the board, turning and winding it which way she pleased, making it pastime to her, as little thinking who perceived her tricks, or that she did imagine that they were the last she ever should show, as we have heard the swan sing before her death, so did this devilish woman, as after plainly it appeared make sport before her death, at last having sufficiently been upon the water, he that deceived her alway did so then, blinding her that she could not, at her landing see the ambush that was laid for her, coming upon the shore, she gave the board a push, which they plainly perceived, and crossed the river, they searched after her but could not find her she being landed the commanders beholding her, gave orders to lay hold on her, and bring her to them straight, the which some were fearful, but one being more venturous than other some, boldly went to her and seized on her by the arms, demanding what she was? but the woman no whit replying any words unto them, they brought her to the commanders, to whom though mightily she was urged she did reply as little; so consulting with themselves what should be done with her, being it so apparently appeared she was a _witch_, being loth to let her goe & as loth to carry her with them, so they resolved with themselves, to make a shot at her, and gave order to a couple of their souldiers that were approved good marksmen, to charge and shoot her straight, which they prepared to doe; so setting her boult upright against a mud bank or wall; two of the souldiers according to their command made themselves ready, where having taken aime gave fire and shot at her, but with a deriding and loud laughter at them she caught their bullets in her hands and chew'd them, which was a stronger testimony than the water, that she was the same that their imaginations thought her for to be, so resolving with themselves if either fire or sword or halter were sufficient for to make an end of her, one set his carbine close unto her brest; where discharging, the bullet back rebounded like a ball, and narrowly he mist it in his face that was the shooter; this so enraged the gentleman, that one drew out his sword and manfully run at her with all the force his strength had power to make, but it prevailed no more than did the shot, the woman still though speechless, yet in a most contemptible way of scorn, still laughing at them, which did the more exhaust their furie against her life, yet one amongst the rest had heard that piercing or drawing bloud from forth the veins that crosse the temples of the head, it would prevail against the strongest sorcery, and quell the force of witchcraft, which was allowed for triall; the woman hearing this knew then the devill had left her and her power was gone, wherefore she began alowd to cry, and roare, tearing her haire, and making pitious moan, which in these words expressed were: and is it come to passe that i must die indeed? why then his excellency the earle of essex shall be fortunate and win the field, after which no more words could be got from her; wherewith they immediately discharged a pistoll underneath her ear, at which she straight sunk down and died, leaving her legacy of a detested carcasse to the wormes, her soul we ought not to judge of, though the evils of her wicked life and death can scape no censure.' [illustration: the newbury witch, 1643.] on the outbreak of the great civil war an immense number of tracts and pamphlets were published relating to social and political questions, many of which were illustrated. satire was a weapon freely used, and many hard hits were made, the point and bitterness of which cannot now be understood. caricatures, which are generally supposed to have made their appearance in england at a much later date, are of frequent occurrence. the wonderful and supernatural were freely dealt in, and many tracts were published which were not strictly news, yet had some reference to public men and passing events. the woodcuts in the tracts and pamphlets of this period were frequently repeated, being sometimes used where they had no relation to the subject treated. [illustration: religion tossed in a blanket, 1641.] the minds of men being much exercised on questions of religion at this time, it was to be expected that the subject would not escape the notice of the satirist. accordingly, many tracts were published relating to religious matters, some of which are illustrated with woodcut caricatures. there is one of the date of 1641 containing a woodcut of four men tossing religion (represented by a bible) in a blanket. the writer condemns the numberless sects which were perplexing men's minds and tearing the church asunder:-'religion is made a hotch potch, and as it were tossed in a blanquet, and too many places of england too much _amsterdamnified_ by several opinions. religion is now become the common discourse and table-talke in every taverne and ale-house, where a man shall hardly find five together in one minde, and yet every one presumes hee is in the right. the booke of common prayer which was established by act of parliament by that good and godly king edward the sixth, and after reestablished by another parliament by that unparaled and peerlesse princesse queen elizabeth, and continued since in the happy raignes of two gracious kings in the church of england for the service of god these ninetie yeares; yet one would have it to be cast out now, holding it to be a false worship; another is angrie at the vestments and habits of the ministry; one will not kneel, another will not stand, one will sit downe, one will not bowe, another will not be uncovered, one holds all good manners to be popery, another that all decencie is superstitious, another that railes are romish (which is false for the papists have no railes in their churches, nor anything so convenient). one foolishly assumes and presumes to save himselfe and some of his neighbours too, by his good workes; another will be saved by a bare and lazie faith that will do no work at all, and thus religion is puft and blowne to and fro with every wind of doctrine, and as it were tost in a blanquet; but of this more largely hereafter in another part which will suddenly be printed, till when and ever it shall be my hearty prayers that as there is but one shepheard, that is god in his gracious goodnesse and mercie would make us all one sheepfold.' [illustration: caricature of the pope, 1643.] the shafts of satire were frequently aimed at the pope and the bishops. one caricature represents the pope seated, while a unicorn tumbles the triple crown from his head. the same woodcut illustrates a '_letter from the devil to the pope of rome_.' another tract has a representation of the pope riding upon a seven-headed monster and holding in his hand a scroll on which are the words 'estote proditores'--'betraye your country.' this advice he is giving to a cavalier, a bishop, and a monk, and at the same time three devils are represented as leaving him and entering into them. this cut, which is repeated in other pamphlets, is curious as an early specimen of caricature, but its meaning is now lost. [illustration: caricature of the bishops, 1642.] the bishops were treated with as little ceremony as the pope. in one caricature four of them are represented as falling to the earth, with the following lines underneath the woodcut:- 'the tottering prelates, with their trumpery all, shall moulder downe, like elder from the wall.' in a pamphlet called _the decoy duck_, printed in 1642, there is a quaint woodcut caricature and a satirical account of how the bishops of durham, lichfield, norwich, asaph, bath, hereford, oxford, ely, gloucester, peterborough, and llandaff were decoyed and deceived by the bishop of lincoln (bishop williams). i have copied the woodcut, but no quotation from the pamphlet would be understood unless given at great length. it doubtless refers to the charge of high treason against the twelve bishops. the abuses of the established church in an age when the spirit of dissent was strong were pretty sure to attract the notice of the satirical writer and the caricaturist. accordingly, we find representations of the pluralist holding a church in each hand and one on each shoulder; while the non-resident clergyman was compared to the locust:--'the locust is given to spoile and devoure greene things; it was one of the plagues of egypt. non-residents devoure the tithes of many parishes in this kingdome; and they are not to be numbered amongst the least of those plagues that god inflicts upon us for our sins. the locusts caused pharaoh and his servants to cry unto moses that he would entreat the lord to take them away; and our non-residents cause all good people to cry mightily unto god, to the king's majesty, and to the honourable house of parliament, to reform them or remove them; that there may not be any carelesse non-resident in all the coasts of england.... some of our carelesse non-residents have a cure of soules in one place and live in another, like fugitive captaines forsake their ensigne and company at barwick, and flee to dover; who being with jonah commanded for nineveh, flee to tarshish; being placed in the country they run to the cathedrals, they leave their charge as the ostrich doth her eggs in the earth and sands, forgetting that either the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break them, or at the best they leave their congregations, as the cuckoo doth her eggs to be hatched of a sparrow or some other bird.' the following woodcut is copied from a pamphlet entitled '_a purge for pluralities, showing the unlawfulnesse of men to have two livings, or the downefall of double benifices_.' [illustration: the pluralist, 1642.] the abuse of the crown's prerogative in the granting of patents and monopolies was very frequent in the reigns of elizabeth and james, and was not diminished under charles the first. the practice did not fail to attract the notice of the satirical writers of the day, and caricature laid hold on the 'projectors and patentees,' and held them up to ridicule. '_a dialogue or accidental discourse betwixt mr. alderman abell, and richard kilvert, the two maine projectors for wine_, 1641, contains a woodcut showing 'the manner and forme how projectors and patentees have rode a tylting in a parliament time.' the wit of the illustration is a little obscure to the modern reader, but at the time of its publication it was no doubt understood, and relished accordingly. the pamphlet describes how messrs. abell and kilvert laid their heads together to obtain the patent for wine; how they put the patent in force, and how, after the tide turned against them, they reviled one another. as the excitement of the civil war increased, political animosity rose to a red heat. cavaliers and roundheads belaboured each other in many a merciless pamphlet, to which they often endeavoured to give additional bitterness by woodcut caricatures. prominent individuals, such as prince rupert, became marks for the satirist's wit. even the throne itself did not escape, and it was broadly hinted that the protestant king was unduly influenced by the roman catholic queen. the curious subject of the growth of caricature might be illustrated by numerous examples from the publications of this period, but it will be sufficient to refer to two or three more woodcut satires of this date. the distractions of the times were epitomised by john taylor, the water poet, in an illustrated rhyming pamphlet, published in 1642. it is entitled, '_mad fashions, od fashions, all out of fashion, or the emblems of these distracted times_.' [illustration: emblems of the distracted times, 1642.] the author compares england to the engraving on his title-page, where everything is represented upside down:- 'the picture that is printed on the front is like this kingdome if you look upon 't; for if you well doe note it as it is, it is a transform'd metamorphasis. this monstrous picture plainly doth declare this land (quite out of order) out of square. his breeches on his shoulders doe appeare, his doublet on his lower parts doth weare. his boots and spurs upon his armes and hands, his gloves upon his feet (whereon he stands) the church o'erturned (a lamentable show) the candlestick above, the light below, the coney hunts the dogge, the rat the cat, the horse doth whip the cart (i pray marke that) the wheelbarrow doth drive the man (oh base) and eeles and gudgeons flie a mighty pace. and sure this is a monster of strange fashion that doth surpasse all ovids transformation. and this is england's case this very day, all things are turned the clean contrary way; for now, as when a royall parliament, (with king, and peers, and commons whole consent) have almost sate two years, with paines and cares, and charge, to free us from our griefes and fears, for when many a worthy lord and knight, and good esquire (for king and countrey's right) have spent so much time with great toyle and heede all england's vicious garden how to weed, so like a wildernesse 'twas over run, that though much better hath been done; all is not done.' the water poet sided with the cavalier party, and verse and prose flowed plentifully from his pen in favour of the royal cause. his effusions provoked many replies, one of which is entitled, '_no mercurius aquaticus, but a cable-rope, double twisted for john tayler, the water poet; who escaping drowning in a paper-wherry-voyage, is reserved for another day, as followeth, viz._' then follows the subjoined woodcut, with verses underneath. the hint that the poet was born to be hanged because he had escaped from drowning refers to his having undertaken to sail from london to queenborough in a boat made of brown paper. in this foolhardy exploit taylor and a friend who was with him nearly lost their lives. the tract under notice affords a good specimen of the sort of language used by the partisans of each faction against their opponents: 'i should be loathe to foule my fingers with any base pamphlets that comes from oxford, if the venom of their malicious spleens were darted against my particular self: but when through my sides they wound the honour of the parliament and our armies abroad, i cannot but set pen to paper, and pay them back again in their own kinde. and who d'ye think i should meet abroad for a _rogue-in-print_ but one of our city water-rats, the doughty john taylor, who according to the knavish custom, changes his name upon every new paper-designe? sometimes he calls himself _thorney ailo, mercurius aquaticus_, and now he entitles himself no mercurius aulicus. i thought i had lately sent _rope_ enough for all the parrots in oxford; but i perceive they will be prattling still; and therefore i must unmaske the mysterious masters of the science of railing. there are three grand paper conspirators well known by the name of _mercurius aulicus, george naworth_, and reverend master _john tayler_ the water-tankard, by whose sprinklings in this great dearth of wit and honesty the university is cherished and kept in credit. these three are they which pumpe and pimpe about with their prostitute noddles in the behalf of popery, murder, and rebellion against the state; they are liars in all elements, _aulicus_ for land-lies, _tayler_ for water, and hungry _george naworth_ for all between heaven and earth, where i doubt not but to see them all meet together to take their farewell of the world, where the _parrots_ will find _ropes_ made of stronger lines than mine, and such as will _non-plus_ the very primest wits in the university.' [illustration: predicted fate of john taylor the water poet, 1644.] the pamphleteer goes on to give the water-poet what he doubtless considered a thorough drubbing, and at the end he leaves him 'to the gallows, the proper cure for such rebels.' the words 'london' and 'oxford' on the woodcut have reference to another voyage which the water-poet performed in a sculler's boat between those places. [illustration: mercurius aulicus in the pillory, 1645.] _mercurius aulicus_ was the organ of the court party, and was published at oxford. a curious satire upon this court paper was printed in 1645, entitled, _newes from smith the oxford jaylor_. it consists of a dialogue between the author and the 'oxford jaylor,' and sets forth that 'mercurius aulicus' was sentenced, by a jury of women,' to stand in the pillory three market-days in oxford, for his lies, libels, and deceitful glozings;' to have a written paper over his head announcing his shame; to beg forgiveness of 'mercurius brittanicus;' to be prevented from writing any more libels for one year. 'that before two months' expiration he be cut of the simples, and his braines be taken out, washt in white wine, and put in againe.' 'that for every morning during the said time he have one mess of stewd broth made of the interlinings of fower court parazites, and the braines of 26 oxford widgins boyld in the water of forgetfulnesse.' 'that he may never hereafter have so much as one graine of wit left him in his empty hogshead (his brains being taken out and washed as before is ordered) to scandalize those whom if he had any grace he is bound to honour.' there is a woodcut of _mercurius aulicus_ in the pillory, which is supposed to represent sir john birkenhead, who acquired the title of the loyal poet, and suffered several imprisonments. this cut was used on several other occasions. the troubles of the times are constantly indicated in the pamphlets of the period. in one the state is represented as a two-headed serpent, with these lines underneath the engraving: 'this double-headed serpent is a wonder, it draws two ways and tears the womb in sunder; the wofull emblem of a troubled state where civill warres doe threat to ruinate.' [illustration: square caps turned into round heads, 1642.] the partisans of the parliament faction appear to have been much more active pamphleteers than the cavaliers. '_square caps turned into round heads, or the bishop's vindication and the brownist's conviction, being a dialogue between time and opinion; showing the folly of the one and the worthinesse of the other_,' is a tract with an illustration representing opinion turning a wheel, on which are five square caps and five round heads, while time, with his scythe and hourglass, holds converse with opinion. under the woodcut are the following lines:- 'time doth opinion call unto accompt, who turns the bishop's downe and roundheads mount; upon her lofty wheels their noddles are, but her camelion feedeth on his aire.' '_cornucopia, or room for a ram head, wherein is described the dignity of the ram head above the roundhead or rattlehead_,' is another tract, with a woodcut caricature representing a woman attempting to saw the horns from a man's head. the letterpress consists of a dialogue between a man and his wife, wherein the man humorously praises horns. it was a favourite joke to represent the puritan as a 'cuckoldy roundhead.' [illustration: caricature, 1642.] another satirical pamphlet has a woodcut representing cavaliers and roundheads exciting their dogs to fight. it is entitled, '_a dialogue or rather a parly between prince rupert's dogge whose name is puddle, and tobies dog whose name is pepper, &c._ _whereunto is added the challenge which prince griffin's dog, called towzer, hath sent to prince rupert's dog puddle, in the behalfe of honest pepper, tobie's dog. moreover, the said prince griffin is newly gone to oxford to lay the wager, and to make up the match._' in this satire, which is very highly flavoured, both cavaliers and roundheads are pelted with very vigorous epithets, but in the end the roundhead dog is converted by his opponent, and seals his recantation in a very striking manner. there is a tirade against the jesuits entitled, '_a peece of ordnance invented by a jesuite, for cowards that fight by whisperings, and raise jealousies to overthrow both church and state, which with the help of a private ensign in the cabbinet councell, or westminster hall is able to doe more mischiefe at twentie miles distance, than a whole regiment of stout souldiers, at musket-shot_. _which grievance is by way of remonstrance humbly presented to the consideration of the parliament._' this tract has a woodcut of a man firing a cannon formed of the figure of a man. [illustration: caricature, 1643.] '_hell's hurlie-burlie, or a fierce contention between the pope and the devill_,' is illustrated; and there is a pamphlet, with a woodcut, entitled, '_the devill's white boyes: a mixture of malicious malignants, with their much evill and manifold practises against the kingdome and parliament, with a bottomlesse sack-full of knavery, popery, prelacy, policy, treachery, malignant trumpery, conspiricies, and cruelties, filled to the top by the malignants, laid on the shoulders of time, and now by time emptied forth, and poured out, to show the truth, and shame the devill_. beneath, the woodcut are the following verses:- 'malignants are the divell's agents still, the sack is _england_, which they strive to fill with misery and mischief, and this sack full stufft is laid upon times aged back; _time_ pours it out now in an angry mood that all their knaveries may be understood.' on the cut itself are printed the lines:- '_time_ now at the last pours out much knavery, the devill holds down fast to hinder the discovery.' [illustration: caricature, 1644.] the welshman came in for a share of the satirist's wit at the commencement of the civil war. he generally figures under the name of 'ap shinkin,' and is made to speak english much the same as the scottish highlander does in scott's novels. '_the welsh mans postures, or the true manner how her doe exercise her company of souldiers in her own country in a warlike manners_,' is a satire of a very broad character, and is illustrated with a woodcut representing men exercising with the pike. shinkin is also ridiculed for the share he took in the battle of edgehill, the first important engagement in the civil war. there is an illustrated tract with the following title: '_the welsh mans complements: or the true manner how shinkin wood his sweetheart maudlin after his return from kenton battaile_. _also fair maudlin's reply and answer to all shinkin's welch complements, full of merry wit and pleasant mirth._' the 'merry wit' is certainly not refined, and the 'pleasant mirth' is founded on shinkin's supposed hasty departure from the neighbourhood of the fight. the woodcut represents shinkin and maudlin in conversation. prince rupert is often the mark for the satirist's wit. in '_rupert's sumpter, and private cabinet rifled, and a discovery of a pack of his jewels, by way of dialogue between mercurius brittanicus and mercurius aulicus_,' there is a discussion as to the prince's merits and demerits, and he is charged with aiming at the crown. both the king and queen were brought under the caricaturist's lash. in 1644 there was an illustrated pamphlet published, representing the king, queen, and a bishop, with the following title: '_the sussex picture, or an answer to the sea-gull_.' the address to the reader is headed: 'the sceptre's submission, the distaffs triumph, and the crosiers combination. reader, if thou hast view'd that stately picture, which was lately sent up to the parliament by collonel morley, and was taken in a flemish ship upon the sussex shore; thou hast beheld therein the weaker sexe triumphing over the stronger, and by the help of a miter, thou hast seen a scepter doing homage to the distaffe. if thou hast never seen the originall, yet here is to be seen a poore, rude, counterfeit of the chief part in it; use thy judgement freely, and impartially: let both the peece itself, and that which is said by both sides, in judgement thereupon, be put into one equal ballance. if the dutch author be not to undergo censure, as if he intended an english storie, yet neither art thou to be censured for doubting his intention, or for standing amazed at his phancie. shadows which are not fashioned by some certain, neer, interposing body present nothing to the eye, and therefore work nothing upon the understanding. the language of a picture is to be borrowed from the veritie of the matter, if that be wanting, neither the art of the limner nor the imagination of the spectator can supply its vocall organs.' this caricature may have referred to the influence which the roman catholic queen was supposed to exercise over the protestant king under clerical guidance. [illustration: the parliament of ladies, 1644.] charles i. summoned a parliament at oxford in 1644, consisting of such members of both houses as were devoted to his interests. there exists a satirical tract ridiculing this parliament, and, in fact, representing it as a parliament of old women. the tract is entitled '_an exact diurnall of the parliament of laydes_,' and is illustrated with a woodcut. it sets forth that 'countesses and other ladies (on monday morning early in a prosopopia) being met in mary maudlins hall in oxford, they first made choyce of their speaker; and it was agreed by all that the lady oboney should have the chaire, the lady rivers was made chancellor, nurse windham high constable, the countess of derby high treasurer, and the countess of essex high chamberlain. these ladies having all taken their places, mrs. powell was appointed cheefe clerk to the house, and mrs. peele chaire lady to the close committee, and moll cut-purse was made sergeant at arms.' prince rupert and others are tried and sentenced for various crimes, but the ladies afterwards relent, and pardon all the prisoners brought before them. i give on the preceding page a reduced copy of the rough woodcut which illustrates this curious burlesque. [illustration: caricature, 1644.] a writer of much verbosity satirised the assembly of divines at westminster in another illustrated pamphlet, printed 'by martin claw-clergy for bartholomew bang-priest, and sold in toleration-street, at the sign of the subject's liberty, opposite to persecuting court.' the author states on the title-page that his production displays 'many witty synodian conceits both pleasant and commodious,' and adorns his work with the above curious engraving, which probably had some reference to a papal bull, but at this distance of time we look in vain for the point and meaning of many of these old caricatures. having glanced at the satirical side of illustrated journalism at the epoch of the civil war, i will quote two or three examples relating to the social and political condition of the country before entering upon the stirring events of that time. a great variety of subjects are embraced in this section. there are accounts of apparitions, signs and portents in the heavens, monstrous births, duels and murders, criminal trials and executions, besides many tracts relating to the vices and follies of the age. one of the first illustrated pamphlets we come to in this division of our subject describes a duel fought in vindication of the good name of king charles i. the pamphlet is entitled, '_sir kenelme digby's honour maintained by a most couragious combat which he fought with the lord mount le ros, who by base and slanderous words reviled our king_. _also the true relation how he went to the king of france, who kindly intreated and sent two hundred men to guard him so far as flanders. and now he is returned from banishment, and to his eternal honour lives in england._' this is a tract written by an undoubted royalist. it begins in praise of valour, which is divided into three kinds--that which is allied to rashness, that which is born of the fear of death, and temperate or true valour. it describes how sir kenelme digby was dining with a french lord, who, having toasted most of the kings of christendom, then proposed the health of the most arrant coward in the world; and on sir kenelme inquiring who that was, he was told, after he had drunk the toast, that it was meant for the king of england: 'at which the good knight seemed very much discontent, knowing in what nature his soveraigne was wronged; yet very wisely did he seeme to pass it by untill dinner being ended, then did he desire the same lord the next day to come and dine with him, who promised him upon his honour that he would.' [illustration: sir kenelm digby's duel, 1641.] the next day the french lord repaired to sir kenelme's lodgings, where an entertainment befitting his rank was provided: 'neither did sir kenelme seeme to remember the former daies discontent, but was very frolic and merry, and in the midst of dinner time desired them all to be bare, for he would beginne a health to the bravest king in the world. the french lord asked whom that was, sir kenelme made answer that when it had gone about he should know; well, about it went and then sir kenelme said that it was the health of the bravest king in the world, which is the king of england, my royal master, for although my body be banished from him, yet is my heart loyally linkt; the french lord at those words seemed to laugh repeating the same words before mentioned, then was sir kenelme throughly moved in the behalf of our soveraigne king charles whereupon he whispered the lord in the eare, telling of him how that twice he had reviled the best king in the world in the hearing of me which am his faithful subject, wherefore for satisfaction i require a single combate of you, where either you shall pay your life for your sawcinesse, or i will sacrifice mine in the behalfe of my king. the french lord being of a resolute spirit condescended to fight, the place was appointed, dinner being ended, they both arise from table and privately went together, being in field off they pluckt their doublets, and out they draw their weapons. 'mars would have bashful beene to have seene himselfe by noble digby there excelled, long work with the contemptible french lord, he would not make, for fear lest any should lye in ambush and so he might hazard his own life, wherefore in four bouts he run his rapier into the french lords brest till it came out of his throat againe, which so soon as he had done, away he fled to the court of france, and made all knowne to the king thereof, who said the proudest lord in france should not dare to revile his brother king. 'a guard was presently chosen to conduct sir kenelme into flanders, which they did, where he tooke shipping for england, where he now is, where in peace and quietnesse may he still remaine. 'as for the french lord he was paid according to his desert, and may all be so rewarded which shall dare to revile the lords anointed, who suffers by other nations, for the clemency he hath shown to his own nation, _sed beati sunt pacifici_, but blessed is the peace maker; good king for thy patience in this world there are crownes of immortal glory laid in store for thee in the world to come, there shall not traitors dare to show their faces, nor shall perplexity proceed from the great care of ruling of a kingdome, in the meanwhile may more such noble digbies increase to rebuke all cursing _achitophels_ and reviling _rabshakey's_. 'let god arise and then shall the enemies of our gracious king be sure to be scattered. 'now i conclude commanding fame to show brave digby's worthy deed, that all may know he lov'd his king, may all so loyal prove and like this digby to their king show love.' many portraits of charles i. were published in tracts about this time. one of the best is contained in a poetical welcome to the king on his return from scotland. '_king charles his entertainment and londons loyaltie_,' 1641, contains a precept issued by the lord mayor, directing how the aldermen and citizens shall meet the king, on his return from scotland, at shoreditch church, and conduct him to the guildhall to a banquet, and afterwards to westminster. there is also a a very spirited woodcut of a city trumpeter in this pamphlet, which is copied above. city entertainments to sovereigns and princes have always been fruitful occasions for illustrated newspapers. [illustration: city trumpeter, 1641.] the wholesale executions that used to take place at this period would astonish the modern newspaper reader. sometimes as many as twenty-four persons were executed in one day at tyburn. '_a coppy of the prisoners judgement condemned to dy, from nugate on monday the 13 of december, 1641_,' gives an account of eight jesuits and several other prisoners who were executed. a descriptive list is given of the condemned, and amongst them are the following:-'charles james, an handsome gentile young man, was convicted for robery and burglary. 'john hodskins, a fine scholler, a pretty fellow, yet wanted grace. 'john davis, a lusty stout personable man. 'francis middlefield, a pretty youth, and a good scholler, convicted of felonie.' several highwaymen, horse-stealers, and coiners, are also included in this gloomy list, which is adorned with a woodcut of an execution. the regulation of the licensed victuallers' trade and the sunday closing movement appear to have been as troublesome questions in the seventeenth century as they are now. as early as 1641 the publican was uttering the complaints which he still continues to utter. in a pamphlet of that date there is a dialogue between a tapster and a cook, which sets forth the grievances of both these worthies. the pamphlet is entitled, '_the lamentable complaints of nick froth the tapster and rulerost the cook, concerning the restraint lately set forth against drinking, potting, and piping on the sabbath day, and against selling meate_.' the publican expresses himself thus:--'i much wonder master rulerost why my trade should be put downe, it being so necessary in a commonwealth; why the noble art of drinking, it is the soul of all good fellowship, the marrow of a poet's minervs, it makes a man as valiant as hercules though he were as cowardly as a frenchman; besides i could prove it necessary for any man sometimes to be drunk, for suppose you should kill a man when you are drunk, you shall never be hanged for it untill you are sober; therefore i think it good for a man to be always drunk; and besides it is the kindliest companion, and friendliest sin of all the seven, for most sins leave a man by some accident or other, before his death, but this will never forsake him till the breath be out of his body; and lastly a full bowle of strong beere will drown all sorrows.' to which master cook rejoins:--'master nick, you are mistaken, your trade is not put downe as you seem to say; what is done is done to a good intent; to the end that poor men that worke hard all the weeke for a little money, should not spend it all on the sunday while they should be at some church, and so consequently there will not be so many beggars.' [illustration: the complaint of the licensed victuallers, 1641.] froth--'alack you know all my profit doth arise onely on sundays, let them but allow me that privilege, and abridge me all the weeke besides; s'foot, i could have so scowered my young sparks up for a penny a demy can, or a halfe pint, heapt with froth. i got more by uttering half a barrell in time of divine service, than i could by a whole barrell at any other time, for my customers were glad to take anything for money, and think themselves much ingaged to me; but now the case is altered.' cook--'truly master froth you are a man of a light constitution, and not so much to be blamed as i that am more solid: o what will become of me! i now think of the lusty sirloines of roast beefe which i with much policy divided into an innumerable company of demy slices, by which, with my provident wife, i used to make eighteene pence of that which cost me but a groat (provided that i sold it in service time,) i could tell you too, how i used my halfe cans and my bloomsbury pots, when occasion served; and my smoak which i sold dearer than any apothecary doth his physick; but those happy days are now past, and therefore no more of that.' this pamphlet is illustrated with a woodcut showing the cook and tapster in confabulation, while in the background joints are roasting, and guests are seated in boxes, refreshing themselves with 'half-cans and bloomsbury pots.' the abuses of the ecclesiastical courts did not escape the notice of the seventeenth-century pamphleteers. doctors' commons and the proctors were quizzed in an illustrated pamphlet, wherein 'sponge, the proctor,' and 'hunter, the parator,' hold a long conversation, and express their opinion that the only way to make men live in quietness is to beggar them with long suits and large fees. other evil-doers were shown up in a similar manner. a certain edward finch, vicar of christ-church, london, gave so much offence to the parishioners by his manner of life that a petition was presented to parliament on the subject. the petitioners said they were offended by their vicar's 'frequent and unreasonable bowings' before the altar, and by his 'scandalous life and conversation.' they set forth in the petition that they are 'troubled in their church with singing, organs, and other instruments of musicke, not understood by them, whereby they are greatly distracted in the service of god, the same being altogether unprofitable, and no way tending to their spirituall edification.' the vicar is charged with drunkenness and incontinence--with exacting unreasonable fees--with being a non-resident; and the evidence in support of the petition shows that on one occasion he went to hammersmith in a coach with certain loose companions and spent the day in a manner unfit for a clergyman. he is proved to have attempted to administer the sacrament to a dying woman while he was in a state of drunkenness, and to have been guilty of many other disgraceful acts. the house of commons passed a vote of censure on this graceless ritualist; and the petition setting forth his misdeeds was printed and published, illustrated with a woodcut showing the journey to hammersmith in a coach. notwithstanding the condemnation of parliament, the rev. edward finch continued in his evil courses, and conducted his 'life and conversation' much the same as before. [illustration: evil doings of the rev. edward finch, 1641.] from the 'perambulations' of a ritualistic clergyman we come to a nunnery, in a pamphlet published in 1641, entitled, '_the arminian nunnery, or a briefe description and relation of the late erected monasticall place, called the arminian nunnery at little gidding, in huntingdonshire_.' the writer of this pamphlet gives a minute and by no means 'brief' description of the institution, which he evidently believes to be roman catholic, or a stepping-stone to it, though the 'deacon' who attended him on his visit assured him to the contrary. he, however, sets down all the tapers and crosses, the bowings and prostrations, as so many proofs of idolatry, and marvels that, in a settled church government, the bishops should suffer any such institutions to exist; particularly that archbishop laud, professing to be such an 'anti-papist and enemy to superstition and idolatry, should permit this innovation and connive at such canting betwixt the barke and the tree in matter of religion.' while censuring the prelates for their criminal slothfulness, the writer gave his countrymen the benefit of his own acuteness and energy, and published his description, illustrated with an engraving representing one of the nuns, with a portion of the nunnery in the background. [illustration: nunnery at little gidding, huntingdonshire, 1641.] the next illustrated pamphlet we come to is a curious attempt on the part of its author to satirise his literary contemporaries for the falsehoods contained in their writings, and he burlesques their productions by relating many things as lies which, however, he means to be understood as truths. it is called '_the liar, or a contradiction to those who in the titles of their books affirmed them to be true, when they were false; although mine are all true yet i term them lyes. veritas veritatis_.' 'there was an englishman which travelled to the swedish army, and began to relate very strange passages which he had seen here in england, thinking that travellers might lye by authority; for said he in the county of berke, at a place called abingdon, when the earle of strafford lost his head, was such thundering and lightning, and earthquakes, that it is almost incredible. surely i think it is incredible indeed, for i know 'tis no such matter. 'he told too that the very same day that my lord archbishop of canterbury was committed to the tower, there was a child born in the county of somerset with a mitre on its head, a marke on his breast like a crucifix, and many other strange things which were there seene.' having invented the travelling englishman for a mouth-piece and selected the swedish army for an audience, the writer goes on to relate many other strange things, which, though told as lies, are evidently intended to be taken as truths. [illustration: the liar on the rack, 1641.] 'they heard him with patience till he had made an end of his lying, and then they asked him whether yea or nay he saw these things he spake of, he presently swore all the oaths of god that he saw these things with his own natural eyes, which he had reported, and he would maintaine it, though he spent his dearest blood in the doeing of it; well, they heard his protestations, and made a full account that they would prove his constancie whether he would be a martyr yea or nay, in the meane time they horsed him, and this was the manner of it. 'there was a great high thing raised to the height of twelve or fourteen yards, made of iron, whereon he was seated, with two great weights on his toes, and the like on his hands where he sate in great paine, if he should chance to ease himselfe upwards, there were sharp nailes over his head which would prick him, thus he sate and thus he suffered, till they had sufficiently made a laughing stock of him; well, when he had suffered enough they let him downe.' there is a woodcut representing the lying traveller on his 'horse,' and the tract winds up thus:-'gentle reader, i have heere related under the name of lies nothing but true tales, for if a man doth now speake truth he shall be sure to smart for it now-a-daies, either here or in other places: read gentlie and buy willingly.' when the plague visited london in 1641 the theatres were closed and the players were thrown out of employment. this state of things is discussed in a dialogue between 'cane of the fortune and reed of the friars,' in a tract illustrated with a woodcut which was frequently used afterwards in broadsides. bartholomew fair, which was proclaimed for the last time in 1855, was in all its glory in the days of charles i. a contemporary tract gives a graphic description of the fair, and is illustrated with a woodcut representing a man swallowing a serpent. this probably represented a picture hung outside one of the shows. the title of the tract is, '_bartholomew faire, or variety of fancies, where you may find a faire of wares and all to please your mind; with the several enormities and misdemeanours which are there seen and acted_.' the fair is described as beginning 'on the twenty-fourth day of august, and is then of so vast an extent that it is contained in no lesse than four several parishes, namely, christ church, great and little saint bartholomew's, and saint sepulchre's. hither resort people of all sorts, high and low, rich and poore, from cities, townes, and countreys; of all sects, papists, atheists, anabaptists, and brownists, and of all conditions, good and bad, virtuous and vitious.' it is said to be 'full of gold and silver-drawers; just as lent is to the fishmonger so is bartholomew faire to the pickpocket; it is his high harvest, which is never bad but when his cart goes up holborn. [illustration: a bartholomew fair wonder, 1641.] 'it is remarkable and worth your observation to behold and hear the strange sights and confused noise in the faire. here a knave in a fool's coat, with a trumpet sounding, or on a drum beating, invites you and would fain perswade you to see his puppets; there a rogue like a wild woodman, or in an antick shape like an incubus, desires your company, to view his motion; on the other side hocus pocus, with three yards of tape or ribbin in's hand, shewing his art of legerdemain, to the admiration and astonishment of a company of cockoloaches. amongst these you shall see a gray goose cap (as wise as the rest), with a what do ye lacke in his mouth, stand in his boothe, shaking a rattle, or scraping on a fiddle, with which children are so taken, that they presently cry out for these fopperies; and all these together make such a distracted noise that you would think babell were not comparable to it. here there are also your gamesters in action, some turning of a whimsey, others throwing for pewter, who can quickly dissolve a round shilling into a three-halfpenny saucer. long lane at this time looks very faire, and puts out her best cloaths, with the wrong side outward, so turned for their better turning off. and cloth faire is now in great request; well fare the ale-houses therein; yet better may a man fare (but at a dearer rate) in the pig market, alias pasty-nooke, or pye corner, where pigges are all hours of the day on the stalls piping hot, and would cry (if they could speak) come eate me.' [illustration: pulling down cheapside cross, 1643.] in 1641 an order of parliament directed the removal of idolatrous pictures from churches and the demolition of crosses in the streets. it must have been on the passing of this order that '_the doleful lamentation of cheapside cross_,' with a woodcut of the cross, was published, 1641. also, '_a dialogue between the crosse in cheap and charing crosse_,' 1641, which has also a woodcut representing the two crosses, while a brownist and an anabaptist converse about their demolition. it was not, however, till 1643 that charing cross and cheapside cross were demolished. '_the downfall of dagon, or the taking down of cheapside crosse this second of may, 1643_,' is a mock lamentation for the destruction of the cross on account of its being a symbol of idolatry. the cross itself is made to describe its history and to lament its errors. divers reasons are given for its demolition, and the tract concludes in these words: 'and so this tuesday it is a taking down with a great deal of judgement and discretion, and foure companies of the traine bands of the city to guard and defend those that are about the worke, and to keep others from domineering, and so i leave it to be made levell with the ground this second day of may 1643.' the tract is illustrated with a woodcut representing the demolition of the cross; and, as the day of publication is the day after the event, the persons concerned in its production must have been unusually prompt and energetic. the destruction of cheapside and charing crosses is also recorded, under the date of 1643, in '_a sight of the transactions of these latter yeares emblemized with ingraven plates, which men may read without spectacles_.' this pamphlet contains a reprint of the etched plates previously mentioned, together with six others, one of which represents the pulling down of cheapside cross, and a summary of the transactions of the reign of charles i., in which occurs the following passage:--'cheapside crosse, charing crosse, and all other crosses, in and about london utterly demolished and pulled down, and that abominable and blasphemous book of tolerating sports and pastimes on the lord's daies, voted to be burnt, and shortly after accordingly burnt, together with many crucifixes and popish trinckets and trumperies in the very same place where cheapside crosse stood.' i have copied the plate representing the demolition of cheapside cross. the affairs of turkey would seem to have had an interest for the english public in the seventeenth century, if we may judge from a pamphlet printed in 1642, with the following lengthy title:--'_strange and miraculous newes from turkie, sent to our english ambassadour resident at constantinople, of a woman which was seen in the firmament with a book in her hand at_ medina talnabi, _where mahomet's tomb is_. _also several visions of armed men appearing in the ayre for one and twenty dayes together. with a prophetical interpretation made by a mahomedan priest, who lost his life in the maintenance thereof. london, printed for hugh perry neere ivy bridge in the strand june 13, 1642._' there is a woodcut of the apparition, and a lengthy description, passages from which i have extracted:-'there came newes to constantinople of a strange apparition or vision, which was seene at _medina talnabi_ in arabia, whereat mahomet their great prophet was buried. to visit whose tombe the turkes used to goe in pilgrimage, but they must first goe to _mecha_, which is some few dayes journey off, and there they take a ticket from the grand seigniors beglerbeg, else they are not allowed to go to medina. 'this vision continued three weeks together, which terrified the whole country, for that no man could discover the truth thereof. [illustration: strange vision in the air, 1642.] 'about the 20 of _september_ there fell so great a tempest and so fearful a thunder about midnight, as the heavens were darkened, and those that were awake were almost distracted, but the vapours being disperst, and the element cleere, the people might read in arabian characters these words in the firmament, _o why will you believe in lies_. betweene two and three in the morning there was seen a woman in white compassed about with the sun, having a cheerfull countenance, holding in her hand a booke, coming from the northeast, opposite against her were armies of _turkes_, _persians_, _arabians_, and other mahometans, ranged in order of battaile, and ready to charge her, but she kept her standing, and onely opened the booke, at the sight whereof the armies fled, and presently all the lamps about mahomet's tombe went out, for as soon as ever the vision vanished (which was commonly an hour before sunne rising) a murmuring wind was heard, whereunto they imputed the extinguishing of the lamps. the antient pilgrims of mahomet's race, who after they have visited this place, never use to cut their haire, were much amazed, for that they could not conceive the meaning of this vision, only one of the _dervices_, which is a strict religious order among the _turkes_ like unto the cappuchins amongst the papists, and live in contemplation, stepped up very boldly and made a speech unto the company which incensed them much against him, so as the poore priest for his plain dealing lost his life, as you shall hereafter heare.' then follows the speech of the dervish to the turks, who became so incensed that they put him to death, 'the poore man crying to the last gaspe, o thou woman with the booke save me, and so he died. at which time there was a feareful tempest.' it seems to have been a favourite method amongst the puritan pamphleteers of inducing belief in a particular creed or doctrine by setting forth the awful consequences arising from adherence to an opposite faith. thus, in 1645, in the parish of kirkham, a popish gentlewoman was said to have become the mother of a child without a head, because she wished she might bear a child without a head rather than her offspring should become a roundhead. again, it was related that in scotland a woman wished she might become the mother of a monster rather than her child should receive the rites of the church of england. accordingly, the child was born with two heads, long donkey-like ears, &c. in all these cases the pamphlets recording these extraordinary occurrences are illustrated. the apparitions of deceased persons were also used as a means of enforcing certain views. for example, in 1642, the ghosts of king james, the marquis of hamilton, george eglisham, and the duke of buckingham, were made to hold a conversation, wherein buckingham was charged with having caused the deaths of the others by poison. buckingham confesses his guilt and promises to weep repentant tears. this pamphlet is also illustrated. the sermons of the roundhead preachers were sometimes parodied, as in the case of a humorous pamphlet entitled, '_a seasonable lecture, or a most learned oration; disburthened from henry walker, a most judicious quondam ironmonger, &c._' there is a woodcut to this pamphlet representing a person holding forth from a tub to several others who are listening to him. in '_a glasse for the times, 1648_,' there is a woodcut representing the 'orthodox true minister' preaching in a church, while the 'seducer, or false prophet,' is holding forth to people in the open air; and the reader is instructed as to the difference between true ministers and false teachers. amongst the numerous executions that took place about the beginning of the civil war, some of the sufferers belonged to the roman catholic religion, and went to the gallows for conscience sake. in 1643 a certain father bell, a romish priest, was hanged; and a few days after the execution a pamphlet was published, entitled '_the confession, obstinacy, and ignorance of father bell, a romish priest, wherein is declared the manner of his tryall, condemnation, and execution on munday december 11, 1643_.' there is a woodcut of the execution of father bell, and an account of his behaviour on the occasion, his speech at the gallows, and his disputatious conversation with the sheriff. though many persons were put to death for witchcraft during the long parliament, i have met with no illustrated record of any such event. matthew hopkins was 'witch-finder general' at this time, and he had a flourishing trade. he had a regular system for finding out witches; but it appears that it must have been called in question, for the objections to his system and his answers thereto were delivered to the judges of assize for the county of norfolk in 1647. a pamphlet of that date contains a full account of hopkins's rules for finding witches, and it is illustrated with a woodcut representing the interior of a house, with the witch-finder, two witches seated, and surrounded by their imps in the shapes of animals. _the welsh post_ of 1643 is a curious illustrated pamphlet which relates the news of the civil war in language such as was supposed to be used by a welshman speaking english. it begins thus:--'whereas there hath beene many tiurnals and passages, the truth whereof hath beene much suspected, so tat her doth not be certaine to heare the true report of her pretherns proceeding; her hath terefore chosen to herselfe a fery true printer (tat do scorne to print lie) to print a weekly tiurnall for her dear countryman of whales to understand te fery truth marke you me tat now, for ferily her will not lye truly, but tell her te pare naked truth.' the news from oxford is that 'te kings forces are fery weake there, and that the countrey are fery glad of it, because of teir intolerable trouble and charge.' there is also news from northamptonshire, cheshire, gloucester, plymouth, yorkshire, &c, all related in the same language. [illustration: hopkins, the witchfinder, 1647.] _the welsh plunderer_ is another pamphlet, with a woodcut of a cavalier, which is probably intended for prince rupert. it contains a rambling protestation from 'shinkin' of his loyalty, and states what he will do in case prince rupert should visit wales. william lilly, the astrologer, found a rich field for the exercise of his gifts during the progress of the civil war. he was employed by both royalists and roundheads; and it is said he was even consulted by the king about signing the propositions of the parliament. his advice was also sought respecting the king's projected escape from carisbrook castle. he kept his name before the public by publishing various almanacs and tracts, in one of which, _the starry messenger_, 1645, he gives an account of a strange apparition of three suns seen in london on the king's birthday. this is preceded by a long list of similar appearances, from the time of christ to his own time, and the remarkable events which followed. in high-flown language, mixed with the jargon of astrology he vaguely hints at great events impending:--'i am clearly of opinion, these sights, as well as many others, were caused by those tutelary angels, who, by gods permission, and under him, have the government of the english commonwealth. they are sensible of those many impending miseries now too plentifully amongst us. their conference with man now, as in the days of old, very few attain unto, it being a blessing sought after by many, attained unto by few: and yet there are some of opinion there lives in the world some, and of those some, a small party in england, that know more than they utter, and either by vision, or verball colloquie, have the knowledge of future events, yea, even from the blessed angels:'--which is as much as to say, i, william lilly, am one of the favoured few! come to me and i will teach you wisdom--i will unfold to you the mysterious future! the tract is illustrated with a woodcut; and a later tract published by lilly contains an engraving of the three suns, together with a further exposition of his views on the subject:--'god many waves in these last times (though not by prophecy) yet discovers and signifies his intentions unto us, and especially in and at those times when his heavy judgments are imminent upon us; witnesse the many and frequent appearances of severall prodigies seen in this kingdom of england within these four or five years, the like whereof for number are not recorded in any, either ancient or modern history, so that i might weary the reader, should i but mention the severall letters which from sundry parts of this kingdom have come to my hands, some mentioning strange sights in the ayre; others men fighting therein; others guns shooting; others relating of three moons; others the apparition of two suns; some sending me letters, and including therein some part of that corn which was rained down from heaven, &c. i forbear all further discourse hereof, assuring the kingdom, these prodigies are the premonitions, and assumed infallible messengers of gods wrath against the whole kingdom, for our wicked transgressions, &c. god give us peace and grace to repent.' [illustration: three suns seen in london on the king's birthday, 1648.] chapter iv. the civil war--flying sheets of news--disturbance at kingston-on-thames--plot against london--riotous proceedings at york, and conspiracy in edinburgh--the house of commons--the royal standard raised at nottingham--battle of edgehill--prince rupert--the lord mayor of london--_mercurius civicus_--_the scottish dove_--_the flying post_--_the kingdomes weekly post_--cruelties of the cavaliers--the 'levellers'--the king's escape from oxford--funeral of the earl of essex--the great seal broken--fairfax--cromwell--sea fight in the channel--the prince of wales's squadron--mutiny at norwich--siege of colchester--execution of sir charles lucas--the king at carisbrooke castle--execution of the king--confession of richard brandon. the discontent which had been growing for so many years, and which had been strengthened and inflamed by the acts of charles i. and his advisers in violating the principles of the constitution, had now arrived at the point of rebellion. at the commencement of the civil war the excitement was increased and sustained by the publication of flying sheets of news. although the practice of publishing regular periodical papers had commenced, numerous fugitive tracts and pamphlets continued to be printed relating to particular events. some of these papers were illustrated with woodcuts evidently executed on the spur of the moment, while others appear to have been taken from other sources and adapted to the occasion. an example of this latter kind occurs in a tract of 1642, which strikingly illustrates the state of the times:-'_a true relation of the late hurleyburly at kingston upon thames on wednesday the 12th of january caused by collonell lundsford and the rest of his company, and the towne fearing they would rise up in rebellion, one cam speedily to declare it at_ london, _upon which the traine band were raised and caused to watch all night for the safety of the city._' on the title-page is a woodcut of an officer and a soldier, which, however, was evidently not executed for this special occasion, the officer being in the costume of the preceding reign. a facsimile of it is subjoined. the tract describes the commotion made in kingston by the appearance of colonel lundsford and three hundred troopers, who, 'about the middle of the towne, went in to drink, and continued there part of that day, swaggering, and swearing blasphemous oathes (which filled the towne with feares) and some amongst the rest, to frighten the towne, swore bitter oathes that they should see bloody times ere long.' [illustration: hurleyburley at kingston-on-thames, 1642.] [illustration: captain vaul, that cruel tyrant, 1642.] a tract of the same date refers to a reported conspiracy of the same colonel lundsford:--'_a terrible plot against london and westminster discovered, showing how colonell lunsford the papist, that should have bin lieutenant in the tower, should in a conspiracy among the jesuits and other papists have blowne up the city of london, placing the pieces of ordinance against it. also how the papists with their forces should have risen against westminster, and burnt downe the parliament house. likewise how by this conspiracy the arch-bishop of_ canterbury _should have been transported into france, and how bishop wren with many other bishops and popish doctors should have bin conducted with him thither, where canterbury should have bin sainted, and wren made cardinall. with an exact relation of the chiefe cause of the apprentices rising in armes to defend the city of london from their treachery, describing most succinctly the singular mercy of god towards us in defending this kingdome from the manifold plots of the papists and their treacherous conspiracies._' on the last page is a woodcut of a cavalier in a hat and feathers, entitled 'captaine vaul that cruell tyrant.' as there is no mention of this person in the pamphlet it was perhaps a well-known nickname of colonel lundsford. i annex a copy of this cut. the same cut appears in a tract entitled '_terrible newes from york_,' detailing certain riotous proceedings in that city, where it is given as 'mr. holk, chief agent in the uproar.' its first appearance, however, is in an account of a '_bloody conspiracy at edinburgh_;' and, from its frequent use, this rough woodcut must have been regarded as a good, bold representation of a truculent soldier, suitable for the times. while the king and the house of commons were contending for the upper hand there was published '_a perfect diurnall of the passages in parliament_,' illustrated with a woodcut of the house of commons, with mr. speaker in the chair. this is used as a heading to several numbers of the same _diurnall_, and sundry varieties of it are printed as headings to other reports of parliament. this old woodcut has been often copied, but my examples of illustrated journalism would not be complete unless i introduced it here. the printing-presses that are said to have been carried by both armies during the civil war must have been used solely for the printing of proclamations, general orders, and suchlike documents. it seems to be an ascertained fact that cromwell's soldiers set up a printing-press in scotland, and printed a newspaper; but it is not so certain that the armies of charles i. and of the parliament issued printed 'news' from whatever town they chanced to occupy at the time. it does not follow that because a tract is entitled _news from hull_ it was actually printed at that place. on the contrary, i have found nearly all the tracts i have examined bear the imprints of london printers. _the news from the north, the last printed news from chichester_, &c., were all sent up to london, and there printed and published. [illustration: the house of commons, 1642.] in the words of hume, 'the open signal of discord and civil war throughout the kingdom' was made at nottingham on august 22, 1642, when the king erected his royal standard and appealed to the loyalty of his subjects to support his authority by arms. historians differ as to the precise day when this formal declaration of hostilities took place. clarendon and hume both fix it on the _25th_ of august, while rushworth gives the _22nd_ as the date. the latter view is confirmed by a contemporary pamphlet, which gives an account of the raising of the standard, and is illustrated with a woodcut representing the event. this pamphlet was written in the interest of the parliament and against the king's party; but his majesty is referred to in the most respectful language, as is generally the case in the pamphlets of the time. at the beginning of the struggle frequent hopes were expressed that the king would consent to be guided by the parliament, while his cavalier adherents were represented as his real enemies. the pamphlet referred to has the following title:-'_a true and exact relation of the manner of his majesties setting up of his standard at_ nottingham _on munday the 22 of august, 1642_. '_first, the forme of the standard, as it is here figured, and who were present at the advancing of it._ '_secondly, the danger of setting up of former standards, and the damage which ensued thereon._ '_thirdly, a relation of all the standards that ever were set up by any king._ '_fourthly, the names of those knights who are appointed to be the king's standard-bearers, with the forces that are appointed to guard it._ '_fifthly, the manner of the kings comming first to coventry._ '_sixthly, the cavalieres resolution and dangerous threats which they have uttered, if the king concludes a peace without them, or hearkens unto his great councill the parliament; moreover how they have shared and divided london amongst themselves already. london, printed for t. coles, 1642._' [illustration: raising the royal standard at nottingham, 1642.] the account of this interesting historical event is given in these words: 'munday being the 22 of august in the morning, his majesty left his forces before coventry, and with some lords and others in company rode to leicester, where he dined that day at the abbey house, the countesse of devonshire's house; however, so many printed intelligences doe falsely, though with much confidence aver (much like their other relations) that the king was with his army in the field, at the time of the battell between them and the lord brookes forces, which was not untill the day following. presently after dinner the king againe tooke horse, and with his company rode to nottingham, where was great preparation for the setting up of the standard that day as was formerly appointed. not long after the kings coming to towne, the standard was taken out of the castle, and carried into the field a little on the back side of the castle wall. the likenesse of the standard it is much of the fashion of the city streamers used at the lord mayor's show, having about 20 supporters, and is to be carried after the same way; on the top of it hangs a bloody flag, the kings armes quartered, with a hand pointing to the crowne which stands above with this motto: _give cã¦sar his due_. the names of those knights baronets who were appointed to beare the standard, viz. the chiefe was sir _thomas brookes_, sir _arthur hopton_, sir _francis wortley_, and sir _robert darlington_. 'likewise there was three troop of horse appointed to waite upon the standard, and to beare the same backwards and forwards with about sixe hundred foot souldiers. it was conducted to the field in great state, his majesty, the prince, prince _robert_ (whom his majesty hath lately made a knight of the garter), going along with divers other lords and gentlemen of his majesties traine, beside great company of horse and foot, in all to the number of about two thousand, who came more to see the manner of the thing than any waie to offer assistance to his majesty, as did afterwards evidently appear, for that upon the taking downe of the standard, there were not above thirty of the trained bands that offered to come in to his majesty, which, because their numbers were so inconsiderable his majesty refused to accept of. 'so soon as the standard was set up, and his majesty and the other lords placed about it, a herauld at armes made ready to proclaim a proclamation declaring the ground and cause of his majesties setting up his standard namely to suppress the pretended rebellion of the earle of essex in raysing forces against him, to which he required the aid and assistance of all his loving subjects. but before the trumpeters could sound to make proclamation his majesty called to view the said proclamation; which being given him he privately read the same over to himselfe, and seeming to dislike some passages therein called for penne and inke, and with his owne hand crossed out and altered the same in diverse places, (a thing well worthy the noting) and then gave it the herauld, who proclaymed the same to the people, though with some difficulty after his majesties corrections; after the reading whereof, the whole multitude threw up their hats, with other suchlike expressions, _god save the king_. not long after the reading of the said proclamation, it being towards night, the standard was taken downe, and again carried into the castle, with the like state as it was brought into the field. and the next day it was again set up, and his majesty came along with it, and made proclamation as the day before, and the like also was done on wednesday, his majesty being also present. but since that it hath been set up with lesse ceremony, there being not a hundred persons as are yet heard of that have offered themselves to his majesty since the first setting up of his standard. 'since which time his gracious majesty hath pleased to send some propositions to both houses of parliament; and hath employed the earle of dorset, the earle of southampton, and sir john culpeper, and sir william uvedall to deliver his majesties minde to the honourable houses of parliament for a fair treaty and accommodation of peace, and that all differences and mistakes might be ended, and all hostile manner of warre to cease in our land and that it might be sent over to ireland upon which report the cavaliers which are about the country are very desperate to heare that his majesty will hearken to an accommodation of peace, or to apply or comply with his parliament; telling his majesty that it is dishonourable to stoop to his subjects, and if his majesty doth, they will either hang themselves, or kill and murther themselves, and doth vow private revenge to this kingdome, if they do now misse of their hopes and enterprises, for they say they are sure to overcome us whom they called roundheads, and call our souldiers nothing else but a company of shrove-tuesday boyes, and idle headed prentices, who run away from their masters under pretence of having this opportunity to get liberty from their hard service and cruelty. it is truly reported that the cavaliers are all desperately bent against the city of london, and the inhabitants; they have already within themselves shared and divided it; some have allotted to themselves gracious street, others lumbard street, then others have shared cheapside, and pauls church-yard, others do determine to seize upon the rich aldermens houses and persons, others to whom they owe or are indebted to by bond, or bill, or book, doe resolve when they come into the city to seize upon those persons first, to whom they are indebted, and to cut their throats, and then to seize upon usurer or others, and to cut his throat for that money, so say they, we shall be both at once out of debt and have money to boot; these are the resolutions of the cavaliers who doth but looke for such an advantage, so full of cruelty and malice they are, which god in his infinite and blessed mercy protect both our king and kingdome from; and that their own swords may returne into their own bosoms that wish and long for such a day.' then follows a notification from both houses of parliament that none shall proclaim the setting up of the king's standard; and whoever shall suffer loss or damage through the cavaliers shall receive reparation. according to clarendon, the royal standard was set up under the most ill-omened and depressing circumstances: 'there was not one regiment of foot yet brought hither, so that the train-bands which the sheriff had drawn together were all the strength the king had for his person and the guard of the standard. there appeared no conflux of men in obedience to the proclamation; the arms and ammunition were not yet come from york, and a general sadness covered the whole town. the standard was blown down the same night it had been set up, by a very strong and unruly wind, and could not be fixed again in a day or two, till the tempest was allayed. this was the melancholy state of the king's affairs when the standard was set up.' [illustration: prince rupert, general of the king's horse, 1643.] soon after the king had unfurled his standard at nottingham the battle of edgehill was fought, and an illustrated tract relates how the inhabitants of kenton, a village near the battle-field, were disturbed at night by strange noises and the appearance of apparitions after the battle. the name of prince rupert begins to appear in the narratives of events, and his portrait frequently occurs in the illustrated sheets of this period. this dashing and impetuous cavalier, whose rash courage excited the admiration of the royalists, was regarded by the roundheads as a cruel and bloodthirsty enemy, and he was often denounced by the puritan preachers. in 1643 there was a pamphlet published called '_the bloody prince; or, a declaration of the most cruell practises of prince rupert and the rest of the cavaliers in fighting against god and the true ministers of his church_.' facing the title is a woodcut representing prince rupert on his charger, with the towns of birmingham and daventry in the background, both of which places were the scenes of conflict during the war, the former having been taken, partially burnt, and a heavy fine inflicted on the inhabitants by prince rupert. the city of london having taken the side of the parliament, was naturally inclined to honour its chief magistrate when he was found to be an active and energetic promoter of its views. isaac pennington was lord mayor in 1643, and his portrait was published in a laudatory pamphlet, entitled '_a true declaration, and just commendation of the great and incomparable care of the right honourable isaac pennington_.' his lordship is styled the atlas of the city, bearing the weight and management of all civil affairs on his shoulders, and he is much commended for his great care in superintending the building of the fortifications round london under the direction of the parliament. 'and herein,' says the writer, 'your honour hath shewed yourselfe an excellent magistrate complying with the parliament in all matters that concerne the publicke administration of the commonweale; so that you have lookt upon the present state of this citie and religion with the cleare eye of justice; you have heard of the great pressures which the country hath endured by the cruelty of the cavaliers; you have to the discouragement of malignants on the shoulders of fortitude, bore and suffered their false aspersions.... your honour hath in your present magistracie walked uprightly, having clean and pure hands; nay, strong hands; for your honour hath been the chiefest raiser and promoter of the workes and fortifications round about the citie of london: you saw the times were dangerous, and that the king's cavaliers gaped after nothing more than to get london, and make it a prey to the supplying of their necessities.' i have copied the portrait of the man who was thus distinguished by his fellow-citizens, not merely as an example of illustrated news, but as showing what a lord mayor of london looked like in charles i.'s time. [illustration: isaac pennington, lord mayor of london, 1643.] it was in the city of london, and during the second year of the civil war, that the first illustrated newspaper came into existence. _the weekly news_ had attempted on only one occasion to illustrate the news of the day, but the _mercurius civicus_ frequently gave illustrations, and it is therefore entitled to be ranked as the first illustrated newspaper. it is true that most of the engravings it contains are portraits, and sometimes the same woodcut is used to represent more than one person. besides portraits of the king and queen, there are portraits of the chief generals and commanders engaged in the war. there are prince rupert, the lord general, sir thomas fairfax, the marquis of huntley, sir edward deering, general lesley, lord inchiquin, lord digby, sir w. waller, the earl of warwick, and others. '_the mercurius civicus, london's intelligencer, or truth impartially related from thence to the whole kingdom, to prevent misinformation, from thursday july 13 to thursday july 20, 1643_,' is the full title of no. 8; and it is curious to notice how nearly a portion of the title--_london's intelligencer_--corresponds to the _london news_. it was a peculiar feature of the early newspapers that they were announced as being published 'to prevent misinformation,' or for the 'correction of false reports'--not so much for the diffusion of truth as for the correction of falsehood. [illustration: charles i. and his queen, from 'mercurius civicus,' 1643.] on the front page of number 8 of the _mercurius civicus_ are small portraits of charles i. and his queen, engraved on wood. over the woodcut is a sort of table of contents, thus:--'the king and queen conjoyned, the kentish news related, our forces are united, a publique fast appointed.' on the preceding page is given a facsimile of the cut of the king and queen. [illustration: weapon called a roundhead, from 'mercurius civicus,' 1643.] similar portraits occur in other numbers, as well as several ornamental letters; but there is in number 11 a very interesting illustration of the news of the hour. it is a woodcut of a weapon said to be intended for use against the roundheads, and the following account is given of it:--'in the danish ship lately taken by the earle of warwicke, near newcastle, were found armes compleat for 5000 foot and for 500 horse, 500 barrels of gunpowder, great store of match and lead, beside a thousand of those weapons which the papists call round-heads, for that with them they intended to bring the round-heads into subjection. many such weapons were long since found in divers papists' houses in lancashire; it is a weapon with an ovall or round top, stuck full of iron spikes. the forme whereof for better satisfaction is here set downe.' then follows a representation of the weapon, of which a facsimile is given on the opposite page. the same cut is reprinted in other numbers. [illustration: portrait of prince rupert, from 'mercurius civicus,' 1644.] in another number it is related that 'the manchestrians have lately taken from severall papists in that county many desperate weapons which they call round-heads.' no. 22 has a portrait of a cavalier in hat and feather, intended probably for prince maurice, as there is in the body of the number an allusion to a report of his death. in no. 42 there is a portrait of prince rupert and the following summary on the title-page:--'prince rupert's forces routed near stratford-on-avon. generall king's army dispersed by the scots. himselfe wounded and fled to yorke. banbury castle besieged by colonell cromwell.' i give a copy of prince rupert's portrait, which is made to do duty for the marquis of newcastle in another number. this practice of making the same woodcut pass for the portraits of different individuals savours somewhat of impudence on the part of the editor, and shows a cool reliance on the good nature or the obtuseness of his readers. [illustration: the oxford junta in council, from 'mercurius civicus,' 1644.] in the number of the _mercurius civicus_ for april 11, 1644, there is a curious woodcut representing the 'oxford junta in council,' with the following paragraph referring to it:--'the news from his excellencies generall roundezvous at ailsbury on good-fryday next, will no doubt cause the oxonian papists to whip themselves before the time, and to make the oxford junto to recall their late votes.' the lady and gentleman in the balcony were probably intended for the king and queen. there is more variety in this number of _mercurius civicus_ than in any i have seen. in the war news there is the taking of waltam house, in hampshire; the taking of numerous men and horses at christ-church, in dorsetshire; then comes a paragraph stating that 'on munday last, april 8, there were ten men and two women executed at tyburne for the severall offences for which they were condemned the last weeke at the sessions in the old bayley.' mention is made of a fight between the scots army and the marquis of newcastle's forces near hilton; the gathering of the king's forces in the neighbourhood of marlborough, and an announcement that the parliament intend to draw all their forces together, and, if possible, by fighting a decisive action 'to put a speedy end to these miserable distractions.' the trial of archbishop laud was at this time going on, and reference is made to his appearance before the house of peers. two welshmen were taken into custody for talking in welsh, while they were crossing the river from westminster to southwark, about firing the city in several places, they not knowing that the waterman understood their language. it is stated that a solemn day of thanksgiving had been observed in london for the victory obtained over sir ralph hopton's forces, and an ordinance was read in the churches exhorting the citizens to contribute all their strength to bring the contest to a final issue. there is also some account of recent fires in the city, which are attributed to the treachery of cavaliers and malignants. 'but,' says the writer, 'which way soever these sad accidents are brought to passe, they may afford the whole city this caution: that if the firing of some few houses be so dreadful and fearfull, as i am sure this appeared to those that beheld them, notwithstanding they had all means convenient to quench them, and the multitude being industrious to set their hands to the worke: o how terrible would it be to see your houses set on fire by the enemy, and the cruell souldiers, instead of bringing buckets of water, should stand with their drawne swords threatening the death of those that should offer to quench the flame? poore ireland can give ample testimony of this.' from yorkshire there is news that fairfax had taken cawood castle; from banbury that the royalist garrison was withdrawn from that place, and 'that the carriers of banbury and southam were robbed the last weeke neere tossiter in northamptonshire by divers of the cavaliers forces.' in the number for april 25, 1644, there is a figure of the king armed with a sword, and with this inscription:--'fire and sword again menaced by his majesty.' during the first years of the civil war the newspapers contained many portraits of the king, some of which were carefully engraved on copper. it is noticeable that the _mercurius civicus_ and other papers published during the civil war were in the habit of including on their title-pages a summary of the contents of the number. sometimes it was put in the form of rhyme, as- 'tewkesbury is taken yorke walls are well shaken.' [illustration: heading to the 'scottish dove,' 1644.] the _scottish dove_ frequently indulged in these rhyming summaries. on the title-page of number 39 for july 13, 1644, the following lines are printed:- 'rupert and newcastle wholly routed rupert and newcastle's jarres undoubted; newcastle fled to sea, rupert to the king, give god the glory heavenly praises sing. a day of thankes the parliament hath set, lord gray with some of hasting's troops hath met. from oswestree middleton the siege did raise and barnstaples defence, doth essex praise; the queen pendennis castle liketh best. the king uncertain where to take his rest.' the _scottish dove_ was a small quarto numbered and paged consecutively like the _mercurius civicus_. on the front page of every number was printed a woodcut of a dove bearing an olive-branch in its mouth, and at the side of the woodcut was usually printed the rhyming summary. i annex a facsimile of this heading. many of the journals of this period showed their hankering after illustrations by occasionally indulging in an initial letter, if they could do nothing more. the animosities of party often caused them to forget their original purpose of spreading true intelligence, and they were quite as ready to apply the lash to each other as to chastise public wrongdoers or 'correct false reports.' at this time first appeared the familiar newspaper heading of the man on horseback blowing a horn. it was on the front page of the _flying post_, the first number of which was published on may 10, 1644. the full title was '_the flying post, conveying weekly packets to all forraigne nations, of the proceedings of both houses of parliament and the armies in great brittain_,' and it was 'published for the cleere satisfaction of all forraigners and others who desire certain, and weekly information.' the introduction is as follows:-'gentlemen,--the too many errours committed of late time, by the irregularitie of the presse (which since by the wisdome of the parliament, is in a great measure suppressed), which did run weekly in severall channels to the greatest part of europe in great dishonour to our english nation; have enforced this my flying post never to make stay, till it had intimated the same unto you, and fully vindicated this my native kingdome, by publishing a certain weekly intelligence of all proceedings of our honourable parliament and unhappy wars of this kingdome; wherein (though a well wisher to his excellencie the earle of essex, and the proceedings of parliament) i shall write with the greatest indifference, truth, and modestie, as shall satisfie the impartiallest that reades me; attributing to the enemy no otherwise than truth will warrant it, be it to their honour or shame according to their demerit. therefore give me leave to beg your credence beyond sea and elsewhere, as you find me.' the _flying post_ gives intelligence from york, then besieged by the scots; from hull, newark, and mansfield; some notes of the proceedings in parliament, respecting which the journalist says cautiously:--'as for our proceedings in parliament, i shall be very cautious and tender in divulging them.' it was 'published according to order,' and printed at london for bernard alsop, 1644. [illustration: heading to the 'kingdomes weekly post,' 1644.] the _klngdomes weekly post_ had the same heading, which is here copied. in a tract entitled '_strange true and lamentable news from exeter and other parts of the western countreys_' there is a woodcut of a woman on her knees praying for mercy. the pamphlet relates the cruelties inflicted by the cavaliers on the inhabitants of exeter, bristol, and other towns. prince maurice is charged with breaking the articles of agreement made with the city of exeter, and both he and prince rupert are likened to 'tigers or savage beares.' it is stated that in the city of exeter 'the rude souldiers would not forbeare upon the least discontent given to them to draw their rapiers upon the citizens, and wound them, but especially when they are in their cups, they swagger, roare, sweare, and domineere, plundering, pillaging, or doing any other kind of wrong; to break shops and houses they count as nothing, taking away boots, shoes, stockings, hats, or any other commodities they can lay their hands on, and no justice dares to resist them, and by this means the city is in such a miserable condition that they are even terrified to the death.' at cirencester, having entered the town by force, they slew all the men who opposed them, took the unresisting inhabitants prisoners, and pillaged the town. at bristol 'they went into some cellars, where was plenty of wine and beere, drank what their gormandising guts would hold, and let the rest run about the house, with many other antique tricks that they used, which i cannot omit to speak of; moreover, they breake the covenant which was made in every respect the very first hour that they entered the city, and fell to plundering, pillaging, robbing, stealing, cutting and slashing, as if they had never been brought up to any other practice.' [illustration: strange news from exeter, 1643.] in an account of the defence of plymouth against the royalists there is a very elaborate map showing the fortifications of the town, 'with the workes and approaches of the enemy at the last siege.' the account of the siege is very long, but the following passage may be quoted:--'one remarkable passage of god's providence to us we must with all thankfulnesse remember and acknowledge, that after the towne had been a long time strictly beseiged and no fresh victuall either flesh or fish could be had, whereby the poore people were grievously punished, there came in an infinite multitude of pilchards into the harbour, within the barbican, which the people took up with great ease in baskets, which did not only refresh them for the present, but a great deal more were taken, preserved, and salted; whereby the poore got much money; such a passage hath not happened before. 'we cannot forget the humanity of the good women of plymouth, and their courage in bringing out strong waters, and all sorts of provisions in the midst of all our skirmishes for refreshing of our souldiers, though many shot through the cloathes.' i have already made the remark that the military atrocities of recent times were equalled, if not exceeded, during the civil war in england and ireland. in a tract of 1644, containing various items of news, the following woodcut is given as an illustration of recent events. the same woodcut is found in another tract entitled '_terrible and bloody newes from the disloyall army in the north_:'--'the proceedings of the scots and irish appears more visible and inhumane than formerly; their actions are tyrannical, their ways most insufferable, and executeth nothing but blood thirstinesse and cruelty tending only to utter ruin and desolation; they have burned down divers stately buildings in these parts, executed some of my lord wharton's tenants, and threatens others, which causeth the country to rise and joyn with lieu. gen. cromwell, insomuch that there will be a sudden engagement.' the sect called the 'levellers' is thus alluded to in the same tract:--'colonel martin's approach with his levellers in these parts hath alarmed the country and put themselves into a posture to receive them, and for preservation of their ancient rights and liberties against their new design of levelling, who by their strange, politick, and subtill delusions have wrought into the hearts of divers people to ingage with them, especially among those who are of a desperate fortune, and mean condition, the basest and vilest of men resorting to them. they rob and plunder exceedingly wheresoever they come, saying they will levell all sorts of people, even from the highest to the lowest, and that he that hath the most shall be equall with him that hath the least.' [illustration: cruelties of the cavaliers, 1644.] in a pamphlet relating to the events of charles i.'s reign there are some of the etchings previously noticed, together with nine others illustrating the history of the same period. they are:--1. the court of high commission and star chamber. 2. the execution on tower hill of sir alexander carew, sir john hotham, captain hotham, and the archbishop of canterbury. 3. the king's escape from oxford. 4. the execution of the duke of hamilton, earl of cambridge, earl of holland, and arthur lord capel. 5. the coronation of charles ii. in scotland, 1650. 6. a meeting of cavaliers. 7. a seapiece illustrating charles ii.'s escape from england after the battle of worcester. 8. reading the act of general pardon and oblivion, 1651. 9. the house of commons in session. the full title of the pamphlet is as follows:--'_a brief review of the most material parliamentary proceedings of this present parliament, and their armies, in their civil and martial affairs, which parliament began the third of november, 1640, and the remarkable transactions are continued untill the act of oblivion february 24, 1652. published as a breviary, leading all along successively, as they fell out in their several years. so that if any man will be informed of any remarkable passage, he may turne to the year and so see in some measure in what moneth thereof it was accomplished. and for information of such as are altogether ignorant of the rise and progress of these times, which things are brought to pass that former ages have not heard of and after ages will admire. a work worthy to be kept in record, and communicated to posterity. london: printed for tho. jenner at the south entrance of the royal exchange._' from the above i have copied the etching of the escape of charles i. from oxford. [illustration: escape of charles i. from oxford, 1646.] it is stated by hume that when the king escaped from oxford he was accompanied by two persons only--dr. hudson and mr. ashburnham--and that he rode before a portmanteau and called himself ashburnham's servant. the engraving scarcely corresponds with this account; but the scene represented is evidently outside the city of oxford, and other persons may then have joined the king's party. the city of oxford surrendered to the parliament on june 24, 1646, the king having signed a warrant for the surrender fourteen days previously. this event is recorded in a pamphlet entitled '_good newes from oxford of the treaty for the surrender thereof, and how they are packing up to march away on thursday next, june 18, 1646_.' the 'march away,' however, was not accomplished till the 24th. amongst those who left the place were prince rupert and prince maurice, and the king's second son, james, the young duke of york. the illustration to this pamphlet has no relation to the event, and was used on other occasions. the funeral of the earl of essex, the parliamentary general, who died in 1646, was made the occasion of a great display of pomp and ceremonial magnificence, which was duly chronicled and illustrated by the journalists of the time. '_the true manner and forme of the proceeding to the funerall of devereux, earl of essex_,' contains, besides a copperplate portrait of the earl, numerous woodcuts of banners, and the funeral canopy. several illustrated broadsides relating to this event were also published. in looking over the old newspapers we are frequently reminded of the truth of the saying that 'history repeats itself.' the duke of wellington's funeral in 1852 was a repetition, on a much more splendid scale, of the funeral of the earl of essex in 1646, with such differences as arose from the taste and circumstances of the time. portraits of the earl of essex are of frequent occurrence in the pamphlets of this period. in the pamphlet containing the escape of the king from oxford there is an etching of the burning of the book of sports on the site of cheapside cross, which is thus described:--'10 of may the booke of sportes upon the lords day was burned by the hangman in the place where the crosse stoode and at exchange.' there is also in the same pamphlet a representation of breaking the great seal:--'the great seale broken before the lords and commons, on tuesday, the 11 of august, 1646.' some authorities say the great seal was not broken till january, 1649, new style. [illustration: the great seal broken, 1646.] sir thomas fairfax succeeded the earl of essex as commander of the parliamentary army, and had oliver cromwell for his lieutenant-general. though a presbyterian, he suffered himself to become the tool of the independent party, and followed the councils of cromwell until the army had become master both of the parliament and of the kingdom. all that related to a person of so much importance must have had uncommon interest for the popular mind, and accordingly we find sir thomas fairfax and his military council form the subject of an engraving in a pamphlet of 1647. it is entitled '_the manner of his excellency sir thomas fairfax and the officers of his army sitting in council_.' in this engraving it will be seen that fairfax, though farthest removed from the spectator, is made the largest figure in the picture, apparently for the purpose of giving him proper importance. note also the huge pens, and the mysterious way in which the foreground figures appear to grow _out_ of the benches instead of sitting _on_ them. [illustration: sir thomas fairfax and his military council, 1647.] though cromwell was at this time the real director of the army, and ere long became its acknowledged head, i have met with no representation of him in the illustrated news of the period. the art of 'interviewing' had not then been developed, and the 'special artist' did not exist. the most enterprising correspondent would probably have hesitated to intrude upon that stern and resolute leader of a revolutionary army, if he had no better excuse than to describe how he looked and what he said. fancy the special artist of the _mercurius civicus_, for instance, sending in his card to oliver cromwell with a polite request that the general would give him five minutes of his valuable time for the purpose of making a sketch for the next number of his journal! and fancy how the uncomely countenance of the _ci-devant_ brewer would redden at the request, and how, probably, the unlucky artist would be consigned to the custody of the sentinel at the door! there is not much said about naval matters in the newspaper chronicles of the civil war. the earliest account of a sea-fight that i have met with occurs in a pamphlet published in 1647. it is illustrated with a woodcut representing ships of war in action--which woodcut, by-the-by, afterwards appears in other pamphlets. the narrative is in the form of a letter, dated at sea, off dover, may 4th, 1647; and, as the pamphlet is dated may 10th, we have another example of the extreme eagerness of the news-writers to supply the public with early intelligence. the combatants were not at war, and the fight appears to have arisen out of a mere question of naval etiquette. the following account is given of the transaction:-'a full relation of a late sea-fight, betwixt the parliament ships and the queene of sweathlands, upon the coast of england, neere portsmouth, may 1. 'sir, 'on the 2 of this instant moneth, being the lords day, our commander in chiefe of the sea forces, received a packet from a small frigat, that came from the rear-admirall who had been in fight the day before with five of the queen of swethlands ships, which they conveyed, being all laden with salt from tubey in portingale. 'the reason of the fight was, the swedish ships wore flags, viz., admirall, vice-admirall, and rear-admirall, which they refused to take in, or to low their top-sales (although commanded by cap. owen, capt. of the parliaments reare-admiral so to do) whereupon the said capt. owen gave them a broadside, insomuch that divers shots past betweene them, and great execution done upon the switzers, scouring their upper decks with small shot severall times. captain owen lost not above 8 men, besides some few wounded, the fight continued sixe hours, til night began to aproach, where the swedish fleet tooke their opportunity, and got away. but so soon as vice-admirall batten[1] heard of it, he set saile with the st. andrew, garland, convertine, and mary-rose, and stood over for the coast of france in the night; and in the morning about 8 of the clock, being the 3 of may near bulloign, he came up with the admiral of the swedes ship whose names was martin tysin, the ship was called the leopard and had 32 guns; the vice-admiral daniel johnson, a lusty stout ship, called the angel raphael, and had 24 guns; the rear-admiral the neptune, moris cook captain, with 18 guns; the other two ships of 22 guns apiece, one being called the anne-free, the other the neptune. 'the captaines of all these ships, hee commanded aboard, and asked them what they had done with his rear-admiral; they at first denied that they saw him, but he pressing it so hard upon them, at length confessed, that they had been in fight with him, and that the reason was, because they would not take in their flags, being so commanded by their queen, and had instructions to that purpose, which he caused them to send for, and took copies of them, which appeared to be true in a high manner. 'and they further told our commander vice-admiral batten, that they would rather die in honour, than to go home and be hanged, for disobeying their commissions; a brave resolution, and i could wish it were imprinted in the hearts of all our commanders; they further told him, that if these flaggs were then abroad, they would die before they made one shot at him, though he shot never so many at them, yet would not take them in, and indeed were very respective to him. but they did much blame the rear-admiral, for that all the shot he made was at their vice-admiral and rear-admiral, and not at their admiral, whom he ought first to have commanded, the others being subordinate to his commands; and although he was 4 or 5 hours by the admirals side never shot gun at him, but sent his boat 3 times aboard. our vice-admiral demanded of them, where the rear-admiral left them, they told him off beachey which to him did seem strange, that he should begin a quarrell and not follow them, till he came neer where the vice-admiral was, having sent a frigot to him, to give him intelligence, and might undoubtedly expect his relief. 'all munday was spent in taking of examinations, and copies of commissions; the swedish commanders being detained aboard by our vice-admiral as prisoners, but used with great civilitie. 'at length a councell of warre was called by our commander in chiefe with his captaines, the result whereof was, that the swedes vice-admiral, who had been the man which was most active was with his ship to be carried into the downes, till the pleasure of the parliament be further known which was done accordingly, and the next day we arrived in the downes, being the 4. instant; the rest of the swedes in regard of their shortness of victuall, and having charge of the convoy, were left to their own dispose, and this was performed without shooting so much as a musket; but truly, if the queene of swethland leave not out that peremptory command in her instructions, not to strike to any of our commanders, enjoyned to keep the sovereignty of the seas, and to expect homage from all, even to sinking, or burning, this must in time breed ill-bloud between the two kingdomes, which might be wisht might be prevented, by a letter from our parliament to the queen of swethland. thus have i given you a perfect relation of the whole proceedings. sir, i have not else at present, but to let you know, i am your most humble servant and kinsman, 'r. b. [illustration: naval battle, 1647.] 'dated at sea off dover the 4. of may 1647.' another piece of illustrated news bearing upon naval affairs is entitled, '_news from the royall navie, colchester, and portsmouth, declaring the proceedings and intentions of the prince of wales, &c._' [illustration: the prince of wales's squadron, 1648.] 'we have received intelligence from the _brill_ in holland, that his highness the prince of wales since his arrival there hath embarked himself in a great vessell for england, the earl of newcastle, the lord gerhard, the lord culpepper, and divers others lords and gentlemen, being now floating upon the neptune seas towards the north of england, accompanying of his royall person; we hear that they intend to land about berwick, or else on the south side of the holy-island, and to march in the van of the english army. it is likewise said that divers scottish lords hath been with his highnesse, and have treated with his councell declaring the grounds and reasons of their engagement with england, and their resolution to redeem their dread sovereign from imprisonment, to re-invest his royall person, and to make both him and his posterity happy, and so peace and unity may flourish throughout all his majesties realms and dominions. severall urgent invitations were also presented to his highness for his speedy and personal appearance in the north of england. the like to the duke of york for his hastening with the royal navie towards the downs, which unexpectedly is now come to pass; for we hear that the prince with a great number of royalists are sayled from the brill in holland towards the north of england, and that the duke is come upon the downs with a great and numerous fleet, consisting of about 10 of the kings great ships, and 30 flemings, but they have not meddled on either side as yet; six of the dukes ships, on saturday last strook sayle before the town and castle of deal, and by their churlish tokens they sent us made it appear what they were, for they shot very neer 100 great pieces at us, which killed 8 or nine of our men.' this account is illustrated with the woodcut on the opposite page. some of the rough woodcuts to be found in many of the civil war tracts would be unworthy of notice, did they not show the constant efforts that were made to illustrate the news of the hour. such is the illustration to a tract entitled, '_a true relation of the late great mutiny which was in the city of norwich april 24, 1648_.' this gives an account of the explosion of ninety-eight barrels of gunpowder, whereby 200 mutineers were slain, and the woodcut is intended to show the effects of the explosion. _bloody newes from the scottish army_ contains a woodcut representing two men on horseback charging each other. the description gives an account of the advance of the scottish army on the english near penrith, intending to surprise the latter; 'but by the vigilance of our scouts they were discovered.' after a 'furious conflict gallantly maintained on both sides, we gained ground, and beat them out of the field. this action happened upon sunday morning last about 2 of the clock in the morning.' [illustration: explosion at norwich, 1648.] during the last struggles between the parliamentarians and the royalists, the latter, under lord goring, were driven into colchester by fairfax, and there besieged for more than two months. there are several pamphlets detailing incidents of this siege, one or two of which are illustrated. one of them is in the form of a letter to the writer's brother, and it has a quaint woodcut of 'colchester leaguer.' another tract, dated july 27, 1648, is entitled '_a great fight at colchester upon tuesday night last, being the 25 of this instant july, and the advancing of general lucas and his forces to the very guards of the parliamenteers, with the particulars of the fight, and the number that were killed and taken prisoners on both sides, and the springing of a mine to blow up part of the leaguer. likewise a letter from colchester concerning the marching of an army to london. and message from prince charles to gen. lucas. and a bloudy fight at deal castle in kent. london. printed for r. woodus, and are to be sold at the royall exchange in cornhill, 1648._ the letter describing this fight contains so much curious matter that it is worth transcribing entire:-[illustration: colchester leaguer, 1648.] 'sir, we have received information from yarmouth, harwich, and other places, that there is great fear of the prince of wales landing in those parts with a very considerable army, and that he is resolved to advance towards colchester, to raise the siege, and to let those birds at liberty, which he esteems to be the only instruments to advance his father's cause. we hear that the l. gerrard is designed lieutenant generall of the new eastern army, and the lord culpepper major generall, and that his highnesse will repose no trust in either of the princes rupert or maurice, or any other foreign personage whatsoever. this morning a corporall of a troop of horse deserted the colchestrian service, and humbly submitted himself to the lord generall, who upon examination touching their numbers and victualling said that the last muster rolls made mention of above 6000 horse and foot, and for victualling, they had plenty of rye and bread-corn, but for flesh-meat they had none at all left, being constrained to kill horses to satisfie their hungry appetites, which causeth many of the young soldiers to desert their hard commons. 'he further said, that at the last muster upon munday last the e. of norwich and sir charles lucas rode to the head of each regiment, and read a paper to the soldiery (which they said was a message from the prince of wales) intimating that his highnesse were resolved immediately to land his forces about yarmouth, and from thence to march downe to colchester to raise the siege, and set them at liberty, and that if they could but hold out till satterday, he doubted not of the day, and should take it as an acceptable service from them. 'but i conceive the truth of this to be as palpable falsehood as the late report of the royalists in these parts, who would not stick to say, _that colchester was relieved by the ship called the swallow, and that they shot in above 500 holland cheeses out of mortar pieces &c._ 'some who are come out of the town reports that the enemy within are springing a mine, and doth intend to blow up the lord lucas his house (in our possession) which doth very much annoy them; their great ordnance plaid very hard this morning, and did some execution, ours answered them again from the great mount, and plaid upon them for the space of one hour. 'they are in very great streights for provision, and have eaten horse-flesh these six or seven dayes, but as resolute as formerly. 'a party came out to cut barley which was repulsed without losse, two only wounded of the party; some horse grazing under the city walls were snapt by some of col. whalleyes forces, some shot, 38 taken, no way serviceable at present, unlesse good keeping recover them. 'on satterday last the lord generall gave order that several papers should be shot into the town out of arrows, offering the private souldiers quarter, and passes to go home, if they will deliver up goring, capel, lucas, loughborough, farre, &c. [illustration: general lucas at the siege of colchester, 1648.] 'this morning betwixt three and four of the clock, we received some tokens from the besieged, a party of them sallied out, and advanced up a narrow lane neer to one of our guards, thinking to surprise them unawares; but an eagle ey'd centinel discovering them, presented her bill, and fired; whereupon the rest of the guardians received an allarm and immediately man'd the line, the colchestrians advanced and charged with great fury, this action was disputed by both parties with great courage and resolution, the enemy fell on without mercy, and fought it with much violence, but our forces bodying, they retreat, our men pursues with great execution, killed about 20. and took as many prisoners, with the losse of 12. men; the like dispute hapned the last night; we expect every hour when we shall have orders to fall on, the work will be difficult, and the storming dangerous, the town being disadvantageous for such a military action. '_colchester leaguer july 26. at 8. in the morning._' this tract is illustrated with a portrait of general lucas on horseback, which is copied on the previous page. colchester surrendered to the parliament on aug. 27, 1648, when fairfax determined to make an example of sir charles lucas. this unexpected severity was attributed to ireton, who had been set by cromwell to watch fairfax. there was a strong protest made against the intended execution, but it nevertheless took place. lucas was shot, together with sir george lisle. the former suffered first, and he himself gave the order to the soldiers to fire, with as much coolness as if he had been a mere spectator. it is said that lisle ran and kissed the dead body of his friend, and then presented himself to a like fate. thinking that the firing party was too far off, he called to them to come nearer; one of the soldiers replied, 'i'll warrant you, sir, we'll hit you.' 'friends,' said the gallant royalist, smiling, 'i have been nearer you when you have missed me.' other tracts describe the proceedings of the prince of wales in his attempts to retrieve his father's fortunes. one of them has a portrait of the prince, and contains a message sent by him to the mayor of yarmouth concerning the landing of his forces there for the relief of colchester. another is adorned with a very elaborate title-page, and describes 'the resolution of the prince of wales, concerning the landing of his army in the isle of loving-land, within the county of suffolk, and his propositions to all englishmen concerning his engagement for king, city, and kingdom, against the army, and to fight for their liberties, freedom, and privileges. likewise, the further proceedings of the royal navie, under his highness the d. of york, and the declaration of the seamen in the isle of wight and portsmouth, concerning the kings majesty and the fleet royall, 1648.' the contest between the royalists and the parliament was now drawing to a close. the king was a prisoner in carisbrooke castle, and while he lay there he continued to occupy the pens of the pamphleteers and journalists. one writer addressed an exhortation to the nobility, clergy, and civil magistrates, in favour of the imprisoned monarch; and he adorned his work with the above representation of the king in prison, which afterwards appeared in other pamphlets. [illustration: charles i. in carisbrooke castle, 1648.] it is remarkable that such important events as the trial and execution of charles i. should not have tempted the newspapers of the day to illustrate subjects of so much interest. it may have been that such a terrible termination of the civil war in some degree paralysed men's energies, and drove all thoughts of trading on such an event from their minds. i have met with two very rough woodcuts professing to represent the execution. one is contained in the confession of richard brandon, the hangman, and the other forms half of a woodcut frontispiece to a broadside describing the execution of the regicides, which i shall refer to in its proper place. the confession of richard brandon was published in 1649, the same year in which the king was executed, and purports to be a death-bed statement concerning that event. there were two brandons, gregory and richard, father and son. the former beheaded lord strafford, and was believed by charles ii. to have been the executioner of his father. according to sir nathaniel wraxall, george selwyn, 'that insatiable amateur of executions,' told the story of king charles's execution from information which he professed to have obtained from the duchess of portsmouth, who, he said, always asserted, on the authority of charles ii., that the king, his father, was not beheaded by either colonel joyce or colonel pride, as was then commonly believed, but that the real name of the executioner was _gregory_ brandon; that this man had worn a black crape stretched over his face, and had no sooner taken off the king's head than he was put into a boat at whitehall stairs, together with the block, the black cloth that covered it, the axe, and every other article that had been stained with the royal blood. being conveyed to the tower, all the implements used in the decapitation had been immediately reduced to ashes. a purse containing one hundred broad pieces of gold was then delivered to brandon, and he was dismissed. he survived the transaction many years, but divulged it a short time before he died. 'this account,' wraxall adds, 'as coming from the duchess of portsmouth, challenges great respect.'[2] popular belief, however, at the time pointed to richard brandon, son of the above-named gregory brandon, whose confession, published immediately after his death, i here quote:-'the confession of richard brandon the hangman (upon his death bed). 'the confession of the hangman concerning his beheading his late majesty the king of great brittaine (upon his death bed) who was buried on thursday night last, in white chappell church-yard, with the manner thereof. 'upon wednesday last (being the 20 of this instant june, 1649) richard brandon, the late executioner and hangman, who beheaded his late majesty, king of great brittaine, departed this life. but during the time of his sicknesse his conscience was much troubled, and exceedingly perplexed in mind, yet little shew of repentance, for remission of his sins, and by past transgressions, which had so much power and influence upon him, that he seemed to live in them and they in him. and upon sunday last, a young man of his acquaintance going in to visit him, fell into discourse, asked him how he did, and whether he was not troubled in conscience, for cutting off of the king's head? 'he replied by reason that (upon the time of his tryal, and at the denouncing of sentence against him) he had taken a vow and protestation, _wishing god to perish him body and soul, if ever he appeared on the scaffold to do the act or lift up his hand against him_. 'further acknowledging, _that he was no sooner entered upon the scaffold, but immediately he fell a trembling, and hath ever since continued in the like agony_. 'he likewise confessed that he had 30 pounds for his pains, all paid him in half-crowns, within an hour after the blow was given, and that he had an orange stuck full of cloves, and a handkircher out of the king's pocket, so soon as he was carried off from the scaffold; for which orange he was proffered 20 shillings by a gentleman in whitehall, but refused the same, and afterwards sold it for ten s. in rosemary-lane. 'about 6 of the clock at night he returned home to his wife living in rosemary lane, and gave her the money, saying, _that it was the deerest money that ever he earned in his life, for it would cost him his life_. which prophetical words were soon made manifest; for it appeared that ever since he hath been in a most sad condition, and upon the almightie's first scourging of him with the rod of meeknesse, and the friendly admonition of divers friends, for the calling of him to repentance, yet he persisted on in his vicious vices, and would not hearken thereunto, but lay raging and swearing, and still pointing at one thing or another, which he conceived to appear visible before him. 'about three dayes before he died he lay speechlesse, uttering many a sigh and heavy groan and so in a most desperate manner departed from his bed of sorrow. for the buriall whereof great store of wines were sent in by the sheriff of the city of london, and a great multitude of people stood wayting to see the corps carried to the church-yard, some crying out _hang him rogue, bury him in the dung-hill_; others pressing upon him saying, _they would quarter him, for executing of the king_; insomuch, that the church wardens and masters of the parish were fain to come for the suppressing of them, and (with great difficulty) he was at last carried to white-chappell church-yard, having (as it is said) a bunch of rosemary at each end of the coffin, on the top thereof, with a rope tyed crosse from one end to the other. 'and a merry conceited cook, living at the sign of the crown, having a black fan (worth the value of 30 shillings) took a resolution to rent the same in pieces, and to every feather tied a piece of packthread dy'd in black ink, and gave them to divers persons, who (in derision) for a while, wore them in their hats. 'thus have i given thee an exact account and perfect relation of the life and death of richard brandon, to the end, that the world may be convinced of those calumnious speeches and erroneous suggestions which are dayly spit from the mouth of envy, against divers persons of great worth and eminency, by casting an _odium_ upon them for the executing of the king; it being now made manifest that the aforesaid executioner was the only man that gave the fatal blows, and his man that wayted upon him was a ragman, living in rosemary lane.' subjoined is a copy of the cut on the title-page of this tract. [illustration: execution of charles i., 1649.] the death of richard brandon is entered in the register of st. mary's, whitechapel, under date june 21, 1649. to the entry is appended a note, evidently of about the same date, to the effect that 'this r. brandon is supposed to have cut off the head of charles the first.' the 'calumnious speeches and erroneous suggestions' had indicated several persons as having struck the fatal blow on that dismal morning in january. amongst them, besides those already named, were 'squire dun,' william walker, hugh peters, lord stair, and william hewlett. the last-named person was actually tried for the crime at the restoration. the evidence against him went to show that 'his voice was heard upon the scaffold, and his breeches were seen under his frock, that he confest he was to have â£100 and preferment in ireland to doe it; that being asked whether he cut off the king's head or no, he said what he had done he would not be ashamed of; and if it were to doe again he would doe it; more to the same purpose was witnessed by several witnesses, and by one, who being sworn, said that the common-hangman profest he did not doe it.' this sort of evidence was not fit to hang a dog; and, though hewlett was found guilty and sentenced to death, the sentence was never carried into effect--a proof that public opinion must have been too strong even for the hardihood of those who had foredoomed hewlett to the gallows. the government had evidently determined to fix the treason on this man with the sanguinary idea that some person ought to be made to expiate the deed, even though that person might be innocent. the prevalent belief, however, was that it was the common executioner who had been employed; and it is highly improbable that a mere amateur would have been permitted to officiate on such an important occasion. although i have met with no native contemporary production representing the execution, other than the rude woodcuts before mentioned, there is in the british museum a collection of broadsides relating to the period of the civil war, one of which has a large and well-executed copperplate engraving representing the execution of charles i. it was published at frankfort, and the descriptive text is in german. the view of whitehall is correctly given, and the engraving looks like a genuine representation of the event. footnotes: [1] there is an admiral batten often mentioned by pepys. if this is the same man who was an active commander under the parliament he must have trimmed his sails well to hold a place in the navy office under charles ii. [2] _old and new london._ by edward walford. chapter v. decrease of newspapers after the civil war--_mercurius democritus_--_the faithful post_--_the politique post_--broadsides for the people--the hollow tree at hampstead--prodigious monster taken in spain--the restoration--trial of the regicides--execution of the regicides--licenser of the press appointed--popular taste for the supernatural--apparition in the air in holland--revival of _mercurius civicus_--murder of archbishop sharpe--_the loyal protestant_--frost fair on the thames--monmouth's rebellion--the bloody assizes--funeral of queen mary, consort of william iii.--increase of newspapers after the revolution. when the civil war was over the newspapers it had called into existence disappeared. the printing-press was, of course, not idle during the rule of cromwell, but its productions were narrowly watched, and there is reason to suppose the newspapers were to a great extent under the influence of the party in power. examples of illustrated journalism during this period are rare. we have '_a terrible and bloudy fight at sea_' between blake and van tromp, and '_a great and wonderful victory_' obtained by the english in the west indies, each illustrated with a woodcut that had done duty in the pamphlets of the civil war. a rough representation of an owl seated at a table writing in a book heads a tract ridiculing lilly, the astrologer; while '_black monday, or a full and exact description of the great and terrible eclipse of the sun_,' is adorned with a representation of 'the true figure of the eclipse.' the grim and unsocial character of the times is set forth in '_the vindication of christmas_,' a pamphlet illustrated with a woodcut representing old christmas welcomed on one hand and forbidden on the other. after a pitiful lament for the misery of the times, christmas sets out on a pilgrimage to london, where he enters a fair house that had once been an alderman's, but is now inhabited by a sour-tempered miser. here he meets with such a cold reception that he is fain to take himself off, 'and wandering into the country up and down from house to house, found small comfort in any.' [illustration: the vindication of christmas, 1653.] i have spoken of _mercurius democritus_ as being the _punch_ of the seventeenth century. it is singular that such a publication as this should have existed under a puritanical government. the humour is so exceedingly broad that it is difficult to understand how it could be circulated at a time when the rulers of the land professed a stern and rigid morality. unlike the modern _punch_, who is refined and courteous even when he is most severe, _mercurius democritus_ could seldom be facetious without being coarse and even indecent. in the same number that contains the cut of the smithfield ghost, referred to in chapter iii., occur the following jests, which are comparatively mild specimens of the humour of _mercurius democritus_:--'the last monday a herd of swine being driven through long lane 600 jews were suddenly converted by them; some think it was for fear those rumford cattell should serve them as they served the devill in the country of the _gergesens_ when they carried him headlong into the sea.' 'a mad country parson coming riding up to london between islington and the red bull met with a small-coale man, very black, with his sack of small coale at his back. the pitiful parson minding to put a jeer on the small-coale man, made a sudden stop with his horse, saying with a loud voyce, that those that rid after him might partake of the jest, fellow, fellow (quoth he) i prithee tell 's some news from hell, i see thou hast a whole sack full at thy back. truly quoth the small-coale man, i can tell you but very little news from hell, only the devill wants a chaplaine, and you ride but a little faster you may perchance have the place.' much of the news printed continued to be circulated by means of pamphlets and broadsides, but some regular newspapers were also published. an illustrated example of the latter occurs in the _faithful post_ of 1653. the full title of the number for april 8, 1653, is '_the faithful post impartially communicating the proceedings of the parliaments forces in england, scotland, and ireland, comprising the sum of intelligence from the english and dutch fleets; with the affairs and designs now on foot in france, denmark, sweden, holland, and all other parts of europe_.' it has a woodcut portrait of admiral van gallen, and contains the following news from amsterdam relating thereto:- 'wednesday, april 6. 'from amsterdam thus; van gallen admiral of the dutch fleet in the streights, has a golden chair sent him for his little great gallantry in the last service. and the commons forsooth adore him extremely; insomuch that many of the bores have erected his statue and portraiture, and hung it up as a memorial in the most eminent places of their low country fabrics, according to the figure following; with two silver keys in his hands; which, say they, are to unlock the treasury of their enemy. _pure youths_.' (here follows the portrait.) 'and as we are informed, hath a golden leg delicately set forth by mr. painter, in lieu of that shot off in the fight.' [illustration: portrait of admiral van gallen. from the 'faithful post,' 1653.] [illustration: flag of col. charles james. from the 'politique post,' 1653.] in the foregoing _faithful post_ there is a good deal of news about the english and dutch fleets; and in the news from lubeck it is reported that the english have printed a 'picture of admiral van tromp represented with a man opening his breast to find his heart; but, searching, it was found in the calf of his leg, whereas, saith the dutch print, they know very well that tromp behaved himself most gallantly, and like a man of courage.' in another number of the _faithful post_ is an illustration of a comet or 'blazing star' seen in germany. the foregoing portrait of admiral van gallen, and the blazing star, together with a map showing the effects of a great storm and flood in holland, are printed in the _politique post_ for january 4, 1653; but there is no reference made to the engraving of van gallen; and the blazing star is described as having been seen at pembroke, in wales. in the same number of the _politique post_ is a woodcut of the flag of colonel charles james, which is thus alluded to:--'by the last post and intelligence from the navie, we have received very certain and credible intelligence, that colonel charles james having received a commission from the king of scots, is launched forth into the deep with the brest men of war who has now struck sail upon the coast of brittain, and there set up his flag on the poop of the patrick, called the vice-ambral as here represented in the ensueing figure.' [illustration: the hollow tree at hampstead, 1654.] in 1654 there was a remarkable tree at hampstead, which was visited as a curiosity. it was called 'the hollow tree,' and was probably the central attraction of a place of entertainment. in a broadside of 1654 there is an etching of it by hollar, with descriptive and other verses. there was a door in the trunk of the tree, and a turret on the top, the ascent to which was in the hollow of the tree. the turret was large enough to seat six, 'and round about roome for fourteene more.' the following is a specimen of the verses accompanying hollar's etching:-'the salutation. 'welcome, before! welcome all you that follow! our heart is sound although our tree be hollow, yet know nor age, nor weaknesse did distresse its willing bulk into this hollownesse: but a desire markt out for noble ends, to finde more room to entertain fast friends, and in the compasse of itself to try laws of true mirth and hospitality. in such a hollow, musick dwells; thus love laies forth itself, yet ne'er doth bankrupt prove. and having read the riddle doth impart things sometimes hollow have the soundest heart.' [illustration: prodigious monster taken in the mountains of zardana in spain, 1655.] this broadside was an agreeable change from the prodigies and monstrosities with which the public were so liberally supplied. a specimen of the latter was published in 1655, which must have tried the faith of even the most credulous. it is described as '_the true portraiture of a prodigious monster, taken in the mountains of zardana_; the following description whereof was sent to madrid october 20, 1654, and from thence to don olonza de cardines, ambassador for the king of spain now resident in london. its stature was like that of a strong well set man, with 7 heads, the chief of them looking forward, with one eye in its front; the other heads have each two eyes in their natural situation, the ears of an ass; with its principal head it eates, drinks, and cryes with an extraordinary and terrible voice; the other heads are also moved to and fro; it hath seven arms and hands of a man, very strong in each of them; from the middle downward it is like a satyr, with goats feet, and cloven,' &c. this broadside has a very well-executed copperplate engraving of the monster; and another sheet of the same date has a woodcut copy of the same engraving, together with a long account in verse 'to the tune of summer time,' and the following additional particulars: 'the news of this satyrical monster being noysed abroad throughout all spain, france, and italy, made a desperate fear, and general distemper amongst all the popish prelates, cardinals, jesuites, monks, and fryers; yea, the very pope himself trembled to hear this strange report. there is a prophesie in the 13 of the revelation, of a great red-dragon and a beast with seven heads that should arise out of the sea, that should continue 42 moneths, which was to come to pass before the great and terrible day of judgement; which by the appearing of these strange monsters is neer at hand now.' at the restoration several broadsides of news were published containing engravings. there is one giving an account of the coronation of charles ii., which is illustrated with a copperplate engraving of the king seated on his throne, robed and crowned, with the following complimentary lines:- 'the second charles, heire of the royal martyr who for religion and his subjects charter spent the best blood, that unjust sword ere dy'de since the rude souldier pierced our saviours side. who such a father had'st, and such a son; redeem thy people and assume thy own, ascend thy ancestors imperial seat of charles the good, thou second charles the great, that adds the worth; this lustre to the crown, whose solid glorious weighed usurpers down. such majesty as never was profan'd while tyrants rul'd 'twas only charles that reigned.' another broadside of the same date (1660) is entitled '_a looking-glass for traytors, being the manner of the tryall of those barbarous wretches at justice-hall in the old-baily, who contrived and compassed the death of his late sacred majesty king charles the first, of ever blessed memory; with an account of their severall araignments, conviction, condemnation, and execution_.' this sheet is also illustrated with a copperplate engraving, representing the old bailey court at the trial of the regicides, which is interesting if it truly represents the appearance of the court at that time. numerous letters of reference are given under the engraving to explain its different parts, and a short summary is given of the trial: 'his majesty (in pursuance of an act of parliament which had left the persons following to be tried according to law, for being the principal actors in the said tragedy of his father's death) issued out a special commission of _oyer_ and _terminer_ to the judges and other commissioners for that purpose; and accordingly _wednesday_ the 10th of _october_ they met at the sessions house in the _old-baily_, and the same morning the following persons were ordered to be brought from the _tower_ to _newgate_, and a way was made from the press-yard backwards to the sessions house, privately to convey them to and again, to keep them from the pressing of the people.' then follows a list of twenty-eight persons, including major-general harrison and hugh peters, 'all which being brought to the bar, were indicted and arraigned to the following effect:-'_that they not having the fear of god before their eyes, but being led by the instigation of the divel had maliciously, traiterously, and advisedly imagined, consulted, contrived, and compassed the death of his late majesty charles the first of ever blessed memory, and that they had aided, procured, abetted, assisted, and comforted a certain person with a vizard upon his face, and a frock upon his body for that purpose._ 'major-general _harrison_ in his pleadings carried himself so confidently to the court as if he thought himself careless and unconcerned in the businesse, and seemed to justify not only the power under which he acted but also the act itself, saying that kings had formerly been privately assassinated and murthered, but what they had done was in the face of the sun and in the fear of the lord; whereat the court was much troubled to see that he should make god the author of that horrid murther.' harrison was found guilty at once, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. the like fate awaited hugh peters. the sort of evidence that was brought against the prisoners is exemplified in this broadside, where it is stated that 'mr. _hugh peters_ stood strangly amazed and could say nothing for himselfe against that jury of witnesses that appeared against him; as that he said, _england_ could not be settled till 150 were taken away which he said were l l l viz. the lords, the levites, and the lawyers; that he was often conspiring privately with oliver cromwell the king's death, that he could even reverence the high court of justice, it lookt so like the judgement of the world which should be at the last day by the saints; with many other blasphemies too large to enumerate.' amongst the prisoners arraigned on this occasion was the william hewlett already referred to. in the other cases the jury promptly found the prisoners guilty without leaving the court; but it was a proof of the weakness of the evidence in hewlett's case that 'they did withdraw themselves, and after a little consultation they found him guilty, and accordingly sentence was pronounced against him.' this sentence, however, as before stated, was never carried into effect. the engraving of this historical trial at the old bailey is too crowded to admit of reproduction here. other broadsides relating to the trial of the regicides were published at the time, but they are more of the nature of caricatures than illustrations of news. it is well known that general harrison, hugh peters, and others were executed with all the barbarous circumstances indicated in the words of their sentence. peters was made to sit upon the scaffold, exposed to the jibes and jeers of the mob, and compelled to witness the mutilation of his fellow-victims. the executions were continued day after day both at charing-cross and at tyburn, and were stopped at last, not for lack of victims, or disinclination for more slaughter on the part of the authorities, but from a dread of the effect such bloodthirsty proceedings might have on the minds of the people. the horrors of such a scene, of course, attracted the sensational news-writer of the day; and a broadside of the time gives us a picture and description of the executions, coupled with a representation of the execution of charles i. this broadside was evidently intended to exhibit at one view the commission of a great crime and its just punishment. the engraving shows on one side the execution of the king and on the other the punishment of the regicides. the description of the latter is preceded by an account of the trial and death of charles. the title runs thus: '_a true and perfect relation of the grand traytors execution, as at severall times they were drawn, hanged, and quartered at charing-crosse, and at tiburne. together with their severall speeches and confessions which every one of them made at the time of their execution. london, printed for william gilbertson, 1660_.' [illustration: execution of the regicides, 1660.] the following account is given of the execution of major-general harrison: 'the next day being _saturday_ major-gen. _harrison_ was drawn upon a hurdle from newgate to the round, or railed place near charing-crosse, where a gibbet was set upon which he was hanged. many of his acquaintance did seem to triumph to see him die so confidently; whiles numbers of true christians did grieve in earnest to see him die so impenitently. we have been told that when he took his leave of his wife, he comforted her, and told her that he would come again in three days; but we hear nothing as yet of his resurrection.' in describing the execution of hugh peters, it is said, 'he came to the ladder unwillingly, and by degrees was drawn up higher and higher. certainly he had many executioners within him; he leaned upon the ladder being unwilling to part from it, but being turned off, the spectators gave a great shout, as they did when his head was cut off, and held up aloft on the point of a spear. the very souldiers themselves whom heretofore he did animate to slaughter, and a thorough execution of their enemies were now ashamed of him, and upon the point of their spears showed that guilty head which made them guilty of so much blood.' pepys, in his diary, says, under date october 13, 1660:--'i went out to charing cross, to see major-general harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. he was presently cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there were great shouts of joy. it is said, that he said that he was sure to come shortly at the right hand of christ to judge them that now had judged him; and that his wife do expect his coming again. thus it was my chance to see the king beheaded at white hall, and to see the first blood shed in revenge for the king at charing cross.' it will be seen by the copy made from this woodcut that the design is of the rudest possible description, and must have been the work of a common ballad illustrator, whose fee was probably on a par with his ability. he evidently thought that, in such a scene as the execution of charles i., the church should be paramount, for he has made bishop juxon a much more prominent figure than the king. the reign of the 'merry monarch,' though not the most creditable period in english history, would have supplied abundant materials for the journalist if there had been any newspapers. the great plague, the fire of london, the sea-fights with the dutch, were splendid opportunities for the pencil of the 'special artist' or the pen of 'our own correspondent.' a law had been passed prohibiting the publication of newspapers without being duly licensed. sir john birkenhead was appointed licenser of the press, and he was succeeded by sir roger l'estrange. there was scarcely anything that could be called a newspaper except the _london gazette_, and it only contained such news as the government thought proper to make public, and it was never illustrated. the little that was done in the way of pictorial journalism was of a satirical or humorous character, or had reference to foreign affairs, and was either published in the form of broadsides or was put before the public in such a questionable shape that it was difficult to tell whether it was truth or fiction. as soon as the people were released from the domination of puritanism a reaction set in, and the humours of _mercurius democritus_ were supplemented by the still broader fancies of _mercurius fumigolus_. occasional entertainment of a more serious character was supplied, such as '_a true and perfect relation of the happy successe and victory obtained against the turks of argiers at bugia_.' the popular taste for the mysterious and supernatural was touched by '_a true and perfect relation, of a strange and wonderful apparition in the air, the fourteenth of august, near goeree in holland_.' this was an illustrated broadside containing the following account:--'on the fourteenth of august this year 1664, towards the evening near goeree in holland, there was seen by many spectators an apparition upon the ocean of two several fleets of ships engaged in a fight, which lasted for the space of about half an hour, and then vanished. afterwards there appeared two lyons, who with great fury and violence, assaulted each other three several times, neither of them prevailing against the other, till at length both of them wearied with their continual striving, did, as it were, give over for breath, when on a sudden a third lyon of a very great and huge stature appeared and falling first upon the one, and then on the other, destroyed them both. they being vanished, there appeared a king, with a crown upon his head, and he so plainly and visibly discerned as that the spectators did discover the very buttons on his coat. after all was vanished, the said spectators continueing there, and walking too and fro upon the sands, the ocean, so far as they could see, seemed to be blood. on the next morning, the same apparition, in all its circumstances, was seen again, and the truth thereof attested upon oath, before the magistrates of goeree, by the said spectators; so that there is no doubt made of the truth thereof. and this happening in this juncture of time, begets some strange apprehensions; for that about six months before van trump was slain in the former wars with england, there was seen near the same place, an apparition of several ships in the air, as it were fighting with each other.' [illustration: apparition in the air at goeree in holland, 1664.] this broadside was printed at london, 'by thomas leach in shooe lane in the year 1664. _with allowance_ october 13, 1664. roger l'estrange.' the illustration is an etching, very well and freely executed. amongst other things which appear to have been revived at the restoration was the _mercurius civicus_. in dr. burney's collections in the british museum there is preserved a copy of number 4 of _mercurius civicus_, dated may 1, 1660. on the title-page it is stated to be 'published by order of the lord mayor and court of aldermen;' but it is not illustrated, as was its predecessor of the time of the civil war. [illustration: the murder of archbishop sharp, 1679.] one of the most atrocious deeds of the time, and one that had a powerful effect upon public feeling, was the murder of archbishop sharp in 1679. this prelate was held to have betrayed the presbyterians at the time of the restoration, and was hated accordingly. this hatred had been manifested by an attempt on his life in the streets of edinburgh in the year 1668; but on that occasion the archbishop escaped, and another person was wounded. on may 3, 1679, archbishop sharp was returning in his coach to st. andrews from kennaway, where he had passed the night, when, at a place called magus moor, he was set upon by nine men, who murdered him with pitiless barbarity in the presence of his daughter, who accompanied him. this dreadful event was commemorated in a broadside entitled '_the manner of the barbarous murther of james, late lord archbishop of st. andrews, primate and metropolitan of all scotland and one of his majesties most honourable privy council of that kingdom, may 3, 1679_.' a copperplate engraving represents the murder, and some verses are printed underneath. i have copied the engraving on this broadside, which forms part of the luttrell collection in the british museum. in 1681 there existed a newspaper entitled _the loyal protestant and true domestic intelligencer_. in the number for april 2, 1681, there is printed the following curious news from rome:-'rome, march 6. there did appear here about the middle of dec. last, a strange and wonderful comet near the ecliptick in the sign of libra, and in the body of the virgin. at the same time a prodigious egge was laid by a young pullet (which had never laid before) with a perfect comet in it, and as many stars, and in the same form as the enclosed figure shows. all the great ones of rome have seen it, even the queen and the pope. what you see in the enclosed paper is within the egge most clearly exprest, and not upon the shell. the roman wits are now very busy in guessing at what this comet and egge may portend.' this account of the egg is printed on the front page of _the loyal protestant_, in the midst of court news from oxford, municipal news from leicester, news from edinburgh, &c, and is illustrated with a woodcut, which i have copied. a further description is appended to the representation of the egg:--'the true form of a prodigious egg brought forth at rome the 11th of dec. last in the year 1680 in which the commet here printed does continue to appear.' 'the aforesaid 11th of dec. about 8 of the clock in the morning, a hen chicken, with a great noise, crying extraordinarily, that never had laid an egge before this day, brought forth an egge of an extraordinary greatness, with all these several forms as you see here exprest, to the great amazement of all those that have seen it. this is an exact draught of the egge as it was printed in italy. but all persons are left to their own choice whether they will believe either this or any of our own late home-bred miracles or visions.' [illustration: extraordinary egg laid at rome. from the 'loyal protestant and true domestic intelligencer,' 1681.] supernatural occurrences and uncommon events, even when traceable to natural causes, have always had great attractions for both the ignorant and the educated. we therefore find the talents of the old newsmen were most frequently exercised on mysterious appearances in the air, floods, fires, and frosts, earthquakes and upheavings of the sea. having already quoted examples dealing with some of these subjects, i now come to two broadsides which describe and illustrate the great frost of 1683-4, when the river thames was covered with ice eleven inches thick, the forest trees, and even the oaks, in england were split by the frost, most of the hollies were killed, and nearly all the birds perished. according to the testimony of an eye-witness, 'the people kept trades on the thames as in a fair, till february 4, 1684. about forty coaches daily plied on the thames as on drye land.' the broadsides under notice give representations of the fair held on the thames, and describe it in doggerel verse. the one containing the engraving i have copied is entitled '_great britain's wonder; london's admiration. being a true representation of a prodigious frost, which began about the beginning of december, 1683, and continued till the fourth day of february following. and held on with such violence, that men and beasts, coaches and carts, went as frequently thereon as boats were wont to pass before. there was also a street of booths built from the temple to southwark, where were sold all sorts of goods imaginable--namely cloaths, plate, earthen ware; meat, drink, brandy, tobacco, and a hundred sorts of other commodities not here inserted. it being the wonder of this present age, and a great consternation to all the spectators._' the description opens thus:- 'behold the wonder of this present age a famous river now become a stage. question not what i now declare to you, the thames is now both fair and market too. and many thousands dayley do resort, there to behold the pastime and the sport early and late, used by young and old, and valued not the fierceness of the cold.' the illustration is a roughly executed woodcut, and represents a street of booths opposite the temple, looking towards the middlesex shore. on one side are men skating, sliding, riding on sledges, and playing at football; whilst bull-baiting, skittle-playing, &c, go on on the other side. coaches are driven across the ice, boats are dragged as sledges, and an ox is roasted whole in one corner. [illustration: frost fair on the thames, 1683.] the other broadside has a woodcut of the same scene, but taken from a different point, and looking _down_ the river, with london bridge, the tower, monument, &c, in the distance. in addition to a description of frost fair, there is an account of all the great frosts from the time of william the conqueror. some curious particulars of this great frost are recorded by contemporary writers. evelyn describes the whole scene, and says that he crossed the river on the ice on foot upon the 9th, in order to dine with the archbishop of canterbury at lambeth; and again in his coach, from lambeth to the horse-ferry at millbank, upon feb. 5th, when 'it began to thaw, but froze again.' hackney-coaches plied between somerset house and the temple to southwark. there was a printing-press set up in one of the booths, 'where the people and ladys tooke a fancy to having their names printed, and the day and year set down, when printed on the thames. this humour took so universally that 'twas estimated the printer gained about â£5 a day for printing a line onely at sixpence a name, besides what he got by ballads, &c.' a specimen of this printing has been preserved. it was executed for charles ii., who visited frost fair accompanied by several members of his family. it contains, besides the names of the king and queen, those of the duke of york, mary his duchess, princess anne (afterwards queen anne), and prince george of denmark, her husband. the last name on the list is 'hans in kelder,' which literally means 'jack in the cellar,' and is supposed to have been suggested by the humour of the king in allusion to the interesting situation of the princess anne; and we can fancy the swarthy face of the 'merry monarch' smiling in the frosty air as this congenial joke was perpetrated. in the luttrell collection of broadsides there is one with a large woodcut representing the battle of sedgemoor and other incidents of monmouth's rebellion. the letterpress is in wretched verse, and is entitled, '_a description of the late rebellion in the west. a heroic poem._' the unfortunate issue of monmouth's rising excited the sympathy of the common people, to whom he was endeared by his many amiable qualities and his handsome person. though this broadside was evidently written in the interest of the government it was likely to have a ready sale, and it was sought to increase the interest by pictorial representation. the engraving, which is on an unusually large scale, is very rough, like all the woodcuts of the period. the slaughter at sedgemoor and the execution of the duke of monmouth were partly forgotten in the greater horror excited by the unsparing severity of judge jefferies in condemning to death hundreds of persons who were charged with being concerned in the rebellion. i have met with one illustrated tract relating to the 'bloody assize.' it is inserted at the end of the volume of the _london gazette_ for 1685, and has apparently been added by dr. burney, the collector, as bearing upon the events of the time. it forms no part of the _london gazette_, though bound up with it. there is a rough woodcut on the title-page containing eleven portraits, and the title is as follows:-'_the protestant martyrs; or the bloody assizes, giving an account of the lives, tryals, and dying speeches, of all those eminent protestants that suffered in the west of england by the sentence of that bloody and cruel judge jefferies; being in all_ 251 _persons, besides what were hanged and destroyed in cold blood. containing also the life and death of james duke of monmouth; his birth and education; his actions both at home and abroad; his unfortunate adventure in the west; his letter to king james; his sentence, execution and dying-words upon the scaffold; with a true copy of the paper he left behind him. and many other curious remarks worth the readers observation. london, printed by f. bradford; at the bible in fetter lane._' at the end of the pamphlet is printed this curious sentence:--'this bloody tragedy in the west being over our protestant judge returns for london; soon after which alderman cornish felt the anger of somebody behind the curtain.' alderman cornish was afterwards executed at the corner of king street, cheapside, for alleged participation in the rye house plot. [illustration: martyrs of the bloody assizes, 1685.] this fragment of contemporary history shows that if there were no regular newspapers to supply the people with illustrated news they obtained it in the shape of cheap fly-sheets and broadsides--the form in which it was supplied to them before newspapers began. macaulay describes the unlicensed press at this period as being worked in holes and corners, and producing large quantities of pamphlets which were a direct infraction of the law subjecting the press to a censorship. 'there had long lurked in the garrets of london a class of printers who worked steadily at their calling with precautions resembling those employed by coiners and forgers. women were on the watch to give the alarm by their screams if an officer appeared near the workshop. the press was immediately pushed into a closet behind the bed; the types were flung into the coal-hole, and covered with cinders; the compositor disappeared through a trap-door in the roof, and made off over the tiles of the neighbouring houses. in these dens were manufactured treasonable works of all classes and sizes, from halfpenny broadsides of doggerel verse up to massy quartos filled with hebrew quotations.'[1] the pamphlet i have just quoted probably issued from a press of this kind; but he must have been a bold printer who dared to put his name and address to a work wherein jefferies was openly referred to as 'that bloody and cruel judge jefferies.' large broadsides continued to be the favourite form of illustrated journalism for some time after this. one gives a 'true and perfect relation' of a great earthquake which happened at port royal, in jamaica, on tuesday, june 7th, 1692, and is illustrated with a large woodcut. on the death of queen mary, the consort of william iii., an illustrated broadside was published, plentifully garnished with skulls and cross-bones, entitled, '_great britain's lamentation; or the funeral obsequies of that most incomparable protestant princess, mary, of ever blessed memory, queen of england, scotland, france, and ireland, who departed this life the 28th of december, at kensington, 1694, in the thirty-second year of her age. she reigned five years, eight months, and seventeen days. and was conducted from whitehall to westminster abbey, in an open chariot of state, on black cloath, by the nobility, judges, and gentry of the land, on tuesday, the 5th of march, 1694-5._' the large woodcut shows the funeral procession, and i have copied that part of it containing the funeral car, with the body of the deceased queen resting under a canopy. [illustration: funeral of queen mary, 1695.] in a few years after the revolution newspapers began to increase rapidly. the censorship of the press ceased in 1695, and was immediately followed by the appearance of great numbers of periodical papers. at first they were small in size, were wretchedly printed on the commonest paper, and each number contained only a small quantity of matter. the art of wood-engraving, the readiest and least expensive method of illustration, was now in the lowest possible condition; and the newspapers at the end of the seventeenth century contain scarcely any illustrations, except, perhaps, a heading of a rudely executed figure of a man blowing a horn, flanked by a ship or a castle, and numerous small woodcuts to advertisements. [illustration] footnote: [1] _history of england._ chapter vi. constant attempts at illustrated news--increase of caricatures--the _postman_, 1704--fiery apparition in the air, seen in london--caricature against the jacobites--the south-sea bubble--eclipse of the sun, 1724--the _grub street journal_ an illustrated paper--the _daily post_--admiral vernon's attack on porto bello--the _penny london post_--henry fielding and the _jacobite's journal_--_owen's weekly chronicle_--_lloyd's evening post_, and the trial of lord byron for the murder of mr. chaworth--the _st. james's chronicle_--illustrated account of a strange wild beast seen in france--the _gentleman's journal_ of anthony motteux--the _gentleman's magazine_ of edward cave--the _london magazine_--the _scot's magazine_. in glancing at the early newspapers it is apparent that the idea, in some shape, of illustrating the news of the day was never quite absent from the minds of newspaper conductors. sometimes it took the form of a rude map of the country where some war was going on, or the plan of some city which was being besieged. in the _london post_ for july 25, 1701, is a map of the seat of war in italy, which is reprinted in other numbers, and the _daily courant_, for sept. 8, 1709, contains a large plan of mons. in the absence of other means, even printers' lines were used to represent a plan of some place, or an event of unusual interest. such an attempt at illustrated news was made in the _dublin journal_ for may 14, 1746, where there is a plan, set up in type and printers' lines, of the battle of culloden; and in the number for march 28, 1747, there is a similar plan of the trial of lord lovat. this is doubly interesting as being _irish_. engraving on copper, though it involved the expense of a double printing, was sometimes resorted to for the purpose of enlivening the pages of the early newspapers, and we have seen that it was also employed in broadsides. there was so much enterprise that even penny papers sometimes introduced engravings into their pages. about the beginning of the eighteenth century caricatures began to increase in england. religious animosities and political intrigues, always keen incentives to satire, had opened a wide field to the caricaturist in the years which followed the revolution. but religious bigotry and party spirit, strong as they were at this period, were exceeded by the social follies which came afterwards. the trial of dr. sacheverell occasioned the publication of numerous songs, squibs, and caricatures; but the south-sea bubble surpassed it as a fruitful source of lampoons and pictorial satire. the spirit of ridicule was fed by the political intrigues, the follies and the vices of the georgian era, and reached its highest development in the days of george iii. amongst other early channels for circulation we find caricatures making their appearance in newspapers, and as we proceed i shall give one or two examples from the illustrated journalism of this period. on march 14, 1704, _the postman_, one of the papers that was started on the expiration of the censorship (and which macaulay says was one of the best conducted and most prosperous), published what was called a postscript for the purpose of making its readers acquainted with a prodigy seen in spain in the air so far back as the year 1536. it is illustrated with a woodcut representing two men fighting in the air; and the following account is given of it:--'the success of the expedition of k. charles iii. being now the subject of all publick discourses, the reader, we hope, will excuse the following postscript, which must be confest to be of an extraordinary nature, as containing some things hardly to be parallelled. all the states of christendom being concerned some way or other in this great quarrell, it is not to be wondered at if the discovery of a prodigy, which seems to foretell the decision of it, has made so much noise at rome, and that we insert it in this place. the french faction grew intolerably insolent upon account of the storms which have so long retarded the portuguese expedition, and represented these cross accidents as a manifest declaration that god did not approve the same; and this way of arguing, though never so rash and impertinent in itself, prevailed over the generality of the people, in a city which is the centre of superstition. the partizans of the house of austria were very much dejected and had little to say, when they happily discovered in the library of the vatican a book printed at bazil in the year 1557 written by conradus lycosthenes, wherein they found an argument to confute all the reasons alledged by their adversaries, and a sure presage in their opinion of the success of k. charles iii. this made a great noise at rome, and his grace the duke of shrewsbury sent an account thereof. the book perhaps is not so scarce as they thought at rome; and the learned doctor hans sloane having one in his library, and having been so obliging as to give me leave to transcribe that passage, i present it here to the reader, leaving it to everyone to make his own observations. the book is thus intituled: "_prodigiorum ostentorum chronicon, &c., per conradum lycosthenem, rubeaquensem. printed in folio at bazil per henricum petri 1557_," and amongst the infinite number of prodigies he relates in his collection, which extends from the beginning of the world to his time, he has the following, page 558 (here follows the description on each side of the woodcut in latin and english). 'in a certain place of spain on the 7th of feby, 1536, 2 hours after the setting of the sun as fincelius relates it after others, were seen in the air, which was rainy and cloudy, two young men in armour, fighting with swords, one of them having in his left hand a shield or round buckler, adorned with an eagle, with this inscription, i shall reign, and the other having on a long target with these words, i have reigned. they fought a duel, and he who had the eagle on his buckler beat down his enemy and was conqueror.' the whole affair refers to the war of the spanish succession between the partisans of louis xiv. and the house of bourbon, and the house of austria, and is made to foretell the downfall of the former. as the bourbons did eventually obtain the crown of spain, this interpretation of the supposed prodigy may be referred to the same class as the prophecies of _old moore's almanack_. i have copied the engraving, which is the only illustration i have found in _the postman_. [illustration: prodigy seen in spain. from the 'postman,' 1704.] we have already noticed that no class of marvels were so attractive to the early news-writers as apparitions in the air. another example of this is found in a pamphlet, published in 1710, entitled '_the age of wonders: or, a further and particular description of the remarkable, and fiery apparition that was seen in the air, on thursday in the morning, being may the 11th, 1710_.' it is illustrated with a rough woodcut, and has the following description:-.... 'as for the strange appearances which were seen on the 11th of may in the morning, i suppose there is by this time few that do not give credit to the same, since so many creditable people in several parts of the town have apparently testified the same, and are ready still to do it upon enquirey, as in clare market, cheapside, tower-hill, and other places; it was likewise seen by several market folks then upon the water, who have since agreed in truth thereof, most of which relate in the following manner:-'on wednesday night, or rather thursday morning last, much about the hour of two a clock, several people, who were then abroad, especially the watchman about tower street, clare market, cheapside, and westminster, plainly and visibly saw this strange comet, it seem'd a very great star, at the end of which was a long tail, or streak of fire, very wonderful and surprizing to behold. it did not continue fix'd, but pass'd along with the scud, or two black clouds, being carried by a brisk wind that then blew. [illustration: fiery apparition in the air, seen in london, 1710.] 'after which follow'd the likeness of a man in a cloud of fire, with a sword in his hand, which mov'd with the clouds as the other did, but they saw it for near a quarter of an hour together, to their very great surprize, and related the same the next morning, which they are ready now to affirm if any are so curious to go and enquire, particularly john smith, near tower-street, abraham wilsley, on tower-hill, john miller, near clare market, john williams, in cheapside, george mules and rebeccah sampson upon the water, and mr. lomax, watchman of st. anns, with many others too tedious to insert.' amongst the many newspapers that had sprung into existence the following so far improved upon their small and dingy predecessors as to be adorned with pictorial headings:--the _post boy_, 1720; the _weekly journal_, 1720; the _london journal_, 1720; the _weekly journal, or saturday's post_, 1721; _applebee's weekly journal_, 1721; _read's journal, or british gazetteer_, 1718-31. the last named appeared for many years as the _weekly journal, or british gazetteer_; but the _weekly journal_ was a favourite title, and was borne by so many other papers that after a time the publisher altered the title of his paper to _read's journal; or british gazetteer_, and gave it an engraved heading. read was a man of enterprise, and surpassed his contemporaries in endeavouring to make his journal attractive by means of illustrations. in his paper for nov. 1, 1718, there is a caricature engraved on wood. it is levelled against the jacobites, and is called 'an hieroglyphick,' and is introduced to the reader with the following rhymes:- 'will _fools_ and _knaves_ their own misfortune see and ponder on the _tories_ villany behold this _hieroglyphick_, and admire what _loyalty_ do's in true souls inspire! whate'er the _figures_ mean we shan't declare, because the _jacobites_ will curse and swear; but if our _readers_ will this piece explain, their explanation we shall not disdain.' [illustration: caricature against the jacobites. from 'read's weekly journal,' 1718.] nobody appears to have responded to the invitation conveyed in the verses, for in the succeeding numbers of the paper there is no attempt to explain the 'hieroglyphick.' a copy of this early newspaper caricature is given on the opposite page. in the same journal for may 20, 1721, there is a large woodcut entitled 'lucifers row-barge,' which i have also copied. it is a caricature on the south-sea bubble, and appears, from what follows, to have been first published in the previous week: 'the call for this journal (last week) being very extraordinary, upon account of the delineation of lucifer's row-barge in it, we are desired by several of our correspondents both in city and country, to present them with it in this week's paper, with an explanation of every representation in the aforesaid cut, adapted to figures; with which request we have comply'd, as supposing it will be acceptable not only to them with such a design, but likewise pleasing to all our readers in general.' the different parts of the engraving are described under the illustration on the following page. each of these divisions of the subject is further described in verse. in concocting this satire the author has allowed some symptoms of journalistic jealousy to appear by dragging in the correspondent of the _london journal_ (which was a rival paper), and describing him as the common hangman. the feeling about the south-sea bubble must have been very strong to have made this caricature acceptable. it was intended to satirise mr. knight, the cashier of the south-sea company, who fled the country when it became too hot for him. the verses which accompany the engraving, though by no means models of poetic elegance, might be commended to the attention of some directors of our own day:- 'then what must such vile plunderers expect when they upon their actions do reflect; who barely have three kingdoms quite undone from aged father to the infant son? from many eyes they've drawn a briny flood, but tears to ruined people do no good.' [illustration: south sea bubble caricature. from the 'weekly journal and british gazetteer,' 1721. '1. the cashire of the south sea company 2. the horse of an accomptant to the south sea company 3. the correspondent of the author of the _london journal_ 4. a stock jobber, or exchange broker, whipt by the common hangman 5. belzebub prompting a director of the south sea 6. satan prompting the same director in t'other ear 7. the worm of conscience fastens on the above said director 8. the cup of indignation 9. a director's sacrifice, which is a villanous heart 10. a director in the pillory 11. the superscription over the pillory'd director paraphras'd from the prophet ezekiel. chap. xxii. ver. 12, 13, and chap. xxiii. ver. 25, 26, 27 12. a director decyphered by the knave of diamonds hanged 13. a director wafting to hell with the tide 14. lucifers row-barge for first rate passengers 15. moloch sounds his trumpet for joy of meeting with a good fare 16. belial playing on the violin to the director 17. mammon takes a trip at helm for him 18. the south sea 19. lucifer rowing his own barge 20. the entrance into hell, represented by the mouth of the leviathan, or great whale, belching flames of sulphurous fire.'] there was a total eclipse of the sun in 1724, which appears to have excited much attention, and several notices of it occur in the newspapers. parker's _london news_ gives a long account, with a woodcut, which i have copied. this paper was published three times a-week--on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. in the number for monday, may 4th, 1724, is the woodcut referred to, together with the following explanation:-'of the eclipse of the sun which will happen in the afternoon on monday, the 11th of this inst. may 1724. 'the sun, the glorious lamp of the universe, being a large round body of light, is fixt in the centre of the _creation_; so that all parts thereof might be partakers of his vivifying rays, which otherwise would be shut up in perpetual darkness. 'the earth is a dark round ball, which turneth round on its own axis, from west to east, once in twenty-four hours time, causing thereby day and night, also at the same time, the earth with the moon, going round in its orbit in 365 days and some hours, constituting thereby the true length of our year. 'the moon is likewise a round dark ball, void of light, and circumvolveth the earth once a month; so that whenever she passeth in her orbit, in a direct line between the sun and earth, she eclipses the earth not the sun, by depriving us of a sight thereof; and whenever the earth happens to be between the sun and moon, at such times the earth obstructs the light of the sun from the moon, and then the moon is eclipsed by the dark body of the earth. 'now to prevent any consternation, which people, through ignorance may fall under, by means of that great eclipse which is now approaching; at which time it will be so dark, that the stars, (if the air be clear) will be seen; and the planets mars, venus, and the seldom to be seen mercury, will appear a little above the sun, towards the south; also venus a little higher to the left of mercury, and mars in the s.s.w. parts of the heavens; the several appearances of this eclipse will be according to the types before inserted. 'the beginning of this eclipse, according to the nicest computation of the most judicious, will happen at 39 minutes past 5 in the afternoon when the limb of the moon will just touch the sun's limb, as it is represented by the uppermost figure to the right hand. at 44 minutes after 5 it will be enter'd the disk, and so much darkened as the 2d scheme on the right hand shews. at 48 minutes past 5 as the 3d denotes. at 53 minutes past 5 as the 4th shews. at 58 minutes after 5, as the 5th represents. at 3 minutes past 6, as in the 6th scheme. at 7 minutes after 6, as in the 7th. at 12 minutes past 6, as is shewn by the 8th figure. at 17 minutes past 6, as the 10th figure shews. at 26 minutes past 6, as the next succeeding scheme denotes, beginning always to number from the right hand. at 31 minutes after 6, so much of the sun's body will be darkened, as the 12th represents: and at 36 past 6, will be the greatest darkness, when only a small thread of light will be seen at _london_, on the upper part of the _sun_ as the 13th scheme informs; but to all the southern parts of the kingdom, it will be totally darkened. 'after this the _sun_ will begin to shew its light, which will appear first on the lower part of that glorious body, towards the right hand; and the darkness will gradually lessen, as the several figures represent, till the sun's body be perfectly clear of the shadow, which will be at 27 minutes past 7 a-clock that afternoon.' this description is reprinted, together with the woodcut, in the same paper for may 8th, and to it is added the following:--'directions for the better viewing the eclipse that will happen on monday next'--'take a piece of common window glass and hold it over a candle, so that the flame of the candle may make it black, through which look upon the sun, and you will behold the _eclipse_ without danger to the eyes.' or thus take a piece of thick writing paper, and prick a hole in it with a fine needle, through which the _eclipse_ may be seen.' [illustration: eclipse of the sun. from 'parker's london news,' 1724.] the same paper (may 8th, 1724) contains some advertisements about the eclipse, which seems to have been for the moment the absorbing topic, and was apparently made the vehicle for advertising the shops of different tradesmen. the notices were published ostensibly 'to lessen the consternation of ignorant people,' but it is evident the advertisers had an eye to business. 'an exact curious draft' was to be 'given _gratis_ at mr. garway's original shop, the sign of the practical scheme at the royal exchange gate, on cornhill side. up one pair of stairs at the sign of the celebrated anodyne necklace for childrens' teeth, next the rose tavern without temple bar. at mr. gregg's bookseller, next to northumberland house, at charing cross; and at r. bradshaw's the author's servant, at his house, next to the king's head, in crown street, right against sutton street end, just by soho square. note, it will not be given to any boy or girl.' the cut and description are again reprinted in the number for may 11th, where, amongst other items of news, is the following:--'his royal highness went last monday to richmond, as did also the right hon. the lord _chancellor_, judge fortescue, and other persons of note; some of the judges went to hampton court, and other gentlemen of learning and curiosity to more distant places, to make their observations, as 'tis said, upon the great eclipse of the sun that happen'd in the evening, and exactly answered the _calculations_ made of it by our astronomers.' in the number for may 18th are accounts of how the eclipse was observed in the country. it is stated:--'we are advised from the isle of wight that the eclipse on the 11th instant, which was total, and caused very great consternation there lasted about a minute and a half; but that the chief sufferers thereby were the gentry of that island, who by the great concourse of strangers to their houses, had but very little french claret left upon their hands; but the comfort is, they have frequent opportunities of running some more.' _parker's london news_ blended amusement with instruction. the following items of news occur in the same number that contains the account of the eclipse, and show how our forefathers were entertained by the newspapers 160 years ago:--'the papers of the week, from the highest to the lowest rank have killed one sir nicholas raymond in the isle of wight; but as no such knight ever inhabited therein, we can impute it to nothing but want of home news.' 'last saturday night, two servant maids at a snuff warehouse, at mile end took _so much snuff_, that they quarrell'd, and one of them stabbed the other in so many places with an iron scuer, that 'twas thought she could not live. the other therefore, was instantly apprehended and committed.' 'last week an apothecary was attacked by two highwaymen, between winchester and southampton, who robbed him of his money, and finding two vials of purging potions in his pocket, that he was carrying to a _patient_, they were so inhuman as to force him to swallow 'em himself.' 'last sunday night, sir basil firebrass, noted for his humanity to young vintners, whom he first set up, and afterwards upon default of payment took execution against 'em, departed this life.' _the weekly journal or british gazetteer_ for may 9th, 1724, contains an account and illustration of the same eclipse that is described in _parker's london news_. the illustration is a diagram, and is called, 'a representation of a solar eclipse. the time of the beginning, middle, and end of the eclipse and the continuance of darkness, together with its appearance at london and bristol.' the celebrated _grub street journal_ now comes upon the scene; and we find it not only surpassing its contemporaries in wit and satire, but it also comes out as an illustrated paper. in no. 43, for oct. 29th, 1730, a whole page is occupied with woodcuts of the arms of the city companies, which are reprinted about the time of lord mayor's day in succeeding years. in no. 48 there is a very well-executed copperplate portrait, presumably of the lord mayor of london. as it is printed on the same page with type (involving two printings), and the journal was sold for twopence, it shows some enterprise for the year 1730. on the front page of no. 95, for oct. 28th, 1731, there are very rude woodcuts of the lord mayor's procession, surrounded by the arms of the city companies before referred to. no. 147 has a curious copperplate at the head of an article entitled, '_the art and mystery of printing emblematically displayed_.' the engraving represents human figures with animals' heads at work in a printing-office. an ass is setting up the types, a pig is using the inking-balls, a horse is acting as pressman, a sheep is arranging the printed sheets, while a two-faced man and a many-horned devil are watching them all. this, like the portrait of the lord mayor, is printed on the same page with the type, with no printing at the back of the engraving. the article is a satirical conversation between certain printers' devils, and is continued in the next number, where the engraving is also reproduced. the _grub street journal_ is the first example i have met with of a newspaper employing the expensive process of copperplate engraving for illustrations, and printing the plate in the body of its pages. it was probably thought to be too costly, for we find the conductors recurring to the almost extinct art of wood-engraving. in the number for oct. 25th, 1733, there is a coarsely executed woodcut heading a satirical allegory, entitled, _the art of trimming emblematically displayed_. the _daily post_ of march 29th, 1740, is interesting as being an early example of a daily paper attempting to illustrate current events. the _daily post_ consisted of a single leaf, with the page divided into three columns. in the number referred to there is a long account of admiral vernon's attack on porto bello, illustrated with a woodcut, which the writer says will give the reader a clearer idea of the position of the town, castle, and ships engaged. the narrative is introduced by the editor in these words:--'the following is a letter from a gentleman on board the burford at porto bello to his friend at newcastle, which, as it contains a more particular account of admiral vernon's glorious achievement at that place than any yet published here, we thought we could not in justice to the bravery of our english officers and sailors, refuse it a place in our paper.' [illustration: admiral vernon's attack on porto bello. from the 'daily post,' 1740. a. the iron castle on the north side of the mouth of the harbour with 100 guns. b. the castle gloria, with 120 guns, on the south side of the harbour, and a mile from the iron castle. c. the fort of hieronymo, with 20 guns. d. the town of porto bello lying along the extremity of the harbour. e. the station of the spanish ships. f. the hampton-courts place of action, commodore brown. g. the norwich's ditto, cap. herbert. h. the worcester's ditto, cap. main. i. the admiral's ship, the burford.] 'on the afternoon of the 21st about two o'clock we came up with porto bello harbour, where the spaniards had hoisted upon the iron castle the flag of defiance; and, as we were told by themselves afterwards, they wished earnestly for our attempting to come in, as believing they could sink us all immediately, but said they feared we were only making a second bastimento expedition, and would not give them the pleasure of engaging us.' then follows a long and circumstantial account of the conflict. 'notwithstanding they had discharged very few guns for some minutes before we came up; yet as if they had resolved to summon up all their courage against the flag, they welcomed us with a terrible volley, which being at so short a distance, took place with almost every shot. one struck away the stern of our barge; another broke a large gun upon our upper deck; a third went thro' our foretop-mast; and a fourth, passing thro' the arning within two inches of our main-mast, broke down the barricado of our quarter-deck, very near the admiral, and killed three men in a moment, wounding five others which stood by them. this look'd as if we should have bloody work, but was far from discouraging our brave fellows.' the spaniards being driven from their guns, the english landed:--'one man set himself close under an embossier, whilst another climbed upon his shoulders and enter'd under the mouth of a great gun. this so dismay'd the spaniards that they threw down their arms and fled to the top of the castle; from whence scaling backwards we could see them run into the woods by hundreds and fly for their lives.' the place being taken, the writer gives a minute account of the damage done and the booty taken. he says:--'we have also had the good luck to find about 10,000 dollars belonging to the king of spain, which i had the pleasure of being present at the searching for, when we found it in the customhouse,' &c. the writer of the above account signs himself wm. richardson, and gives the explanations to the letters on the woodcut, a facsimile of which is engraved. to account for the enthusiasm with which admiral vernon's victory at porto bello was received we must remember that the nation had previously been wrought up to a high state of fever about spain, and the declaration of war had been received in the most jubilant manner. we can therefore understand that the conductors of the _daily post_, infected by the popular fervour, would gladly seize the opportunity of producing in their pages the drawing and description by an eye-witness of this naval victory. this early example of illustrated news, though it has nothing pictorial about it, is extremely interesting, showing as it does the tendency of newspapers, in times of excitement, to call on the artist's pencil to aid the writer's pen. it was in reference to this war that walpole said, when the bells were ringing joyfully, 'they may ring the bells now, but they will soon be wringing their hands.' to the preceding example of a _daily_ paper attempting to illustrate current events i will add an instance of a _penny_ paper doing a similar thing at about the same period. _the penny london post, or, the morning advertiser_, was a paper published three times a-week, and in the number for jan. 9th, 1748-9, there is given 'a view of the public fireworks to be exhibited on occasion of the general peace concluded at aix la chapelle the 7th day of october 1748.' the engraving is little more than a diagram, and accompanies a description of the arrangements made for the occasion, amongst which there was to be a band of a hundred musicians to play before the fireworks began, 'the musick for which,' says the _penny london post_, 'is to be composed by mr. handel.' we are accustomed to think of the immortal author of _tom jones_ as a novelist only. henry fielding was, however, also a journalist, a pamphleteer, and a justice of the peace for middlesex and westminster. amidst his other labours he found time to edit the _jacobite's journal_, a paper started to support the house of hanover after the rebellion of 1745. it was a sheet of four pages, published every saturday, and the first twelve numbers were adorned with a woodcut heading which has been attributed to hogarth. this heading was discontinued after the twelfth number, and in number 13 there is an elaborate article, replete with sarcastic humour, explaining the reasons for its discontinuance. the _jacobite's journal_ purported to be edited by 'john trott-plaid, esq.,' and was essentially satirical in its tone. in the second number there is the following reference to the engraved heading:-'as my wife appears in her plaid on _ass-back_ behind me at the head of this paper, it will not i hope be imagined that i have brought her abroad only to take the air, without assigning to her any share in this undertaking. 'the _mystery of jacobitism_ doth not, like that of _free masonry_, exclude the female world; for tho' all jacobites are not, as some wicked whigs have represented us, _old women_, yet women we have in great numbers among us, who are as learned in the knowledge of our mysteries, and as active in the celebration of our rites, as any of the male species; and many of these are so far from deserving the name of _old_, that their age scarce yet entitles them to the name of _women_.' as i before stated, the heading is left out after the twelfth number. whether it had sufficiently served its purpose as a caricature of the jacobite party, and was no longer needed, or whether it really took up too much room, as stated by the editor, its discontinuance was made the occasion of publishing a leading article, part of which i am tempted to transcribe as an excellent specimen of fielding's satire. 'there is scarcely anything more provoking than to be totally misunderstood, and by that means to have our compliments received as affronts, and our panegyrick converted into satire. 'it cannot therefore be wondered at, if i am not well pleased with that gross misunderstanding of the emblematical frontispiece so long prefixed to my paper, which hath generally prevailed, and which, among other good reasons, hath at length induced me to displace it for the future. by this error of the public, a contrivance of mine (the expense of much laborious thinking) to do honour to the jacobite party, hath been represented as the means of vilifying and degrading it. 'but, seriously, could the art of man have carried the glory of jacobitism higher than it was carried in this print, where a jacobite of either sex was seen cloathed in mystery, and riding on one of the most honourable beasts in the universe, while popery servilely attends, leading it by the halter, and _france_ and the republican party are dragged after heels. is not here depictured that notable and mysterious union of _french_ interest, popery, jacobitism, and republicanism; by a coalition of all which parties this nation is to be redeemed from the deplorable state of slavery, under which it at present labours? 'it would be endless to enumerate all the mistakes and ridiculous conceits entertained on this occasion. some have imagined we intended to insinuate that the protestant jacobites were led by the nose by popery, and spurr'd on by _france_ and the republicans; whereas nothing can be more certain in fact, than that popery and _france_, and the republicans, have ever been the mere dupes and fools of the said jacobites. 'many have endeavoured to discover resemblances to real persons in the figures there exhibited. by the popish priest, it hath been said we design to represent the old chevalier; and by the figures on the ass, the young chevalier his son and the famous _jenny cameron_. 'others have found out likenesses of less importance, and several squires and country gentlewomen of _staffordshire_ and other counties, who never travel beyond the limits of a fox chace, have been supposed to ride, once a week, post all over the kingdom in this paper. 'but the most egregious errors have been committed in misconstructions concerning the ass. several ingenious and witty printers of news papers have very facetiously taken occasion to call the author himself an ass; supposing probably, that as scripture informs us an ass once spoke, so certain descendants of the same family might write, which faith, perhaps something within their own experience, might sufficiently encourage them to receive. 'to mention no more of these absurd conjectures, i must here inform my reader, that by the body of the ass we intend to figure the whole body of jacobitical doctrine. 'now as there was no symbol among the antients, of which the emblematical meaning was so plain and easy to be discovered, our party could never have so universally mistaken it, had it not been for that want of learning among us, which i lamented in my last paper. hence being misled by those erroneous opinions, which the moderns have propagated to the great disadvantage of asses, the jacobites have been unwilling to discover any resemblance between themselves and an animal which the wise antients saw in so respectable a light, and which the ignorance of latter ages hath highly dishonoured by odious comparisons with certain individuals of the human species. 'thus _homer_ is well known to have liken'd one of his principal heroes to this noble animal; which was in such esteem among the antient _jews_, that he was not only an object of their devotion, but they are said to have preserved his figure in massy gold in the temple of _jerusalem_. 'if the transfiguration of _midas_ in the _metamorphosis_ doth but little honour to the ears of our symbol, the story of _lotis_ which the same poet tells in his fastorum, is greatly in praise of his braying, by which the chastity of that nymph was rescued from the wicked designs of her insidious lover. 'in such esteem hath this noble beast been held among the learned, that i have seen a book composed in his favour and entitled _laus asini_: not to mention the celebrated performance of _apuleius_ to which he hath given the name of the _golden ass_. 'instead therefore of being displeased with the emblem, our party have great reason to be vain on this occasion, nor do i think there can be a greater comparison than of a protestant jacobite to an ass, or one more to the honour of the former. 'first, what can so well answer to that noble and invincible obstinacy, which i have more than once celebrated in our party, as the intractable and unalterable nature of this animal, which gave rise to an antient proverb alluded to by _horace_ in his satires:- '"---your art as well may teach an ass to scour the plain and bend obedient to the forming rein." 'and again in his epistles:- '"democritus would think the writers told to a deaf ass their story ----" 'which may most strictly be applied to all those writers, who have endeavoured to convince the jacobites by argument. 'again what can give us a more adequate idea of that firmness, with which we have supported all the ill-usage of the worst of sovereigns without resentment, than the laudable indifference which an ass hath for the same; whom you may beat, whip, kick, and spur as long as you are pleased, he still trudges on without altering his pace. 'to omit many other obvious resemblances, such as braying, &c, the famous story of the countryman and the ass, briefly touched upon by _horace_ in the epistle addressed to his own book, is so perfect a picture of jacobitism, that i have been inclined to think as the antients are known to have inveloped all their mysteries in fable and allegory, that no less than jacobitism itself was intended to be couched under this story: "a certain countryman observing an ass making towards a precipice, ran to him, and catching hold of his tail, endeavoured with all his might to withhold him from destruction; but the more the countryman attempted to preserve him, the more obstinately the ass contended against his kind preserver, and the more eagerly was bent upon accomplishing his fatal purpose. the countryman at last, wearied out with his endeavours to save an obstinate beast against his own will, and having probably received some thanks from his heels for his intended kindness, instead of pulling any longer, gave the ass a push, and tumbled him headlong down the precipice which he had been so industriously pursuing." 'i make no doubt but many of our good enemies the whigs, who have well imitated this countryman in the former part of his behaviour, would imitate him likewise in the latter, was it not that they cannot precipitate us without tumbling down themselves at the same time. 'these are the mysteries, then, which have been couched under my frontispiece, and which, tho' their meaning must now appear to have been so plain, have nevertheless stood exposed so long at the head of this journal, without having been, as i can find, understood by any. 'perhaps i shall be asked, why i have now displaced them, since, after so large and full an explanation, they cannot fail of being highly agreeable to that party for whose use chiefly this paper is calculated; and who would, for the future, worship my ass with the same veneration with which the _jews_ of old did theirs. 'now, tho' the indignation which i have exprest in the beginning of this essay at the many gross and absurd misconceptions which have been vented by the public, would alone very well justify the discontinuance of my emblem so much abused, there are, to say the truth, two other reasons which have had a stronger weight with me in producing this determination. the former of these is, that the ass and his retinue do indeed take up too much room, and must oblige us either to suppress part of our lucubrations, or some of those material articles of news which we weekly transcribe from others; or lastly those pieces of intelligence called advertisements, which tho' not always most entertaining to our reader, do afford very agreeable entertainment to ourselves. 'a second and a very strong motive with us, is to lend all the assistance in our power to a very worthy and willing, tho' weak brother, the learned and facetious novelist, mr. _carte_; whose great romance, tho' in our court of criticism, where we shall always act impartially, we have been obliged like other judges, to condemn, contrary to our own inclinations, to be grubb'd, we shall always privately esteem as a work calculated solely for the use of our party. as we have therefore, to our great concern, received very credible information that the said work begins already to be considered only as a heap of waste paper, we have thought proper to lend our frontispiece to our good brother, in order that it may be prefixed to the future volumes of that great work advising him to omit the words _london evening post_, and to insert _english history_ in their stead. this will not fail of greatly recommending his performance to our party, who never willingly read anything but what an ass may at least be supposed to have bray'd. 'i could wish, moreover, that the learned novelist would take our advice in another instance, and for the future deal forth his excellent work in weekly portions or numbers; i do not mean in such a form as the real history of _england_ is now publishing by mr. waller; but in the same manner with those true and delectable histories of _argalus_ and _parthenia_, _guy_, earl of _warwick_, the _seven champions_, &c., in which form, at the price of 1d. each, when embellished by our frontispiece, i make no doubt of assuring him as universal a sale as the inimitable adventures of _robinson crusoe_ formerly had throughout this kingdom.' the 'mr. carte' to whom fielding proposed to lend his 'frontispiece' was thomas carte, the historian, who had just brought out the first volume of his _history of england_, in which he showed such decided jacobite predilections that his work was ruined in consequence. he professed to be acquainted with the case of a person who had been cured of the king's evil by the pretender, then an exile in france, and this so disgusted many of the subscribers to his book that they withdrew their names and abandoned the author and his work together. he, however, brought out two more volumes, and a fourth was published after his death. it was probably in allusion to this story of the pretender curing the king's evil that fielding speaks of carte as 'the learned and facetious novelist;' and doubtless the 'great romance' referred to was intended for his history of england. fielding and carte both died in the same year, 1754. [illustration: perspective view of fort fouras, as it appeared in the ships from the charente, from 'owen's weekly chronicle,' 1758.] during the next ten years i have found no illustrations in the newspapers of that period. in 1758 there was a newspaper published entitled _owen's weekly chronicle, or universal journal_, a sheet of eight pages, size of the _athenã¦um_, price two-pence halfpenny. about this time the english government, in carrying on the war against france, despatched several expeditions to the french coast, none of which redounded much to the credit of the british arms. one of these expeditions was against rochfort, and it turned out a failure, which caused much dissatisfaction. _owen's weekly chronicle_ for june 3, 1758, published a long article on the subject, illustrated with a woodcut view of fort fouras. the writer concludes, with true newspaper vehemence, in the following words:--'where is the glory of the british name? where are the terrors that used to accompany our fleets and armies? let it not be said the treasures of the country are poured forth in vain by an united and willing people; that our enemies are become invulnerable; and every blow our ministers meditate impracticable. the duke of marlborough and lord george sackville are gone with lord anson and sir edward hawke upon the present grand expedition; and we hope their courage and experience will revive the sinking honour of their country; and show that france is both vulnerable and impotent when the power of britain is properly exerted.' unfortunately, the sinking honour of the country was not much revived by the 'grand expedition' here referred to; for, after an ineffectual attempt on st. maloes, the duke of marlborough embarked in such haste that he left his tea-spoons behind him: and these were afterwards sent home in a cartel-ship by the duke d'aiguillon in polite contempt. i have copied the woodcut above referred to, which is entitled, 'a perspective view of fort fouras as it appeared in the ships from the charente,' and the following description is given of it:--'fouras was the tower of an old parish church, which, soon after the foundation of rochefort, in 1688, louis xiv. purchased of the proprietors to make a tour de garde, for repeating signals from the isles of oleron and aix up to rochefort, which is one of its present uses. a fort and garrison being established in the isle of aix, fouras was found to be the nearest and most secure communication in all weathers with that island; so that in process of time barracks and lodgments were built therein, and it was fortified to the sea by a strait curtain.' for the view of fort fouras _owen's weekly chronicle_ must have been indebted to some one on board one of the british ships. naval and military officers in all parts of the world are among the most valued correspondents of the modern illustrated newspaper; and it is interesting to notice that so long ago as the taking of porto bello and the attack on rochefort there were men engaged in those expeditions whose spirit and intelligence prompted them to supply the newspapers of the day with sketches and information. the view of fort fouras is the earliest attempt i have seen in a newspaper to give a pictorial representation of a place in connexion with news. wood-engraving was the only cheap method of illustration within the reach of newspapers, but the art barely existed at this time. the few woodcuts published in newspapers were not only coarsely and rudely executed, but sometimes the efforts of the illustrator did not get beyond a rough plan or map, and even this, as i have before remarked, was not always engraved. in further confirmation of this statement i may refer to _lloyd's evening post_ of april 17, 1765, where one of the pages is taken up with a plan representing the trial of a peer in westminster hall. this is done entirely with lines, type, and printer's ornaments. although there is no account given of this trial in _lloyd's evening post_, the plan must have referred to the case of lord byron, who was tried in westminster hall for the murder of mr. chaworth, april 16 and 17, 1765. in the winter of 1764-5 a strange wild beast was said to have appeared in france, devouring women and children, and spreading dismay and terror through the whole of languedoc. what this ferocious creature was, or whence it came, no one knew; but the fear inspired by its presence was universal. the district which it specially haunted procured for it the name of the wild beast of the gã©vaudan, by which designation it became famous not only in the south of france but throughout the country, and even in foreign lands. the earliest account of this ferocious monster appeared in the official journal of paris in the following words:-'a very strange wild beast has lately appeared in the neighbourhood of langagne and the forest of mercoire which has occasioned great commotion. it has already devoured twenty persons, chiefly children, and particularly young girls, and scarcely a day passes without some accident. the terror he occasions prevents the woodcutters from working in the forests; so that wood has become dear. those who have seen him say he is much higher than a wolf, low before, and his feet are armed with talons. his hair is reddish, his head large, and the muzzle of it is shaped like that of a greyhound; his ears are small and straight; his breast is wide, and of a grey colour; his back streaked with black; and his mouth, which is large, is provided with a set of teeth so very sharp that they have taken off several heads as clean as a razor could have done. he is of amazing swiftness; but, when he aims at his prey, he crouches so close to the ground, that he hardly appears to be bigger than a large fox; and at the distance of some one or two toises, he rises upon his hind legs and springs upon his prey, seizing it by the neck or throat. he is afraid of oxen, which he runs away from. the consternation is dreadful throughout the district where he commits his ravages, and public prayers are offered up on the occasion. the marquis de marangis has sent out four hundred peasants to destroy this fierce beast; but they have not been able to do it.' in spite of the efforts made to capture or destroy it the wild beast of the gã©vaudan continued its ravages. in a letter from meude, dated december 21, 1764, it is stated, 'the wild beast, which hath ravaged several provinces, has been for some time in ours. he was seen a few days ago near st. flour, ten leagues from hence, and he is now in our neighbourhood. the day before yesterday he devoured a little girl who looked after cattle. a detachment of dragoons has been out six weeks after him. the province has offered a thousand crowns to any person who will kill him.' on the 8th of february, 1765, the following statement was sent from montpellier:--'on the 12th ultimo the wild beast attacked seven children, five boys and two girls, none of whom exceeded eleven years of age. the beast flew at one of the boys; but the three eldest of them by beating him with stakes, the ends of which were iron, obliged him to retire, after having bitten off a part of the boy's cheek, which he ate before them. he then seized another of the children; but they pursued him into a marsh which was close by, where he sunk in up to his belly. by continually beating him, they rescued their companion; who, though he was under his paw for some time, received only a wound in his arm, and a scratch in the face. a man at last coming up, the creature was put to flight. he afterwards devoured a boy at mazel, and, on the 21st, flew on a girl, who, however, escaped with some dangerous wounds. the next day he attacked a woman, and bit off her head. captain duhamel, of the dragoons, is in pursuit of him, and has caused several of his men to dress themselves in women's apparel, and to accompany the children that keep cattle.' the eyes of all france being fixed upon the doings of this wild beast, the attention of louis the fifteenth himself was called to the bravery of the boys in the preceding account. 'the king having been informed of the bravery with which the young portefaix attacked the beast on the 12th of january last, at the head of his companions, and being willing to reward such gallant behaviour, has given him a recompense of four hundred livres, and has ordered three hundred to be distributed among his companions.' the government also offered a reward for the destruction of the wild beast. the following placard was fixed up in all the cities and towns of languedoc:--'by the king and the intendant of the province of languedoc. notice is given to all persons, that his majesty, being justly affected by the situation of his subjects now exposed to the ravages of the wild beast which for four months past has infested vivarais and gã©vaudan, and being desirous to stop the progress of such a calamity, has determined to promise a reward of six thousand livres to any person or persons who shall kill this animal. such as are willing to undertake the pursuit of him may previously apply to the sieur de la fout, sub-deputy to the intendant of meudes, who will give them the necessary instructions agreeably to what has been presented by the ministry on the part of his majesty.' a letter from paris dated the 18th of february, 1765, gives the following circumstantial description of the wild beast:-'you know how i acquainted you, some months ago, that monsieur bardelle, his son and i, designed going by the diligence, and opening the new year at our old friend monsieur dura's chateau, near babres, in languedoc. we spent the time very agreeably, our host and his family having done all in their power to make us welcome. the party broke up and took leave the first of this month, amongst whom was monsieur lefevre, a counsellor, and two young ladies, who were engaged to pass a week at monsieur de sante's, the curã© of vaistour, about three days' journey distant from the chateau of monsieur dura. the company went away in a berlingo and four, and the footman michel, on a saddle-horse; the carriage, after the manner here, being drawn by four post-horses, with two postilions, the berlingo having no coach box. the first night the party lay at guimpe, and set out next morning at nine, to bait half way between that and roteux, being four posts, and a mountainous barren country, as all the gã©vaudan is. the parish of guimpe had been greatly alarmed by the frequent appearance of, and the horrid destruction made by, the fiery animal that has so long been the terror of the gã©vaudan, and is now so formidable that the inhabitants and travellers are in very great apprehension. the bailiff of guimpe acquainted the party that this animal had been often lurking about the chaussã©e that week, and that it would be proper to take an escort of armed men, which would protect the carriage; but the gentlemen declined it, and took the ladies under their protection, and set out, on the 2nd of february, very cheerfully. when they had made about two leagues, they observed at a distance a post-chaise, and a man on horseback, coming down the hill of credi, and whipping the horses very much; and at the descent unfortunately the wheel-horse fell down, and the postilion was thrown off; whereupon the horseman who followed the chaise, advanced to take up the boy, in which moment, when he had got down, we perceived the wild beast so often described make a jump towards the horses, and on the footman's raising his right hand to draw a cutlass and strike the creature, it pricked up its ears, stood on its hind feet, and, showing its teeth full of froth, turned round and gave the fellow a most violent blow with the swing of its tail. the man's face was all over blood; and then the monster, seeing the gentleman in the chaise present a blunderbuss at its neck, crept on its forehead to the chaise-step, keeping its head almost under its forelegs, and getting close to the door, reared upright, vaulted into the inside, broke through the other side-glass, and ran at a great rate to the adjoining wood. the blunderbuss missed fire, or it is possible this had been the last day this brute-disturber had moved. the stench left in the carriage was past description, and no cure of burning frankincense, nor any other method removed, but rather increased the stink, so that it was sold for two louis; and though burned to ashes, the cinders were obliged, by order of a commissary, to be buried without the town walls. we came up very well in time; for the beast would doubtless have destroyed some one, had it not espied three of us advancing with guns. it certainly jumped through the chaise to get away from us.' these accounts appear to have been received with some incredulity abroad. in the same number of _lloyd's evening post_ that contains the plan of lord byron's trial there occurs the following passage about this curious wild beast: 'one of the dutch gazetteers by monday's mail says:--"the accounts of the wild beast seen in the gã©vaudan are of such a nature that it is hardly possible to give any credit thereto, and yet most of them have appeared in the _paris gazette_, a paper whose authors, known to be men of letters, are too judicious to be suspected of credulity, too prudent, too well informed of what passes at the court of the king their master, one should think, to attribute to his most christian majesty a reward for an action which never had any existence--an action which was only a fable."' this is, no doubt, an allusion to the reward of 400 livres bestowed upon the boys who beat off the ferocious monster. while the interest and excitement about this terrible wild beast was at the highest, the _st. james's chronicle_ published an engraving and description of it. the _st. james's chronicle; or the british evening post_, was a folio of four pages, published three times a-week, price twopence-halfpenny. in the number for june 6, 1765, there is printed the following description and woodcut:-'for the _st. james's chronicle_. 'of this beast, which has already devoured upwards of seventy persons and spread terrour and desolation throughout the whole gã©vaudan, the sieur de la chaumette, who lately wounded it, has given us the following description. it is larger than a calf of a year old, strongly made before, and turned like a grayhound behind. his nose is long and pointed, his ears upright and smaller than a wolf's, his mouth of a most enormous size, and always wide open; a streak of black runs from his shoulders to the beginning of his tail. his paws are very large and strong; the hair on his back and mane thick, bristly, and erect; his tail long and terminating in a bush, like that of a lion; his eyes small, fierce, and fiery. from this description it appears that he is neither a wolf, tiger, nor hyena, but probably a mongrel, generated between the two last, and forming, as it were, a new species. all the accounts lately received agree in assuring that there are several of them.' [illustration: strange wild beast seen in france. from the 'st. james's chronicle,' 1765.] the _st. james's chronicle_ does not state from whence the portrait was obtained. a representation of the wild beast of the gã©vaudan was sent in april, 1765, to the intendant of alenã§on, and a description of that picture corresponds with the woodcut in the _st. james's chronicle_, so that the latter was probably a copy of the former. about three months after the publication of the woodcut and description in the _st. james's chronicle_, the career of this much dreaded animal was brought to a close. on sept. 20th, 1765, it was encountered in the wood of pommiã¨res by a certain monsieur beauterme, a gentleman of a distant province and noted as a successful hunter. he had come into the district on purpose to seek out this notorious wild beast, and having found it, shot it in the eye at the distance of about fifty paces. the animal, however, though wounded, showed fight, and was rushing on monsieur beauterme with great fury, when he was finally dispatched by a gamekeeper named reinhard. several inhabitants of the gã©vaudan who had been attacked by the beast declared it to be the same which had caused such consternation in the country, and monsieur beauterme set out with the body to versailles in order to present it to the king. the animal was found to be thirty-two inches high, and five feet seven and a half inches long including the tail. the surgeon who dissected the body said it was more of a hyena than a wolf, its teeth being forty in number, whereas wolves have but twenty-six. the muscles of the neck were very strong; its sides so formed that it could bend its head to its tail; its eyes sparkled so with fire that it was hardly possible to bear its look. its tail was very large, broad, and thick, and bristled with black hair, and its feet armed with claws extremely strong and singular. in paris it was thought that this mysterious animal was a cross between a tiger and a lioness, and had been brought into france to be shown as a curiosity. it is not unlikely that it had escaped from some travelling show, and was probably a hyena. the imagination of the country people would easily transform it into any shape suggested by their terrors. that such fancies easily begin and rapidly grow was proved in the case of captain sir allan young's pet esquimaux dog, which was either stolen or wandered from the arctic ship _pandora_ as she lay in southampton harbour after returning from the polar regions. quite a panic arose in that part of hampshire where this most valuable and harmless animal was wandering about, and every sort of story was circulated of the ravages and dangers the country was exposed to. the people began to think that besides their sheep and pigs their children were in danger. some said it was a gigantic black fox, others that it was a canadian wolf. expeditions were organized to attack it, and after being chased for some miles by people on horseback, it was ultimately shot and exhibited at sixpence a head in winchester market-place. there could be no doubt about the dog's identity, for sir allan young afterwards got back his skin. before concluding my sketch of illustrated journalism in the eighteenth century i must refer to a class of publication that possessed many of the characteristics of the newspaper, without exactly belonging to that category. this kind of journal is represented by the _gentleman's magazine_; but, although edward cave considered himself the inventor of the magazine form of publication, the _gentleman's magazine_ was not the first journal of the kind. nearly forty years before it came into existence a monthly publication was started in london with the following title:--'_the gentleman's journal; or, the monthly miscellany_. _by way of letter to a gentleman in the country, consisting of news, history, philosophy, poetry, music, translations, &c. january_, 169â½.' its projector and editor was a refugee frenchman, one peter anthony motteux, and the design appears to have met with considerable success, but it did not last more than four years. in the second number of the _gentleman's journal_ appeared the following:--'the author desires to be excused for not answering the many ingenious letters that have been sent to him that he may have the more time to apply himself to this journal; he judges that he answers them enough when he follows the advice they give him, or inserts what is sent to him, which he will always be very careful to do. but such things as any way reflect upon particular persons, or are either against religion or good manners, he cannot insert. he will take care to settle correspondence both abroad and at home, to inform his readers of all that may be most worthy their knowledge; and if anything offers itself that deserves to be engraved, he will get it done. but it being impossible he should know by himself a thousand things which the publick would gladly know, such persons as have anything to communicate may be pleased to send it to him, at the black boy coffee house in ave maria lane, not forgetting to discharge the postage.' it would appear by the above that peter anthony motteux had a vague perception that engravings might increase the attractions of his journal; but it does not seem that much came in his way that 'deserved to be engraved.' i have found only two small woodcuts in the _gentleman's journal_. they both occur in the volume for 1694. one is a representation of snow crystals, and the other is a diagram of a mock sun. motteux tells us that his journal was patronised by the queen, and was much favoured by the ladies generally. he had amongst his contributors dryden, matthew prior, sedley, and tom durfey. charles wesley, brother of the famous john, sent serious verses, as did also tate, of 'tate and brady' celebrity. all these contributions were introduced into a long letter, which, as the title indicates, was the shape in which the _gentleman's journal_ was written, and in this respect it was modelled upon the early manuscript newsletters. peter anthony motteux, the editor of the first english magazine, was also the author of several songs, plays, and prologues, and he also published a translation of _don quixote_. he kept a large east india warehouse in leadenhall street, and afterwards obtained a situation in the post office. he was found dead on the morning of his fifty-eighth birthday, in a low drinking-house in butchers' row, near temple bar, and had either been murdered or had lost his life in a drunken frolic. the _london gazette_ of the succeeding week contained the offer of a reward of fifty pounds for the discovery of the murderer, and the king's pardon to any but the actual criminal; but the mystery was never cleared up, and the bones of the clever exiled frenchman lie unavenged and forgotten in the vaults of st. andrew undershaft, leadenhall street, celebrated amongst city churches as the burial-place of john stowe.[1] edward cave, the early patron and friend of dr. johnson, projected and brought out the _gentleman's magazine_ in 1731. it was printed at st. john's gate, clerkenwell, a view of which place embellished its title-page. the full title was, '_the gentleman's magazine, or monthly intelligencer_, containing essays, controversial, humorous, and satirical; religious, moral, and political; collected chiefly from the publick papers. select pieces of poetry. a succinct account of the most remarkable transactions and events, foreign and domestick. births, marriages, deaths, promotions, and bankrupts. the prices of goods and stocks, and bill of mortality. a register of books. observations on gardening.' it will thus be seen that the magazine possessed many of the characteristics of a newspaper. on the front page of the earlier numbers were printed the names of the various newspapers from which it derived its information. it was some time before illustrations began to appear. the most important subjects were engraved on copper, and rough woodcuts were sprinkled here and there among the type. sometimes the most incongruous subjects were engraved on the same plate, such as the section of a man-of-war and the figure of a locust. there was occasionally an illustration of news, as in the volume for 1746, where there is a map of the country round carlisle, showing the route of the scottish rebels; and in the same volume there is a portrait of lord lovat. the frontispiece to this volume is a portrait of the duke of cumberland, with the motto _ecce homo_. portraits, plans, and bird's-eye views are of frequent occurrence. in the volume for 1747 is a very elaborate bird's-eye view of the city of genoa, illustrating an account of an insurrection there. the same volume contains a view of mount vesuvius, with a description of the last great eruption. in the volume for 1748 are views of amsterdam, the mansion house, london, greenwich hospital, the foundling hospital, &c. the volume for 1749 contains an engraving of the fireworks on the occasion of the peace, and views of blenheim house and covent garden. in the volume for 1750 there is a woodcut with 'j. cave sc.' in the corner. this was probably a son or some other relative of the proprietor, who was either in training as an engraver, or was trying his hand merely as an amateur. his name does not appear again, and i have never met with it elsewhere in connexion with the art of wood-engraving. in the number for november, 1750, there occurs the following amongst the list of deaths:--'mr. edward bright, at malden in essex, aged 30; he was supposed to be the largest man living, or perhaps that ever lived in this island. he weighed 42 stone and a half, horseman's weight; and not being very tall, his body was of an astonishing bulk, and his legs were as big as a middling man's body. he was an active man till a year or two before his death, when his corpulency so overpowered his strength that his life was a burthen, and his death a deliverance. his coffin was three feet six inches over the shoulders, six feet seven inches long, and three feet deep; a way was cut thro' the wall and staircase, to let the corpse down into the shop; it was drawn upon a carriage to the church, and let down into the vault by the help of a slider and pulleys.' in the number for the following february there is a woodcut of mr. bright, and the reader is referred back to the november number for the above description. this seems to show that the _gentleman's magazine_ did not consider it of vital importance, in illustrating news, to follow very close upon the heels of events. i have copied this engraving as a specimen of the woodcut illustrations of the _magazine_. [illustration: edward bright. weight 42â½ stone. from the 'gentleman's magazine' for february, 1751.] the _gentleman's magazine_ attracted the notice and admiration of dr. johnson before he came to london as a literary adventurer. he afterwards became a regular contributor to its pages, and for many years it was his principal source of income. his first contribution was a complimentary latin poem addressed to sylvanus urban, and when cave died johnson wrote an account of him in the magazine. dr. johnson told boswell 'that when he first saw st. john's gate, the place where that deservedly popular miscellany was originally printed, he "beheld it with reverence."' edward cave was born at newton, in warwickshire, feb. 29th, 1691; he died jan. 10th, 1754. 'he was peculiarly fortunate,' says boswell, 'in being recorded by johnson; who of the narrow life of a printer and publisher, without any digressions or adventitious circumstances, has made an interesting and agreeable narrative.' the _gentleman's magazine_ still exists, but retains nothing of its original character beyond the name. within a year the success of the _gentleman's magazine_ brought into being the _london magazine_, and, in 1739, the _scots magazine_, published in edinburgh. in the second volume of the latter, under date march, 1740, there is a larger version of the woodcut of the taking of porto bello, already described. the account also is given, quoted, however, from the _london evening post_, and not from the _daily post_, where the woodcut appeared. maps, plans, and views of places occasionally occur in other volumes of the _scots magazine_. in vol. iii. there is a plan of the harbour, city, and forts of cartagena, and the number for july, 1743, contains a plan of the battle of dettingen. footnote: [1] _new quarterly magazine_, january, 1878. chapter vii. revival of wood-engraving by thomas bewick--the _observer_ started, 1791--the _times_ an illustrated paper--illustrations of news in the _observer_--st. helena and napoleon bonaparte--abraham thornton and the 'assize of battle'--mr. william clement and illustrated journalism--the cato street conspiracy--trial of queen caroline--the house of commons in 1821--coronation of george iv.--royal visits to ireland and scotland--murder of mr. weare--illustrations of the murder in the _morning chronicle_, the _observer_, and the _englishman_--_bell's life in london_--prize-fight at warwick--liston as 'paul pry'--'gallery of comicalities,' &c.--_pierce egan's life in london_--death of the duke of york--death of mr. canning--opening of hammersmith bridge, 1827--mr. gurney's steam coach--the thames tunnel--the murder in the red barn--the siamese twins--death of george iv.--opening of new london bridge, 1831--coronation of william iv. and queen adelaide--fieschi's infernal machine--funeral of william iv.--queen victoria's first visit to the city--coronation and marriage of the queen--christening of the prince of wales--_the weekly chronicle_--the greenacre murder--mr. cocking and his parachute--the courtney riots at canterbury--burning of the tower of london, 1841--_the sunday times_--burning of the houses of parliament, 1834--_the champion_--_the weekly herald_--_the magnet_--removing the body of napoleon i.--_the penny magazine_--charles knight--humorous journalism of the victorian era. there appears to have been little or nothing done in the way of illustrated journalism during the remaining years of the eighteenth century. it was during this period that thomas bewick revived the almost extinct art of wood-engraving, and about the time he brought out the first of his illustrated natural history books a weekly newspaper was started in london which afterwards became the pioneer of modern illustrated journalism. this was the _observer_, the first number of which came out on sunday, dec. 4th, 1791. it is the oldest of our existing weekly newspapers, and is one of the rare instances of a sunday paper becoming established.[1] many years had to elapse before wood-engraving began to be used as a means of popular illustration; but when some of bewick's numerous pupils began to diffuse the fruits of their master's teaching the _observer_ was the first newspaper that availed itself of the restored art. before this, however, there were symptoms of the reawakening of a dormant idea. in looking back to the early years of the present century it is curious and interesting to notice that the _times_ was occasionally an illustrated paper. the battle of trafalgar and the death of nelson stirred the national heart to such a degree that the _times_ of that day was induced to introduce into its pages engravings of nelson's coffin and funeral car, when the hero's remains were carried to st. paul's. in the number for jan. 10th, 1806, there is an account of the state funeral, which is illustrated with the above-named woodcuts. they are very rudely executed, and plainly show that the influence of bewick's labours had not yet penetrated into the region of journalism. annexed is a copy of what the _times_ of 1806 presented to the public in response to the intense interest felt by the whole of the british nation about nelson's death and funeral. it is a noteworthy example of renewed effort in the direction of illustrated news at a time when insufficient means of production clogged the spirit of enterprise. like the _swedish intelligencer_ of 1632, the _times_ did not hesitate to point out its shortcomings in the following notice at the foot of the engraving:--'the only difference in the appearance of the funeral car from the engraving is, that, contrary to what was at first intended, neither the pall nor coronet appeared on the coffin. the first was thrown in the stern of the car, in order to give the public a complete view of the coffin; and the coronet was carried in a mourning-coach. we had not time to make the alteration.' [illustration: nelson's funeral car. from the 'times,' jan. 10, 1806.] to the above engraving the following description was appended:--'the car, modelled at the ends in imitation of the hull of the victory. its head towards the horses, was ornamented with a figure of fame. the stern carved and painted in the naval style, with the word "victory" in yellow raised letters on the lanthorn over the poop. the coffin placed on the quarterdeck with its head towards the stern, with the english jack pendent over the poop lowered half-staff. there was an awning over the whole, consisting of an elegant canopy supported by four pillars, in the form of palm-trees, as we have already mentioned, and partly covered with black velvet. the corners and sides were decorated with black ostrich feathers, and festooned with black velvet, richly fringed, immediately above which, in the front, was inscribed in gold the word "nile" at one end; on one side the following motto, "hoste devicto, requievit;" behind was the word "trafalgar;" and on the other side the motto "palmam qui meruit ferat," as in the engraving. the carriage was drawn by six led horses, in elegant furniture.' in 1817 the _times_ also illustrated the projects of robert owen, who laboured long and ardently to promote the doctrines of socialism. in the number for aug. 9th, 1817, there is a large woodcut called robert owen's agricultural and manufacturing villages of unity and mutual cooperation. in those days a page of the _times_ was not so valuable as it is now, or probably the enthusiastic socialist would not have found it so easy to enlist that journal in helping to propagate his doctrines. in 1834 owen made in london another attempt to put in practice the principles he had so long advocated. he died in 1858, aged ninety. i have mentioned that the _observer_ was the first newspaper that availed itself of the revived art of wood-engraving; but it had previously essayed the then difficult task of illustrating the news of the day by the more costly means of engraving on copper. the island of st. helena having been selected as the place of residence of napoleon bonaparte, the _observer_ of oct. 29th, 1815, published a large copperplate view of the island, with a descriptive account. the plate is printed on the same page with the letterpress, so that there must have been two printings to produce this specimen of illustrated news. three years later the _observer_ produced another copperplate example of news illustration, also printed on the letterpress page. this was a portrait of abraham thornton, whose remarkable case attracted much public attention. he was tried for the murder of a young woman, mary ashford, with whom he was known to be acquainted, and in whose company he was seen shortly before her death. he was, however, acquitted, the jury probably believing it to be a case of suicide. the brother of the girl then appealed, and thornton claimed his right to defend himself by wager of battle. this claim was allowed, after long arguments before the judges. it was found, much to the surprise of the general public, that by the law of england a man in an appeal of murder might demand the combat, thereby to make proof of his guilt or innocence. in the present case the girl's brother refused the challenge, and thornton escaped. this was the last appeal to the 'assize of battle' in this country; and the attention of the legislature being drawn to the obsolete statute, it was repealed by 59 geo. iii., 1819. it was during the progress of the arguments in this case, and while the public interest was very great, that the _observer_ published the portrait of the accused. after this the _observer_ became remarkable for its illustrations of news. mr. william clement, the proprietor, was a man who early saw the attractiveness of illustrated journalism. i am not aware when he first became associated with the _observer_; but under his management frequent illustrations of news were given in that paper. in 1820 _bell's life in london_ was started, and very soon mr. clement became the proprietor of that paper also. in 1821 he purchased the _morning chronicle_, which, however, turned out a bad speculation. having invested a very large sum of money in the latter paper, mr. clement spared no effort to make it profitable, and the _observer_ was neglected. it suffered in consequence, and fell in circulation. frequently the illustrations of news that were printed in the _observer_ were published the day previously in the _chronicle_. they were also occasionally printed in _bell's life_ and the _englishman_, a fourth paper belonging to mr. clement. all four papers were carried on together; but it is the _observer_ that stands out as the prominent representative of illustrated journalism at this period. other journals came into existence which took up the idea of illustrating the news of the day; among them the _sunday times_, started by daniel whittle harvey in 1822, when he was member for colchester. another paper which for a time rivalled, if it did not excel, the _observer_ in the frequency of its news illustrations was the _weekly chronicle_. it flourished a few years before the birth of the _illustrated london news_, but has long been extinct. mr. clement sold the _morning chronicle_ in 1834, and soon restored the _observer_ to its old position. the _morning chronicle_ started in 1769 and expired in 1864. the _englishman_ has long been defunct, but i am not acquainted with the date of its disappearance. there was a paper called the _englishman_ in 1714, and the name was again revived by the late dr. kenealy. the _observer_ and _bell's life_ were both published at the same office for many years, but their companionship was terminated in 1877, when they left the office in the strand where they had so long lived amicably together, the great sporting journal migrating to catherine street, and the _observer_ seeking a new home in the strand further west. one or two other newspapers occasionally published engravings during the few years immediately preceding the _illustrated london news_, and of them i will speak in the proper place. the most prominent, however, were the _observer_, _bell's life in london_, and the _weekly chronicle_, and to these three i propose first to direct attention as being the main supporters of the pictorial spirit until it culminated in the _illustrated london news_. it was during the ten years preceding 1842 that the founder of that journal noticed the growing inclination of the people for illustrated news, and it was chiefly in the pages of the _observer_ and the _weekly chronicle_ that he thought he saw the growth of a hitherto uncultivated germ. in 1820 all england was startled by the discovery of a mysterious plot of some political desperadoes who planned the assassination of the ministers of the crown and the overthrow of the government. this came to be known as the cato street conspiracy, the place of meeting of the conspirators being in cato street, marylebone. the extravagance of the prince regent, the high price of bread, and the heavy taxation, had brought about a feeling of discontent among the lower orders which, unhappily, was greatly increased by the spa fields riots, and the collision between the soldiers and the people in lancashire, at what was called the massacre of peterloo. thistlewood, the leader of the conspirators, had already been tried for treasonable practices, but acquitted. he had also been in trouble for his connexion with the spa fields riots. the sanguinary plan of the conspirators was to murder the cabinet ministers while they were all assembled at dinner at lord harrowby's house in grosvenor square. they were to seize certain pieces of cannon, take the bank of england, destroy the telegraph to woolwich, set fire to different parts of london, and then establish a provisional government at the mansion house, sending emissaries to the outports to prevent the escape of obnoxious persons. they reckoned on large numbers of the discontented joining them as soon as they had destroyed the tyrants and oppressors of the people, as they termed the ministers. they had provided pikes, pistols, sabres, knives, blunderbusses, and hand-grenades; and one of the gang, a butcher, had furnished himself with a heavy butcher's knife, to cut off the heads of 'castlereagh and the rest as he came at them.' adams, one of their number, turned informer, and the conspirators were surprised by the police at their meeting-place in cato street. after a conflict in which one of the police-officers was killed, several of the gang were secured, and others were taken soon afterwards. thistlewood, the leader, escaped in the first rush, but was captured next day. the place where the seizure was made is described as a hayloft over a deserted stable with a step-ladder leading from the stable to the loft above, with two apertures in the floor of the loft, opening on the racks in the stable below; opening from the loft were two small inner rooms. on the evening of the 23rd of february, 1820, the conspirators were assembled in this stable, where they were arming themselves for the bloody work they had planned, when the police, aided by a party of the coldstream guards under lieut. fitzclarence, broke in upon them. police-officers ruthven, ellice, and smithers, were the first to mount the ladder, and enter the loft. 'there were about five-and-twenty men in the room, eating bread and cheese, and drinking porter, or selecting arms from a long carpenter's bench which stood close by the wall. just at that juncture, thistlewood, hearing a noise, and some one calling, "hallo! show a light!" took a candle, and looked down the stairs to see who was coming, and, on seeing that there was a surprise, he put the candle back on the bench, seized a sword, and with three or four others retreated stealthily to the further of the inner rooms--the one that had a window looking out into cato street. at that moment one of the men seized below called out to warn his comrades, "look out there above!" 'at the same time, two of the constables, at first almost unnoticed, appeared at the top of the ladder, and presenting their pistols, said, "hallo, is anybody in the room? here's a pretty nest of you!" 'then another of the patrol cried, "we are officers; seize their arms." 'and a third, "gentlemen, we have got a warrant to apprehend you all, and as such we hope you will go peaceably." 'just then smithers, distrusting further parley, and believing, in his staunch way, in promptitude, before the conspirators could discover the scantiness of the assailing numbers, or could muster courage to use their arms, cried, "let me come forward," and pushed towards the door of the inner room, where thistlewood stood thrusting with a very long sword. the leader of the conspirators instantly rushed forward, and struck smithers through his right side. the constable threw up his hands, his head fell back, he staggered against ruthven, cried, "o my god, i am done!" and fell dead near the opening of the stairs. ellice held up his staff at thistlewood, and threatened to fire with the pistol in his right hand, unless he instantly surrendered. the lights were immediately dashed out, and a voice cried in the darkness, "kill the ---at once! throw them down-stairs! kill them!" 'then there were twenty or thirty pistol-shots fired, and a tremendous headlong rush was made at the stairs, driving the bow street men backwards; the conspirators leaping down into the manger through the holes in the floor, or by the window, others firing at the officers on the stairs, or up through the manger, all making for the archway in john street.'[2] it would appear the conspirators were closely watched for some time before they were arrested. indeed, it was suspected that government emissaries were employed to foment the conspiracy in order that a terrible example might be made for the benefit of the disaffected. however this may have been, the plot excited the most intense interest among all classes. thistlewood and the other prisoners were tried at the old bailey, april 17th, 1820, and found guilty of high treason. six were transported for life, the other five, including thistlewood, were hung on may 1st, and their heads severed from their bodies--the quartering, the usual doom of traitors, having been graciously forgiven. [illustration: a. door to the cart-house. b. door by which the officers entered. c. stable window. d. loft-door. stable where the cato street conspirators met. from the 'observer,' march 5th, 1820.] the _observer_ for march 5th, 1820, published some illustrations of the cato street conspiracy. one is an exterior view of the stable in cato street where the conspirators met, which is copied on the opposite page. [illustration: section of grenade prepared by the cato street conspirators. from the 'observer,' march 5th, 1820. a. cylindrical tin box containing gunpowder. b. pitched tow. c. bullets, old nails, spikes, &c. d. tin tube a fuze filled with damp powder.] there was also an interior view of the hayloft, together with sections of some of the grenades, daggers, &c., large quantities of which were found in the loft. these cuts, which are roughly done, were reprinted in the _observer_ for march 12th, and two new ones were added, 'interior view of the hayloft at the moment when smithers received his death wound,' and a view of the interior of the stable. they are all interesting as examples of illustrated news at a time when the means of producing such things were extremely limited. [illustration: dagger prepared by the cato street conspirators. from the 'observer,' march 5th, 1820. a. dagger made out of a bayonet to use singly or on top of a pike handle. b. dagger with hole in the middle to receive dagger a. when screwed on, to be used right and left. c. section of the transverse dagger b.] mr. clement, the proprietor of the _observer_, gave a remarkable proof of his enterprising spirit when the cato street conspirators were tried. at that time newspapers were prohibited under a penalty of 500_l._ from publishing reports of cases in the courts of law before they were concluded. mr. clement, seeing the universal interest excited by the trial, determined to publish a report without waiting for the verdict. he accordingly sent reporters to the court, and published the whole in the _observer_ before the verdict was given. this was a contempt of court for which he expected to have to pay, and, though the penalty was duly inflicted, it was never exacted. the _ã©clat_ attending this proceeding was of immense value to the _observer_, and the sale of that number was so great that the proprietor could easily have paid the penalty of 500_l._, and he would still have been a gainer.[3] the prince of wales (afterwards george iv.), whose unhappy marriage with caroline of brunswick produced so much scandal and excitement in this country, had long been separated from his wife, who was residing abroad at the time her husband became king. her majesty announced her intention of returning to england; and though the king's ministers endeavoured to dissuade her from her purpose, she persisted in her resolution, and on june 6th, 1820, she landed at dover. her journey through london was one long triumph, thousands of people escorting her to her temporary residence, and giving her the warmest possible welcome, for they looked upon her as an ill-used and persecuted woman. the question of omitting her name from the liturgy had been debated in parliament, and afterwards a 'bill of pains and penalties' was brought in, which was in effect placing the queen upon her trial. contemporary newspapers show what intense excitement filled the public mind upon this subject, and how the nation ranged itself on the side of the king or queen--by far the greater number being for the latter. nothing was talked of but the 'queen's trial,' and the wrongs and indignities that had been heaped upon the head of an innocent woman. on aug. 16th, the married ladies of the metropolis presented her majesty with an address, and three days after the trial commenced, the defence being conducted by mr. brougham and mr. denman. when the queen attended the house of lords large crowds accompanied her through the streets, and manifested by their cries their sympathy for her cause. the bill of pains and penalties was carried on a second reading by a majority of twenty-eight, but it sank on the third reading to a majority of nine, and was finally abandoned owing to the threatening attitude of the populace. great rejoicings ensued, london was illuminated for three nights, and on nov. 29th the queen went in state to st. paul's. on this occasion william hone, who had distinguished himself as one of the queen's champions, displayed a transparency at his house on ludgate hill, which was painted by george cruikshank, and is engraved in hone's collected pamphlets. the _observer_, having to some extent laid itself out for 'illustrated news,' the occasion of so much interest and excitement as the queen's trial was not likely to pass unnoticed. accordingly, we find in the number for sept. 17th, 1820, a large woodcut, entitled, 'a faithful representation of the interior of the house of lords as prepared for the trial of her most gracious majesty queen caroline.' this was published at the time the excitement was at the highest, and no doubt the eager public properly appreciated the enterprise of the conductors of the paper. in 1821 the house of commons contained many notable politicians and eminent men who afterwards became leaders and champions among the ranks of whig and tory. amongst the most prominent were canning, brougham, peel, and palmerston. the question of reform was becoming more and more pressing, and the house of commons as then constituted was tottering to its fall. the conductors of the _observer_, ever on the look-out for what would interest their readers, published on jan. 21st, 1821, two views of the interior of the house of commons, one looking towards the speaker's chair, the other looking from it. in one the house is empty, but in the other most of the leading politicians of the day are introduced. the figures, however, are on too small a scale to be likenesses of the persons intended, but the reader is assisted by references showing the places occupied by the most prominent members of the house. the national excitement about queen caroline's trial was dying out when the first gentleman in europe prepared for his coronation. on this occasion the _observer_ gave the lieges appropriate pictures of the august ceremony. the best draughtsmen and engravers on wood, then very few in number, were employed to prepare views of westminster abbey and westminster hall during the coronation ceremony and the banquet which followed. the _observer_ of july 22nd, 1821, contains four engravings, which, considering the limited artistic means at command, are by no means discreditable to the management of the paper. on this occasion a double number was published, the price of which was fourteen pence, and the publisher evidently thought it was very cheap. he announced that he would keep the number on sale for ten days after publication, so that no one might be disappointed in getting a copy. all these engravings of the coronation of george iv. were done on what was then considered a large scale, though none of them exceed a half-page of the present illustrated newspapers, and were finished as regards light and shade, according to the best ability of the artist. the coronation number of the _observer_ produced a great sensation, and it had a very large sale. nothing like it had ever been done before, and the public eagerly paid the double price for the sake of the engravings. fourpence was paid for stamp duty on each sheet, amounting on the whole to 2000_l._ paid to government for stamp duty, exclusive of paper duty. the number consisted of two sheets, each of which had a sale of 60,000 copies. this was a very good stroke of business, and mr. clement had fair reason to congratulate himself on his successful enterprise. it prompted him to further efforts; but, unfortunately, he had not the wisdom to confine his energies to one channel, and what he gained by one speculation he lost by another. it was at this time he purchased the _morning chronicle_ for 42,000_l._; but, as i have before stated, this turned out a disastrous investment, and also injured for a time the otherwise successful _observer_. soon after his coronation george iv. visited ireland, and while on his way received the melancholy intelligence of the death of his consort, the unfortunate queen caroline, which, however, did not prevent his majesty from continuing his journey. the _observer_ of sept. 2nd, 1821, published 'a correct view of his majesty king george the fourth landing from the _lightening_ steam packet, capt. skinner, on the pier of the harbour of howth, on sunday, the twelvth of august, 1821.' in describing this event the _observer_ spoke of it as the opening of a new era for ireland, and of the highest importance both in an historical and political point of view. in the following year the king went to scotland; but, though the _observer_ published long and elaborate descriptions of his majesty's visit, the occasion was not deemed worthy of illustration. the opportunity, however, must have been far richer than the visit to ireland in affording subjects for sketches. it would have been curious to see what a contemporary 'special artist' would have made of sir walter scott; and posterity would have been glad to have had handed down to it the 'varra effigies' of george iv. and alderman curtis in the kilt! in 1823 the city of cadiz, in spain, was invested by the french, who took possession of the place on oct. 3rd in that year. the _observer_, in its issue of oct. 5th, printed a plan and view of cadiz, the plan first appearing in the _morning chronicle_ of the day before. the view of cadiz is well engraved, in the manner of that day, by w. hughes. the plan is also well done, and very complete. towards the end of 1823 a murder, unparalleled in the history of crime, excited immense public interest, and the _observer_ at once took up the case, and described and illustrated it with a particularity and minuteness of detail that must have satisfied the most ardent sensationalist. the incidents of this remarkable crime have been long forgotten; but i will give an outline of the story in connexion with the engravings published on the occasion by the _observer_. mr. william weare was an attorney in lyon's inn, who added to his legal practice the business of a bill-discounter, and enlivened the dulness of both pursuits by indulging occasionally in the excitement of gambling. he counted amongst his friends one mr. john thurtell, a notorious betting-man; and it was to keep an appointment with this friend that he left his chambers in lyon's inn on friday, oct. 24th, 1823. the two friends had agreed to go on a short shooting excursion to a lonely cottage on the st. albans road, about fourteen miles from london. thurtell was respectably connected, but had an evil reputation, he and his brother being then in hiding to avoid a charge of arson. two other men were concerned in the murder, hunt, a public singer, of doubtful character, and probert, a spirit merchant, a fraudulent bankrupt, who lived at the cottage to which thurtell and his friend were going. in the gambling transactions between thurtell and weare the former conceived himself to have been cheated of 300_l._, and in revenge he determined to murder weare, and by robbing him recoup himself as far as possible for his losses. the crime was coolly premeditated, and hunt appears to have been an accessory before the fact, having arranged to meet thurtell on the road, and to assist in despatching the victim. for this purpose the shooting excursion to probert's cottage was planned, but, owing to a mistake of hunt's, he did not join thurtell as agreed, and the latter committed the murder alone. thurtell and weare were seen driving in a gig towards edgeware about five o'clock in the evening on oct. 24th, and they afterwards called at the 'white hart,' edgeware, for refreshment. after they were gone probert and hunt, also driving in a gig, called at the same inn, where they had some brandy and water, and afterwards drove away. gill's hill cottage, the place where probert lived, was about two miles from elstree, and was approached by a narrow road called gill's hill lane. some country people passing in the neighbourhood of this lane about eight o'clock in the evening heard a shot fired and deep groans as if some one was injured. they also heard voices and the wheels of a cart or gig moving. near nine o'clock thurtell arrived at the cottage _alone_, and giving the horse and gig to the servant, went out to meet probert and hunt, with whom he soon afterwards returned. hunt being a stranger, was formally introduced to mrs. probert and a miss noyes who was staying at the house. the whole party supped together, and spent the evening in jollity. hunt sang several songs, and thurtell produced a gold hunting-watch which afterwards proved to be weare's, and, taking off the chain, offered it to probert for his wife, but he declining it, thurtell put it round the lady's neck himself. it was after midnight before the ladies retired, and the sleeping accommodation being limited it was arranged that thurtell should sleep on some chairs and hunt was to occupy the sofa. a drawing of the sofa forms one of the illustrations in the _observer_, and proves how thoroughly every circumstance of the horrid tale was followed up and exhibited to the public. all this time the body of the murdered weare was lying behind a hedge in the lane. mrs. probert's suspicions had been aroused by several strange circumstances. a vague and horrid alarm took possession of her, and when she retired to bed she stole to the head of the stairs and listened to the talk that was going on below in the parlour. she heard her husband and his two visitors apparently dividing money, burning papers, and making mysterious plans to conceal something dreadful that had been done. then the parlour door was opened, and the frightened woman stole back to her room. she heard two of the men go to the stable and bring out the horse. afterwards, hearing a noise in the garden, she looked out of the window, and it being a moonlight night, she saw a man dragging something large and heavy along the garden walk towards the fishpond. then followed a hollow sound as if something had been thrown into the pond. that night, when probert went to bed, he found his wife sitting up and crying. she questioned him about the mysterious sounds she had heard, but he told her that he and his companions had only been out trying to net some game. in the morning she renewed her inquiries, but he only replied, 'don't torment me; you make my life miserable.' he seemed in low spirits, and went moping round the garden and about the pond. going into the kitchen mrs. probert observed the gig cushion drying at the kitchen fire, although there had been no rain the night before, and the cook was surprised to see in the stable a wet, ripped-up sack hanging on a nail. [illustration: the couch on which hunt slept at gill's hill cottage. from the 'observer,' nov. 10, 1823.] early on saturday morning two labouring men were busy in gill's hill lane repairing the road, when two gentlemen passed them on foot. at the bend of the lane they stooped down and appeared to be looking for something among the dead leaves and brambles. coming back they had some conversation with the road-menders, and afterwards passed on up the lane towards the cottage. a short time afterwards one of the labourers found at the spot where the gentlemen had been looking an open penknife covered with blood, and a little further on a pistol with hair sticking to it, and also bloody. these articles the man gave to his master the same morning when he came round to inspect their work. about noon they saw the two gentlemen from probert's drive away in a gig. they both looked hard at the spot where the knife and pistol had been found, but said nothing. mr. nicholls, the road surveyor, to whom the knife and pistol had been handed by the man who found them, went to the magistrates at watford and told how and where the articles had been found. the magistrates at once sent information to bow street, and two of their number immediately went to gill's hill lane, where they discovered spots and gouts of blood on the bank and under the leaves, and there was a gap in the hedge where a body seemed to have been dragged through. the field was also much trampled. they at once came to the conclusion that a murder had been committed, and took instant measures to trace the guilty parties. the police seized probert and thomas thurtell at gill's hill, and searched the house and premises. john thurtell was apprehended at the 'coach and horses,' in conduit street. marks of blood were found on different articles of clothing belonging to him. at hunt's lodgings various articles belonging to weare had been found. weare being missing it was suspected he had met with foul play at the hands of these men. a billiard-table keeper in spring gardens proved that mr. weare had called upon him about three o'clock on friday, october 24th, and told him he was then on his way to join thurtell in the edgeware road, as they were going down to hertfordshire for a few days' shooting. thurtell, on being questioned, admitted he knew mr. weare, but said he had not seen him for eight days. it appeared by the disclosures afterwards made by thurtell's two confederates that thurtell had shot weare while they were riding in the gig down gill's hill lane, leading to the cottage where probert lived. weare jumped out of the gig, crying he would pay thurtell all he owed him if he would only spare his life. thurtell jumped out of the gig and ran after him. he got weare down and cut his throat with a penknife, and then struck him on the head with a pistol. he then dragged the body through the hedge and left it there. the same night thurtell and hunt went out from probert's cottage to bring the body away, but they found it too heavy. probert and thurtell then went and brought the body on the horse, and put it in the fishpond with stones in the sack to keep it down. they afterwards removed the body from the fishpond and sunk it in a deep pond by the side of the elstree road. the cold-blooded indifference of the perpetrators of this atrocious crime was most extraordinary. the murder was committed on friday night, and on saturday thurtell and hunt returned to london and dined with thomas thurtell and mr. noyes, probert's brother-in-law, at the 'coach and horses,' in conduit street. they were very jovial, and next day (sunday) the whole party met again at proberts' house in gill's hill lane, when the afternoon was spent in playing at cards. on sunday night thurtell and hunt went to dig a grave to bury the body, but the dogs were barking, and they were afraid some one was about. on monday, while hunt engaged mrs. probert in conversation, thurtell and probert got the body out of the fishpond, and cut off the clothes. then they all three carried it to the garden-gate and put it into the gig. a grave half dug was found in probert's garden, but the soil was hard, and it is supposed that thurtell and hunt were afraid of the noise pickaxes would make. hunt, to save his own neck from the halter, confessed that he knew where the body was, and went with four men in a hackney coach to a bridge on the elstree road, near which was a deep pond by the side of the road. in this pond the body of weare was found tied in a sack, with stones to keep it down. [illustration: pond in which the body of mr. weare was found. from the 'observer,' nov. 10, 1823.] thurtell, probert, and hunt were tried at hertford on january 6, 1824. probert was admitted king's evidence, and so escaped for that time, but he was afterwards hung at the old bailey for horse-stealing. thurtell and hunt were condemned to death, but only thurtell was hung, hunt being reprieved on the morning of execution, and transported for life. in those days prize-fighting was in much favour, and a great fight was coming off between spring and langham, two noted pugilists. to show the ruffianly and impenitent character of thurtell, it is related that he said, a few hours before his execution, 'it is perhaps wrong in my situation; but i own i should like to read pierce egan's account of the great fight yesterday.' some of the incidents of the trial were appalling, others ludicrous. the production of the weapon with which the murder was committed, stained and rusted with blood, made every one shudder except the prisoners. the oft-quoted reason for a man being respectable 'because he kept a horse and shay' occurred during this trial; and when probert's cook was asked whether the supper at gill's hill cottage was postponed, she answered, 'no; it was pork.'[4] the murder of mr. weare was committed on october 24, and discovered a few days afterwards. on november 10 the _observer_ published five illustrations of the murder:--1. probert's cottage and garden. 2. the scene of the murder in gill's hill lane. 3. the pond in which the body of weare was found. 4. front view (from the road) of probert's cottage. 5. the parlour and the couch on which hunt slept. on december 7 the _observer_ published a view of the interior of the crown court at hertford at the moment the prisoners were brought up to plead; and, having found that the public had eagerly purchased the illustrations already issued, the editor announced the publication of two sheets with additional engravings on the occasion of the trial:--'the trials of the prisoners at hertford having been put off till tuesday, jan. 6, the publication of the intended supplement of this journal, containing the plates illustrative of the facts to be disclosed in the evidence, has been deferred till sunday, january 11, on which day two sheets instead of one will be published. booksellers, postmasters, &c., are requested to give their orders through their respective agents in london, as no papers whatever are on any occasion forwarded through the publisher.' accordingly, at the appointed time two sheets came out, containing the cuts already enumerated together with three fresh ones, the latter being the stable-yard of probert's cottage with the murderers conveying the body by the light of a lantern to the stable; a front view of the cottage, showing the murderers dragging the body to the pond; and a ground-plan of the country round the scene of the murder. the conductors of the journal appear to have had some misgivings as to the good taste of their proceedings, but were unable to resist the temptation of a large and profitable sale. the engravings are thus introduced to the reader:--'the unparalleled interest which has been created in the public mind by the mysterious circumstances attending the death of mr. weare has induced us, with a view to the gratification of our readers, to use every exertion in our power, not only to give a faithful and copious report of the trial of the persons charged with this most foul and atrocious deed, but, with the assistance of competent artists, to obtain such plates as appear to us best calculated to illustrate the detail of circumstances disclosed in the evidence before the jury. we are aware that by some these illustrations will be condemned as inconsistent with good taste; and we are ready to acknowledge that on all occasions their adoption would be extremely injudicious. in a case, however, where the feelings and the curiosity of the public have been so much excited, and where so singular and ardent an avidity has been displayed to obtain every possible light upon a subject so interesting, we trust that those who may entertain, perhaps, a well-founded objection to our plan, will, for a moment, grant us their indulgence, and permit us to meet the wishes of persons who may not be so fastidious as themselves. the strongest argument which we can adduce in favour of the continued pursuit of this plan--is the fact, that of three of the plates which we now feel it necessary to republish, many thousand impressions have been already sold, and yet the number, though high, has been insufficient to supply the continued demand. the necessity imposed on us, however, for breaking up our formes, forced us to refer the recent applicants to the present publication, which will be found to contain the most minute and correct particulars of everything connected with this extraordinary affair.' then follows a long and minute description of all the plates, when it is stated, 'for the sake of effect the artist has given all the views as they would appear in daylight; but, with the exception of plate ii. (finding the body of weare in the pond), the scenes ought to have been represented as at night.' some of the engravings illustrating the murder of mr. weare appeared in the _morning chronicle_ the day before their publication in the _observer_, and they were also published simultaneously in the _englishman_, which appears to have been in substance another edition of the _observer_ without the advertisements. the name of w. hughes is attached to them as the engraver. the _observer_ was loudly condemned for publishing the weare and thurtell illustrations, and it did not for some time bring out any more engravings; but this was probably owing more to the commercial depression prevailing at the time than to the strictures that had been passed upon newspaper morality. about this time _bell's life_ came into mr. clement's hands, and henceforth it shared, with the _morning chronicle_ and the _englishman_, in the illustrations prepared for the _observer_. it had, however, a distinct series of illustrations of its own, which was continued for several years. but before describing them i must refer to one or two characteristic engravings which appeared in _bell's life_ in its early days. on november 28, 1824, the first large woodcut was published, representing a prize-fight on a raised stage, and entitled the 'tip top milling at warwick.' according to the account accompanying the engraving, this prize-fight was a most brutal exhibition, without any display of what boxers call 'science'--a mere exchange of hard blows, ending in one of the combatants being carried insensible from the stage. the coming fight was made known far and wide, so that when the day arrived vehicles from all parts of the country brought hundreds of spectators to the scene. the fight took place, openly and without fear of interruption, on the race-course at warwick, the grand stand being crammed with spectators, and a ring of waggons, on which clustered crowds of eager gazers, surrounded the stage. this is all shown in the engraving in _bell's life_; and the different objects in the background, such as the church, the keep of warwick castle, the cemetery, &c., are pointed out by figures of reference with the most conscientious care. there is a very long account of the battle, couched in language only understood by members of the 'fancy.' in 1825 the town was being amused by liston, as 'paul pry,' then a recent creation of the stage. on november 8 in that year _bell's life_ published a woodcut representing the comedian in that character, which i have copied as an early example of the illustrations of the great sporting journal. [illustration: liston as paul pry. from 'bell's life,' 1825.] in 1827 _bell's life_ commenced a series of caricature sketches by cruikshank, seymour, and kenny meadows, entitled a 'gallery of comicalities.' this continued at intervals, along with other sketches entitled 'phizogs of the tradesmen of london' (half-lengths of butchers, cobblers, &c., commencing in 1832); 'kitchen stuff, or cads of the aristocracy' (heads of gentlemen's servants); 'portraits down the road' (heads of characters seen on a stage-coach journey, such as the landlady, the commercial traveller, the chambermaid, &c.); 'the sporting album' (sketches from life, commencing 1834). these caricature subjects were continued to the end of the year 1840. the greater number are much too coarse, cynical, and vulgar for the taste of the present day. sometimes a series of sketches extended through several consecutive weeks, such as 'the pugilist's progress' and 'the drunkard's progress,' both by seymour. 'the drunkard's progress,' which appeared in 1829, consisted of twelve scenes, and embodied the same idea that was many years afterwards more fully developed by george cruikshank in his series of large plates entitled 'the bottle.' now and then appeared a sporting subject by harvey, such as coursing, hunting, bull-baiting, &c. in the number for february 8, 1829, appeared a curious woodcut representing a view in the isle of anglesea, which was said to have excited the attention and surprise of passing travellers from its presenting an excellent profile of the marquis of anglesea, who was then very popular. in 1831 portraits of young dutch sam and ned neal, the famous pugilists, were published; and in 1838 the initials of john leech began to appear to some of the cuts. portraits of prize-fighters, race-horses, representations of racing-cups, &c., were given at intervals until 1851, when the last illustration, a monument to tom cribb, appeared. [illustration: the man wot lost the fight. the man wot won the fight. from 'bell's life,' 1831.] as further examples of the illustrations in _bell's life_, i copy two, which were published in 1831. about 1825 there was another sporting paper in existence, conducted by the celebrated author of 'tom and jerry.' it was called _pierce egan's life in london_, and, like _bell's life_, had its sporting and other columns decorated with little woodcut headings, and sometimes published an engraving of a racing-cup. at the beginning of 1827 the _observer_ resumed its illustrations of news, and on the death of the duke of york published a long memoir of his royal highness, accompanied by an equestrian portrait of the duke, 'taken during his last visit to newmarket.' in the number for january 21 are engravings of the remains of his royal highness lying in state in st. james's palace, and a view of the interior of the royal mausoleum at windsor. the above were engraved by slader, and were published simultaneously in the _englishman_ and _bell's life_. the number published on aug. 13, 1827, contains a large portrait of mr. canning, then just deceased. this portrait has the names of jackson and smith attached to it as the engravers. in the number for sept. 30 there is a 'correct view of the suspension bridge, hammersmith, to be opened to the public on saturday, oct. 6, 1827.' this is engraved by slader, and appears also in _bell's life_ the same week. the following week the _observer_ published a large plan showing the alterations proposed in st. james's park in connexion with the building of buckingham palace; and on nov. 18 appeared a plan of the port of navarino, accompanying an account of the naval battle at that place. in december was published a view of 'mr. gurney's new steam-carriage, as it appeared in the regent's park on thursday, dec. 6, 1827,' and later in the same month a representation of mr. d. gordon's new steam-coach. both these engravings are curious and interesting, as showing the attempts that were made fifty years ago to apply steam to the propulsion of carriages on common roads. [illustration: his royal highness the duke of york, taken during his last visit to newmarket. from the 'observer,' jan. 8, 1827.] mr. gurney was a medical man, but gave up his practice and devoted himself to scientific studies, and particularly to the construction of locomotive engines for turnpike travelling. he had seen trevithick's engine, and when a youth had frequently met trevithick himself. he had thus become imbued with a conviction of the practicability of making a steam-carriage that would travel on common roads. other inventors succeeded in doing the same thing, but mr. gurney attained the greatest amount of success. with his steam-carriage he made a journey from london to bath on july 28, 1829, performing the return journey at fourteen miles an hour, or the eighty-four miles in nine hours and twenty minutes, stoppages for fuel and water included. in 1831 he established a regular steam conveyance between gloucester and cheltenham, a distance of about nine miles. the steam-carriages commenced plying on feb. 21, 1831, and continued running four times a-day for four months, with tolerable regularity and without accident. the project, however, received such determined opposition from coach proprietors and turnpike trusts that it was abandoned. the tolls exacted were so heavy that at one gate they amounted to eight guineas. mr. gurney is said to have expended 36,000_l._ on his enterprise, but without any permanent beneficial result. his inventive genius, however, contributed to develope the high speed of the locomotive and the subsequent success of railways. he died feb. 28, 1875, aged eighty-two years. [illustration: mr. gurney's new steam-carriage as it appeared in the regent's park on thursday, dec. 6, 1827. from the 'observer,' dec. 9, 1827.] mr. gordon took out a patent for a steam-coach in 1822, and constructed two different machines. one had its wheels surrounded by cogs, or projecting teeth. this engine was to be placed within a large rolling drum, about nine feet in diameter and five feet wide, the inside of which should be fitted with circular rack-rails fitting the wheels of the steam-engine. thus the motion of the engine would cause the drum to roll forward, on the same principle that a squirrel causes a cylindrical cage to revolve; and the rolling of the drum was to move a carriage connected with it. the other machine had two long propellers or legs, intended to obviate the supposed tendency of wheels to slip when ascending a slope. the thames tunnel, which was begun in 1825 by mr. brunel, was on more than one occasion threatened with destruction by irruptions of water. on jan. 12, 1828, six workmen perished by a sudden rush of water into the workings, and on the 20th the _observer_ published an engraving representing the catastrophe. on the 9th of june appeared 'a correct view of ascot heath race course, taken by an eminent artist on thursday last.' this 'eminent artist' was william harvey, and the cut bears the names of jackson and smith as the engravers. a sheet containing a selection of comic sketches from _bell's life_ was issued with the _observer_ of july 20, 1828, accompanied by a statement that the sketches (twenty-seven in number) cost one hundred and forty-two pounds, drawing and engraving. this sounds very trivial when contrasted with the large sums now paid by illustrated newspapers. in 1827 another exciting murder was committed, and the _observer_, undeterred by former censures, published a portrait of the criminal and a view of the scene of his crime, but did not on this occasion deal with the case in the elaborate way in which the murder of mr. weare was treated. the story of the red barn is well known to provincial playgoers in the eastern counties, where it still sometimes figures in theatrical programmes on saturday nights. william corder was a farmer's son residing not far from ipswich. he had for some time carried on an intrigue with a country girl named maria marten, whom he at last enticed into a barn not far from her father's cottage, and there murdered her, and buried her body under the floor of the barn. after this he continued to visit her father's cottage, and by various falsehoods accounted for the girl's continued absence. months went by, and corder wrote several letters to the girl's parents, in which he told plausible stories about her being at the seaside with relatives of his own. the girl's mother, however, had had her suspicions aroused by several circumstances, and at length she dreamed three times that her daughter had been murdered and her body hid under the floor in the red barn. the woman's mind was so worked upon by the recurrence of this dream that she induced her husband to search under the floor of the barn, and there, sure enough, the murdered body of the girl was found. in the meantime corder had advertised for a wife in the _morning herald_ in the following terms:--'a private gentleman, aged twenty-four, entirely independent, whose disposition is not to be exceeded, has lately lost chief of his family by the hand of providence, which has occasioned discord among the remainder, under circumstances the most disagreeable to relate. to any female of respectability, who would study for domestic comfort, and is willing to confide her future happiness to one in every way qualified to render the marriage state desirable, as the advertiser is in affluence. many happy marriages have taken place through means similar to this now resorted to. it is hoped no one will answer this through impertinent curiosity; but should this meet the eye of any agreeable lady, who feels desirous of meeting with a sociable, tender, kind, and sympathising companion, they will find this advertisement worthy of notice. honour and secrecy may be relied on. as some little security against idle application, it is requisite that letters may be addressed, post-paid, a. z., care of mr. foster, stationer, 68 leadenhall street, with real name and address, which will meet with most respectful attention.' [illustration: william corder. from the 'observer,' aug. 10, 1823.] through this advertisement corder became acquainted with a lady who kept the grove house academy at ealing, near london. they were married, and he went to reside with his wife at grove house, where he was arrested one morning in the spring of 1828. various circumstances pointed to him as the murderer of maria marten, and he was tried for the crime at bury st. edmunds on aug. 6, 1828. the crowd was so great that the counsel and officers of the court had to fight their way to their places. corder appeared at the bar dressed in a new suit of black, and with his hair combed over his forehead. he wore a pair of blue french spectacles, through which he eyed the witnesses smilingly. being called on for his defence, he read a statement which amounted to charging maria marten with having committed suicide. he said that in consequence of a quarrel they had in the red barn she shot herself with one of two pistols which he had with him:--'the instant the mischief happened, i thought to have made it public; but this would have added to the suspicion, and i then resolved to conceal her death. i then buried her in the best way i could. i tried to conceal the fact as well as i could, giving sometimes one reason for her absence, and sometimes another.' he was found guilty and sentenced to death, and the night before his execution he made the following confession:--'i acknowledge being guilty of the death of poor maria marten, by shooting her with a pistol. the particulars are as follows: when we left her father's house, we began quarrelling about the burial of the child, she apprehending that the place wherein it was deposited would be found out. the quarrel continued for about three quarters of an hour upon this and about other subjects. a scuffle ensued, and during the scuffle, and at the time i think that she had hold of me, i took the pistol from the side pocket of my shooting-coat.... i have been guilty of great idleness, and at times led a dissolute life, but i hope through the mercy of god to be forgiven.--w. corder.' this murder excited great and marked interest, not only in suffolk, but through the whole country. on aug. 10, 1828, the day before the execution, the _observer_ published a portrait of corder and a view of the red barn, which are here copied. the excitement showed itself in the streets, where puppet shows represented the scene of the crime, and methodist preachers held forth in the fields near the barn to thousands of attentive listeners. the red barn itself was nearly pulled to pieces by curiosity seekers. [illustration: the red barn. from the 'observer,' aug. 10, 1828.] on the monday of the execution all the workmen in bury struck work in order to see the murderer hanged, and persons came from long distances for the same purpose. one man was pestered by every one he met on his return by inquiries whether corder had really been hung that morning. this was repeated so often that he became quite weary of the constantly recurring question, 'is corder executed?' in the evening, in order to get rid of the gloomy feelings created by what he had witnessed, he went to the theatre, where he arrived somewhat late. the play ('macbeth') had advanced to the fourth scene of the first act as he seated himself in the pit. the newcomer, who was better acquainted with the details of the murder in the red barn than with the plays of shakespeare, was not a little astonished when king duncan entered, and, fixing his eye upon him, repeated what he thought was the same question that had been so often addressed to him that day, 'is execution done on cawdor?' [illustration: the siamese twins. from the 'observer,' november 22, 1829.] the _observer_ continued its illustration of events as they occurred, sharing the engravings with _bell's life_ and the _englishman_. st. katharine's docks were opened on oct. 25th, 1828, and on the following day the _observer_ published a bird's eye view of the docks, showing the ceremonies attending the opening. in january, 1829, appeared two views of buckingham palace, then building for george iv.; and in august a cut of the 'post-office accelerator,' a carriage for conveying london postmen to their several districts. a portrait of rowton, the winner of the great st. leger for 1829, was given in september. this year the lovers of wonderful shows were attracted to an exhibition in london of two siamese youths who were united together by a short cartilaginous band at the pit of the stomach, but with no other connexion existing between them. they were perfectly straight and well made, and walked with a gait like other people; being perfect in all their parts, and having all their functions distinct. their names were chang and eng; and they were first discovered on the banks of the siam river, fishing, by mr. hunter, an american, by whom they were taken to new york, where they were exhibited, and were afterwards brought to england. they were supposed to be about eighteen years old when they were exhibited in london in 1829. the _observer_ of november 22, 1829, published a long account of the siamese twins, with a woodcut representing them as they were exhibited to the public. after having been exhibited for several years in london and the provinces, the siamese twins went to america, where they settled on a farm, and married sisters. in the year 1869 they returned to london, and were as elderly men again exhibited; but they soon went back to america, where in a few years they died, both together. a similar exhibition was made in london about 1868 of twin girls, named millie-christine, or the 'two-headed nightingale,' and it was probably the appearance of these two 'black birds' that suggested the idea of the siamese twins appearing again in public. in june, 1830, george the fourth died, and the _observer_ published several engravings connected with the event. on june 24th appeared a portrait of 'his majesty george the fourth as he last appeared in his pony phaeton in windsor park;' and on july 18 three illustrations of the lying-in-state and the funeral were published. 'the king is dead! long live the king!' so said the citizens of london when they invited william iv. and queen adelaide to a banquet at guildhall on the following november 9; and on the 1st, eight days before the entertainment came off, the _observer_ duly supplied the public with 'a correct view of the grand civic entertainment,' as it was to be. on aug. 1, 1831, new london bridge was opened by the king and queen, and two engravings illustrative of the event were published in the _observer_, the _morning chronicle_, _bell's life_, and the _englishman_. one of them is interesting, as it shows the relative positions of the old and the new bridge. the view was taken from the tower of st. saviour's church, southwark, looking towards fish street hill. [illustration: his majesty george iv., as he last appeared in his pony phaeton in windsor park. from the 'observer,' june 29, 1830.] the _observer_ of sept. 11, 1831, contained four illustrations of the coronation of king william iv. and queen adelaide, together with long and elaborate descriptions. there was another paper in existence at this time called the _united kingdom_, which also illustrated the coronation. this was the period of the great reform agitation, when the newspapers were absorbed in political excitement; and after this the _observer_ for a time ceased to give any illustrations. on july 28, 1835, a diabolical attempt was made in paris to shoot louis-philippe, king of the french. the assassin, whose name was fieschi, constructed an infernal machine, consisting of twenty-five barrels, charged with various kinds of missiles, and lighted simultaneously by a train of gunpowder. the machine was fired from a window as the king rode along the lines of the national guard, on the boulevard du temple, accompanied by his three sons and suite. the king and his sons escaped, but marshal mortier was shot dead and many officers were dangerously wounded. amongst the spectators upwards of forty persons were killed or injured. in its number for august 9, 1835, the _observer_ gave a sketch of the attempted assassination, a portrait of the criminal, and a representation of the infernal machine. the actual infernal machine, with a waxen effigy of fieschi, formed for many years a prominent attraction at madame tussaud's exhibition. the reign of william iv. was a short one, and soon the _observer_ had to illustrate his funeral, as it had done that of his predecessor. the number for july 3, 1837, contained three engravings of the royal obsequies, and ere long the brief rule of the sailor king was forgotten in the dawning glories of the victorian era. the epoch of railways was opening. the greenwich railway was the first railway out of london, and the next was the north-western, or the london and birmingham as it was then called. on july 24, 1837, the _observer_ published a large woodcut of the 'grand entrance to the london and birmingham railway at euston square.' mr. hardwick's massive structure was then in progress, and formed the entrance to the first of the great london railway stations--vast buildings, some of which have swallowed up whole streets, and contributed greatly to alter the appearance of london in their vicinity. [illustration: gerard, _alias_ fieschi, and the infernal machine. from the 'observer,' august 9, 1835.] on july 24, 1837, a balloon ascended from vauxhall with a parachute attached, in which was mr. cocking, who in descending was killed. the _observer_ published illustrations of this event, which excited great interest at the time. other papers illustrated mr. cocking's death, which i will recount more at length when i come to treat of the _weekly chronicle_, which contained more illustrations of the event than any other paper. a large engraving appeared in the _observer_ for august 20, 1837, representing the waterloo shield, given by lord george bentinck, and run for at goodwood races, 1837. when her majesty queen victoria paid her first visit to the city of london after her accession, the _observer_ came out with larger engravings than it had ever before produced. two large views of the interior of guildhall were given, together with a panoramic sketch of the royal and civic procession, and a portrait of the youthful queen, 'surrounded by a beautiful emblematic design, in which innocence and strength are happily portrayed by the playfulness of the doves and the fearless defiance of the lion.' such was the flowery language of the _observer_ in those days. the _observer_ of july 2, 1838, was a double number, price tenpence, and contained several illustrations of the coronation of queen victoria, which were also printed in _bell's life_. i have copied one of them, not because it is particularly good, but simply to mark an important historical event, which ought to have some record in an account of illustrated journalism. [illustration: the coronation of queen victoria. from the 'observer,' july 2, 1838.] on the occasion of her majesty's marriage, the _observer_ published a wedding number, containing several engravings, which were introduced to the reader thus:--'little in the way of explanation is necessary to render the sketches in the opposite page, with which we have illustrated our account of the splendid ceremonials of her majesty's nuptials on monday last, intelligible. our readers will no doubt make due allowance for any imperfections which may be discovered, when they reflect on the fact that the whole of the labours of the artists and the engravers have been accomplished in less than a week, and this under circumstances of difficulty, in obtaining admission to the scenes to be sketched, almost insurmountable. we should not be doing justice to our engraver were we not to state that it is to mr. orrin smith we owe the consummation of our desire to gratify our patrons.' on october 30, 1841, a fire occurred in the tower of london, when the armoury and 280,000 stand of arms were destroyed. on november 7 the _observer_ published three illustrations of this great fire. on november 14 it presented its subscribers with a large emblematic engraving on the occasion of the birth of the prince of wales. in the following january, when the prince of wales was christened, it published a large page engraving designed by w. b. scott, and engraved by smith and linton, containing the ceremony of christening in st. george's chapel, the banquet in st. george's hall, illustrations of the history of the princes of wales from the presentation of the first prince of wales to the welsh, to the religious instruction of edward vi. by archbishop cranmer, including the battle of cressy with the feats of the black prince, and the subsequent pageantry attending the introduction of the king of france as a prisoner into london over london bridge; following this is the dismissal of falstaff and his profligate companions by henry v., with views of windsor, &c. from this time until 1847 the _observer_ published no more engravings. in the interval the _illustrated london news_ commenced its career. on july 12, 1847, the _observer_ published the last of its illustrations. this was on the installation of prince albert as chancellor of the university of cambridge. the engravings have the name of w. j. linton attached to them, and are on a larger scale, and are better done than anything hitherto appearing in the same paper. the _weekly chronicle_, the first number of which was published september 18, 1836, started with the idea of illustrating the news of the day as one of its principal features. the price was threepence, and with it was incorporated the _weekly times_. in the first number the public were 'requested to be on their guard against the substitution of any other paper.' this probably had reference to some threatened rivalship, for exactly a year later appeared _holt's weekly chronicle_, a paper which also gave illustrations of current events. it published engravings connected with the rebellion in canada, and also illustrated the burning of the royal exchange in 1838. it appears to have had only a brief existence. the first number of the _weekly chronicle_ contained an engraving of 'the new grand balloon which ascended from vauxhall gardens with nine persons on friday, september 9th, engraved by w. c. walker, from a drawing made by a gentleman who ascended expressly for this paper.' number 2 contained a page of comic sketches, apparently by seymour, and with the number for october 30, 1836, was presented gratis an almanack containing a view of the new houses of parliament, not quite as the design was eventually carried out. very early in its career the _weekly chronicle_ selected the criminal records as favourite subjects for illustration. perhaps some memory of the profits realised by the _observer_ on the occasion of the weare murder induced the conductors to cultivate this class of news. certainly nothing more repulsive ever figured in the pages of an illustrated newspaper than some of the woodcuts published by the _weekly chronicle_. towards the end of 1836 another attempt was made on the life of the king of the french, and on january 8, 1837, the _weekly chronicle_ published a portrait of the criminal. a month or two later the public were enlightened as to the personal appearance of another murderer, one pegsworth, who had his portrait taken in newgate on the morning of his execution. the annals of crime were varied by the exploits of war, and a view of the heights of amelzagame illustrated the career of the spanish legion under the command of general evans. in the spring of 1837 occurred the greenacre murder, and the _weekly chronicle_ at once went into the case with an evident determination to do full justice to its sensational merits. from the first examination of the murderer before the magistrates to his final exit in the old bailey the artists of the paper were on the alert, pencil in hand. it is a painful fact that the numbers of the _weekly chronicle_ containing the illustrations of the greenacre murder had a very large sale. the details of the crime are too shocking to recapitulate, but i will give a list of the woodcuts published in connexion with it. april 2, 1837.--a sketch of greenacre taken while under examination at the police-office. head of the murdered woman as preserved in spirits at paddington workhouse. april 9.--greenacre taking notes at his examination before the magistrates at marylebone police office. exterior of greenacre's house in carpenter's buildings, windmill lane, camberwell. view of pineapple gate, edgware road, where the body was found. matthew hale, lock-keeper, who found the head. rear of greenacre's house. a back room looking into the garden. portraits of mrs. gale and child taken while under examination at marylebone police office. room where the horrible mutilation was committed. osierbed in cold harbour lane, where the legs were found. april 16.--trial of greenacre. april 23.--chapel in newgate, sketched during the preaching of the condemned sermon to greenacre. april 30.--greenacre in condemned cell. [illustration: chapel in newgate: the condemned sermon. from the 'weekly chronicle,' april 23, 1837. 1. sheriffs' pew. 2. governor's pew. 3. condemned pew.] on may 7 the _weekly chronicle_ wound up this series of illustrations by publishing a large cut, which it entitled, 'a scene in the old bailey, immediately before the execution, engraved expressly for the _weekly chronicle_ by a distinguished artist.' according to an announcement in the paper itself, the sale of the _weekly chronicle_ during the publication of these engravings was 130,000. [illustration: the condemned cell, newgate. from the 'weekly chronicle,' april 30, 1837.] on may 14, 1837, the _weekly chronicle_ published portraits of sir francis burdett and mr. leader, the former of a superhuman length, with a shocking bad hat. in the following number, as if the public had not been sufficiently supplied with horrors, there was printed 'a sketch of eliza davis as she lay on the mattress after the murder.' this was known as the frederick street murder, and was remarkable from the circumstances, and from the fact that the murderer was never discovered. this paper now commenced 'the pictorial gallery, illustrating every object of interest and curiosity in art, science, literature, and amusement. (to be continued weekly.)' in this series were published a view of the euston railway station, a portrait of madame taglioni, a sketch of a novel mode of propelling balloons, representations of the bedouin arabs, the city of london school, the adelaide gallery, the hippodrome at bayswater, proclamation of queen victoria at temple bar, portraits of the queen, the late king, the earl of durham, and the duchess of kent. then followed a view of the royal mausoleum at windsor, and several illustrations of mr. cocking's fatal descent in a parachute. mr. cocking was an enthusiast in aerostation--he was, in fact, balloon mad, and had spent years in inventing a parachute which he believed to be perfectly safe, and in which he ascended from vauxhall gardens on july 24, 1837, attached to mr. green's royal nassau balloon. the experiment was widely advertised, and when the day and hour arrived the poor enthusiast faithfully appeared, and ascended in his fatal machine for more than a mile. he then himself liberated the parachute from the balloon. for a few seconds he descended steadily; the parachute then collapsed, broke, turned over, and shot straight down to the earth a hopeless ruin. poor cocking was still in the basket of the parachute when he reached the earth, but was quite insensible, and in ten minutes he was dead. the parachute fell at lee; and it is recorded that not only was the machine itself carried away piecemeal, but the dead man's purse was stolen from his pocket, his watch, his snuff-box, his eye-glass were taken, even the cap was stolen from his head, the shoes were pulled from his feet, the buttons from his dress. such statements seem incredible, and for the credit of human nature one could wish they were false; but they have been seriously made, and never contradicted. [illustration: mr. cocking in his parachute at the moment of ascension. from the 'weekly chronicle,' july 30, 1837.] the _weekly chronicle_ published several illustrations of this event. they represent mr. cocking in the car of the parachute at the moment of ascension; the nassau balloon as it appeared from the royal gardens, vauxhall; the parachute in its various stages in its descent; and mr. cocking as he lay for the inspection of the jury in the room at the tiger's head, at lee. the first of these i have copied. this rash adventure was wound up by the opening of a subscription list for the benefit of cocking's widow, which was headed by the queen with 50_l._ the gas company that had supplied the gas for the disaster gave 30_l._, and the proprietors of vauxhall gave the gardens for a benefit. thus the friends who ought to have restrained the vanity of the enthusiast and the speculators who led him on to his fate did their best in the way of atonement; but it was clearly a case where the civil power ought to have interposed to prevent the fatal catastrophe. the _chronicle_ varied its illustrations of events by an occasional portrait of a public man, such as mr. t. wakley, mr. roebuck, lord john russell, and daniel whittle harvey. the queen's first visit to the city, and her majesty delivering her speech to her first parliament, furnished subjects for large woodcuts. early in the year 1838 the royal exchange was burnt, and this historical event was made the subject of an engraving in the number for january 14, 1838. this year the _weekly chronicle_ also published several engravings illustrative of the rebellion in canada, including a portrait of papineau, the insurgent leader, and views of quebec and montreal. the murder of eliza grimwood in the waterloo road furnished another opportunity for sensational sketches, and in the same number that contained them (june 10, 1838) appeared three illustrations of the courtney riots at canterbury. in 1833 an eccentric person, calling himself sir william courtney, appeared at canterbury and attracted much attention by his half-crazed appearance and his frequent harangues on the grievances of the poor. he presented himself as a candidate to represent the city of canterbury in parliament, but this ambition was frustrated by his being tried and found guilty of perjury, an offence he had committed on behalf of some smugglers on the kentish coast. he was sentenced to imprisonment and transportation; but, being proved insane, the sentence was commuted, and he was confined in a lunatic asylum. here he remained four years, and was then liberated under the belief that he was restored to a rational state. he was, however, madder than ever, having while in confinement brooded over his supposed wrongs and the sufferings of the oppressed poor until he fancied himself a prophet and a deliverer sent from heaven. with the cunning of madness he counterfeited sanity, and thus was able to resume what he considered his prophetic mission. he harangued about the new poor law, promised cheap bread to all who would follow him, and on may 29, 1838, he gathered together a band of about twenty men, with whom he marched from one place to another, proclaiming that he would make may 29 more memorable than it had ever been in connexion with the restoration of charles ii. this went on for a day or two, when a farmer, named curtis, having his field-work stopped by the leading away of his men, went to a magistrate and obtained a warrant to apprehend them. in an attempt to execute this warrant a constable was killed by courtney, who now broke into a rhapsody of exultation, declared that a second gideon was come to slay the ungodly, and that all should perish who opposed the prophet. with outstretched sword he cried, 'i am the only saviour of you all. you need not fear, for i will bring you through all.' the excitement had now become so general, and the menaces of courtney and his armed party so alarming, that the magistrates resolved on the instant capture of this dangerous maniac and his ignorant followers. they came up with the rioters at a place called the osier bed, where courtney's men threatened the magistrates and constables with bludgeons and fire-arms. after firing his pistol at one of the party who attempted to arrest him, courtney and his men broke away to bossenden wood, and the magistrates, seeing no other resource, sent at once for a detachment of the 45th regiment from canterbury barracks. courtney had now proclaimed to his followers that he was no other than jesus christ returned to earth, and that they were safer with him than if they were in their beds; therefore they must resist the soldiers, and they were sure of victory. in the meantime a hundred men of the 45th regiment, headed by lieutenant bennett, surrounded bossenden wood. accompanied by the civil magistrates, they advanced to close round the rioters, when courtney fired at the young lieutenant commanding the party, and shot him dead. the next minute the prophet himself was slain by a soldier, who covered him with his musket as he fired at lieutenant bennett. then ensued a hand-to-hand fight, which resulted in the death of seven of the rioters and one constable, besides several persons seriously wounded. the illustrations of these riots in the _weekly chronicle_ of june 10, 1838, consist of the following:-1. 'courtney with his troops leaving bossenden farm.' 2. 'the death of lieutenant bennett. courtney in the act of exhorting his men to advance.' 3. 'interior of the red lion stables, with the bodies as they were laid out after the conflict.' courtney, whose real name was john thom, was undoubtedly mad. he never could have found followers, except amongst the most degraded and ignorant; and it is hoped he did better service to his countrymen than he ever dreamt of by drawing attention to the dreadful evils arising from the want of education among the rural population. most of his followers could neither read nor write, and were so totally unacquainted with the simplest truths of christianity that they believed him when he asserted that he was gideon, samson, and jesus christ all in one, and that he had descended from heaven to redress the wrongs of the poor, but more especially to reduce the price of bread! [illustration: the dreadful riot and loss of life at bossenden wood, east kent. from the 'weekly chronicle,' june 10, 1838. 1. courtney. 2. lieutenant bennett. 3. sergeant langley making a thrust at courtney with a bayonet, and was knocked down with a bludgeon. 4. six magistrates. 5. soldier who stepped forward and shot courtney. 6. major armstrong. 7. detachment of the 45th regiment loading. 8. lieutenant bennett's detachment. 9. the man wills, who knocked down sergeant langley. 10. courtney's flag. 11. j. n. knatchbull firing at courtney.] the _weekly chronicle_ illustrated the coronation of queen victoria by a view of 'the interior of the abbey at the moment of her majesty assuming the crown,' and a full-page engraving of the coronation procession. two pages of engravings were given on the occasion of the queen's marriage; and on november 1, 1841, a large 'view of the tower of london as it appeared on fire on the morning of sunday, the 31st ult., from a drawing by a distinguished artist.' on january 29, 1842, the same paper illustrated the christening of the prince of wales, with its attendant ceremonies and festivities; and later in the same year were published the last of its illustrations, relating to the employment of women and children in coal-mines. [illustration: interior of the house of lords, looking from the entrance to the spot lately occupied by the throne. from the 'sunday times,' nov. 2, 1834.] the _observer_, _bell's life_, and the _weekly chronicle_, which during more than twenty years had been the chief representatives of pictorial journalism, gradually abandoned the practice of giving illustrations after the _illustrated london news_ was established. two or three other newspapers occasionally published engravings, but they were very few, and appeared at long intervals. the _sunday times_ illustrated the trial of thurtell for the murder of mr. weare, and on nov. 2, 1834, it published several engravings of the destruction of the houses of parliament, two of which, representing the ruins, are of sufficient interest to introduce here. [illustration: ruins of the house of commons. from the 'sunday times,' nov. 2, 1834.] the _champion_ of nov. 13, 1836, has an engraving of the interior of a cotton-factory; and the _weekly herald_ in the same year issued two engravings illustrating the story of wat tyler:--'1. workshop scene; wat tyler knocking the tyrant tax-gatherer's brains out;' the principal characters equipped in boots, buckles, and belts, in true theatrical style 2. 'smithfield scene; the assassin walworth treacherously murdering the brave but too-confiding wat tyler.' the same paper also issued this year a view of st. peter's, rome. the _magnet_, a paper started in 1837, illustrated the proclamation of queen victoria, william iv. lying in state, the canadian rebellion, burning of the royal exchange, coronation of queen victoria, and on jan. 4, 1841, the removal of the remains of napoleon i. from st. helena. there are two engravings of this interesting historical event. the first is entitled, 'a correct view, taken on the spot, of the interior of the tent at st. helena, after the disinterment of the body of napoleon, at the instant of the removal of the lid from the coffin; the remains of the emperor appearing (as one of the spectators remarked) as if he were asleep.' i have copied the second cut, which represents the embarkation of the body, and is one of the last examples of pictorial journalism before the birth of the _illustrated london news_. before concluding this part of my subject it is fitting that i should include the _penny magazine_ amongst the pictorial journals which immediately preceded the establishment of a regular illustrated newspaper. the _penny magazine_, though not a newspaper, was intended to supplant the cheap and pernicious contraband newspapers that then existed in large numbers. it was the most successful experiment that england had then seen of the art of illustration in combination with the steam press, and was the best attempt that had been made in a cheap form to elevate the public taste. [illustration: the removal and delivery of the remains of the emperor napoleon by the governor of st. helena to the prince de joinville, on the 16th day of october, 1840. from the 'magnet,' jan. 11, 1841.] mr. charles knight, who thus, in the _penny magazine_, led the way in combining literature with art in a popular form, was a staunch advocate of education, and he never ceased in his endeavours to improve the condition of the masses. he said, 'the poor man must be made a thinking man--a man capable of intellectual pleasures; he must be purified in his tastes, and elevated in his understanding; he must be taught to comprehend the real dignity of all useful employments; he must learn to look upon the distinctions of society without envy or servility; he must respect them, for they are open to him as well as to others; but he must respect himself more. the best enjoyments of our nature might be common to him and the most favoured by fortune. let him be taught how to appreciate them. diminish the attractions of his sensual enjoyments by extending the range of his mental pleasures.'[5] with such convictions, mr. knight, in 1827, joined the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, a new educational movement then just started by the reform party. he brought out, under its auspices, a great number of useful works, most of which were profusely illustrated. in 1832 mr. knight resided in the vale of health on hampstead heath. one of his neighbours was mr. m. d. hill, an active member of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. it was a time of great political excitement, and the town was flooded with unstamped weekly publications, which in some degree came under the character of contraband newspapers, and were nearly all dangerous in principle and coarse in language. mr. knight and mr. hill often walked to town together, and their conversation naturally turned to a subject in which they both felt a special interest--the means of improving the condition of the people by the diffusion of cheap literature, and so counteracting the dangerous and offensive publications which then abounded. one morning in early spring their talk was of this kind, when mr. hill exclaimed, 'let us see what something cheap and good can accomplish! let us have a penny magazine!' mr. knight immediately adopted the suggestion, which was cordially approved by the lord chancellor brougham; and on march 31, 1832, appeared the first number of 'the _penny magazine_ of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge.' it was necessary to avoid making the new periodical anything like a newspaper lest it should become liable to stamp duty, and at first very little expense was incurred for illustrations, most of the engravings in the early numbers being reprinted from other works of the society. it was not till six months had elapsed that mr. knight ventured into the wide field of illustration, and made the public familiar with great works of art, such as the 'laocoon,' the 'apollo belvedere,' the 'dying gladiator,' the 'cartoons,' &c. the best pictures of the old masters were intermingled with scenes at home and abroad, with places of renown and illustrious men of all nations and of every age. the success of the _penny magazine_ was a surprise to the publisher and an astonishment to most persons. at the end of 1832 it had reached a sale of 200,000 in weekly numbers and monthly parts, and it soon produced a revolution in popular art throughout the world. stereotype casts of its best cuts were supplied for the illustration of publications of a similar character which appeared in germany, france, holland, livonia, bohemia, italy, ionian islands, sweden, norway, spanish america, and the brazils. the entire work was also reprinted in the united states from plates sent from this country.[6] it continued its prosperous career for nine years, when a new series was commenced, with considerable improvements in engraving and printing. five volumes of the new series were published, but the sale declined, owing to the commencement of illustrated newspapers, and the _penny magazine_ in its old form came to an end in 1845, three years after the commencement of the _illustrated london news_.[7] _knight's penny magazine_, a smaller miscellany, commencing in january, 1846, kept up the old name for six months longer, and then it ceased to exist. in announcing its discontinuance, mr. knight thus closes this interesting chapter of literary history:--'the present series of the _penny magazine_ is closed, after an experience of only six months. the editor has no reason to complain of the want of public encouragement, for the sale of this series has exceeded that of its predecessor in 1845. but the sale, such as it is, is scarcely remunerative; and there are indications that it may decline rather than increase. this is a hint which cannot be mistaken. it shall not be said of his humble efforts to continue, upon an equality with the best of his contemporaries, a publication which once had a decided pre-eminence, that "superfluous lags the veteran on the stage." he leaves this portion of popular literature to be cultivated by those whose new energy may be worth more than his old experience. the _penny magazine_ shall begin and end with him. it shall not pass into other hands.' mr. knight attributed the falling off in the sale of the _penny magazine_ to the extended sale of newspapers and the application of wood-engravings to their illustration; and in his _passages of a working life_ he relates how he first heard of the journal that was destined to succeed the _penny magazine_ in the field of popular art:--'in 1842, having occasion to be in attendance at the central criminal court, my curiosity was excited by an unusual spectacle--that of an artist, seated amongst the civic dignitaries on the bench, diligently employed in sketching two lascars, on their trial for a capital offence. what was there so remarkable in the case, in the persons, or even in the costume of the accused, that they should be made the subject of a picture? the mystery was soon explained to me. the _illustrated london news_ had been announced for publication on the saturday of the week in which i saw the wretched foreigners standing at the bar. i knew something about hurrying on wood-engravers for the _penny magazine_, but a newspaper was an essentially different affair. how, i thought, could artists and journalists so work concurrently that the news and the appropriate illustrations should both be fresh? how could such things be managed with any approach to fidelity of representation unless all the essential characteristics of a newspaper were sacrificed in the attempt to render it pictorial? i fancied that this rash experiment would be a failure. it proved to be such a success as could only be ensured by resolute and persevering struggles against natural difficulties.' charles knight was born at windsor in 1791. the son of a bookseller, he very early became connected with the press. at the age of twenty-one he conducted the _windsor and eton express_, and a few years later he became the editor of the _guardian_, a london weekly paper. he afterwards started a monthly magazine called the _etonian_, and amongst his contributors were macaulay, praed, and other clever young men who had been educated at eton, some of whom supported him in a later venture, _knight's quarterly magazine_. in the midst of his varied duties as author and publisher he never lost sight of the great question of popular education, and heartily joined in the movement for repealing the taxes on knowledge. he gave expression to his views in _the struggles of a book against excessive taxation_ and _the case of the authors as regards the paper duty_. he paid the enormous sum of 16,500_l._ for paper duty on the _penny cyclopedia_ alone, and on the same work he expended 40,000_l._ for literature and engravings. when this great and useful work was completed mr. knight was entertained at a public dinner presided over by lord brougham, when the leading men in literature and art united to do him honour. the _penny cyclopedia_ was not a commercial success, solely because of the paper duty. of the numerous illustrated works published by mr. knight, the _pictorial bible_ was the most successful in a pecuniary sense, and he considered the _arabian nights_ the most beautiful as regards illustrations. he was so ardent a promoter of illustrative art, that he invented a press for printing in colours, from which issued many coloured engravings for his various works, such as _old england_, the _farmer's library_, &c. mr. knight died at addlestone, surrey, march 9, 1873, and was buried in his native town of windsor. a marble bust of him was placed by public subscription in the council chamber of that town, and two scholarships, bearing his name, were founded in the school of the stationers' company. it was well said of charles knight on the occasion of unveiling his bust at windsor, that he set out in life with the desire to make knowledge a common possession instead of an exclusive privilege. he laboured for the good of his fellow-men rather than for the rewards of fame or fortune, and no man was more worthy of honour for his public services and his private virtues. the last time i saw him was at the grave of an old friend of his and mine; and as i recall the remembrance of his grey hair tossed in the wintry wind, i adopt in all seriousness what douglas jerrold said in jest, that two words would suffice for his epitaph--'good knight.' it is curious that the printing-press, which has worked such mighty changes, should have reproduced in another form the ancient jester who stood in cap and bells behind his master's chair, and the merry-andrew who made the rustics laugh upon the village green. the numerous satirical and humorous publications of the victorian era represent a distinct kind of illustrated journalism, through which runs an amusing commentary on passing events, combined with a vein of satire always good-humoured and often instructive. at the head of this array of wit and wisdom stands _punch_, who, however, was preceded by _figaro in london_, conducted by mr. gilbert a'beckett, afterwards one of _punch's_ strongest supporters. mr. a'beckett faithfully acted up to his motto:- 'satire should, like a polished razor keen, wound with a touch that's hardly felt or seen;' but the constitution of _figaro_ was not strong, and he died young. while the _penny magazine_ was yet in vigorous life, and the _illustrated london news_ was as yet unborn, there used to be a weekly gathering of authors, actors, and artists, at a tavern in wych street, strand, where the late mr. mark lemon presided as the genial host. this company of merry men were mostly on the sunny side of life, and disposed to look upon the world and the world's cares with a laughing eye. they were ever ready to go out of their way for the sake of a joke, and a pun, good or bad, was pleasant to them. in this congenial atmosphere _punch_ germinated, and in july, 1841, that shrewd observer and good-humoured satirist appeared. mr. _punch_, like some other great men, had a hard struggle in his early days; but prosperous times came, and he now combines in his own person the dignity of age with the vivacity of youth. _puck_, _diogenes_, and numerous other imitators of _punch_, attempted to obtain a share of public favour, but most of them died after a brief existence. the best of these that survive are _fun_ and _judy_, which, with the _hornet_, _vanity fair_, _figaro_ (a revival of the name), _moonshine_, _funny folks_, and others, continue their weekly budgets with a smartness and vigour not unworthy of their great prototype. footnotes: [1] there was another sunday paper in existence about this time, the _sunday reformer and universal register_. in the number for dec. 29th, 1793, there is a copperplate portrait of robert lowth, d.d., lord bishop of london, then recently deceased. [2] 'old stories retold,' in _all the year round_. [3] grant's _newspaper press_. [4] 'old stories retold,' in _all the year round_. [5] _passages of a working life._ [6] at this time there was another illustrated weekly magazine in existence--the _mirror_, which began about 1822. the engravings it contained were chiefly of a topographical character. [7] the _saturday magazine_ was started in imitation of the _penny magazine_, and, like its prototype, had a considerable popularity for some years. chapter viii. the _illustrated london news_--the early numbers--the burning of hamburgh--facetious advertisements--bal masque at buckingham palace--attempted assassination of the queen--the queen's first trip by railway--first royal visit to scotland--political portraits--r. cobden--lord john russell--benjamin disraeli--the french revolution, 1848--the great exhibition, 1851--the crimean war--coloured pictures--christmas numbers--herbert ingram--the _pictorial times_--other illustrated journals. having traced the idea of illustrating the news of the day from the early 'news-book' through its various stages of growth and development, we come to the first regular illustrated newspaper that was established. the projector had long held the opinion, founded on his experience as a newsvendor at nottingham, that such a publication would succeed. he had noticed that when the _observer_ and the _weekly chronicle_ contained engravings, there was a much larger demand for those papers than when they were without illustrations, and he conceived the idea of starting a paper whose chief attraction should be its _pictures_. he thought if he could combine _art_ and _news_ together, he would be adding greatly to the ordinary attractions of a newspaper, and would probably secure a widely extended circle of readers. his customers at nottingham often asked for the 'london news' when anything of interest was astir in the metropolis, and his observant shrewdness led him to conclude that this would be a good name for his paper. he accordingly called it the _illustrated london news_, and under that title the first number appeared on may 14th, 1842. it contained sixteen printed pages and thirty-two woodcuts, including all the little headings to the columns, price sixpence, and it equalled in size the _atlas_ which was then sold for a shilling, without engravings. it was printed by r. palmer (at the office of palmer and clayton), 10 crane court, fleet street, and published by j. clayton, 320 strand. the introductory address is written in a florid and inflated style; but it shows a correct perception of the wide and varied range that would have to be taken by an illustrated newspaper. [illustration: the burning of hamburgh. from the first number of the 'illustrated london news,' may 14, 1842.] [illustration: heading to 'court and haut ton,' column, 'illustrated london news,' may 14, 1842.] the well-known engraved heading represents a view of london from the thames, as it was then,--st. paul's towering in the centre, and the lord mayor's procession in state barges passing up the river. the first engraving is a 'view of the conflagration of the city of hamburgh,' which began on may 5th, and continued for several days. a great part of the city was destroyed, and more than one hundred lives were lost. as marking an epoch in the history of the pictorial press, i reprint this engraving and some others from the early numbers. the next cut is apparently a view of some town in italy or france; but there is no name to the engraving or any reference to it in the surrounding text, which is all about the dreadful railway accident between paris and versailles which had then just occurred, whereby fifty persons were killed, and one hundred and fifty were more or less injured. on the next page are views of the city of cabul and the fortress of ghuznee, just then the seat of stirring events. the columns of 'foreign intelligence,' 'the court and haut ton,' 'births, marriages, and deaths,' were each headed by a small woodcut, an example of which is given here. there is also an illustration of ladies' fashions, accompanied by a gushing, descriptive letter from paris, beginning: 'dear mr. editor, i feel an inexpressible delight in inditing my first communication to your lady readers, upon the fashions of the _haut ton_ of this _ville de gaitã¨_. so suddenly and with such power has the sun lately shot forth, that there is no end to invention in our spring fashions.' [illustration: fashions for may, 1842. from the 'illustrated london news,' may 14, 1842.] it would appear that illustrated police reports were to have formed part of the attractions of the paper, and several small cuts dealing with humorous subjects are scattered through the early numbers. the cases were evidently selected with a view to provoke merriment rather than to indulge a morbid taste for criminal records, and seem to show that the paper in its early days possessed something of the frolicsomeness of youth, and did not consider a joke beneath its dignity. it had its wild oats to sow, and was not indisposed to emulate its contemporary _punch_, then also a young joker. the first illustrations of the kind relate to a case at the mansion house before sir peter laurie, where the manager of a matrimonial institution sought to defend his establishment from the strictures of that celebrated 'putter-down.' a few pages further on we come upon two facetious advertisements, one of them professing to have been called forth by the report of the above case at the mansion house:-'matrimony.--a _professional_ gentleman, who has for some time past enrolled the category of his multitudinous graces, accomplishments, and _prospects_, in the portfolio of the "matrimonial alliance establishment," fearing that, under the influence of sir peter laurie's recent animadversion they will waste their sweetness unseen--unknown in the rose-tinted volume of the modern hymen, avails himself of the glorious opportunity afforded to advertisers by the proprietors of the _illustrated london news_, "and boldly and unhesitatingly submits his picture in little," to the approving smiles of the fair daughters (and _widows_) of albion's isle, conscious of his perfect sincerity in stating that he has no _insurmountable_ objection to fortune being combined with beauty, taste, lively disposition, and cheerful temper; he feels assured that the lovely creature whose eyes shall be fortunate enough, first to meet this advertisement (and then the advertiser), will secure to herself a perfect amenity, if truth be truth, and manners--not money--make the man. address, with portrait (miniature set in gold, pearls, or other precious stones, not refused), a. donis slim, esq., 320 strand.' [illustration: a. donis slim, esq. from the 'illustrated london news,' may 14, 1842.] the other advertisement referred to is of an entirely different character, being addressed to the commercial world:-'capital spec! safe as the bank!--wanted a partner in a snug, genteel little concern, with an airy and pleasant corner situation in one of the most densely crowded thoroughfares of the metropolis, and doing a good, ready-money business, without much risk; which an increase of capital would considerably extend. the returns exceed the outlay, and the sunday custom alone covers the rent. the taxes are redeemed, and there is a long unexpired term of the lease, which is held at a lolly-pop. the coming into a half-share, including plant and stock, very moderate--say a trifle above 0000_l._ any person who can command the above sum will not only find this a decided bargain, but a very desirable opportunity of commencing business, and well worthy the attention of an industrious person of small means and less family. references exchanged. address, prepaid, to b. b. (brandy ball), pieman's alley.' [illustration: partnership wanted. from the 'illustrated london news,' may 14, 1842.] the principal engravings in this first number illustrate the first bal masque given by queen victoria at buckingham palace. they were drawn by sir john gilbert, then at the beginning of his career, and it was most fortunate for the new enterprise that an artist of such great and varied abilities was found at the very outset to give his powerful aid to the undertaking. his wonderful facility and bold picturesqueness were exactly suited to the requirements of an illustrated newspaper. the first enabled him to do his work with marvellous quickness, and the second was an excellent counterpoise to the damaging effects of hurried engraving and rapid printing. the illustrations of the queen's bal masque are eight in number, including character portraits of her majesty and the prince consort. there are two cuts from a book under review, and the last illustration in the number represents a long line of men carrying advertising boards 'to proclaim the advent of this important publication.' the first number sold well, probably because the public was curious to see what the new paper was like. twenty-six thousand copies were disposed of, but there was a great falling-off in the sale of the second number, which opened with a leading article explaining the principles that were to guide the paper in its future career. the cut on the front page represents the ceremony of taking the veil, and was evidently drawn by gilbert. the next engravings illustrate waghorn's overland route to india, then recently organized, followed by an illustrated account of the sale at strawberry hill, and a portrait of a then notorious criminal, daniel good, which is accompanied by an editorial apology disclaiming all intention of joining the 'raw-head and bloody-bones' school, but in the interests of science commending the portrait to the disciples of lavater. this is the only instance of such an engraving being inserted in the paper (with the exception of the portrait of macnaghten, who shot mr. drummond), and it is evident the editor's better feeling revolted against it, although he was only following the example of the _observer_ and the _weekly chronicle_. [illustration: her majesty as queen philippa. from the 'illustrated london news,' may 14, 1842.] the first engraving in no. 3 is a portrait of mehemet ali, which is given in connexion with further illustrations of the overland route to india. but the most important picture in this number is a portrait of the queen with the baby prince of wales in her lap, drawn by gilbert. there is also the first example of a sporting illustration--a portrait of attila, the winner of the derby, which accompanies an account of epsom races, with several other engravings. [illustration: the queen's first railway journey. from the 'illustrated london news,' june 19, 1842.] [illustration: attempted assassination of the queen. from the 'illustrated london news,' june 5, 1842.] [illustration: mr. r. cobden, m.p. from the 'illustrated london news,' july 2, 1842.] an event now occurred which afforded the first important opportunity of illustrating the news of the hour. this was the attempt on the life of the queen, who was fired at as she was driving up constitution hill by a young man named francis. the public excitement on this occasion was very great, and it is a little surprising that the _illustrated london news_ did not make more of it. in no. 4 there are two illustrations in connexion with this event, one representing the attempted assassination, the other the examination of the prisoner before the privy council. the engravings are not very imposing, but large blocks had not then come into use; and as the event occurred on a monday there was not too much time, with the limited means then at command, to produce them on a large scale. in no. 6 there is a small cut entitled 'the queen's first trip by railway,' which illustrates an account of her majesty's first journey by railway from windsor to london. with the exception of the drawings by gilbert most of the illustrations in these first six numbers are of an inferior character, and show that the conductors of the paper had not yet obtained the best artistic help. indeed it was a long time before the higher class of artists and engravers would believe that an illustrated newspaper was worthy of their professional attention. illustrations of the police reports continued to be scattered through the early numbers, mingled with such subjects as a ballet at her majesty's theatre, a public dinner, a launch, a horserace, and sketches of the chartist riots at preston. the queen's first visit to scotland was very copiously illustrated, and a series of 'popular portraits' was begun which included most of the prominent politicians of the day. in no. 11 the fatal accident to the duke of orleans is illustrated; and further on the hand of gilbert is visible in the drawings representing the funeral of the duke of sussex, the lord mayor's show, and the grand polish ball at guildhall. with no. 19 the office was removed to 198 strand, where it has remained ever since. the first cattle show illustrations occur in no. 31, and it is evident that the artists by whom they were executed had not made that kind of art their special study. the approach of christmas is heralded by the introduction of various laughable sketches; the pantomimes are illustrated by alfred crowquill, and christmas himself is welcomed in a 'song of the wassail bowl.' kenny meadows finishes the volume with a party of cupids carrying the _illustrated london news_ through the air, while a literary and artistic cupid, cap in hand, makes his bow to the reader. the first volume ends with the year 1842, and it has for a frontispiece a large view of london, a title-page drawn by gilbert, and headings to preface and index by kenny meadows. the preface is written in the florid style of the introductory address in the first number; but the following passage refers, not inappropriately, to the value and interest of the work to the future historian:-'what would sir walter scott or any of the great writers of modern times have given--whether for the purposes of fiction or history, or political example or disquisition--for any museum-preserved volume such as we have here enshrined. the life of the times--the signs of its taste and intelligence--its public monuments and public men--its festivals--institutions--amusements--discoveries--and the very reflection of its living manners and costumes--the variegated dresses of its mind and body--what are--what _must_ be all these but treasures of truth that would have lain hid in time's tomb, or perished amid the sand of his hour-glass but for the enduring and resuscitating powers of art--the eternal register of the pencil giving life and vigour and palpability to the confirming details of the pen. could the days of elizabeth or others as bright and earlier still be unfolded to us through such a mirror, what a mint of wisdom might we gather in from such dazzling periods of the past! of just as much captivating value then is such a book to the future. it will pour the lore of the antiquarian into the scholar's yearning soul, and teach him truth about those who have gone before him, as it were, with the pictorial alphabet of art! it is in this sense that we regard the greatness of our design, and are proud of its envied and unexampled success; and it is for this end that we shall strain every nerve to perfect it into order and completeness that may accord with the beauty and brilliancy which many episodes of its execution have already been fortunate to display. scott might carry elizabeth to kenilworth through the regions of his fine imagination, backed and supported by books, and we may take _cum grano salis_ the antiquarian's and the poet's word, but the year two thousand will be ten times better assured of all the splendid realities of our own victoria's visit to the native land of the northern magician who enshrined in fiction the glories of queen bess. this volume is a work that history _must_ keep.' at the end of the preface is printed the following 'dedicatory sonnet:'- 'to the great public,--that gigantic soul which lends the nation's body life and light, and makes the blood within its veins grow bright with gushing glory,--we this muster-roll of all the deeds that pass 'neath its controul do dedicate,--the page of simple news is here adorned and filled with pictured life, coloured with thousand tints--the rainbow strife of all the world's emotions--all the hues of war--peace--commerce;--agriculture rife with budding plenty that doth life infuse and fair domestic joy--all--all are here to gild the _new_, and from the bygone year present a gift to take--to cherish and to use.' the second volume began with several improvements. a 'romance of real life,' by henry cockton, illustrated by kenny meadows, was the first attempt to infuse a new interest into newspaper literature by the introduction of fiction. stories by thomas miller and others followed. this feature of the paper was continued for some time until _fiction_ was crowded out by _fact_. the popular portraits were done on a larger scale and were of a more ambitious character. in no. 40 there is one of lord john russell, which is reprinted here as an example of the improved portraiture of the period. [illustration: portrait of lord john russell. from the 'illustrated london news,' 1843.] in the following year was commenced a series of 'parliamentary portraits,' one of which i have selected to accompany the portrait of lord john russell. it is that of mr. disraeli, and it will perhaps interest the reader to compare the present estimate of lord beaconsfield with what was said of mr. disraeli in 1844. the following is a portion of the article which accompanies the portrait:--'the most remarkable speeches in the recent debates have been those of mr. disraeli, the member for shrewsbury. he has lately made himself more prominent in the sphere of literature and politics as the expounder of the views and opinions of that section of the conservative party which has received the name of "young england." his opinions however are too peculiar, have too much individuality ever to become those of a party. we scarcely think "young england" capable of holding as points of belief the startling paradoxes to which mr. disraeli occasionally gives utterance. his speeches abound with happily turned sentences, in which a clever sarcasm is thrown into the antithetical form; they also contain a large amount of historical information, on which he draws almost as often as macaulay himself. he rarely announces a positively new principle, but he often places old ones in a strange and startling light, and states the most extraordinary inconsistencies with an air of such perfect earnestness and conviction that his auditors are sometimes puzzled whether to admire or laugh at him. but he is not one of those men who can be laughed at; we have seen him turn the laugh most sorely against those who thought themselves securely trenched behind form and precedent. he can hit hard, and none have suffered more from his sarcasm than the present premier and the home secretary. he seems to mangle them with peculiar gusto, and deals with them as if he was annihilating the tadpole or taper of his own "coningsby." his speeches have not much metaphor, nor does he indulge in rhetorical glitter and ornament; we cannot call him impassioned, nor say he is eloquent; but he interests, informs, and amuses. a speech from disraeli is sure to command attention. his manner is not calculated to set off his matter to the best advantage. his delivery is heavy, and of action he has none whatever. he thrusts his hands deep into his side-pockets, leans forward a little, or turns from side to side according to whom he may be addressing. but that is all. though he sets the house cheering or laughing for minutes together, his countenance remains impassive; he says a good thing as if perfectly unconscious of it.' the paper rapidly advanced in public favour and soon reached a circulation of 66,000. it celebrated the completion of the first year of its existence by the publication of a double number, profusely illustrated by gilbert, harvey, and kenny meadows. [illustration: benjamin disraeli, m.p. from the 'illustrated london news,' june 22, 1844.] the _illustrated london news_ was not established without many misgivings as to its ultimate success. its founder probably did not at first realise all the difficulties that lay in his way, but as fast as they appeared he met them with characteristic courage and energy, and overcame them by perseverance. he seized on every opportunity to consolidate the strength of the paper, and paid a great amount of personal attention to its management, often denying himself sleep one or two nights a-week. as the profits increased he kept on increasing the scope and number of its attractive features. he made it a rule to spare no expense in every department of the journal; whatever money could command for its success he resolved to have. after a time he was able to act on this wise resolve to the fullest extent, and in the end he achieved a great success. in describing the _illustrated london news_ during the first year of its existence, i have directed attention chiefly to the pictorial portion of its contents, that being the characteristic feature of the paper by which it was distinguished from its purely literary contemporaries. the engravings i have reprinted from it are given as curiosities and not as specimens of excellence. the succeeding volumes contain abundant evidence that the highest talent was afterwards employed in producing the best examples of art as well as in the illustration of news. in its sixth year the course of public events opened up new and stirring scenes for its pages. so great was the interest felt in the exciting events of the year 1848, that the sale of the _illustrated london news_ was more than doubled in three months. the vigorous sketches of the french revolution published week after week were so eagerly bought that the publisher was not always able to meet the demand. on one occasion he was freely pelted with flour and other harmless missiles because the london 'trade' could not get their supply soon enough to satisfy their impatience. the noisy newsboys, in mocking imitation of the paris mob which was then making the streets of that city ring with cries of 'ã  bas guizot!' vented their indignation against the publisher of the _illustrated london news_ by shouting 'ã  bas little! ã  bas little!' but though the year of revolutions was so rich in materials for pictorial journalism, the year of the great exhibition was yet more fruitful. the great exhibition of 1851 was a perfect novelty, and was hailed as the harbinger of peace on earth and good-will among men. coming so soon after the convulsions of 1848, the peaceful display was more enchanting from the contrast. such a golden opportunity was not lost upon the pictorial press, and every stage of the construction of the first crystal palace was represented. the very plan of the building was first made public in the pages of the _illustrated london news_, the first design adopted by the commissioners having been superseded by sir joseph paxton's palace of glass. the building was shown in progress from the raising of the first column, and its removal was illustrated to the clearing away of the foundations. in this 'festival of labour' the _illustrated london news_ took a prominent place. an edition was printed in the exhibition building by one of applegarth's vertical printing-machines, then the quickest method of printing in use. at this time the paper was distinguished by the number and excellence of its illustrations, and the '_london news_' printing-machine was one of the attractions of the 'world's fair.' in three years more the dreams of universal peace created by the great exhibition were rudely swept away by the declaration of war with russia and subsequent invasion of the crimea. the long and disastrous siege of sebastopol, the assaults on the redan and the malakoff, the battles of balaclava and inkermann, supplied the most exciting subjects for illustration. it was the first great war since waterloo, and the national excitement being intensified by the maladministration of the government, the british public eagerly bought the war sketches. the sale of the paper at this time was very great, yet it is a curious fact that it never reached so high a figure as during the peaceful exhibition of 1851,--a proof that, after all, the arts of peace are more attractive than the excitement of war. at christmas, 1855, a novel feature was introduced into the _illustrated london news_. for some years a christmas number had been published, and it was now for the first time printed in _colours_. it is true the coloured pictures were little more than ordinary woodcuts with tints printed over them, but their imperfections were principally owing to the breakdown of machinery and the great hurry in which they were produced. in after years much better things were done, and the coloured christmas pictures which have been for many years produced at the chromatic press of leighton bros. take rank among the best work of the kind. they have proved exceedingly popular, and always sold well. that of 'little red riding hood,' after j. sant, r.a., published in 1863, was reprinted again and again, until the blocks were utterly worn out. they were then re-engraved, and again reprinted. the christmas picture issued in 1882 ('cinderella') was specially painted by mr. millais, r.a., at the price of 3000 guineas. when it is noted that the large coloured reproduction of this picture, together with seventeen highly finished full-page engravings by some of the best artists of the day, were sold for a shilling, it will be seen that the pictorial press is no unimportant factor in diffusing the purifying and softening influence of art. during the forty-two years that have elapsed since the first illustrated newspaper was founded, there has never been any long interval of peace. war of some kind, big or little, has broken out, like a volcano, on some part of the earth's surface, and kept the argus-eyed newspaper editor on the alert. from alma to tel-el-kebir and the desert warfare of the soudan, there has been a succession of conflicts, with only a short interval of a few years between; so that the food on which picture newspapers thrive best has been abundantly supplied, and this remarkable offspring of the printing-press has consequently increased and multiplied, and is now found in every corner of the earth, 'from china to peru.' the reader may form some idea of the magnitude of the operations in connexion with illustrated journalism when i state that at the marriage of the prince of wales the _illustrated london news_ of that week consisted of three sheets, and 930,000 sheets were printed of that issue in one week. these sheets, if placed side by side, would cover 660 miles, so that, as they were printed on both sides, they represent a printed surface of, after deductions for margin, more than 1115 miles in length. nearly eighty tons of paper and twenty-three hundredweight of printing-ink were used in the production of that number. larger quantities have been printed of some issues, but the production was spread over a longer period of time. 930,000 sheets is the largest quantity ever printed _in one week_. it will thus be seen what an amount of business this represents to the paper-maker, the ink-maker, the wood-draughtsman, the engravers, the electrotypers, the compositors, printers, machine-men, roller-makers, warehousemen, and the numerous other workers in a newspaper printing-office. the first editor of the _illustrated london news_ was mr. bailey, who was nicknamed 'alphabet bailey' on account of the great number of his christian names, and the consequent multiplicity of his initials. he was also called 'omnibus bailey' from his having edited a periodical called the _omnibus_. these names were given to him to distinguish him from mr. thomas haynes bayley, the sentimental song-writer, author of 'i'd be a butterfly,' 'the soldier's tear,' &c. dr. charles mackay became the literary and political editor of the paper in 1848, and in 1852 he took its entire management and control, in which position he continued till 1859, when he resigned. the late john timbs was for many years on the editorial staff, and his familiar figure is well remembered in the old room at 198 strand, where he sat with paste and scissors, undisturbed by the noises which surrounded him both inside and outside the house, for in this one room the whole business of the paper was at one time conducted. here the young literary or artistic aspirant, who thought he saw in the new journal an opening for his hitherto unappreciated talents, had to explain his proposals before the eyes and in the hearing of rivals who were waiting for their turn. the place was open to all comers, and was at once the centre of managerial, financial, and editorial affairs. but the founder of the paper received all who came with good-humour and generous feeling, and never disregarded a useful hint or refused the proffered assistance of a good man. herbert ingram, the founder of the _illustrated london news_, was born at boston, lincolnshire, on the 27th of may, 1811. he lost his father very early, and being sent to the boston free school, he there obtained all the school education he ever received. the course of instruction through which he passed was of the most circumscribed character, making his success in after-life all the more remarkable. at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to mr. jos. clarke, then a printer living in the market place, boston. his master soon found that he possessed industry, patience, and perseverance in a high degree, qualities which unquestionably lay at the root of his subsequent success in life. he was always ready to work all night when orders were plentiful, and was unwilling to abandon anything he began until it was entirely complete. he established a character for punctuality and trustworthiness, while he carefully looked after the interests of his employer. at the expiration of his apprenticeship he came to london and worked for about two years as a journeyman printer. he then settled in nottingham, and commenced business as a printer, bookseller, and newsagent. it was at this time mr. ingram was struck with the evident partiality of the public for _illustrated news_. he found such an extraordinary demand for the numbers of the _weekly chronicle_ containing the engravings of the greenacre murder that he set seriously to work on the scheme of an illustrated newspaper, and put himself in communication with mr. marriott, who was then the manager of the _weekly chronicle_. but at the outset it appeared impossible to overcome the difficulty of producing pictures quick enough and in such numbers as would furnish forth a paper while the news was fresh. in the gradual development of the first illustrated newspaper it was, however, found that the draughtsmen and engravers of the day were fully equal to the demands made upon them, and a system of quick production was soon established which kept the paper on a level with current events. mr. ingram, who had settled in london before he started the _illustrated london news_, entered heart and soul into his new enterprise. he had much to learn, and many things to do that were neither easy nor pleasant, but he had the rare faculty of picking out the right men to help him. it was his wise policy to employ the best talent, and in order to have it to pay its possessor munificently. he was brought closely into connexion with the artistic and literary world, by whom he was sincerely respected, and with whom his dealings were uniformly marked by kindness and liberality. though he had not himself received the advantages of literary or artistic culture, he was able to do much in diffusing a knowledge and love of art amongst the people. his enterprise helped to change the character of public taste, and allured it into channels which were previously open only to the wealthy and the refined. his practical knowledge as a printer and newsagent were of infinite value in organizing and conducting the varied details of newspaper business. he was ever on the watch, and made opportunities where other men would have been indifferent and inactive. when a new archbishop of canterbury was installed the number of the paper containing an engraving of the ceremony was sent to every clergyman in england, and this was followed by a large and permanent increase in the number of subscribers--the first large rise in the sale since the paper began. at a much later date--long after the paper had become firmly established--the french authorities stopped the sale of the _illustrated london news_ in paris on account of some article reflecting on the emperor napoleon. mr. ingram happened to be in paris at the time, and he immediately showed that the old energy and perseverance of the nottingham newsvendor had not forsaken him. he used great exertions to get the paper released, in which he at length succeeded, and he himself afterwards went round in a cab and delivered the numbers to the various subscribers. when he was at nottingham he walked five miles (and of course five miles back) to supply a gentleman with a single paper; and on one occasion he got up at two in the morning, and travelled to london to get some papers, the ordinary post not arriving soon enough to satisfy the curiosity of his customers. his exertions were rewarded by the sale of more than 1000 copies of that paper in nottingham alone. this was probably one of the occasions which struck him so forcibly when the nottingham public manifested such an eager interest in _illustrated news_. throughout his life mr. ingram was devoted to the interests of his native town, and in return the people of boston, in 1856, elected him as their representative in parliament. at the general election which occurred after the dissolution in 1857 he was returned again. amongst other social and political questions in which he took an active interest he was prominent in the agitation for the repeal of the stamp duty on newspapers. he also exerted himself zealously for the repeal of the paper duty, but he died before that important movement was brought to a successful issue. in 1848 mr. ingram started a cheap daily paper--the _morning telegraph_--upon which he spent a large amount of money. he was, however, before the time in this instance. the era of cheap daily papers had not begun, and after a time the new speculation was abandoned. he was one of the original shareholders of the _great eastern_ steamship, and was on board the giant vessel when the accident occurred on her trial trip from the nore to portland harbour. it is a remarkable circumstance that the dreadful catastrophe in which he lost his life happened on the anniversary of this accident on board the _great eastern_. [illustration: herbert ingram, founder of the 'illustrated london news.'] in 1860 mr. ingram visited america accompanied by his eldest son. they left liverpool in the _north american_ on the 9th of august, and landed at quebec in time to witness, after traversing the lower st. lawrence, the knocking in of the 'last wedge' of the victoria bridge at montreal by the prince of wales. they then went on to niagara, where they stayed some days. from niagara mr. ingram proceeded to chicago, intending to cross the prairies, and to follow the mississippi to new orleans, and thence to new york, but more especially to boston, which old associations of history had determined him to make the conclusion of his sojourn in the united states. he altered his plans, however, and decided to visit lake superior, and to prolong his stay in america, proposing to return to england about the end of october. mr. ingram left chicago at midnight on the 7th of september, accompanied by his son, in the _lady elgin_ steamer, bound on an excursion up lakes michigan and superior. nearly four hundred persons were on board. the wind blew hard from the north-east, and a heavy sea was running, but no one thought of danger, and there was music and dancing in the saloon. thirty miles from chicago and ten miles from land, about two o'clock on the morning of the 8th, there came a sudden crash. the schooner _augusta_, sailing at the rate of eleven knots an hour, had struck the _lady elgin_ on the midships gangway, and then, having her sails set, and the wind blowing freshly, drifted off in the darkness. at first it was not thought that any serious damage had been done to the steamer, but those on board soon found that she was settling fast. the captain ordered parts of the woodwork of the vessel to be cut adrift to serve as rafts, and made such other provisions as the hurry would allow. in less than half-an-hour the hurricane deck floated off, and the hulk with the machinery went to the bottom with a tremendous noise. when the vessel parted all lights were extinguished, and the unfortunate passengers were left struggling amid the waves in total darkness. the steamer sank in three hundred feet of water, the sea was running high, and the land was ten miles away. some of those who survived to see the dawn were drifted towards the shore on pieces of the wreck, and were drowned in the surf in the sight of hundreds of spectators. out of 393 persons on board only 114 were saved. among the drowned were mr. ingram and his son. the body of mr. ingram was washed ashore about sixteen miles from chicago, and every effort was used to restore animation, but in vain. the body of his son was never found. the citizens of chicago were profoundly impressed by the melancholy fate of father and son, so far away from home and friends. mr. ingram's remains were escorted from the brigg's house hotel to the railway station by a procession of more than eight hundred of the british residents in the neighbourhood. the body was taken to quebec and conveyed on board the _bohemian_ steamer, which arrived at liverpool on the 2nd of october. from thence the remains were removed to boston, and interred in the new cemetery at skirbeck, about a mile from the centre of the town. on the day of the funeral all the shops and places of business in boston were closed, the inhabitants filled the streets and followed the procession up to the gates of the cemetery. it was in every sense a public funeral, and afforded the strongest testimony of the respect in which the memory of the deceased was held by his fellow-townsmen. two years afterwards, on october 6th, 1862, a statue of mr. ingram, raised by public subscription, was unveiled in the market-place at boston. the life that began in the quaint old lincolnshire town and ended amid the stormy waters of lake michigan, has now an enduring memorial standing not far from the spot where herbert ingram was born. the _illustrated london news_ no sooner became an assured success than it was imitated. the _pictorial times_ was the first competitor that entered the field, and a very strong literary staff was collected to contend for the new path that had been opened. douglas jerrold wrote the leading articles; thackeray was critic and reviewer, in which capacity he reviewed macaulay's _essays_ and disraeli's _coningsby_; mark lemon was dramatic critic, peter cunningham art critic, while gilbert a'beckett was the humorous contributor; the managing editor was henry vizetelly, and knight hunt, author of the _fourth estate_, afterwards editor of the _daily news_, was the sub-editor. one man who has since become famous as a journalist was amongst the artists employed on the new paper. those who only know mr. george augustus sala as a brilliant writer will be surprised to learn that he is also a facile draughtsman, and was on the artistic staff of the _pictorial times_ in 1847. the _pictorial times_ was continued for several years, but it never achieved such a measure of success as to become permanently established. a story used to be told in connexion with it which gave some countenance to the popular belief that some of the sketches in illustrated newspapers were evolved from the inner consciousness of the artists. i cannot answer for the truth of the anecdote, but i know it served to amuse the world of bohemia at the time. when the queen and prince albert went first to scotland, the newspapers in recording the movements of the royal party related, among other things (quoting a scottish contemporary), that her majesty and the prince had gone one day to 'see the shearing.' the conductors of the _pictorial times_ seeing this, and being anxious to present their readers with a perfect record of the royal doings, forthwith set an artist to work to produce a pleasant pastoral scene, with a group of shepherds _shearing their sheep_--not knowing that 'shearing' in scotland means _cutting the corn_, and forgetting for the moment that sheep-shearing is not usually done in the autumn. much energy and capital have been expended on several other attempts to found pictorial journals in london, but most of them failed to secure a profitable footing. _pen and pencil_ contained some capital cuts by linton; and the _illustrated times_, a threepenny paper, was well done. the _illustrated news of the world_, in addition to numerous woodcuts, issued portraits engraved on steel. _the ladies' newspaper_ was started to fill a supposed void in journalism, but was ultimately absorbed by the _queen_, in which connexion it still flourishes. the _illustrated midland news_ was brought out in manchester, but it could not find in that city and its neighbourhood sufficient sustenance to subsist beyond a brief period. the _illustrated london and provincial news_ in its title endeavoured to attract both town and country, but it only had a short career. while these different ventures were in progress, the _penny illustrated paper_ appealed to a lower stratum of the public with great success, and it has now a very large sale, having combined the _illustrated times_ with its original title. in some of these enterprises the promoters appear to have been unable to shake off, in choosing their titles, the fascinating influence of the word 'illustrated.' a joint-stock company broke the spell, and started a paper with the very original title of the _graphic_ on the eve of the great war between france and germany. it was a most favourable time for establishing a new paper, and the conductors handled the opportunity with great ability and success. the printing and general _get-up_ of the _graphic_ are excellent, and it has earned for itself a wide popularity. the _pictorial world_ was started as a threepenny paper, and after existing several years at that price it became the property of a company and was raised to sixpence. during the egyptian war it made strenuous efforts to obtain a footing on the same platform with the _illustrated london news_ and the _graphic_. the large lithographic portraits published by the _pictorial world_ were very good. as the public taste improved under the influence of the pictorial press new fields were opened up for cultivation by the enterprising journalist. the _illustrated sporting and dramatic news_ addressed itself not only to the sportsman and actor, but also to that section of the public which finds amusement in the incidents and humours of the sporting world and the stage. it has deservedly obtained a good position. the last new comer on the journalistic stage is the _ladies' pictorial_, which has recently been enlarged and greatly improved. its light and elegant contents are well suited to the tastes of its numerous patrons. all the existing illustrated papers in london have their publishing offices in the 'line of literature,' as fleet street and the strand have been called. in the streets and courts in the neighbourhood are housed numbers of engravers and draughtsmen, who find it mutually convenient to work in the vicinity of the head-quarters of pictorial journalism. many of the same fraternity consume the midnight oil in distant suburbs, their work gravitating to the great centre in the morning. all the countries of europe, the united states, some of the cities of south america, the colonies of canada and australia, have now their illustrated newspapers. some of them supplement their own productions by reproducing the engravings from the english papers, and many have attained a high degree of artistic merit. the american journals are especially noteworthy for their excellent engravings. [illustration] chapter ix. how an illustrated newspaper is produced--wood-engraving--boxwood--blocks for illustrated newspapers--rapid sketching--drawing on the block--method of dividing the block for engraving--electrotyping--development of the printing machine--printing woodcuts--machinery for folding newspapers--special artists--their dangers and difficulties--their adventures in war and peace. in describing the production of a modern pictorial newspaper, i take the _illustrated london news_ as the type of its class, because it was the first paper of the kind that was ever established. the art of wood-engraving, to which the illustrated newspaper owes its existence, has been fully described by competent authors. the best work on the subject is that produced by the late john jackson in 1839; but since that date the resources of the art have been greatly developed, chiefly through the influence of illustrated newspapers. the material used for wood-engraving is box-wood, which is preferred to all other kinds of wood on account of its close grain, hardness, and light colour. it admits of finer and sharper lines being cut upon it than any other wood, and great quantities are consumed in producing the engravings of an illustrated newspaper. according to mr. j. r. jackson, curator of the kew museum, the box-tree is at the present time widely distributed through europe and asia, being found abundantly in italy, spain, southern france, and on the coast of the black sea, as well as china, japan, northern india, and persia. the box of english growth is so small as to be almost useless for commercial purposes. what is called turkey box-wood is the best, and this is all obtained from the forests that grow on the caucasus, and is chiefly shipped at poti and rostoff. the forests extend from thirty to a hundred and eighty miles inland, but many of them are in the hands of the russian government and are closed to commerce. within the last few years a supply of box-wood has been obtained from the forests in the neighbourhood of the caspian sea; but turkey box is becoming dearer every year and inferior in quality. after the wood is cut in the forest, it is brought down on horseback to the nearest river, put on board flat-bottom boats, and floated down to the port of shipment. it arrives in this country either at liverpool or london, chiefly the former, and is usually in logs about four feet long and eight or ten inches across. [illustration: back of a block, showing the way in which the parts are fastened together.] the wood intended for engraving purposes is first carefully selected and then cut up into transverse slices about an inch thick. after being cut, the pieces are placed in racks something like plate-racks, and thoroughly seasoned by slow degrees in gradually heated rooms. this seasoning process ought to last, on an average, four or five years; but the exigencies of trade seldom allow of so long a time. they are then cut into parallelograms of various sizes, the outer portion of the circular section near the bark being cut away, and all defective wood rejected. these parallelograms are then assorted as to size, and fitted together at the back by brass bolts and nuts. by this means blocks of any size can be made, and they possess the great advantage of being capable of being taken to pieces after a drawing is made, and distributed among as many engravers as there are pieces in the block. this invention of making bolted blocks was brought forward just about the time the _illustrated london news_ was started, when large blocks and quick engraving came to be in demand. in the days of the _penny magazine_, blocks were made by simply glueing the pieces of wood together, or they were fastened by means of a long bolt passing through the entire block. the cut given on the opposite page represents the back of a half-page block of the _illustrated london news_, and shows the way in which the bolts and nuts are used for fastening the different parts of the block together. for the production of a pictorial newspaper a large staff of draughtsmen and engravers is required, who must be ready at a moment's notice to take up any subject, and, if necessary, work day and night until it is done. the artist who supplies the sketch has acquired by long practice a rapid method of working, and can, by a few strokes of his pencil, indicate a passing scene by a kind of pictorial shorthand, which is afterwards translated and extended in the finished drawing. the sketch being completed on paper, the services of the draughtsman on wood come into requisition, for it is not often that the drawing on the block is made by the same person who supplies the sketch. sometimes the sketch to be dealt with is the production of an amateur, or is so hastily or indifferently done that it has to be remodelled or rearranged in drawing it on the wood. faulty or objectionable portions have to be left out or subdued, and perhaps a point in the sketch that is quite subordinate, is brought forward and made to form a prominent part of the picture. all this has to be done without doing violence to the general truth of the representation, and with due consideration for the particular conditions of the moment, such as the amount of finish and distribution of light and shade suitable for rapid engraving and printing. [illustration: facsimile of sketch: surrender of sedan.] [illustration: the surrender of sedan. from the 'illustrated london news,' sept. 17, 1870.] an example of the adaptation of a rapid sketch occurs in the engraving of the surrender of sedan, published in the _illustrated london news_, september 17, 1870. this sketch, which carries with it the strongest evidence of being taken 'under fire,' came to hand a few hours before the engravings for the current week were to be ready for the printer. the cream or heart of the sketch, representing an officer waving a white flag over the gate of sedan attended by a trumpeter, was taken for the subject, while the comparatively unimportant part of the sketch was left out. the drawing was rapidly executed and as rapidly engraved, and was ready for press at the usual time. i give a reduced copy of the engraving, together with a facsimile reduction of the original sketch, which will show the reader the way in which hurried sketches are sometimes adapted to the purposes of a newspaper without at all impairing their original truth. sometimes more than one draughtsman is employed on a drawing where the subject consists of figures and landscape, or figures and architecture. in such a case, if time presses, the two parts of the drawing are proceeded with simultaneously. the whole design is first traced on the block; the bolts at the back of the block are then loosened, the parts are separated, and the figure-draughtsman sets to work on his division of the block, while another draughtsman is busied with the landscape or architecture, as the case may be. occasionally, when there is very great hurry, the block is separated piece by piece as fast as the parts of the drawing are finished--the engraver and draughtsman thus working on the same subject at the same time. instances have occurred where the draughtsman has done his work in this way, and has never seen the whole of his drawing together. the double-page engraving of the marriage of the prince of wales in the _illustrated london news_, march 21, 1863, was drawn on the wood by sir john gilbert at 198 strand, and as fast as each part of the drawing was done it was separated from the rest and given to the engraver. considering that the artist never saw his drawing entire, it is wonderful to find the engraving so harmonious and effective. photographing on the wood is now in general use for portraits, sculpture, architecture, and other subjects where there is a picture or finished drawing on paper to work from. the drawing on wood being completed, it passes into the hands of the engraver, and the first thing he does is to cut or set the lines across all the joins of the block before the different parts are distributed among the various engravers. this is done partly to ensure as far as possible some degree of harmony of colour and texture throughout the subject. when all the parts are separated and placed in the hands of different engravers each man has thus a sort of _key-note_ to guide him in the execution of his portion, and it should be his business to imitate and follow with care the colour and texture of the small pieces of engraving which he finds already done at the edge of his part of the block where it joins the rest of the design. the accompanying cuts represent a block entire and the same subject divided. [illustration: a block before it is taken to pieces.] [illustration: the same subject divided.] though this system of subdividing the engraving effects a great saving of time, it must be admitted that it does not always result in the production of a first-rate work of art as a whole. for, supposing the subject to be a landscape with a good stretch of trees, the two or three engravers who have the trees to engrave have, perhaps, each a different method of rendering foliage; and when the whole is completed, and the different pieces are put together, the trees perhaps appear like a piece of patchwork, with a distinct edge to each man's work. to harmonise and dovetail (so to speak) these different pieces of work is the task of the superintending artist, who retouches the first proof of the engraving and endeavours to blend together the differences of colour and texture. this is often no easy task, for the press is generally waiting, and the time that is left for such work is often reduced to minutes where hours would scarcely suffice to accomplish all that might be done. or the block to be engraved may be a marine subject, with a stormy sea. in this case, like the landscape, two or three engravers may be employed upon the water, each of them having a different way of representing that element. here it is even more difficult than in the landscape to blend the conflicting pieces of work, and requires an amount of 'knocking about' that sometimes astonishes the original artist. all this is the necessary result of the hurry in which the greater part of newspaper engravings have to be produced. when the conditions are more favourable better things are successfully attempted, and of this the illustrated newspapers of the day have given abundant proofs. it is obvious that when a block is divided and the parts are distributed in various hands, if any accident should occur to one part the whole block is jeopardised. it is much to the credit of the fraternity of engravers that this rarely or ever happens. i only remember one instance of a failure of this kind within my own experience. an engraver of decidedly bohemian character, after a hard night's work on the tenth part of a page block, thought fit to recruit himself with a cheering cup. in the exhilaration that followed he lost the piece of work upon which he had been engaged, and thereby rendered useless the efforts of himself and his nine compatriots. when the block is finished the parts are screwed together by means of the brass bolts and nuts at the back of the block. it is then delivered to the electrotyper, who first takes a mould of the block in wax, which mould is then covered with a thin coating of blacklead, that being a good conductor of electricity. the mould is then suspended by a brass rod in a large bath filled with a solution of sulphate of copper and sulphuric acid. a strong current of electricity, obtained from a dynamo-electric machine close at hand, is conducted to the wax mould in the bath and also to a sheet of copper which is placed near the mould. the electricity decomposes the copper and deposits it in small particles on the mould, on which a thin coating of copper is gradually formed, producing an exact facsimile of the original engraved block. this copper reproduction of the woodcut is filled in at the back with metal, mounted on wood, and is then ready for the printer, who has his 'overlays' all ready, and the business of printing begins. there is nothing more wonderful in the history of printing than the rapid development of the printing machine and the extraordinary increase of its productive power. the ordinary press, though greatly improved, was found quite inadequate to the demands made upon it; and, the attention of practical men being directed to some more rapid means of production, the steam printing machine was invented. as early as 1790 mr. w. nicholson obtained letters patent for a machine very similar to those since in use; but it was not till 1814 that any practical use was made of the steam printing machine. in that year a german named kã¶nig constructed a machine for the _times_ newspaper, which worked successfully; but, though highly ingenious, the machine was very complicated, and it was soon superseded by the invention of messrs. applegarth and cowper, possessing several novel features. this machine, again, was replaced by another where the type was arranged vertically. then came hoe's american machines, and finally the walter press, the principle of which last invention has, in the ingram rotary machine, been successfully applied to the printing of cheap illustrated newspapers. by the old 'two-feeder' machines the engravings were printed on one side of the sheet, and, by a second printing, the type on the other side. they turned out 1500 impressions of the engravings in an hour, while the type side was printed (by a six-feeder american machine) at the rate of 12,000 impressions an hour. the _penny illustrated paper_ is printed by the ingram rotary machine at the rate of 6500 an hour. it prints both sides of the sheet at once, cuts each number to its proper size, folds it, and turns it out complete. it occupies no more space than an ordinary perfecting machine, and only requires four men to attend to it, while thirty men and five 'two-feeders' would be required to do the same amount of work by the old system. if a block be well engraved and carefully used in printing there is practically no limit to the number of impressions that may be taken from it. the blocks in the christmas number of the _illustrated london news_ of 1882 had 425,000 impressions taken from them, and they are still good for a new edition of the like number. after the paper is printed each sheet is neatly folded by folding machines, which fold the entire edition in a few hours. one double-action folding machine will fold fifty sheets in a minute. as it is found that machinery for folding newspapers works much better at a moderate speed, in the case of the ingram rotary machine it has been arranged in duplicate, so that each folder only works at half the speed of the printing machine. the folding machine completes its work by inserting the paper in its cover; but as the _illustrated london news_ has not sufficient space for machines to carry out the whole of this part of the business, a number of women and girls are employed, whose nimble fingers supplement the work of the folding machines. [illustration: the eve of a battle: newspaper correspondents sleeping on the field.] in these days of electric telegraphy puck's notion of putting 'a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes' is not so very far from being realised. the london citizen as he sips his coffee at his villa in the suburbs runs his eye over the pages of his morning paper, and reads of events that took place yesterday many thousand miles away. before he starts for business he is informed of what is passing on every side of the inhabited earth. this rapid transmission of intelligence is somewhat damaging to the illustrated newspaper, for by the time it can publish sketches of interesting events in far distant countries the freshness of the news is gone, and the public mind is occupied with later occurrences. until some method is invented of sending sketches by electricity the pictorial press must endure this disadvantage, but in the meantime it spares no pains to overtake the march of events. wherever there is any 'moving accident by flood or field' the 'special artist' of the illustrated newspaper is found 'takin' notes.' no event of interest escapes his ever ready pencil. he undergoes fatigues, overcomes formidable difficulties, and often incurs personal danger in fulfilling his mission. on the eve of a battle he will sleep on the bare ground wrapped in a blanket or waterproof sheet, and he will ride all night through a hostile country to catch the homeward mail. he is equally at home in the palace and the hovel, and is as ready to attend a battle as a banquet. he thought nothing of stepping over to china to attend the nuptials of the celestial emperor; and on that occasion extended his travels until he had completed the circuit of the globe, winding up with a run on the war-path among the american indians. he assisted at the laying of the telegraph cable between europe and america, and diversified his labours, and showed the versatility of his powers by taking part in an impromptu dramatic entertainment which he and his comrades got up for the occasion, and which they appropriately called 'a cable-istic extravaganza.' he was at the opening of the suez canal, and he passed with the first railway train through the mont cenis tunnel. in pursuing his vocation the special artist has to encounter the perils of earth, air, fire, and water. now he is up in a balloon, now down in a coal-mine; now shooting tigers in india, now deer-stalking in the highlands. dr. schliemann no sooner announced that he had discovered the site of troy than the special artist was down upon the spot at once. he is found risking his life in the passes of afghanistan, and in zululand assisting at the defeat and capture of cetywayo. now he is at the bombardment of alexandria, and now facing the savage warriors of the soudan at el-teb and tamasi. at the present time (november, 1884), he is on his way up the nile with the expedition for the relief of general gordon at khartoum, and he is in india with the boundary commissioners exploring the dangerous passes of the afghan frontier. in peace or war the special artist pursues his purpose with stoical self-possession in spite of cold, hunger, and fatigue. [illustration: a cable-istic extravaganza, performed by newspaper correspondents on board the _great eastern_, at sea, july, 1866.] the special artist may be said to have commenced his career with the crimean war. while the signs of the coming storm were yet distant the _illustrated london news_ sent the late mr. s. read to the expected scene of action, and during the whole course of the war special artists were on the shores of the black sea and in the baltic to chronicle the great events of the time. the world had scarcely forgotten balaklava and inkerman when the war between italy, france, and austria broke out. solferino and magenta were fought, garibaldi conquered sicily, and wherever the interest was greatest there the special artist was found. special artists went with the contending armies when denmark opposed herself single-handed to the united forces of prussia and austria, and delineated every important incident of the campaign. when the present emperor of germany was crowned king of prussia at kã¶nigsberg special artists travelled to that ancient city to furnish sketches of the ceremony. the gigantic civil war in america, and the brief struggle between prussia and austria in 1866, gave active employment to the special artist; and when a british force advanced into abyssinia a special artist was with that most romantic expedition, and sent home numerous sketches of the remarkable scenery of the country, as well as of all the principal events of the campaign. the assault on magdala, the dispersion of king theodore's broken army, the customs and dwellings of the people, were all noted and illustrated. when the great war of 1870, between france and prussia, broke out, the illustrated newspapers had special artists on both sides, who encountered all sorts of hardships, and passed through all kinds of adventures in fulfilling their duties. besides being frequently arrested as spies, and undergoing the privations of beleagured places, they had also to run the risk of shot and shell, and sometimes they were obliged to destroy their sketching materials under fear of arrest. one of them was in custody as a spy no less than eleven times during the war. the danger of being seen sketching or found with sketches in their possession was so great that on one occasion a special artist actually swallowed his sketch to avoid being taken up as a spy. another purchased the largest book of cigarette papers he could obtain, and on them he made little sketches, prepared in case of danger to smoke them in the faces of his enemies. [illustration: headquarters of special artist in asia minor, 1877.] [illustration: arrest of newspaper correspondents at metz, during the franco-german war.] the following extract from a letter i received from a special artist during the war, will give some idea of the trouble and danger of sketching:-'of the trouble i have taken to get these sketches you can have no conception. the plan i have been obliged to adopt is this. i walk about quietly, apparently noticing only the goods in the shop-windows. when i see anything, i make memoranda on small bits of tissue paper, perhaps in a cafã©, or while appearing to look at the water from the top of a bridge, or on the side of an apple, with a big knife in my hand pretending to peel it. these little mems i roll up into pills, place them handy in my waistcoat pocket to be chewed up or swallowed if "in extremis." when i get home at night, first making sure that i am not overlooked by way of the window, i unroll these little pills, and from those mems make a complete outline on a thin piece of white paper. then i paste these sketches face to face, trim the edges, and it looks like a plain piece of paper, but hold it up to the light and the sketch shows. so i make memoranda all over it,--the times of trains starting, prices of articles, or extracts from newspapers. when i get to a place of safety, i soak these pieces of paper in water, pull the sketches apart, and from them have made the sketches i have forwarded to you. if i could not get into a place of safety to make the sketches, i don't know what i should do, in fact i don't think i could do anything, for i would not, for any consideration _be found making a sketch, nor with a sketch in my possession_; nor should i dare post a sketch at the "bureaux de poste," but i might get it into a street box.' another special artist being at metz, found himself in the midst of a population infected with what he called the 'spy-fever.' about a dozen english newspaper correspondents were there, and they became a united body through persecution. there was always about a fourth of their number in prison, and what most persons would have considered to be clear evidence that they were not spies, was in the minds of the french clear evidence that they were. if they were told that the correspondent of an english newspaper could not possibly be a spy, the reply was that that was just the character that a _cochon_ of a prussian spy would assume. the townspeople of metz became quite wild when they heard of the french defeats at wã¶rth and forbach, and when they saw an artist sketching the emperor's carriage, they pounced upon him as a prussian spy, and he and his companions were marched off in custody, amid the hootings of the mob. the following account of this affair is extracted from the _illustrated london news_ of august 20, 1870: 'three of the representatives of london papers, mr. simpson, mr. henry mayhew and his son, went to the railway station, having heard a rumour that the emperor was about to start for the front, and also that a train full of the wounded was expected to arrive. at the station they met mr. stuart, another newspaper correspondent, who had just come from italy, having travelled all night. they found the emperor's carriage and horses waiting to be forwarded by a train on the railway towards st. avold. our artist thought it would be doing no harm to employ the few minutes of his waiting at the station in making a slight sketch of the carriage and horses, which might be useful as materials for an illustration of some future scene where the same equipage might figure. he took a small sketch-book and pencil out of his pocket and quickly finished this little drawing. there was no attempt at concealment; he even showed his sketch to one of the bystanders who was close to him, and who seemed to watch his movements with some curiosity. mr. simpson then rejoined his three english companions, but had scarcely done so before they were surrounded by a large party of artillery soldiers, who wore undress jackets and had not their arms with them. they were taken into custody, each one placed between two soldiers, and thus were marched through the streets of metz to the place de la cathedral. a mob of people followed, increasing as they went on, and reviling the foreigners as "sacrã©s prusses," or "cochons de prusses," threatening vengeance upon them, which might probably have been taken if their violence had not been restrained by the presence of the soldiers. the whole party were then brought into the guard-room, where several persons came forward as their accusers to denounce them as spies of the enemy, lurking about metz with a hostile and insidious purpose. the chief evidence against one of them was that he had bought three copies of a metz local newspaper; another was suspected because he had been seen four days successively in the same cafã©, "and always sitting in the same seat;" a third could be no true man, because, while he said he belonged to a london paper, he confessed that he had just come from florence. the main charge against mr. simpson was that he did not lodge at an hotel, but in a private house. these particulars were repeated to the crowd outside, which filled the whole place, and was in a state of raging fury; till at last the officers in charge made their appearance and commenced a more regular examination. our artist produced his passport, which was approved as in due order; but his little sketch-book, with its scraps of notes and bits of outline, seemed to contain matter for serious investigation. in spite of his awkward and rather alarming position, he was struck with the absurdity of viewing such innocent scrawls as proof of heinous guilt. he endeavoured, however, with the assistance of mr. mayhew, to explain what they were, and to persuade the officers that they could do no harm. after a tedious detention, they were permitted to write a note to a friend, who instantly went to the provost-marshal, and at once got an order for their immediate release. their private letters and papers were examined. several other persons, frenchmen as well as foreigners, including one who was the artist employed by a paris illustrated paper, were arrested at metz on the same day; and more than one of them suffered rough usage at the hands of the mob. on the next day they were all ordered to leave the town.' the following is a facsimile of the sketch that produced all this commotion. [illustration: the emperor's carriage at metz.] the same artist who made his sketches into pills, being at bremerhafen, found himself so watched and dogged by the police and others who had observed he was a stranger, that he could not make the sketch he wanted. after much walking about he at length returned to the place where he desired to sketch, and sitting down at the edge of the harbour he began to draw lines with his umbrella on the mud, as if in a fit of abstraction, and soon had sketched in this way the principal points of the scene before him. this he repeated several times, until the view was fixed in his memory, when he retired to the railway-station, and there, unobserved, committed the scene to his sketch-book. on another occasion, in the neighbourhood of meziã¨res, he was driven at nightfall to seek a lodging in a very lonely and villainous looking inn. the occupants of the place looked upon him with evil eyes, and dreading lest one more should be added to the numerous graves already near the cabaret, he betook himself to a neighbouring wood, where he spent the whole night surrounded by the carcases of dead horses. at lyons he penetrated into the theatre where the people were storing corn and flour in anticipation of a siege. he had made some hasty notes in his sketch-book, when he was observed and obliged to retreat, followed, however, by several men. he had noticed an umbrella shop round the corner in the next street, and into this shop he rushed, seized an umbrella, opened it, and kept it expanded between himself and the door, as if examining the quality of the silk, while his pursuers ran past, when he demanded the price of the umbrella, paid the money, and walked off, glad to escape at so small a cost. sometimes his adventures had a more amusing termination. when the spy-fever prevailed very strongly both in france and germany, he was one day looking into a shop-window when he became conscious that he was watched by two officers. 'now,' thought he, 'i am in for it again, and shall certainly be arrested.' this feeling was confirmed as one of the officers advanced towards him, and raising his hand as if to seize him by the collar, addressed him thus: 'permit me, monsieur, to adjust the string of your shirt collar, which has escaped from behind your cravat.'[1] this gentleman was somewhat old-fashioned in his costume, and during his wanderings was sometimes mistaken for a sea-captain. he had even received confidential proposals to discuss the question of freight. the _illustrated london news_ had five artists in the field during the franco-german war: w. simpson, r. t. landells, g. h. andrews, c. j. staniland, and jules pelcoq. from the fact of landells being already known to the crown prince of prussia and several of his staff, it was settled that his destination should be germany, and i remember that before his departure he expressed to me just the slightest shade of discontent that he should be selected to go on what he thought would be the losing side. he was destined, however, to be present at the proclamation of the german emperor in the palace of versailles, and he was one of the first to enter paris after it capitulated to the german army. soon afterwards he very nearly experienced the unpleasant consequences of being taken for a german spy. landells himself was of a dark complexion, and might very well have passed for a frenchman, but on the occasion referred to he was in the company of a brother artist (mr. sidney hall, of the _graphic_), who, being fair, might easily be mistaken for german. the excited mob of paris had just vented their rage on a suspected spy by drowning him in the seine, and the two special artists were loitering on the outskirts of the crowd, when mr. hall imprudently took out his sketch-book, which was no sooner perceived than a cry was raised of 'prussian spy!' and they too would probably have been pitched into the river had they not managed, with great difficulty, to escape from the crowd. [illustration: newspaper correspondents on their way to the front. sistova, 1877.] when the german armies were closing round paris m. jules pelcoq consented to be shut up in the devoted city for the purpose of supplying the _illustrated london news_ with sketches. during the hardships of the siege he was quite unable to obtain fuel to warm his apartment, and was compelled to retire to bed, where, wrapped in a blanket, he finished up the rough sketches he had made out of doors, which were then photographed and sent off by balloons to london. these balloons were regularly despatched during the prevalence of winds that would carry them to the provinces unoccupied by the germans. they were followed by prussian light cavalry as long as they were in sight, and some were captured. afterwards, as the city became more closely invested, and the danger increased, the precaution was taken of despatching the balloons at night, and the time fixed on was kept concealed from all save those immediately concerned, in order to avoid, as far as possible, the chances of its being communicated to the enemy, and thereby exposing the aã«ronauts to the fiery rockets and other projectiles with which the germans were prepared to favour them. the railway-stations were generally chosen as the starting-places, for they not only offered large open spaces in which to fill the balloons, but, being situated away from the centre of paris, there was less risk, in ascending, of coming in contact with buildings. to provide against the loss of sketches so sent, photographic copies were despatched by other balloons. in some cases two, and even three, copies of the same sketch reached my hands by balloon-post during the german investment of paris. considering the danger and difficulty of this mode of communication, the intercourse between the _illustrated london news_ and its artist in paris was kept up pretty regularly during the whole siege. [illustration: sketching under difficulties. herzegovina, 1876.] the requirements of special artists when on the 'war path' vary according to circumstances. mr. simpson, in france during the franco-german war, found no scarcity of food, but could seldom get a bed to sleep in. on the other hand, mr. melton prior, in south africa and other hot countries, found that he was never sure of obtaining either food or drink. during the war in herzegovina in 1876 the newspaper correspondents had to rough it pretty considerably. sometimes, when the special artist got to a resting-place for the night, he would have to work up his sketches by the light of a single candle, which he kept in an upright position by holding it between his feet as he sat on the ground, while the correspondent of a london 'daily' scribbled his notes beside him. the difficulty of obtaining sleeping accommodation was experienced by another artist in servia, who was obliged one night to go to rest in a sort of diligence or covered waggon which stood in the inn yard. it was the only 'spare bed,' and the tired 'special' was very glad to coil himself up within its recesses. these hardships, however, belong to the past. just as the combatants in modern warfare fight their battles with the most scientific weapons, so the newspaper correspondent now goes to the field armed with the latest appliances against cold, fatigue, hunger, and thirst. he provides himself with an abundant supply of tinned meats and champagne, plenty of clothing, the latest improvements in saddlery; and when he arrives at the scene of action he buys as many horses as he wants for himself and servants. acting on the experience of former campaigns, mr. prior was able in the zulu war to travel much more comfortably than any member of the staff, not even excepting lord chelmsford himself. 'i had then no fewer than five horses: two in the shafts of my american waggon, one for myself, one for my servant, and one spare horse. i followed the army through all its marches in my travelling carriage, and on the eve of the battle of ulundi i was the only man who had a tent; all the others lay down in the open.' [illustration: the spare bed.] while recording the progress of events--the deeds of war mingling with the works of peace--the pictorial press is not unmindful of what is done in the cause of humanity. one of the recent experiences of the special artist was in making a journey across siberia in search of the survivors of the crew of the american exploring ship _jeanette_. mr. j. gordon bennett, the proprietor of the _new york herald_, having sent out a commissioner to search for the missing expedition, he was joined by the special artist of the _illustrated london news_. they had before them a journey of two or three thousand miles, and they travelled in one of the covered sledges used in siberia in the winter time. it was their travelling carriage by day and their sleeping apartment at night. sometimes they had to turn out and defend themselves from the wolves which followed them over the snowy waste. the artist on this occasion was mr. larsen, of copenhagen, who proved himself a first-rate special. [illustration: special artist's tent.] when the effects of a deadly climate are added to the usual chances of war, the courage and endurance of the newspaper correspondent are doubly tried. the 'specials' of the principal london journals joined the ashantee expedition with as much alacrity as if they had been going to a review in hyde park. among them was mr. melton prior, the artist of the _illustrated london news_, who landed at cape coast castle before the arrival of the british troops, marched with them to coomassie, and remained in that place till it was destroyed by the victors. but the long march in such a climate had exhausted the strength of many, and the special artist was among the number. on nearing coomassie he could no longer trust to his own unaided powers of locomotion, so he laid hold on the tail of a mule which he saw ambling before him, and so was helped forward. the gentleman who was riding the mule turned round, when it proved to be sir garnet wolseley himself, who, in answer to the exhausted artist's apologies, good-humouredly told him to 'hold on!' while coolness and courage are indispensable qualifications for the special artist, if he can sometimes accomplish a little harmless dissimulation he finds it very useful. in 1877, during the war between russia and turkey, a special artist overcame the difficulties he encountered in getting to the front by assuming the character of a camp-follower, and professing to sell composite candles, german sausages, russian hams, dried fish, dutch cheese, &c., and when passing cossacks became importunate they were propitiated with a candle or two, a slice of cheese, or a packet of roumanian tobacco. in like manner the artist who went to the port of ferrol to accompany cleopatra's needle to london shipped on board the tug _anglia_ as a coal-trimmer, and signed the usual articles as one of the crew, there being no room for passengers. after the successful voyage of the tug the artist left her at gravesend, being anxious to bring his sketches to head-quarters; but until he was legally discharged from service he ran the unpleasant risk of being taken up for absconding from his ship. [illustration: newspaper correspondents starting for siberia.] not the least of a special artist's troubles is to get his sketches sent home without loss of time. mr. simpson, who has had a large and varied experience as a special artist, having been all round the world in that capacity, gives it as his opinion that the first duty of a special correspondent when he arrives at the scene of action is to find out the post-office, if he happens to be in a part of the world where such a civilised institution exists. he should take care to post all his packets himself, and never trust to any one else. he says, 'in all my various travels i never lost a packet but once, and that was during the week's fighting at the time of the commune in paris. there were three sketches in the packet. i was very dubious about letting them out of my hands, but i had been all the week with the correspondent of the _times_, who had spent a considerable sum of money upon messengers to get his letters taken through the lines outside paris and off to london. i ventured to let my packet go with his, thinking it was safe, but neither of them ever reached their destination.' in connexion with this subject i may quote the following story related by mr. prior to the editor of the _pall mall gazette_:--'i remember one time when i was attached to mehemet ali's head-quarters in bulgaria during the russo-turkish war. the turkish censor stopped no fewer than six weeks of my sketches. things were getting desperate. our people were telegraphing out to know whether i was alive or dead; and, finding that something must be done, i determined to see the thing through or leave the camp. it so happened that i had been the witness of some peculiarly atrocious deeds perpetrated by turks upon bulgarians, so i set to work and drew half-a-dozen faithful representations of the sufferings which i had witnessed. armed with these i went up to the censor's office and asked that they might be stamped for transmission home. the censor looked at the first and said it was ridiculous. couldn't pass that; no such atrocities had ever been committed; and so forth. the second was condemned in the same way, and so on until the last was reached. when he had rejected that also i said to him very deliberately, "you are going to pass every one of these sketches!" "on the contrary," said he, "i am going to tear them up." "if you do," said i, "i shall draw not only six but twelve pictures worse than these, and send them home by my own messenger." "i will have him arrested then," said the censor. "very well, then, in that case i shall leave the camp at once, and in london i will draw twenty pictures all worse than these, and they will all be published, so that people may see the real truth about how you are behaving here." the censor, like a sensible man, saw that it was no use carrying things with too high a hand, and came to terms. he admitted he had stopped all my sketches, promised to do so no more, and i left him with my atrocity pictures in my pocket, assuring him that the first sketch of mine that he stopped again the whole series should go to london by the next steamer. i never had any more trouble with him in that respect, though he paid me out by having me arrested some months later.' [illustration: camp of the 'times' and 'illustrated london news'' correspondents attacked by wolves. bulgaria, 1877.] during the franco-german war mr. simpson often proved the advantage of his plan of always posting his sketches himself. at the fall of strasburg he was in the advanced trench when the white flag was displayed from the tower of the cathedral. it was late in the evening when he got home to bed, but he was up with the first streak of dawn finishing his sketch of the historical event he had witnessed the day before. he then walked five miles to general werder's head-quarters to post the sketch. he wasted no time in trying to get a horse or carriage, in which he might have failed, nor would he trust the packet to a messenger. he knew that the slightest delay would postpone the publication of the sketch for a whole week. the sketch arrived in time, as he had calculated, for the next publication, and he had the satisfaction of knowing that on this occasion, as on many others, his promptitude and energy had well served the interests of the journal he represented. [illustration: newspaper correspondents' huts on the battle-field of kaceljevo, 1877.] a special artist has to encounter many troubles and vexations apart from the dangers and difficulties of war time. when mr. simpson was at brindisi, on his way to the opening of the suez canal, wishing to sketch the town and fortifications, he ensconced himself in a snug corner, well sheltered from the 'bora,' or cold wind that was blowing, and had settled down comfortably to work, when he was interrupted by a man who addressed him in italian, a language simpson did not understand. he, however, made out that the man's 'padre' or master would not like simpson to be there; but the latter replied in plain english that he cared nothing for his 'padre,' that he had the permission of the commandant to go where he pleased, and so he went on with his sketching. after much unintelligible talk the man attempted to stop the sketcher's view by standing between him and the town, but finding the sketching went on just the same, he suddenly went away and then returned with a gun, pointing it in a threatening manner towards simpson, who thought the gun was perhaps not loaded, or at all events that the man would never be such a fool as to shoot him, so he merely gave a majestic wave of his hand and went on with his work. the man's rage then increased to such a degree that he seized the butt end of his gun, uttering a volley of curses, and from the word 'testa' simpson supposed the man wanted to smash his head. however he never flinched, and the man, lowering his gun, muttered something about the 'cani,' and went off again. presently he returned dragging with him a huge dog. simpson felt more afraid of the dog than the man, but it turned out that the dog had more sense than his master and refused on any terms to attack the artist. he bolted, the man after him, and simpson then armed himself with two stones in case the attack should be renewed, resolving, like tell when he devoted one of his arrows to gessler, that one stone should be for the dog and the other for his oppressor. the man however could not get the dog to return to the attack. he had exhausted the whole of his resources, and was evidently astonished and annoyed to find he had failed to frighten the artist, so he finished off with a torrent of curses and then gradually calmed down. he remained watching the completion of the sketch, and then obligingly favoured the artist with some criticisms on his work. he pointed out that a ship in the harbour had been forgotten, and could not understand that it had been purposely left out because it interfered with one of the principal buildings. in this instance it was perhaps best for both parties that they did not understand each other's language; but the special artist is occasionally placed at a disadvantage by not understanding the language of the country where he happens to be. however it rarely leads to more than a temporary embarrassment, and is often the cause of more amusement than vexation. mr. g. h. andrews on one occasion desired to have a couple of eggs for breakfast, but could not make the maid of the inn comprehend his meaning. he tried all he knew of french, flemish, and german, but the girl shook her head. at length a bright idea struck the artist. he drew from his pocket a pencil and note-book, and sketched a couple of oval forms, meaning them for eggs, and explained by gestures that _that_ was what he wanted. the girl's face brightened at once when she saw the sketch, and with a nod of intelligence she tripped away. in a few minutes she returned and presented the hungry artist with--_a pair of spectacles!_ the late mr. s. read, who was one of the first special artists employed on the pictorial press, travelled much abroad, yet he knew little or nothing of any language save his mother tongue. germany, italy, austria, spain, france, belgium, switzerland, were all visited by him, and he got on very well without speaking the language of any of those countries. he was a man of genial humour, accustomed to make the best of everything, and not easily put out by trifles. he was once travelling in the south of france when a fellow-passenger in the train accosted him in french, and was much surprised to find he was not understood. 'vat!' said the frenchman; 'you travel and speak no french! speak you german?' 'no.' 'nor italian?' 'no.' 'spanish?' 'no.' 'ah, mon dieu! you travel and speak noting!' and with a pitying grimace and shrug of the shoulders he looked round at the other passengers. presently our artist took his revenge. as they were passing a town with a ruined castle on a hill he said, with much fervour, addressing the frenchman,-'how beautifully that old tower is relieved by the dark foliage! what a splendid contrast is the cold grey of the hill behind! how harmoniously the distance is blended with the middle distance, and the middle distance with the foreground, by means of the bridge across the river!' the frenchman stared, stammered, and confessed he did not comprehend. 'what!' said our artist; 'you travel and do not understand english!' 'ver leetle.' 'do you speak scotch?' 'non, m'sieur.' 'nor irish!' 'non.' 'welsh?' 'non.' 'suffolk?' 'non, non, m'sieur.' with an exact imitation of the frenchman's contemptuous shrug our friend turned to their fellow-travellers amid the loud laughter of those who understood the joke. when the special artist exercises his vocation at home, though he lacks the excitement of danger, he meets with many amusing incidents. an artist who attended the meeting of the british association at lincoln many years ago desired to sketch the house which was reputed to have been the residence of john o' gaunt, and asked the waiter at the hotel if he could direct him to it. 'johnny gaunt, sir?' said the waiter, evidently puzzled; 'i don't know him, sir, but i'll inquire.' in a few minutes he returned and said he had inquired at the bar, but that no such person as johnny gaunt resided thereabouts. another, who was something of a wag, was once making a sketch in the heart of st. giles's; there were no school boards in those days, and numbers of idle street boys surrounded our sketcher, performing all manner of bewildering gymnastics. not at all disturbed, however, he amused himself by asking his young friends numerous questions, all of which were answered with rapid pertness. at last he inquired of one active imp if he could read. 'no, i can't read,' said the young gentleman, 'but i can stand on my head and drink a quartern o' gin.' the methods pursued by special artists in obtaining their sketches are as various as the methods of painters in producing their pictures, or of authors in writing their books. one man uses a very small sketch-book, another prefers a large one, but they all require to supplement their hurried sketches with marginal notes. when there is not time to sketch a complete cow, it is good to write underneath the sketch, 'this is a cow.' many events have to be sketched that last only a few minutes, and in such cases some little mistakes will occur even with old practitioners. literary correspondents are liable to the same misfortune. at a certain royal marriage in st. george's chapel, windsor, the lord chamberlain obligingly sent a gentleman to attend the members of the press, and inform them as to the name and rank of the distinguished guests as they entered the chapel. the correspondents courteously allowed the artists of the pictorial press to take front places, so that some of their number were unable to see what was going on, and had to trust to their comrades for information. when the duke of a----, in full highland costume, entered the chapel, there was a general inquiry, 'who is that?' 'that,' said the gentleman from the lord chamberlain's department, 'is the duke of a----, the great mac callum more.' 'who is it?' cried some of the gentlemen in the background, and the name was passed on, but by the time it reached the outer fringe of correspondents it was changed into 'the duke of a---with the great claymore,' and under that style and title his grace's name figured in at least one newspaper next day. what may be called the shorthand notes for a sketch are sometimes difficult to make out without explanation. on one occasion a sketch was under consideration, when the editor made certain suggestions to the artist, who was very good natured, and of a most pliant disposition. 'i think, you know,' said the editor, 'if you were to add two or three more figures in the foreground it would improve the composition and help to detach the principal group from this windmill.' 'well, the fact is,' replied the artist, 'what you call a windmill i intended for a man on horseback, but if you think it will come better as a windmill i'll alter it with pleasure.' [illustration: the special artist on the road.] footnote: [1] this incident was illustrated in _punch_, and lest i should be accused of using up old material, i must explain that the hero of the adventure, on his return to england, told the story to one of the _punch_ artists, who made a sketch of the incident, which was afterwards published. chapter x. artists who have assisted in founding the pictorial press--sir john gilbert, r.a., g. h. thomas, and others--wood-engraving and its connexion with the pictorial press--other methods of producing illustrations--wood-engraving in england before and after bewick's time--its wide diffusion owing to the kindred art of printing--the resources of the art developed by pictorial newspapers--conclusion. newspapers a necessity of civilised life--the _acta diurna_ of the romans--early newspapers in venice, germany, and the low countries--list of illustrated newspapers published abroad. the establishment of the pictorial press as an english institution was greatly aided by the active co-operation of many distinguished artists, the very foremost in this connexion being sir john gilbert. other royal academicians and eminent painters have drawn on wood for the illustrated newspapers, but gilbert stands out pre-eminently the great popular illustrator of the victorian era. he it was who first gave a distinctive character to the illustration of news. he seemed to possess an inborn knowledge of the essentials of newspaper art, and could express by a few freely drawn lines and touches the hurried movement of street crowds or the state and dignity of court ceremonies. whether he had to draw a knight in armour or a gentleman in a paletã´t he did it in a way exactly suited to rapid engraving and printing. the feeling which, in his pictures, makes him delight in battle-fields, blazoned banners, velvet and gold, made his drawings on wood brilliant in handling and always picturesque. it was most fortunate that the commencement of his career was coincident with the foundation of the pictorial press. william harvey and other artists were already in the field, but gilbert's style was better adapted to newspaper work. his quickness and versatility made him just the man that was wanted. harvey had drawn some of the subjects published in the _observer_, but his style was not suited to the illustration of current events. nothing came amiss to gilbert, who supplied the pictorial press for twenty years with a constant succession of effective drawings, embracing all kinds of subjects, and he never failed in that most essential quality of a newspaper artist--_punctuality_. it is as the popular illustrator that the name of gilbert stands at the head of that numerous band of artists who contributed to the foundation of illustrated journalism in this country. the late george h. thomas was not less successful than gilbert in the spirit and vigour of his drawings. his bold and eminently artistic pencil alternated with gilbert's in portraying the exciting events following the revolutionary period of 1848-49. his contributions to the _illustrated london news_ during the crimean war were marked by great force and truthfulness, and procured him the notice and patronage of her majesty queen victoria. mr. thomas's premature death in 1868 was a great loss to the world of art in general, and to the pictorial press in particular. it is remarkable that many of our distinguished artists should have begun their careers as engravers or draughtsmen on wood. the production of works in black and white, whether as engravings or drawings, is no doubt good artistic practice in the study of light and shade, and the young artist who draws on wood as a means of helping him to live while he is waiting for fame, is at the same time pursuing a useful branch of his art education. luke fildes, a.r.a., birket foster, w. small, r. c. woodville, c. gregory, a.r.a., and many others began in this way, and among deceased artists occur the names of s. read, e. duncan, and f. w. topham. the two last were both engravers. all these men have done good work on the pictorial press, and some of them first won distinction through its medium. both the _illustrated london news_ and the _graphic_ may claim to have done good service to art and artists in this respect. their pages have always been open to young artists of ability, and while they have helped forward struggling genius they have opened up new sources of enjoyment to the general public. the pictorial press has hitherto been mainly dependent on the art of wood-engraving for its illustrations, but latterly several inventions have been used, not unsuccessfully, in the production of blocks in relief, to be printed in the same manner as woodcuts. the great improvements that have been made in surface printing render it probable that in the future these _process_ blocks may be extensively used in illustrated newspapers. they are recommended by their cheapness and rapid production; and as the intermediate process of engraving is dispensed with, they retain the exact touch of the artist, and are not liable to be mutilated by careless or hasty engraving. it may be said of all these inventions, however, that they are best suited for slight sketches, and should not be applied to the production of highly-finished subjects. for the latter there is nothing better than a woodcut, which, when well executed and carefully printed, has a richness superior to any other method of engraving. but in the present day competition is so great and the march of events is so rapid that cheapness and rapidity of production will override artistic excellence, and _process_-engraving, as it is called, will probably be the method adopted for the _daily_ pictorial press, the era of which is approaching. wood-engraving, as an art, scarcely existed in this country before the time of thomas bewick. to him we owe its revival, and he was thus indirectly concerned in the creation of the pictorial newspaper. though we have seen that the _grub street journal_ and the _observer_ on a few occasions used copperplate illustrations, it is perfectly certain that an illustrated newspaper, properly so-called, never could have existed but for the art of wood-engraving. it was an essential agent in bringing into life this novel offspring of the printing press, just as it assisted in the birth of the old 'block books.' when caxton brought the art of printing into this country the woodcuts printed at his press were probably executed by the printers whom he brought with him. his successors illustrated their books in the same way, and even after wood-engraving was practised in england as a distinct profession many of the illustrations in books and pamphlets were the work of printers. when something of superior design and finish was wanted, ready-made woodcuts were procured from nuremberg or lyons, then the chief marts for such productions. the blocks so obtained were sometimes used without much regard to the book in which they were printed. cuts originally designed for an edition of _ovid_ appeared in the bible, and no notice was taken of this mixture of sacred and profane things. albert dã¼rer's influence on the art of wood-engraving was very great, but it never extended to this country. hans holbein, who came to england two years before dã¼rer's death, made a few designs for the wood-engravers during his long residence here. his transient use of the art, however, did not raise it to a better condition, and printers continued to be the chief producers of woodcuts. in the time of queen elizabeth there flourished a printer and engraver of the name of john day, who took for his mark an emblematic device of the day-spring of the reformed religion, with the motto, 'arise, for it is day.' the best illustrated books of that period were produced by him. about this time the art was rapidly declining in other countries, but in england it was in a better condition than at any previous period. it soon, however, declined in this country also, but was kept alive by edward kirkall, john baptiste jackson, and others, until it was revived by thomas bewick. the low condition of the art of wood-engraving in this country was chiefly owing to the want of good designers, and it was not until a man arose who possessed the power to _draw_ as well as to _engrave_ that an english school of wood-engraving was created. bewick possessed the artistic faculty as a direct gift from nature; and though it was from accidental circumstances that he was led to exercise this innate power in drawing and engraving on wood, he soon discovered of what the art was capable, and devoted his chief attention to it. he drew such things as he understood and had studied from nature, and thoroughly comprehending the scope and power of wood-engraving, he was able, with little labour, to produce the best results. at the time of bewick's death, in 1828, england had scarcely recovered from the exhausting wars of napoleon, trade was stagnant, and taxation was heavy. the mass of the people had no money to spend on such luxuries as illustrated books, and the enterprise of publishers was confined to the production of the well-known 'annuals' of that day; but they were illustrated with steel engravings, and were only purchased by the wealthier classes. such works as _robinson crusoe_ and the _pilgrim's progress_, for which there is always a demand, were illustrated by cruikshank and harvey. there was _northcote's fables_, on which all the best engravers of the day were employed; but it was not until the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge began its operations, and charles knight took the lead in illustrated literature, that wood-engraving began to be extensively used. the art was so little known that when the woodcuts of the _penny magazine_ began to attract attention a nobleman of that day spoke of them as the productions of a new art. illustrations were so seldom used that the preparation of even a small woodcut was of much moment to all concerned. i have heard the late william harvey relate that when whittingham, the well-known printer, wanted a new cut for his 'chiswick press' series, he would write to harvey and john thompson, the engraver, appointing a meeting at chiswick, when printer, designer, and engraver talked over the matter with as much deliberation as if they were about to produce a costly national monument, and after they had settled all points over a snug supper, the result of their labours was the production, months afterwards, of a small woodcut measuring perhaps two inches by three. at this time only about a dozen persons, besides bewick's pupils, were practising the art of wood-engraving in england, and in france the art was so low that a few years later the blocks for the _magazin pittoresque_ were sent from paris to london to be engraved. in germany, the cradle of the art, it languished as in other countries, while in america, a country which is now taking a leading part in the cultivation of wood-engraving, the art was almost unknown as a native production. it is now in use all over the civilised world, and there is scarcely a capital city without its newspaper illustrated with woodcuts. it has even penetrated to the sunless regions of ice and snow. in the library of the south kensington museum there is a book with illustrations drawn and engraved on wood by esquimaux! the cause of this wide diffusion and extended employment of the art of wood-engraving is undoubtedly its close alliance with the kindred art of printing. no other method of engraving lends itself so easily to the rapid productions of the printing-press. from the earliest days of printing the two arts have advanced hand in hand, aiding in the growth of knowledge and the spread of civilisation. the application of steam to the art of printing revolutionised the world of typography, and wood-engraving was not slow in adapting itself to the new conditions. the advancing spirit of education created a demand for cheap knowledge. penny magazines and pictorial newspapers came into existence. the steam printing-press spread them far and wide, and wood-engraving since the time of bewick has shown that it possesses capabilities which that genuine old artist would have rejoiced to behold. in tracing the origin and progress of the pictorial press i have confined my researches to british journalism, but the subject might be widely extended. from the days of the _acta diurna_ of the romans something in the shape of a newspaper appears to have been a necessity of civilised life. soon after the invention of printing small news-sheets appeared in various towns of germany and in venice. in the low countries an illustrated war gazette was published as early as 1605. it was called the _niewetijdinghe_, and it was the precursor of the _gazette van antwerpen_, which survived till 1805. during the spanish and austrian rule in belgium each town had its privileged newspaper. as the printers of those days were well acquainted with the art of wood-engraving, it is not unlikely that some of these early newspapers contained illustrations. the earlier newspapers of holland were chiefly devoted to commercial intelligence, and afforded little scope for illustration, but illustrated broadsides were not uncommon. in germany the first regular newspaper appeared in 1615, when the art of wood-engraving had greatly declined; and when the physician renaudot started the first newspaper in france, in 1631, if the idea of illustrating it had occurred to him he would have had to rely on his printer for the production of the woodcuts. as, however, the low condition of illustrative art in the seventeenth century did not deter english printers of 'news-books' from seeking such pictorial aid as they could obtain, it is highly probable their continental brethren did the same, however insufficient might be the means at their command. when the history of our own age comes to be written the pictorial newspapers will form an inexhaustible store-house for the historian. the following list of cities in europe, america, and the english colonies, with the names of the illustrated newspapers published by them, will convey some idea of the extent to which pictorial journalism has spread during the last forty years:-paris: _l'illustration._ _le monde illustrã©._ _l'univers illustrã©._ _la rã©publique illustrã©e._ _la france illustrã©e._ berlin: _deutsche illustrirte zeitung._ stuttgart: _uber land und meer._ _das buch fã¼r alle._ leipzig: _illustrirte zeitung._ vienna: _neue illustrirte zeitung._ milan: _l'illustrazione universale._ _l'illustrazione italiana._ madrid: _la illustracion espanã²la._ barcelona: _la illustracion catã²lica._ warsaw: _klosy._ _tycodnik powszechny._ amsterdam: _de hollandsche illustratie._ st. petersburg: _universal illustration._ copenhagen: _illustreret tidende._ christiania: _nu illustreret tidende._ new york: _harper's weekly._ _harper's bazaar._ _frank leslie's illustrated newspaper._ _spirit of the times._ _the daily graphic._ _illustrirte zeitung_ (printed in german). washington: _illustrated washington chronicle._ montreal: _canadian illustrated news._ _le monde illustrã©_ (french). sydney: _illustrated sydney news._ melbourne: _illustrated australian news._ _australian sketcher._ mexico: _revista universal._ montevideo: _la illustracion uruguaya._ rio de janeiro: _a illustraã§ao._ cape town: _south african illustrated news._ the end. [illustration] london printed by strangeways and sons tower street upper st martin's lane 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 treasures chiefly for their value under the hammer. but in this case, as in others, the moderate prices demanded in 1896 may not be the rule a few months hence. already, although books rarely fetch as much as the original published cost, they are getting scarce. you may hunt the london shops in vain, and ransack the second-hand stores in the big provincial towns and not light on jean ingelow's _poems_, 4to, thornbury's _legendary ballads_, or even _wayside poesies_, or a _round of days_, all fairly common but a short time ago. there are two great divisions of the objects that attract collectors. in the first come all items of individual handiwork, where no two can be precisely alike (since replicas by the authors are too rare to destroy the argument), and each specimen cannot be duplicated. into this class fall paintings and drawings of all sorts, gems, sword-guards, lacquer, and ivories, and a thousand other objects of art. in the second, where duplicates have been produced in large numbers, the collector has a new ideal--to complete a collection that contains examples of every variety of the subject, be they artistic:--coins, etchings, or engravings of any sort; natural objects:--butterflies, or crystals, or things which belong neither to nature nor art:--postage-stamps, the majority of book-plates, and other trifles so numerous that even a bare list might extend to pages. the first class demands a long purse, and has, of necessity, a certain failure confronting it, for many of the best specimens are already in national collections, and cannot by any chance come into the market. but in the second class, no matter how rare a specimen may be, there is always a hope, and in many cases not a forlorn one, that some day, in some likely or unlikely place, its fellow may be discovered. and the chance of picking up a treasure for a nominal price adds to the zest of the collector, whose real delight is in the chase, far more than in the capture. who does not hope to find a twopenny box containing (as once they did) a first edition of fitzgerald's _omar khayyám_? or a rembrandt's _three trees_ in a first state? or to discover a _tetradrachm_ syracuse, b.c. 317, 'with the superb head of persephone and the spirited quadriga, on the obverse,' in some tray of old coins in a foreign market-place? without more preamble, we may go on to the objects the new collector wishes to acquire; and to provide him with a hand-book that shall set him on the track of desirable specimens. this desultory gossip may also serve to explain indirectly the aims and limits of the present volume, which does not pretend to be a critical summary, not a history of art, and neither a treatise on engravers, nor an anecdotal record of artists, but merely a working book of reference, whatever importance it possesses being due only to the fine examples of the subject, which those concerned have most kindly permitted to be reproduced. it is quite true that in collecting, the first of the two classes demands more critical knowledge, because as it is not a collection but only a selection that is within the reach of any one owner, it follows that each item must reflect his taste and judgment. in the second division there is danger lest the rush for comprehensiveness may dull the critical faculty, until, by and by, the ugly and foolish rarity is treasured far more than the beautiful and artistic items which are not rare, and so fail to command high prices. in fact the danger of all collectors is this alluring temptation which besets other people in other ways. many people prefer the exception to the rule, the imperfect sport to the commonplace type. if so, this discursive chatter is not wholly irrelevant, since it preludes an apology for including certain references to work distinctly below the level of the best, which, by its accidental position in volumes where the best occurs, can hardly be ignored completely. another point of conscience arises which each must decide for himself. supposing that the collection of wood-engravings of the sixties assumes the proportion of a craze, must the collector retain intact a whole set of an illustrated periodical for the sake of a few dozen pictures within it, or if he decides to tear them out, will he not be imitating the execrable john bagford, who destroyed twenty-five thousand volumes for the sake of their title-pages? must he mutilate a tennyson's _poems_ (moxon, 1857) or _the music-master_, or many of dalziels' gift-books, for the sake of arranging his specimens in orderly fashion? the dilemma is a very real one. even if one decides to keep volumes entire, the sets of magazines are so bulky, and in some cases contain such a small proportion of valuable work, that a collector cannot find space for more than a few of them. possibly a fairly representative collection might be derived entirely from the back-numbers of periodicals, if any huge stores have yet survived the journey to the paper-mill or the flames; the one or the other being the ultimate fate of every magazine or periodical that is not duly bound before it has lost its high estate, as 'a complete set,' and become mere odd numbers or waste-paper. so far the question of cost has not been raised, nor at present need it frighten the most economic. taking all the subjects referred to in this book, with perhaps one or two exceptions (allingham's _music-master_, 1855, for instance), i doubt if a penny a piece for all the illustrations in the various volumes (counting the undesirable as well as the worthy specimens) would not be far above the market-price of the whole. but the penny each, like the old story of the horse-shoes, although not in this case governed by geometrical progression, would mount up to a big total. yet, even if you purchase the books at a fair price, the best contain so many good illustrations, that the cost of each is brought down to a trifle. having decided to collect, and bought or obtained in other ways, so that you may entitle your treasures (as south kensington museum labels its novelties) 'recent acquisitions,' without scrupulous explanation of the means employed to get them, you are next puzzled how to arrange them. it seems to me that a fine book should be preserved intact. there are but comparatively few of its first edition, and of these few a certain number are doomed to accidental destruction in the ordinary course of events, so that one should hesitate before cutting up a fine book, and be not hasty in mutilating a volume of _once a week_ or the _shilling magazine_. but if you have picked up odd numbers, and want to preserve the prints, a useful plan is to prepare a certain number of cardboard or cloth-covered boxes filled with single sheets of thick brown paper. in these an oblique slit is made to hold each corner of the print. by this method subjects can be mounted quickly, and, as the collection grows, new sub-divisions can be arranged and the subjects distributed among a larger number of boxes. this plan allows each print to be examined easily, the brown paper stands wear and tear and shows no finger-marks, and affords a pleasant frame to the engraving. pasting-down in albums should be viewed with suspicion--either the blank leaves for specimens still to be acquired are constantly in evidence to show how little you possess, compared with your expectations; or else you will find it impossible to place future purchases in their proper order. there is a process, known as print-splitting, which removes the objectionable printed back that ruins the effect of many good wood-engravings. it is a delicate, but not a very difficult operation, and should the hobby spread, young lady artists might do worse than forsake the poorly-paid production of nasty little head-pieces for fashion-papers and the like, and turn deft fingers to a more worthy pursuit. it needs an artistic temperament to split the print successfully, and a market would be quickly opened up if moderate prices were charged for the new industry. one could wish that representative collections of the best of these prints were gathered together and framed inexpensively, for gifts or loans to schools, art industrial classes, and other places where the taste of pupils might be raised by their study. the cheap process-block from a photograph is growing to be the staple form of black and white that the average person meets with in his daily routine. the cost of really fine etchings, mezzotints, lithographs, and other masterpieces of black and white prohibits their being scattered broadcast; but while the fine prints by millais, sandys, hughes, pinwell, fred walker, and the rest are still to be bought cheaply, the opportunity should not be lost. chapter ii: the illustrated periodicals before the sixties the more you study the position of illustrators during the last forty years, the more you are inclined to believe that they owe their very existence, as a class, to the popularity of magazines and periodicals. from the time _once a week_ started, to the present to-day, the bulk of illustrations of any merit have been issued in serial publications. it is easy to find a reason for this. the heavy cost of the drawings, and, until recent times, the almost equally heavy cost of engraving them, would suffice to prohibit their lavish use in ordinary books. for it must not be forgotten that every new book is, to a great extent, a speculation; whereas the circulation of a periodical, once it is assured, varies but slightly. a book may be prepared for twenty thousand buyers, and not attract one thousand; but a periodical that sold twenty thousand of its current number is fairly certain to sell eighteen thousand to nineteen thousand of the next, and more probably will show a slight increase. again, although one appears to get as many costly illustrations in a magazine to-day as in a volume costing ten times the price, the comparative sales more than readjust the balance. for a quarter of a million, although a record circulation of a periodical, is by no means a unique one; whereas the most popular illustrated book ever issued--and _trilby_ could be easily proved to merit that title--is probably not far beyond its hundred thousand. this very book was published in _harper's magazine_, and so obtained an enormous advertisement in one of the most widely circulated shilling monthlies. one doubts if the most popular illustrated volumes published at one or two guineas would show an average sale of two thousand copies at the original price. therefore, to regard the periodical, be it quarterly, monthly, or weekly--and quite soon the daily paper may be added to the list--as the legitimate field for the illustrator, is merely to accept the facts of the case. true, that here and there carefully prepared volumes, with all the added luxury of fine paper and fine printing, stand above the magazine of their time in this mechanical production. but things are rapidly changing. one may pick up some ephemeral paper to-day, to find it has process-blocks of better quality, and is better printed, than 'the art book of the season,' be it what it may. the illustrator is the really popular artist of the period--the natural product of the newer conditions. for one painter who makes a living entirely by pictures, there are dozens who subsist upon illustrating; while, against one picture of any reputable sort--framed and sold--it would be impossible to estimate the number of drawings made specially for publication. nor even to-day--when either the demand for illustration is ahead of the supply, or else many editors artfully prefer the second best, not forgetting all the feeble stuff of the cheap weeklies--would it be safe to declare that the artistic level is below that of the popular galleries. certainly, even in the thirties, there were, in proportion, as many masterpieces done for the engraver as those which were carried out in oil or water-colour. waiving the question of the damage wrought by engraver, or process-reproducer, the artist--if he be a great man--is no less worthy of respect as an illustrator in a cheap weekly, than when he chooses to devote himself solely to easel pictures. it is not by way of depreciating paintings that one would exalt illustration, but merely to recognise the obvious truth that the best work of an artist who understands his medium can never fail to be of surpassing interest, whether he uses fresco, tempera, oil, or water-colour; whether he works with brush or needle, pen or pencil. nobody doubts that most of these products are entitled, other qualities being present, to be considered works of art; but, until lately, people have not shown the same respect for an illustration. even when they admired the work, it was a common form of appreciation to declare it was 'as good as an etching,' or 'a composition worthy of being painted.' many writers have endeavoured to restore black-and-white art to its true dignity, and the labours of sir f. seymour haden, who awakened a new popular recognition of the claims of the etcher, and of mr. joseph pennell, who fought with sustained vigour for the dignity and importance of illustration, have helped to inspire outsiders with a new respect. for it is only outsiders who ever thought of making absurd distinctions between high art and minor arts. if the thing, be it what it may, is good--as good as it could be--at no age did it fail to win the regard of artists; even if it had to wait a few generations to charm the purchaser, or awaken the cupidity of the connoisseur. it is a healthy sign to find that people to-day are interesting themselves in the books of the sixties; it should make them more eager for original contemporary work, and foster a dislike to the inevitable photograph from nature reproduced by half-tone, which one feared would have satisfied their love for black-and-white to the exclusion of all else. if, after an evening spent in looking over the old magazines which form the subject of the next few chapters, you can turn to the current weeklies and monthlies, and feel absolutely certain that we are better than our fathers, it augurs either a very wisely selected purchase from the crowded bookstall, which, at each railway station as the first of the month approaches, has its hundreds of rival magazines, or else that it would be wiser to spend still more time over the old periodicals until a certain 'divine dissatisfaction' was aroused towards the average illustrated periodical of to-day. not that we are unable to show as good work perhaps, man for man, as they offer. we have no sandys, no millais, no boyd houghton, it is true; they had no e. a. abbey, no phil may, no ..., but it would be a delicate matter to continue a list of living masters here. but if you can find an english periodical with as many first-rate pictures as _once a week_, _the cornhill magazine_, _good words_, and others contained in the early sixties, you will be ... well ... lucky is perhaps the most polite word. that the cheapness and rapidity of 'reproduction by process' should be directly responsible for the birth of many new illustrated periodicals to-day is clear enough. but it is surprising to find that a movement, which relatively speaking was almost as fecund, had begun some years before photography had ousted the engraver. why it sprang into existence is not quite so obvious; but if we assume, as facts indicate, that the system of producing wood-engravings underwent a radical change about this time, we shall find that again a more ample supply provoked a larger demand. hitherto, the engraver had only accepted as many blocks as he could engrave himself, with the help of a few assistants; but not very long before the date we are considering factories for the supply of wood-engravings had grown up. the heads of these, practical engravers and in some cases artists of more than average ability, took all the responsibility for the work intrusted to them, and maintained a singularly high standard of excellence; but they did not pretend that they engraved each block themselves. such a system not merely permitted commissions for a large quantity of blocks being accepted, but greatly increased speed in their production. there can be little doubt that something of the sort took place; it will suffice to name but two firms, messrs. dalziel and messrs. swain, who were each responsible often enough, not merely for all the engravings in a book, but often for all the engravings in a popular magazine. under the old system, the publisher had thrown upon him the trouble of discovering the right engraver to employ, and the burden of reconciling the intention of the artist with the product of the engraver. this, by itself, would have been enough to make him very cautious before committing himself to the establishment of an illustrated magazine. but if we also remember that, under such conditions, almost unlimited time would be required for the production of the engravings, and that, to ensure a sufficient quantity being ready for each issue, a very large number of independent engravers must needs have been employed, it is clear that the old conditions would not have been equal to the task. when, however, the publisher or editor was able to send all his drawings to a reputable firm who could undertake to deliver the engravings by a given time, one factor of great practical importance had been established. it is not surprising to find that things went even further than this, and that the new firms of engravers not only undertook the whole of the blocks, but in several cases supplied the drawings also. without claiming that such a system is the best, it is but fair to own that to it we are indebted for the masterpieces of the sixties. no doubt the ideal art-editor--a perfectly equipped critic, with the blank cheque of a millionaire at his back--might have done better; but to-day there are many who think themselves perfectly equipped critics, and perhaps some here and there who are backed by millionaires, yet on neither side of the atlantic can we find better work than was produced under the system in vogue in the sixties. but after all, it is not the system, then or now, that is praiseworthy, but the individual efforts of men whose hearts were in their professions. the more you inquire into the practice of the best engravers then and now, the more you find that ultimately one person is responsible for the good. in the sixties the engraver saw new possibilities, and did his utmost to realise them; full of enthusiasm, and a master of his craft, he inspired those who worked with him to experiment and spare no effort. that he did marvels may be conceded; and to declare that the merely mechanical processes to-day have already distanced his most ambitious efforts in many qualities does not detract from his share. but in this chapter he is regarded less as a craftsman than as a middleman, an art-editor in effect if not in name; one who taught the artists with whom he was brought in contact the limits of the material in which their work was to be translated, and in turn learned from them no little that was of vital importance. above all, he seems to have kept closely in touch with draughtsmen and engravers alike; one might believe that every drawing passed through his hands, and that every block was submitted to him many times during its progress. when you realise the mass of work signed 'dalziels' or 'swain,' it is evident that its high standard of excellence must not be attributed to any system, but to the personal supervision of the acting members of the firms--men who were, every one of them, both draughtsmen and engravers, who knew not only the effect the artist aimed to secure, but the best method of handicraft by which to obtain it. if, after acknowledging this, one cannot but regret that the photographic transfer of drawings to wood had not come into general use twenty years before it did, so that the masterpieces of the rossetti designs to tennyson's _poems_ and a hundred others had not been cut to pieces by the engraver; yet at the same time we must remember that, but for the enterprise of the engraver, the drawings themselves would in all probability never have been called into existence in many cases. this is especially true of the famous volumes which messrs. dalziel issued under the imprint of various publishers, who were really merely agents for their distribution. _the penny magazine_ in 1832, and other of charles knight's publications, _sharp's magazine_, _the people's journal_, _howitt's journal of literature_, _the illustrated family journal_, _the mirror_, _the parterre_, _the casket_, _the olio_, _the saturday magazine_, _pinnock's guide to knowledge_, _punch_, _the illustrated london news_, had led the way for pictorial weekly papers, even as the old annuals and the various novels by ainsworth, dickens, and thackeray had prepared the way for magazines; but the artistic movement of the 'sixties,' so far as its periodicals are concerned, need be traced back no further than _once a week_. perhaps, however, it would be unfair to forget the influence of _the art journal_ (at first called _the art union_), which, started in 1851, brought fine art to the homes of the great british public through the medium of wood-engravings in a way not attempted previously; and certainly we must not ignore john cassell, who, on the demise of _howitt's journal_ and _the people's journal_ in 1850, brought out an illustrated chronicle of the great exhibition, which was afterwards merged in a _magazine of art_. as _the strand magazine_--the first monthly periodical to exploit freely the kodak and the half-tone block--started a whole school of imitators, so _once a week_, depending chiefly on drawings by the best men of the day, engraved by the foremost engravers, was followed quickly by the _cornhill magazine_, _good words_, and the rest. many of these were short-lived; nor, looking at them impartially to-day, are we quite sure that the survivors were always the fittest. certainly they were not always the best. but the number of new ventures that saw the light about this time can scarce be named here. then, as now, a vast army of quite second-rate draughtsmen were available, and a number of periodicals, which it were gross flattery to call second-rate, sprang up to utilise their talents. besides these, many weekly and monthly publications, ostensibly devoted to catering for the taste of the masses, gained large audiences and employed talented artists, but demand no more serious consideration as art, than do the 'snippet' weeklies of to-day as literature. but some of these popular serials--such as _the band of hope_, _the british workman_, _the london journal_, _the london reader_, _bow bells_, _every week_, and the rest--are not, relatively speaking, worse than more pretentious publications. it is weary work to estimate the place of the second and third bests, and whatever interest the subject possesses would be exhausted quickly if we tried to catalogue or describe the less important items. yet, to be quite just, several of these, notably the cheap publications of messrs. cassell, petter, and galpin, messrs. s. w. partridge and co., and many others, employed artists by no means second-rate and gave better artistic value for their money than many of their successors do at present. it is well to face the plain fact, and own that at no time has the supply of really creative artists equalled the popular demand. not all the painters of any period are even passable, nor all the illustrators. much that is produced for the moment fulfils its purpose admirably enough, although it dies as soon as it is born. nature shows us the prodigal fecundity of generation compared with the few that ripen to maturity. the danger lies rather in appreciating too much, whether of 'the sixties' or 'the nineties'; yet, if one is stoical enough to praise only the best, it demands not merely great critical acumen, but no little hardness of heart. the intention always pleads to be recognised. we know that accidents, quite beyond the artist's power to prevent, may have marred his work. each man, feeling his own impotence to express his ideas lucidly, must needs be lenient to those who also stammer and fail to interpret their imaginings clearly and with irresistible power. yet, although the men of the sixties survive in greatly reduced numbers and one might speak plainly of much of its trivial commonplace without hurting anybody's feelings, there is no need to drag the rubbish to light. chapter iii: some illustrated magazines of the sixties. i. 'once a week' once a week.--on the second of july 1859 appeared the first number of _once a week_, 'an illustrated miscellany of literature, art, science, and popular information.' despite the choice of an extraordinary time of year, as we should now consider it, to float a new venture, the result proved fortunate. not merely does the first series of this notable magazine deserve recognition as the pioneer of its class; its superiority is no less provable than its priority. the earliest attempt to provide a magazine with original illustrations by the chief artists of its time was not merely a bold and well-considered experiment but, as the thirteen volumes of its first series show, an instant and admirably sustained triumph. no other thirteen volumes of an english magazine, at any period, contain so much first-class work. the invention and knowledge, the mastery of the methods employed, and the superb achievements of some of its contributors entitle it to be ranked as one of the few artistic enterprises of which england may be justly proud. when the connection of dickens with his old publishers was severed, and _all the year round_ issued from its own office, messrs. bradbury and evans projected a rival paper that was in no sense an imitation of the former. the reasons for its success lie on the surface. started by the proprietors of _punch_, with the co-operation of an artistic staff that has been singularly fortunate in enlisting always the services of the best men of their day, it is obvious that few periodicals have ever been launched under happier auspices. its aim was obviously to do for fiction, light literature, and _belles-lettres_, what _punch_ had accomplished so admirably for satire and caricature. at that time, with no rivals worth consideration, a fixed intention to obtain for a new magazine the active co-operation of the best men of all schools was within the bounds of possibility. to-day a millionaire with a blank cheque-book could not even hope to succeed in such a project. he would find many first-rate artists, whom no amount of money would attract, and others with connections that would be imperilled if they contributed to a rival enterprise. there are many who prefer the safety of an established periodical to the risk which must needs attend any 'up-to-date' venture. now _once a week_ was not merely 'up-to-date' in its period, but far ahead of the popular taste. as we cannot rival it to-day in its own line, even the most ardent defender of the present at the expense of the past must own that the improvement in process-engraving and the increased truth of facsimile reproductions it offers have not inspired draughtsmen to higher efforts. why so excellent a magazine is not flourishing to-day is a mystery. it would seem as if the public, faithful as they are to non-illustrated periodicals, are fickle where pictures are concerned. but the memory of the third series of _once a week_ relieves the public of the responsibility; changes in the direction and aim of the periodical were made, and all for the worse; so that it lost its high position and no more interested the artist. _punch_, its sponsor, seems to have the secret of eternal youth, possibly because its original programme is still consistently maintained. in another feature it resembled _punch_ more than any previous periodical. in _the london charivari_ many of the pictures have always been inserted quite independently of the text. some have a title, and some a brief scrap of dialogue to explain their story; but the picture is not there to elucidate the anecdote, so much as the title, or fragment of conversation, helps to elucidate the picture. unless an engraving be from a painting, or a topographical view, the rule in english magazines then, as now, is that it must illustrate the text. this is not the place to record an appreciation of the thorough and consistent way in which the older illustrators set about the work of reiterating the obvious incident, depicting for all eyes to see what the author had suggested in his text already, for it is evident that a design untrammelled by any fixed programme ought to allow the artist more play for his fancy. nevertheless, the less frequent illustrations to its serial fiction are well up to the level of those practically independent of the text. in _once a week_ there are dozens of pictures which are evidently purely the invention of the draughtsman. that a modest little poem, written to order usually, satisfies the conventions of established precedent, need not be taken as evidence that traverses the argument. _once a week_ ranked its illustrators as important as its authors, which is clearly an ideal method for an illustrated periodical to observe. to write up to pictures has often been attempted; were not _the pickwick papers_ begun in this way? but the author soon reversed the situation, and once more put the artist in a subordinate place. it is curious to observe that readers of light literature had been satisfied previously with a very conventional type of illustration. for, granting all sorts of qualities to those pictures by cruikshank, 'phiz,' and thackeray, which illustrated the dickens, ainsworth, lever, and thackeray novels, you can hardly refer the source of their inspiration to nature, however remotely. their purpose seems to have been caricature rather than character-drawing, sentimentality in place of sentiment, melodrama in lieu of mystery, broad farce instead of humour. these aims were accomplished in masterly fashion, perhaps; but is there a single illustration by cruikshank, 'phiz,' thackeray, or even john leech, which tempts us to linger and return again and again purely for its art? its 'drawing' is often slipshod, and never infused by the perception of physical beauty that the greeks embodied as their ideal, that ideal which the illustrators of _once a week_, especially walker, revived soon after this date. nor are they inspired by the symbolists' regard for nature, which attracted the 'primitives' of the middle ages, and their legitimate followers the pre-raphaelites. indeed, as you study the so-called 'immortal' designs which illustrate the early victorian novels, you feel that if many of the artists were once considered to be as great as the authors whose ideas they interpreted, time has wreaked revenge at last. if a boy happens to read for the first time thackeray's _vanity fair_ with its original illustrations, the humour and pathos of the masterpiece lose half their power when the ridiculously feeble drawings confront him throughout the book. this is not the case with millais' illustrations to trollope, or those by fred walker to thackeray. the costume may appear grotesque, but the men and women are vital, and as real in the picture as in the literature. lacking the virility of hogarth, or the coarse animal vigour of rowlandson, these caricaturists kept one eye on the fashion-book and one on the grotesque. it was 'cumeelfo' to depict the english maiden a colourless vapid nonentity, to make the villain look villainous, and the benevolent middle-aged person imbecile. accidental deformities and vulgar personal defects were deemed worthy themes for laughter. the fat boy in _pickwick_, the fat joe sedley in _vanity fair_, the _marchioness and dick swiveller_, the _quilps' tea-party_, and the rest, all belong to the order of humour that survives to-day in the 'knockabout artists,' or the 'sketch' performances at second-rate music-halls. even the much-belauded _fagin in the condemned cell_ appears a trite and ineffective bit of low melodrama to-day. we know the oft-repeated story of the artist's despondency, his failure to realise an attitude to express fagin's despair, and how as he caught sight of his own face in the glass he saw that he himself, a draughtsman troubled by a subject, was the very model for one about to be hanged. all the personality of anecdote and the sentimental log-rolling which gathered round the pictures, that by chance were associated with a series of masterpieces in fiction, no longer fascinate us. we recognise the power of the writers, but wish in our hearts that they had never been 'illustrated,' or if so, that they had enjoyed the good fortune which belongs to the novelists of the sixties. but to refuse to endorse the verdict of earlier critics does not imply that there was no merit in these designs, but merely that their illustrators must be classed for the most part (leech least of all) with the exaggerators--those who aimed at the grotesque--with gilray or baxter, the creator of _ally sloper_, and not with true satirists like hogarth or charles keene, who worked in ways that are pre-eminently masterly, even if you disregard the humorous element in their designs. without forcing the theory too far, it may be admitted that the idea of _once a week_ owes more to these serial novels than to any previous enterprise. be that as it may, the plan of the magazine, as we find in a postscript (to vol. i.), was at once 'ratified by popular acceptance.' further, its publishers admit that its circulation was adequate and its commercial success established, after only thirty-six numbers had appeared. it is no new thing for the early numbers of magazines and papers to contain glowing accounts of their phenomenal circulation; but, in this case, there can be no doubt that the self-congratulation is both well deserved and genuine. to _once a week_ may be accorded the merit of initiating a new type of periodical which has survived with trifling changes until to-day. its recognition of 'fiction' and 'pictures,' as the chief items in its programme, has been followed by a hundred others; but the editing, which made it readable as well as artistic, is a secret that many of its imitators failed to understand. although _a good fight_ (afterwards rewritten and entitled _the cloister and the hearth_) is the only novel within its pages that has since assumed classic rank, yet the average of its art--good as it was--is not as far above the standard of its literature, as the illustrations of its predecessors fell below the text they professed to adorn. in sketching the life-history of other illustrated magazines it seemed best to follow a chronological order, because the progress of the art of illustration is reflected more or less faithfully in the advance and retrogression they show. but the thirteen volumes which complete the first series of _once a week_ may be considered better in a different way. for to-day it is prized almost entirely for its pictures, and they were contributed for the most part by the same artists year after year. while in other periodicals you find, with every new volume, a fresh relay of artists, _once a week_, during its palmy days, was supported by the same brilliant group of draughtsmen, who admitted very few recruits, and only those whose great early promise was followed almost directly by ample fulfilment. the very first illustration is a vignette by john leech to a rhymed programme of the magazine by shirley brooks. but leech, who died in 1864, cannot be regarded as a typical illustrator of 'the sixties'--not so much because his work extended only a few years into that decade, as that he belonged emphatically to the earlier school, and represented all that is _not_ characteristic of the period with which this book is concerned. it is unnecessary to belittle his art for the sake of glorifying those who succeeded him in popularity. that he obtained a strong hold upon english taste, lettered and unlettered, is undeniable. it has become part and parcel of that english life, especially of the insular middle-class, whose ideal permitted it to regard the exhibition building of 1851 not as a big conservatory, but as a new and better parthenon, and to believe honestly enough that the millennium of universal peace with art, no less than morals, perfected to the '_n_th' degree (on purely british lines), was dawning upon humanity. that the efforts of 1851 made much possible to-day which else had been impossible may be granted. the grace and truth of john leech's designs may be recognised despite their technical insufficiency, but at the same time we may own that, in common with cruikshank and the rest, he has received infinitely more appreciation than his artistic achievement merited, and leave his share unconsidered here, although no doubt it was a big commercial factor in the success. to vol. i. of _once a week_ he contributed no less than thirty-two designs, to vol. ii. forty-six, to vol. iii. seven, to vol. iv. one, and to vol. v. four. john tenniel, although he began to work much earlier, and is still an active contemporary, may be considered as belonging especially to the sixties, wherein he represents the survival of an academic type in sharply accentuated distinction to the pre-raphaelism of one group or to the romantic naturalism of a still larger section. on page 4 of vol. i. we find his first drawing, a vignette, and page 5 a design, _audun and the white bear_, no less typically 'a tenniel' in every particular than is the current cartoon in _punch_. those on pages 21, 30, 60, 90, 101, 103, and 170 are all relatively unimportant. _the king of thule_ (p. 250) is an illustration to sir theodore martin's familiar translation of goethe's poems. others are on pp. 285, 435, 446. to vol. ii. he is a less frequent contributor. the designs, pp. 39, 98, 99, and 103 call for no comment. the one on p. 444 (not p. 404 as the index has it), to tom taylor's ballad _noménoë_, is reprinted in _songs and ballads of brittany_ (macmillan, 1865). in vol. iii. there is one (p. 52) of small value. on pp. 533, 561, 589, 617, 645, 673, and 701 are pictures to shirley brooks's _the silver cord_, showing the artist in his less familiar aspect as an illustrator of fiction. the one on p. 589 is irresistibly like a 'wonderland' picture, while that on p. 225 (vol. iv.) suggests a _punch_ cartoon; but, on the whole, they are curiously free from undue mannerism in the types they depict. in vol. iv. are more illustrations to _the silver cord_ (pp. 1, 29, 57, 85, 113, 141, 169, 197, 225, 253, 281, 309, 337, 365, 393, 421, 449, 477, 505, 533, 561, 589, 617, 645, 673, and 701), and illustrations to owen meredith's poem, _fair rosamund_ (pp. 294, 295). in volume v. _the silver cord_ is continued with ten more designs (pp. 1, 29, 57, 85, 113, 141, 169, 197, 225, 253), and there is one to _mark bozzari_ (p. 659), translated from müller by sir theodore martin. in volume vi. tenniel appears but four times: _at crutchley prior_ (p. 267), _the fairies_ (p. 379), a very delicate fancy, _prince lulu_ (p. 490), and _made to order_ (p. 575). from the seventh and eighth volumes he is absent, and reappears in the ninth with only one drawing, _clytè_ (p. 154), and in the tenth (dec. 1863-june 1864) with one, _bacchus and the water thieves_ (p. 658). nor does he appear again in this magazine until 1867, with _lord aythan_, the frontispiece to vol. iii. of the new series. sir john tenniel, however, more than any other of the _punch_ staff, seems never thoroughly at home outside its pages. the very idea of a tenniel drawing has become a synonym for a political cartoon; so that now you cannot avoid feeling that all his illustrations to poetry, fiction, and fairy-tale must have some satirical motive underlying their apparent purpose. [illustration: j. e. millais 'once a week' vol. i. p. 241 grandmother's apology] [illustration: j. e. millais 'once a week' vol. i. p. 316 the plague of elliant] it is difficult to record sir john everett millais' contributions to this magazine with level unbiassed comments. notwithstanding the palpable loss they suffered by translation under the hands of even the most skilful of his engravers, the impressions belong to a higher plane than is reached by their neighbours save in a very few instances. the millais wood-engravings deserve a deliberately ordered monograph as fully as do the etchings by rembrandt and whistler, or hokousaï's prints. it is true that not quite all his many illustrations to contemporary literature are as good as the best works of the great artist just named; but if you search through the portfolios of the past for that purpose, you will find that even the old masters were not always adding to a cycle of masterpieces. the astounding fact remains that sir john millais, dealing with the hair-net and the dundreary whiskers, the crinoline and peg-top trousers, imparted such dignity to his men and women that even now they carry their grotesque costumes with distinction, and fail to appear old-fashioned, but at most as masqueraders in fancy dress. for in millais' work you are face to face with actual human beings, superbly drawn and fulfilling all artistic requirements. they possess the immense individuality of a velasquez portrait, which, as a human being, appeals to you no less surely, than its handling arouses your æsthetic appreciation. at this period it seems as if the artist was overflowing with power and mastery--everything he touched sprang into life. whether he owed much or little to his predecessors is unimportant--take away all, and still a giant remains. it is so easy to accept the early drawings of millais as perfect of their kind, beyond praise or blame, and yet to fail to realise that they possess the true vitality of those few classics which are for all time. the term monumental must not be applied to them, for it suggests something dead in fact, although living in sentiment and admired by reason of conventional precedent. the millais drawings have still the power to excite an artist as keenly as a great rembrandt etching that he sees for the first time, or an early whistler that turns up unexpectedly in a loan collection, or an unknown utamaro colour print. the mood they provoke is almost deprived of critical analysis by the overwhelming sense of fulfillment which is forced on your notice. in place of gratified appreciation you feel appalled that one man should have done over and over again, so easily and with such certainty, what dozens of his fellows, accomplished and masterly in their way, tried with by no means uniform success. if every canvas by the artist were lost, he might still be proved to belong to the great masters from his illustrations alone; even if these were available only through the medium of wood-engraving. the first volume of _once a week_ contains, as millais' first contribution, _magenta_ (p. 10), a study of a girl who has just read a paper with news of the great battle that gave its name to the terrible colour which typifies the period. it is badly printed in the copy at my side, and, although engraved by dalziels, is not an instance of their best work. in _grandmother's apology_ (p. 41) we have a most delightful illustration to tennyson, reproduced in his collected volume, but not elsewhere. _on the water_ (p. 70) and _la fille bien gardée_ (p. 306) may be passed without comment. but _the plague of elliant_ (p. 316), a powerful drawing of a woman dragging a cart wherein are the bodies of her nine dead children, has been selected, more than once, as a typical example of the illustrator at his best. _maude clare_ (p. 382), _a lost love_ (p. 482), and _st. bartholomew_ (p. 514), complete the millais' in vol. i. in the second volume we find _the crown of love_ (p. 10), a poem by george meredith. this was afterwards painted and exhibited under the same title in the royal academy of 1875. _a wife_ (p. 32), _the head of bran_ (p. 132), _practising_ (p. 242), (a girl at a piano), and _musa_ (p. 598), complete the list of the five in this volume. in vol. iii. there are seven: _master olaf_ (p. 63), _violet_ (p. 140), _dark gordon's bride_ (p. 238), _the meeting_ (p. 276), _the iceberg_ (pp. 407, 435), and _a head of hair for sale_ (p. 519). in vol. iv. but two appear, _iphis and anaxarete_ (p. 98) and _thorr's hunt for the hammer_ (p. 126), both slighter in execution than most of the _once a week_ millais'. volume v. also contains but two, _tannhäuser_ (p. 211) and _swing song_ (p. 434), a small boy in a spanish turban swinging. volume vi. houses a dozen: _schwerting of saxony_ (p. 43), _the battle of the thirty_ (p. 155), _the child of care_ (pp. 2, 39), five designs for miss martineau's _sister anne's probation_ (pp. 309, 337, 365, 393, 421), _sir tristem_ (p. 350), _the crusader's wife_ (p. 546), _the chase of the siren_ (p. 630), and _the drowning of kaer-is_ (p. 687). the seventh volume contains eleven examples by this artist: _margaret wilson_ (p. 42), five to miss martineau's _anglers of the don_ (pp. 85, 113, 141, 169, 197), _maid avoraine_ (p. 98), _the mite of dorcas_ (p. 224), (which is the subject of the academy picture, _the widow's mite_ of 1876; although in the painting the widow turns her back on the spectator), _the parting of ulysses_ (p. 658), _the spirit of the vanished island_ (p. 546), and _limerick bells_ (p. 710), a design of which a eulogist of the artist says: 'the old monk might be expanded as he stands into a full-sized picture.' in the eighth volume _endymion on latmos_ (p. 42), a charming study of the sleeping shepherd, is the only independent picture; the other nine are by way of illustration to miss martineau's _the hampdens_ (pp. 211, 239, 267, 281, 309, 337, 365, 393, 421, 449). these are delightful examples of the use of costume by a great master. neither pedantically correct, nor too lax, they revivify the period so that the actors are more important than the accessories. [illustration: j. e. millais 'once a week' vol. v. p. 211 tannhäuser] [illustration: j. e. millais 'once a week' vol. vi. p. 42 sister anne's probation] [illustration: j. e. millais 'once a week' vol. viii. p. 365 the hampdens] [illustration: j. e. millais 'once a week' 1868, vol. i. p. 79 death dealing arrows] the ninth volume, like the eighth, has only one picture by millais not illustrating its serial. this is _hacco the dwarf_ (p. 504). the others represent scenes in miss martineau's _sir christopher_ (pp. 491, 519, 547, 575, 603, 631, 659, 687), a seventeenth-century story. the illustrators of to-day should study these and other pictures where the artist was hampered by the story, and imitate his loyal purpose to expound and amplify the text, accomplishing it the while with most admirably dramatic composition and strong character-drawing. in the remaining volume of the first series there are no other examples by millais; nor, with the exceptions _death dealing arrows_ (jan. 25, 1868, p. 79), one in the _christmas number for 1860_, and _taking his ease_, 1868 (p. 65), does he appear as a contributor to the magazine. it must not be forgotten that high prices are often responsible for the desire, or rather the necessity, of using second-rate work. when an artist attains a position that monopolises all his working hours, it is obvious that he cannot afford to accept even the highest current rate of payment for magazine illustration; nor, on the other hand, can an editor, who conducts what is after all a commercial enterprise, afford to pay enormous sums for its illustrations. for later drawings this artist was paid at least five times as much as for his earlier efforts, and possibly in some cases ten or twelve times as much. charles keene, the great illustrator so little appreciated by his contemporaries, whose fame is still growing daily, was a frequent contributor to _once a week_ for many years. starting with volume i. he depicted, in quasi-mediæval fashion, charles reade's famous _cloister and the hearth_, then called, in its first and shorter form, _a good fight_ (pp. 11, 31, 51, 71, 91, 111, 131, 151, 171, 191, 211, 231, 251, 254, 273). coincidently he illustrated also _guests at the red lion_ (pp. 61, 65), _a fatal gift_ (p. 141), _uncle simkinson_ (pp. 201, 203), _gentleman in the plum-coloured coat_ (p. 270), _benjamin harris_ (pp. 427, 449, 471), _my picture gallery_ (p. 483), and _a merry christmas_ (p. 544). in volume ii. there are only five illustrations by him (pp. 1, 5, 54, 111, and 451) to shorter tales; but to george meredith's _evan harrington_, running through this volume and the next, he contributes thirty-nine drawings, some of them in his happiest vein, all showing strongly and firmly marked types of character-drawing, in which he excelled. volume iii. contains also, on pages 20, 426, 608, 687, and 712, less important works: _the emigrant artist_ on p. 608 is a return to the german manner which distinguished the _good fight_. the drawings for _sam bentley's christmas_ commence here in (pp. 687, 712), and are continued (pp. 19, 45, 155, 158) in vol. iv., where we also find _in re mr. brown_ (pp. 330, 332), _the beggar's soliloquy_ (p. 378), _a model strike_ (p. 466), _the two norse kings_ (pp. 519, 547), and _the revenue officer's story_ (p. 713). in volume v. are: _the painter alchemist_ (p. 43), _business with bokes_ (p. 251), _william's perplexities_ (pp. 281, 309, 337, 365, 393), also a romantic subject, _adalieta_ (p. 266): a poem by edwin arnold, and _the patriot engineer_ (p. 686). to the sixth volume, the illustrations for _the woman i loved and the woman who loved me_ (pp. 85, 113, 141, 169, 197, 225, 253, 281) are by keene, as are also those to _my schoolfellow friend_ (p. 334), _a legend of carlisle_ (p. 407), a curiously germanic _page from the history of kleinundengreich_ (p. 531), _nip's daimon_ (p. 603), and _a mysterious supper-party_ (659). in vol. vii. and vol. viii. _verner's pride_, by mrs. henry wood, supplies motives for seventeen pictures. in vol. viii. _the march of arthur_ (p. 434), _the bay of the dead_ (p. 546), and _my brother's story_ (p. 617). in vol. ix. _the viking's serf_ (p. 42), _the station-master_ (pp. 1, 69), and _the heirloom_ (pp. 435, 463) complete charles keene's share in the illustration of the thirteen volumes of the first series. fred walker is often supposed to have made his first appearance as an illustrator in _once a week_, vol. ii. with _peasant proprietorship_ (p. 165); and, although an exception of earlier date may be discovered, it is only in an obscure paper (of which the british museum apparently has no copy) barely a month before. for practical purposes, therefore, _once a week_ may be credited with being the first-established periodical to commission a young artist whose influence upon the art of the sixties was great. this drawing was quickly followed by _god help our men at sea_ (p. 198), _an honest arab_ (p. 262), _après_ (p. 330), _lost in the fog_ (p. 370), _spirit painting_ (p. 424), and _tenants at no. 27_ (p. 481), and _the lake at yssbrooke_ (p. 538). looking closely at these, in two or three only can you discover indications of the future creator of _philip_. those on pages 424 and 481 are obviously the work of the fred walker as we know him now. but those on pp. 165, 198, 330, and 538 would pass unnoticed in any magazine of the period, except that the full signature 'f. walker' arouses one's curiosity, and almost suggests, like lewis carroll's re-attribution of the _iliad_, 'another man of the same name.' [illustration: charles keene 'once a week' vol. i. p. 91 'a good fight'] in vol. iii. a poem, _once upon a time_, by eliza cook, has two illustrations (pp. 24, 25), which, tentative as they are, and not faultless in drawing, foreshadow the grace of his later work. in _markham's revenge_ (pp. 182-184) the artist is himself, as also in _wanted a diamond ring_ (p. 210). _a noctuary of terror_ (pp. 294, 295), _first love_ (p. 322), _the unconscious bodyguard_ (p. 359), are unimportant. _the herberts of elfdale_ (pp. 449, 454, 477, 505, 508), possibly the first serial walker illustrated, is infinitely better. _black venn_ (p. 583), _a young wife's song_ (p. 668), and _putting up the christmas_, a drawing group, complete the examples by this artist in vol. iii. volume iv. contains: _under the fir-trees_ (p. 43), _voltaire at ferney_ (p. 66), a very poor thing, _the fan_ (p. 75), _bring me a light_ (pp. 102-105), _the parish clerk's story_ (p. 248), _the magnolia_ (pp. 263, 267), _dangerous_ (p. 416), _an old boy's tale_ (p. 499), _romance of the cab-rank_ (p. 585), and _the jewel case_ (p. 631). in vol. v. we find _jessie cameron's bairn_ (p. 15), _the deserted diggings_ (p. 83), _pray, sir, are you a gentleman_? (pp. 127, 133), _a run for life_ (p. 306), _cader idris_ (p. 323), and a series of illustrations to _the settlers of long arrow: a canadian story_ (pp. 421, 449, 477, 505, 533, 561, 589, 617, 645, 673, and 701). to volume vi. walker contributes _patty_ (pp. 126, 127), _a dreadful ghost_ (p. 211), and nine to dutton cook's _the prodigal son_ (pp. 449, 477, 505, 533, 561, 589, 617, 673, 701), which story, running into volume vii., has further illustrations on pp. 1, 29, and 57. _the deadly affinity_ (pp. 421, 449, 477), and _spirit-rapping extraordinary_ (p. 614) are the only others by the artist in this volume. the eighth volume has but one, _after ten years_ (p. 378), and _the ghost in the green park_ (p. 309) is the only one in volume ix., and his last in the first series. vol. i. of the new series has the famous _vagrants_ (p. 112) for one of its special art supplements. amid contemporary notices you often find the work of m. j. lawless placed on the same level as that of millais or sandys; but, while few of the men of the period have less deservedly dropped out of notice, one feels that to repeat such an estimate were to do an injustice to a very charming draughtsman. for the sake of his future reputation it is wiser not to attempt to rank him with the greatest; but in the second order he may be fitly placed. for fancy and feeling, no less than for his loyal adherence to the dürer line, at a time it found little favour, lawless deserves to be more studied by the younger artists of to-day. a great number of decorative designers are too fond of repeating certain mannerisms, and among others, lawless in england and howard pyle in america, two men inspired by similar purpose, should receive more attention than they have done. _once a week_ contains the largest number of his drawings. in vol. i., to _sentiment from the shambles_, there are three illustrations attributed to him. those on pp. 505 and 509 are undoubtedly by lawless, but that on p. 507 is so unlike his method, and indeed so unimportant, that it matters not whether the index be true or in error. [illustration: m. j. lawless 'once a week' vol. iv. p. 407 effie gordon] [illustration: m. j. lawless 'once a week' vol. vi. p. 14 dr. johnson's penance] [illustration: m. j. lawless 'once a week' vol. x. p. 71 john of padua] in vol. ii. are ten examples, two on the same page to _the bridal of galtrim_ (p. 88), _the lay of the lady and the hound_ (p. 164), a very pre-raphaelite composition, _florinda_ (p. 220), (more influenced by the later millais), _only for something to say_ (p. 352), a study of fashionable society, which (as mr. walter crane's attempts show) does not lend itself to the convention of the thick line, _the head master's sister_ (pp. 386, 389, 393), _the secret_ (p. 430), and _a legend of swaffham_ (p. 549). in vol. iii. _oysters and pearls_ (p. 79) is attributed to lawless, but one hopes wrongly; _the betrayed_ (p. 155), elfie meadows (p. 304), _the minstrel's curse_ (p. 351), _the two beauties_ (unsigned and not quite obviously a lawless) (p. 462), and _my angel's visit_ (p. 658) are the titles of the rest. in the fourth volume there are: _the death of oenone_ (pp. 14, 15), _valentine's day_ (p. 208), _effie gordon_ (pp. 406, 407), and _the cavalier's escape_ (687), all much more typical. in vol. v. we find _high elms_ (p. 420), _twilight_ (p. 532), _king dyring_ (p. 575), and _fleurette_ (p. 700). in the sixth volume there are only three: _dr. johnson's penance_ (one of the best drawings of the author), (p. 14), _what befel me at the assizes_ (p. 194), and _the dead bride_ (p. 462). in the seventh volume there is one only to a story by a. c. swinburne, _dead love_ (p. 434). despite the name of jacques d'aspremont on the coffin, the picture is used to a poem with quite a different theme, _the white witch_, in thornbury's _legendary ballads_, which contains no less than twenty of lawless's _once a week_ designs. in vol. viii. are two, _the linden trees_ (p. 644) and _gifts_ (p. 712). in vol. ix. three only: _faint heart never won fair lady_ (p. 98), _heinrich frauenlob_ (p. 393), and _broken toys_ (p. 672). in vol. x. appears the last of lawless's contributions, and, as some think, his finest, _john of padua_ (p. 71). the first work by frederick sandys in _once a week_ will be found in vol. iv.: it is not, as the index tells you, _the dying hero_, on page 71, which is wrongly attributed to him; _yet once more on the organ play_ (p. 350) is by sandys, as is also _the sailor's bride_ (p. 434) in the same volume. in vol. v. are three, _from my window_ (p. 238), _the three statues of ægina_ (p. 491), and _rosamund, queen of the lombards_ (p. 631). in vol. vi. we find _the old chartist_ (p. 183), _the king at the gate_ (p. 322), and _jacques de caumont_ (p. 614). in vol. vii. _harold harfagr_ (p. 154), _the death of king warwolf_ (p. 266), and _the boy martyr_ (p. 602). thence, with the exception of _helen and cassandra_, published as a separate plate with the issue of april 28, 1866 (p. 454), no more sandys are to be found. to _once a week_ holman hunt contributed but three illustrations: _witches and witchcraft_ (ii. p. 438), _at night_ (iii. p. 102), and _temujin_ (iii. p. 630); yet this very scanty representation is not below the average proportion of the work of this artist in black and white compared with his more fecund contemporaries. a still more infrequent illustrator, j. m'neill whistler, is met with four times in _once a week_, and, i believe, but twice elsewhere. speaking of the glamour shed upon the magazine by its sandys drawings, it is but just to own that to another school of artists these four 'whistlers' were responsible for the peculiar veneration with which they regarded an old magazine. the illustrations to _the major's daughter_ (vi. p. 712), _the relief fund in lancashire_ (vii. p. 140), _the morning before the massacre of st. bartholomew_ (vii. p. 210), and _count burckhardt_ (vii. p. 378), a nun by a window, are too well known to need comment. that they show the exquisite sense of the value of a line, and have much in common with the artist's etchings of the same period, is evident enough. g. j. pinwell first makes his appearance in _once a week_, in the eighth volume, with _the saturnalia_ (p. 154), a powerful but entirely untypical illustration of a classical subject by an artist who is best known for pastoral and bucolic scenes, _the old man at d._ 8 (p. 197), _seasonable wooing_ (p. 322), _a bad egg_ (p. 392), and _a foggy story_ (p. 477); but only in the latter do you find the curiously personal manner which grew to a mannerism in much of his later work. these, with _blind_ (p. 645) and _tidings_ (p. 700), are all well-thought-out compositions. to volume ix. he contributes _the strong heart_ (p. 29), _not a ripple on the sea_ (p. 57) (a drawing which belies its title), _laying a ghost_ (p. 85), _the fisherman of lake sunapee_ (p. 225), _waiting for the tide_ (p. 281), _nutting_ (p. 378), and _the sirens_ (p. 616). in volume x. he is represented by _bracken hollow_ (pp. 57, 85), _the expiation of charles v._ (p. 99), _the blacksmith of holsby_ (pp. 113, 154), _calypso_ (p. 183), _horace winston_ (p. 211), _proserpine_ (p. 239), _a stormy night_ (p. 253), _mistaken identity_ (p. 281), _hero_ (p. 350), _the vizier's parrot_ (406), _a pastoral_ (p. 490), _a' beckett's troth_ (p. 574), and _the stonemason's yard_ (p. 701). the eleventh volume contains only four: _hettie's trouble_ (p. 26), _delsthorpe sands_ (p. 586), _the legend of the bleeding cave_ (p. 699), and _rosette_ (p. 713); and volume xii. has three: _followers not allowed_ (p. 71), _homer_ (p. 127), and _dido_ (p. 527). the last volume of the first series (1866) has but one, _achilles_ (p. 239). pinwell's work bulks so largely in the sixties that a bare list of these must suffice; but this period, before he developed the curiously immobile manner of his later years, is perhaps the most interesting. [illustration: frederick sandys 'once a week' vol. v. p. 491 the three statues of ægina] [illustration: frederick sandys 'once a week' vol. vi. p. 183 the old chartist] [illustration: frederick sandys 'once a week' vol. vii. p. 154 harold harfagr] [illustration: frederick sandys 'once a week' vol. v. p. 631 rosamund, queen of the lombards] the index asserts that george du maurier is responsible for the pictures in _once a week_, vol. iii. pp. 378-379, signed m.b., and as you find others unmistakably du maurier's signed with various monograms, its evidence must not be gainsaid; but neither these nor others, to _my adventures ... in russia_ (pp. 553, 557), _the two hands_ (p. 640), and _the steady students_ (pp. 691, 695), betray a hint of his well-known style. but _non satis_ (p. 575) is signed in full, and obviously his, as a glance would reveal. in vol. iv., _indian juggling_ (p. 41), _the black spot_ (p. 134), _a life story_ (p. 165), _in search of garibaldi_ (p. 210), and _the beggar's soliloquy_ (p. 378, more like a charles keene) are from his hand. in the picture here reproduced, _on her deathbed_ (p. 603), the artist has found himself completely, yet _a portuguese tragedy_ (p. 668) has no trace of his manner. in vol. v. _recollections of an english gold miner_ (p. 361), _monsieur the governor_ (p. 445), _a man who fell among thieves_ (p. 463), _sea-bathing in france_ (p. 547), and _the poisoned mind_, are his only contributions. in vol. vi. are three illustrations to _the admiral's daughters_ (pp. 1, 29, 57), _the hotel garden_ (p. 24), _the change of heads_ (p. 71), _the latest thing in ghosts_ (p. 99), _metempsychosis_ (p. 294), _per l'amore d'una donna_ (p. 390), _a parent by proxy_ (p. 435), and _threescore and ten_ (p. 644). vol. vii. contains _miss simons_ (p. 166), _santa_ (pp. 253, 281, 309, 337), _only_ (p. 490), and the _cannstatt conspirators_ (p. 561). _a notting hill mystery_ is pictured on pages 617, 645, 673, and 701 of the seventh volume, and in vol. viii. is continued on pages 1, 5, 7, 85; _out of the body_ (p. 701), is also here. _eleanor's victory_ is illustrated on pages 295, 351, 407, 463, 519, 575, 631, and 687, and continued in vol. ix on pages 15, 71, 127, 183, 239, 295, 351, 407. vol. x. contains _the veiled portrait_ (p. 225), _the uninvited_ (p. 309), _my aunt tricksy_ (p. 393), _the old corporal_ (p. 462), and _detur digniori_ (pp. 505 and 533). in vol. xi. we find two illustrations only by this artist, _philip fraser's fate_, and vols. xii. and xiii. contain no single example. a few illustrations by t. morten appear, and these are scattered over a wide space. the first, _swift and the mohawks_ (iv. p. 323), is to a ballad by walter thornbury; _the father of the regiment_ (v. p. 71), _wish not_ (x. p. 421), _the coastguardsman's tale_ (x. p. 561), _late is not never_ (xi. p. 141), _the cumæan sibyl_ (xi. p. 603), and _macdhonuil's coronach_ (xii. p. 161), make one regret the infrequent appearance of one who could do so well. edward j. poynter (the present director of the national gallery) is also sparsely represented: _the castle by the sea_ (vi. p. 84), a very pre-raphaelite decoration to uhland's ballad, _wife and i_ (vi. p. 724), _the broken vow_ (vii. p. 322), _a dream of love_ (vii. pp. 365, 393), _a fellow-traveller's story_ (vii. pp. 699, 722), _my friend's wedding-day_ (viii. p. 113), _a haunted house in mexico_ (viii. p. 141), _ducie of the dale_ (viii. p. 476), and _a ballad of the page to the king's daughter_ (viii. p. 658), are all the examples by this artist in _once a week_. charles green, of late known almost entirely as a painter, was a fecund illustrator in the sixties. beginning with vol. iii., in which seven of his works appear (pp. 246, 327, 330, 375, 472, 612, 633), he contributed freely for several years; in vol. iv. there are examples on pp. 41, 52, 53, 357, 359, 361, and 529, and on pp. 518, 519 of the fifth volume, and 206 and 255 of the sixth, on pp. 306, 505, 589, and 670 of the seventh. but not until the eighth volume, with _the wrath of mistress elizabeth gwynne_ (p. 169), do we find one that is of any importance. whether spoilt by the engraver, or immature work, it is impossible to say; but the earlier designs could scarcely be identified except for the index. in the same volume _the death of winkelried_ (p. 224), _milly leslie's story_ (p. 225), _the countess gabrielle_ (p. 253), _corporal pietro micca_ (p. 364), _damsel john_ (p. 490), _my golden hill_ (p. 505), _five days in prison_ (p. 533), _the queen's messenger_ (p. 561), _the centurion's escape_ (p. 589), and _the cry in the dark_ (p. 673), are so curiously unlike the earlier, and so representative of the artist we all know, that if the 'c. green' be the same the sudden leap to a matured style is quite remarkable. in volume ix. but three appear: _paul garrett_ (p. 1), _a modern idyll_ (p. 322), and _my affair with the countess_ (p. 337); but in the tenth are nine: _norman's visit_ (pp. 1, 43), _legend of the castle_ (p. 14), _a long agony_ (p. 127), _the lady of the grange_ (p. 141), _the gentleman with the lily_ (pp. 169, 197), _the mermaid_ (p. 295), and _t' runawaa lass_ (p. 630). _the hunt at portskewitt_ (p. 126) is in vol. xi., the last appearance of the artist i have met with in this magazine. f. j. shields, so far as i can trace his drawings, is represented but three times: _an hour with the dead_ (iv. p. 491), _the risen saint_ (v. p. 378), and _turberville_ (x. p. 378). as reference to this comparatively infrequent illustrator appears in another place no more need be said of these, except that they do not show the artist in so fine a mood as when he illustrated defoe's _history of the plague_. simeon solomon contributes a couple only of drawings of jewish ceremonies (vii. pp. 192, 193). j. luard, an artist, whose work floods the cheaper publications of the time, shows, in an early drawing, _contrasts_ (iii. p. 84), a pre-raphaelite manner, and a promise which later years did not fulfil, if indeed this be by the luard of the penny dreadfuls. [illustration: j. m'neill whistler 'once a week' vol. vi. p. 712 the major's daughter] [illustration: j. m'neill whistler 'once a week' vol. vii. p. 140 the relief fund in lancashire] [illustration: j. m'neill whistler 'once a week' vol. vii. p. 210 the morning before the massacre of st. bartholomew] [illustration: j. m'neill whistler 'once a week' vol. vii. p. 378 count burckhardt] m. e. edwards, a most popular illustrator, appears in the last volume of the first series, with _found drowned_ (xiii. pp. 14, 42, 70, 98, 253, 281, 309, 337, 365, 393, 442, 471), in which volume j. lawson has three: _ondine_ (p. 351), _narcissus_ (p. 463), and _adonis_ (686). of a number of more or less frequent contributors, including f. eltze, r. t. pritchett, p. skelton, f. j. slinger, j. wolf (the admirable delineator of animals), space forbids even a complete list of their names. among other occasional contributors to the first thirteen volumes are: j. d. watson with _the cornish wrecker's hut_ (viii. p. 602), _no change_ (ix. p. 210), and _my home_ (ix. 266); a. boyd houghton:--_the old king dying_ (xii. p. 463), _the portrait_ (xiii. p. 209), _king solomon_ (xiii. p. 603), _the legend of the lockharts_ (xiii. p. 715), and _leila and hassan_ (xiii. p. 769); walter crane:--_castle of mont orgueil_ (ix. p. 713) and _the conservatory_ (xiii. p. 763); j. w. north:--_bosgrove church_ (ix. p. 447), _the river_ (xii. p. 15), and _st. martin's church, canterbury_ (xii. p. 713)--the two latter being worthy to rank among his best work; paul gray with _hans euler_ (xii. p. 322), _moses_ (xiii. p. 55), _the twins_ (xiii. pp. 378-406), _two chapters of life_ (xiii. p. 519), and _quid femina possit_ (xii. pp. 491, 517, 547, 575); a. r. fairfield (x. pp. 546, 589, 617, 686, 712); w. s. burton, _romance of the rose_ (x. p. 602), _the executioner_ (xi. p. 14), _dame eleanor's return_ (xi. p. 210), and _the whaler fleet_ (xi. p. 638); t. white (viii. p. 98); f. w. lawson, _dr. campany's courtship_ (xii. pp. 351, 390, 407, 446), and others on pp. 586, 631, 722; (xiii. pp. 127, 141, 169, _lucy's garland_, p. 516); c. dobell (vi. p. 420); _our secret drawer_, by miss wells (v. p. 98); and four by miss l. mearns, which are of genuine interest (xiii. pp. 85, 153, 657, 742). the new series of _once a week_, started on january 6, 1866, was preceded by a christmas number, wherein one of the most graceful drawings by paul gray is to be found, _the chest with the silver mountings_ (p. 30). it contains also a full-page plate by g. b. goddard, _up, up my hounds_ (p. 34), and designs by w. small, _a golden wedding_ (p. 37); g. du maurier, _the ace of hearts_ (p. 56); j. lawson, _a fairy tale_ (p. 44), and others of little moment. the new series announced, as a special attraction, 'extra illustrations by eminent artists, printed separately on toned paper.' those to the first volume include _little bo peep_, a delightful and typical composition by g. du maurier (_frontispiece_); _the vagrants_ (p. 112), by fred walker; _helen and cassandra_ (p. 454), by f. sandys; _the servants' hall_ (p. 560), by h. s. marks; _alonzo the brave_ (p. 359), by sir john gilbert, and _caught by the tide_, by e. duncan (p. 280). [illustration: g. du maurier 'once a week' vol. iv. p. 603 on her deathbed] [illustration: g. du maurier 'once a week' vol. vi. p. 390 per l'amore d'una donna] [illustration: t. morten 'once a week' vol. xi. p. 603 the cumæan sibyl] 'a specimen of the most recent application of the versatile art of lithography' which is also given, dates the popular introduction of the coloured plate by which several magazines, _nature and art_, _the chromo-lithograph_, etc., were illustrated entirely; others, especially _the sunday at home_, _leisure hour_, _people's magazine_, etc., from 1864 onwards issued monthly frontispieces in colours and gold--a practice now confined almost wholly to boys' magazines. the pictures by artists already associated with _once a week_ include (in vol. i. p. 8) two by a. boyd houghton, _the queen of the rubies_ (p. 177) and _a turkish tragedy_ (p. 448); four by paul gray, _the phantom ship_ (p. 43), _blanche_ (pp. 291, 317), and _the fight on rhu carn_ (p. 713); two by t. morten, _the dying viking_ (p. 239), a drawing curiously like sandys's _rosamunda_, and _king eric_ (p. 435); six by w. small, _billy blake's best coffin_ (p. 15), _kattie and the deil_ (p. 99), _the king and the bishop_ (p. 183), _the staghound_ (p. 295), _thunnors slip_ (p. 351), and _larthon of inis-huna_ (p. 575); five by j. lawson: _the watch-tower_ (p. 121), _theocritus_ (p. 211), _in statu quo_ (p. 463), _ancient clan dirge_ (p. 491), and _wait on_ (p. 631); one by f. w. lawson, _a sunday a century ago_ (p. 671), and others. among recruits we find r. barnes with _lost for gold_ (p. 407), b. bradley with _a raid_ (p. 659), eleven by edward hughes, and many by g. bowers, r. t. pritchett, f. j. slinger, and others. altogether the new series started bravely. in vol. ii. new series, the so-called 'extra illustrations' include _the suit of armour (frontispiece)_, by sir john gilbert; _evening_ (p. 97), by basil bradley; _poor christine_ (p. 245), by edward hughes; _among the breakers_ (p. 344), by e. duncan; _the nymph's lament_ (p. 476), by g. du maurier; and _the huntress of armorica_ (p. 706), by paul gray. of 'old hands' du maurier has another of his graceful drawings, _lady julia_ (p. 239), and paul gray has, besides the special plate, eleven to _hobson's choice_ (pp. 169, 197, 225, 253, 281, 309, 337, 365, 393, 421, and 449); three by a. boyd houghton are _a dead man's message_ (p. 211); and _the mistaken ghost_ (pp. 687, 723); t. morten has only a couple, _the curse of the gudmunds_ (p. 155) and _on the cliffs_ (p. 308); and g. j. pinwell one, _the pastor and the landgrave_ (p. 631); j. w north's _luther's gardener_ (p. 99) is a curious drawing to a curious poem; w. small, with _eldorado_ (p. 15), _dorette_ (p. 379), _the gift of clunnog vawr_ (p. 463), _the prize maiden_ (pp. 491, 519, 560), and _tranquillity_ (p. 575), shows more and more that strong personality which by and by influenced black and white art, so that men of the seventies are far more disciples of small than even were the men of the sixties of millais. m. e. edwards's _avice and her lover_ (p. 141); six by basil bradley (pp. 140, 252, 279, 532, 603, and 659), charles green's _kunegunda_ (p. 71), _hazeley mill_ (p. 85), and _michael considine's daughter_ (p. 351); five by edward hughes (pp. 183, 407, 547, 585, and 599); three by j. lawson: _ariadne_ (p. 127), _the mulberry-tree_ (p. 323), and _gabrielle's cross_ (p. 699). f. w. lawson's _a midshipman's yarn_ (p. 113) and _grandmother's story_ (p. 223) deserve to be noted. others by g. bowers, f. eltze, r. t. pritchett, p. j. skelton, e. wimpress (_sic_), and j. wolf among the rest, call for no comment. for the christmas number for this year 1866, w. small has _the brown imp_ (p. 12); j. lawson, _the birth of the rose_ (p. 20); e. hughes, _the pension latoque_ (p. 25); ernest griset, _boar hunting_ (p. 57); g. b. goddard, _christmas eve in the country_ (p. 58); and basil bradley, _a winter piece_ (p. 62); john leighton contributes a frontispiece and illustrations to _st. george and the dragon_, a poem by the author of _john halifax_. in volume iii. 1867 the extra illustrations are still distinguished by a special subject index; they include _lord aythan (frontispiece)_, by j. tenniel; _coming through the fence_ (p. 112), by r. ansdell, a.r.a.; _feeding the sacred ibis_ (p. 238), by e. j. poynter; _come, buy my pretty windmills_ (p. 360), by g. j. pinwell; _hide a stick_ (p. 569), by f. j. shields; and _highland sheep_ (p. 692), by basil bradley. another extra plate, a drawing by helen j. miles, 'given as an example of graphotype,' is not without technical interest. in the accompanying article we find that the possibilities of mechanical reproduction are discussed, and the writer adds, as his highest flight of fancy, 'who shall say that graphotype may not be the origin of a daily illustrated paper?' it would be out of place to pursue this tempting theme, and to discuss the _daily graphic_ of new york and succeeding illustrated dailies, for all these things were but dreams in the sixties. yet, undoubtedly, graphotype set people on the track of process-work. by and by the photographer came in as the welcome ally, who left the draughtsman free to work upon familiar materials, instead of the block itself, and presently supplanted the engraver also, and the great rival of wood-cutting and wood-engraving sprang into life. among the ordinary illustrations a. boyd houghton is represented by _the mistaken ghost_ (p. 15), _a hindoo legend_ (p. 273), and _the bride of rozelle_ (p. 663); g. j. pinwell by _joe robertson's folly_ (p. 225) and _the old keeper's story_ (p. 483); j. w. north by _the lake_ (p. 303); w. small by _a queer story about banditti_ (pp. 55, 83); s. l. fildes by a strongly-drawn design, _the goldsmith's apprentice_ (p. 723); ernest griset by a slight yet distinctly grotesque _tale of a tiger_ (p. 7); m. ellen edwards by _wishes_ (p. 633) and kate edwards by _cherry blossom_ (p. 543); j. lawson by _the legend of st. katherine_ (p. 127), _sir ralph de blanc-minster_ (p. 168), and _hymn to apollo_ (p. 406); f. w. lawson by _the singer of the sea_ (p. 603). the various examples by f. a. fraser, t. green, t. scott (a well-known portrait engraver), e. m. wimpress, and the rest may be dismissed with bare mention. in vol. iv., new series, we find charles keene with a frontispiece, _the old shepherd_; _the haymakers_ (p. 105), e. m. wimpress; _cassandra_ (p. 345), s. l. fildes; _fetching the doctor_ (p. 494), h. s. marks; _imma and eginhart_ (p. 644), w. small; and _the christmas choir_ (p. 762), f. a. fraser, are the other separate plates. those printed with the text include _the child queen_ (p. 135) and _feuilles d'automne_ (p. 285), by s. l. fildes; _evening tide_ (p. 255), a typical pastoral, by g. j. pinwell; _zoë fane_ (p. 705), by j. mahoney; and others by b. bradley, e. f. brewtnall, f. eltze, t. green, e. hughes, f. w. lawson, e. sheil, l. straszinski, t. sulman, e. m. wimpress, etc. despite the presence of many of the old staff, the list of names shows that the palmy days of the magazine are over. the christmas number contains, _inter alia_, a frontispiece by john gilbert; _my cousin renie_ (p. 13), by j. mahoney; _scotch cattle_, by basil bradley; and _the maiden's test_, by m. e. edwards (p. 49). in 1868 another new series starts. a notable feature has disappeared: the illustrations no longer figure in a separate list, but their artists' names are tacked on to the few articles and stories which are illustrated in the ordinary index. yet the drawings by du maurier to charles reade's _foul play_ (pp. 12, 57, 140, 247, 269, 312, 421, 464, 530) would alone make the year interesting. people, who regard du maurier as a society draughtsman only, must be astonished at the grim melodramatic force displayed in these. 'john millais, r.a.,' also appears as a contributor with _death dealing arrows_ (p. 79); s. l. fildes has _the orchard_ (p. 396); f. w. lawson, _the castaway_ (p. 242); basil bradley is well represented by _the chillingham cattle_ (p. 100), and _another day's work done_ (p. 346); f. s. walker appears with _a lazy fellow_ (p. 211), john gilbert with _the armourer_ (p. 364), and m. e. edwards with the society pictures, _the royal academy_ (p. 409) and _a flower show_ (p. 516). in the second volume for 1868 we find _salmon fishing_ (p. 292) and _daphne_ (p. 397), both by s. l. fildes; _found out_ (p. 31), _a town cousin_ (p. 150), _left in the lurch_ (p. 230), and _blackberry gatherers_ (p. 213), by h. paterson; _sussex oxen_ (p. 110) and _the foxhound_ (p. 355), by basil bradley; _the picnic_ (p. 270), by f. w. lawson, who has also _the waits_, the frontispiece of the christmas number, which contains _taking his ease_ (p. 264), the last millais in the magazine; a clever gallery study; _boxing night_, by s. l. fildes, and a capital domestic group, _the old dream_ (p. 48), by m. e. edwards. in 1869, vol. iii., new series, contains a single example by g. j. pinwell, _a seat in the park_ (p. 518); five by s. l. fildes; _the duet_ (p. 56), _the juggler_ (p. 188), _hours of idleness_, the subject of a later academy picture (p. 475), _led to execution_ (p. 540), and _basking_ (p. 562); and others by fred barnard (pp. 166, 254, 346, 450), b. bradley (pp. 78, 210, 496), val prinsep (p. 298), f. w. lawson (p. 34), and ford madox brown, _the traveller_ (p. 144). to state that vol. iv., new series, is absolutely without interest is to let it off cheaply. in the volume for 1870 the names of artists are omitted, and if we follow the editor's example no injustice will be done, despite a few clever drawings by r. m[acbeth]; the work, not merely in date but in spirit, is of the new decade, and as it is exceptionally poor at that for the most part, it no longer belongs to the subject with which this volume is concerned. chapter iv: some illustrated magazines of the sixties: ii. 'the cornhill,' 'good words,' and london society' the cornhill magazine, which began in 1860 with thackeray as editor, showed from the very first that the aim of the magazine was to keep the level of its pictures equal to that of its text. in looking through the forty-seven volumes of the first series it is gratifying to find that this purpose was never forgotten. many a rival magazine has been started since under the happiest auspices, with the most loyal intention to have the best and only the very best illustrations; but in a few years the effort has been too exacting, and the average commonplace of its padding in prose and verse has been equalled by the dull mediocrity of its pictures. only those who have experienced the difficulty which faces an editor firmly resolved to exclude the commonplace of any sort can realise fully what a strain a successful effort, lasting over twenty years, must needs impose on the responsible conductors. thackeray, as we know, soon found the labour too great; but his successors kept nobly to their purpose, and few magazines show more honourable fulfilment of their projected scheme than the classic _cornhill_, which has introduced so many masterpieces in art and literature to the public. curiously enough, the weakest illustrations under the _régime_ he inaugurated so happily are those by the editor himself. thackeray's designs to _lovel the widower_, and the one example by g. a. sala in the first volume, link the new periodical with the past. they belong to the caricature type of illustrations which had been accepted by the british public as character-drawing. like the 'phiz' plates for dickens's works, and many of john leech's sketches, they have undoubtedly merit of a sort, but not if you consider them as pictures pure and simple. later experience shows that an illustration to a story, which catches the spirit of the writer, and realises in another medium the characters he had imagined, may also be fine art--art as self-sufficient and as wholly beautiful as that of a dürer wood-cut or a rembrandt etching. the masterpieces of modern illustrations to fiction which the _cornhill magazine_ contains would by themselves suffice to prove this argument up to the hilt. the collection of drawings chiefly by millais, walker, and leighton, in a volume of carefully-printed impressions, from one hundred of the original wood-blocks, issued under the title of the _cornhill gallery_ in 1864, may in time to come be prized as highly as _bible wood-cuts_, _the dance of death_, or the _liber studiorum_. it is true that the pictures aimed only to fulfil their actual purpose, and it may be argued, reasonably enough, that a picture which illustrates a story is for that very reason on a different level to a self-contained work--inspired solely by the delight of the artist in his subject. but, in their own way, they touched high-water mark. upon one of dürer's blocks he is said to have written in latin, 'better work did no man than this,' and on many a _cornhill_ design the same legend might have been truly inscribed. it is true that most of the etchings and wood-cuts beside which they deserve to be ranked are untrammelled autograph work throughout, and that here the drawing done direct on the block was paraphrased by an engraver. not always spoilt, sometimes (as even the draughtsman himself admitted), improved in part, but still with the impress of another personality added. and this argument might be extended to prove that an engraving by another craftsman can never be so interesting as an etching from a master's hand, or a block cut by its designer. yet, without forcing such comparison, we may claim that the engravings in _once a week_, _good words_, and the _cornhill_ enriched english art to lasting purpose. although sets of the _cornhill magazine_ are not difficult to procure, and a large number of people prize them in their libraries, yet by way of bringing together those scattered facts of interest which pertain to our subject, it may be as well to indicate briefly the principal contents of the first thirty-two volumes which cover the period to which this book is limited. in 1860 we find six full-page illustrations to _lovel the widower_, three to _the four georges_, two to _roundabout papers_, all by thackeray, to whom they are all formally attributed in the _cornhill gallery_. possibly one, entirely unlike the style of the rest to the _four georges_, is from another hand--the fact that it is not included in the reprint seems to confirm this suspicion. millais' first contributions included _unspoken dialogue_, _'last words,'_ and the beginning of the illustrations to _framley parsonage_, which he equalled often but never excelled. f. sandys is represented by _legends of the portent_ (i. p. 617), and frederick leighton by _the great god pan_ (ii. p. 84) to mrs. browning's poem. _ariadne in naxos_, an outline-drawing in a decorative frame, is unsigned, and so strangely unlike the style of the magazine that it provokes curiosity. in 1861 thackeray started illustrating his serial story, _the adventures of philip_, but, after four full-page drawings, relinquished the task to fred walker, who at first re-drew thackeray's compositions, but afterwards signed his work with the familiar 'f. w.' we may safely attribute eight solely to him. millais continued his series of drawings to illustrate _framley parsonage_, and has besides one other, entitled _temptation_ (iii. p. 229). a series of studies of character, _the excursion train_, by c. h. bennett, is a notable exception to the practice of the magazine, which printed all its 'pictures' on plate-paper apart from the text, the blocks in the text (always excepting the initial letters) being elsewhere limited to diagrams elucidating the matter and obviously removed from consideration as pictures. this year doyle began those outline pictures of society which attained so wide a popularity. [illustration: frederick sandys 'cornhill magazine' vol. i. p. 62 legend of the portent] [illustration: frederick sandys 'cornhill magazine' vol. vi. p. 346 manoli] in 1862 walker concludes his _philip_ series with eight full-page drawings, including the superb _philip in church_, of which he made a version in water-colours that still ranks among his most notable work. the first two illustrations to miss thackeray's _story of elizabeth_ are also from his hand. millais is represented by _irené_, a kneeling figure (v. p. 478), and by the powerfully conceived _bishop and the knight_ (vi. p. 100), and the first four illustrations to trollope's _small house at allington_. richard doyle continues the series of _pictures of english society_; but now that their actuality no longer impresses, we fail to discover the special charm which endeared them to contemporaries. f. sandys is represented by _manoli_ (vi. p. 346), the second of his three contributions, which deepens the regret that work by this fine artist appeared so seldom in this magazine. but the most notable feature this year is found in the drawings contributed by frederick leighton, then not even an associate of the royal academy, which illustrate george eliot's _romola_. with these the _cornhill_ departed from its ordinary custom, and gave two full-page illustrations to each section of the serial month by month. consequently in the volumes in 1862 and 1863 the usual two-dozen plates are considerably augmented. in 1863 twelve more of the _romola_ series complete leighton's contributions to the magazine. millais has twelve more to _the small house at allington_, walker is represented by one drawing, _maladetta_, another to _mrs. archie_, two to _out of the world_, and one more to the _story of elizabeth_. du maurier, destined to occupy the most prominent position in later volumes, appears for the first time with _the cilician pirates_, _sibyl's disappointment_, _the night before the morrow_, and _cousin phillis_. possibly a drawing entitled 'the first meeting' to a story, _the ... in her closet_, is from his hand; but the style is not clearly evident, nor is it included in the _cornhill gallery_ which, published in the next year, drew its illustrations from the few volumes already noticed, with the addition of five others from the early numbers of 1864. another drawing, signed a. h., to _margaret denzil_, is by arthur hughes. in 1864 two other illustrations complete _the small house at allington_, and millais has also two others for _madame de monferrat_. sir noel paton appears for the only time with a fine composition, _ulysses_ (ix. p. 66). _margaret denzil_ has its three illustrations signed r. b., probably the initials of robert barnes, who did much work in later volumes. charles keene, a very infrequent contributor, illustrated _brother jacob_, a little-known story by george eliot. du maurier supplies the first four illustrations to mrs. gaskell's unfinished _wives and daughters_, and fred walker contributes five to the other serial, also interrupted by its author's death, the delightful _denis duval_. here we see the artist employed on costume-work, and hampered somewhat by historical details, yet infusing into his designs the charm which characterises his idyllic work. g. j. pinwell is represented by _the lovers of ballyvookan_. g. h. thomas starts wilkie collins's _armadale_ with two pictures that do not accord with the rest of the _cornhill_ work, but belong to a differently considered method, popular enough elsewhere, but rarely employed in this magazine. the volume contains also a portrait of thackeray engraved on steel, by j. c. armytage, after laurence. in 1865 the _armadale_ illustrations take up twelve full pages, and du maurier supplies the remaining twelve stories to _wives and daughters_. in 1866 six _armadale_ and one _wives and daughters_ are reinforced by eleven illustrations to _the claverings_ by m. ellen edwards. fred walker is again a contributor with five drawings for miss thackeray's _village on the cliff_, and frederick sandys, with a fine composition illustrating swinburne's _cleopatra_ (xiv. p. 331), makes his last appearance in the magazine. in 1867 m. e. edwards signs five of _the claverings_ and seven to _the bramleighs of bishop's folly_. _the satrap_, an admirable composition, is signed f. w. b., but for whom these initials stand is not clear. fred walker completes his illustrations to the _village on the cliff_, and adds one other to _beauty and the beast_, and two to _a week in a french country house_ and one to _red riding hood_. f. w. lawson makes his _entrée_ with the four drawings to _stone edge_, and du maurier has a curiously massive _joan of arc_. in 1868 walker has three illustrations to _jack the giant killer_, '_i do not love you_,' and _from an island_ respectively. m. ellen edwards is responsible for ten to _the bramleighs_, one to a story, _the stockbroker_, and the first two to _that boy of norcott's_. f. w. lawson has four to _avonhoe_, and two to _lettice lisle_, and du maurier two to _my neighbour nelly_, and one to _lady denzil_. in 1869 _that boy of norcott's_ supplies the subjects for three others by m. e. edwards, and _lettice lisle_ for four by f. w. lawson. the first chapters of _put yourself in his place_, charles reade's trades-union novel, are illustrated by ten drawings by robert barnes, f. walker has one to _sola_, for which tale du maurier supplies another, as well as one to the _courtyard of the ours d'or_, and the three for _against time_. in 1870 robert barnes continues illustrating charles reade's novel with seven full pages. du maurier contributes ten to _against time_, and four to george meredith's _adventures of harry richmond_, and s. l. fildes (more familiar to-day as luke fildes) comes in with three admirable compositions to charles lever's _lord kilgobbin_. [illustration: frederick sandys 'cornhill magazine' vol. xiv. p. 331 cleopatra] in 1871 the latter story engages twelve full pages, and _harry richmond_ and eleven others, du maurier has the first to a _story of the plébiscite_. in 1872 du maurier continues _the plébiscite_ with one full page (the others to the same story are signed 'h. h.'), and has four others to francillon's _pearl and emerald_, and ten to _the scientific gentleman_. fildes concludes his embellishment of _lord kilgobbin_ with three full pages. hubert herkomer (the 'h. h.' of _the plébiscite_ probably) appears as a recruit with two most satisfactory designs to _the last master of the old manor-house_, and g. d. leslie, also a fresh arrival, finds, in miss thackeray's _old kensington_, the themes for nine graceful compositions. in 1873 to du maurier are devoted twelve subjects illustrating _zelda's fortune_. g. d. leslie has four others concluding _old kensington_. s. l. fildes illustrates _willows_ with two, and marcus stone is represented by half-a-dozen idyllic and charming, if somewhat slight, designs for _young brown_. in 1874 h. paterson, w. small, and du maurier contribute all the pictures excepting one by marcus stone. _far from the madding crowd_ by thomas hardy, illustrated by the first artist, and _a rose in june_, and black's _three feathers_ by the second. in 1875 h. allingham supplies most graceful pictures to _miss angel_. du maurier is the artist chosen for another hardy novel, _the hand of ethelberta_. a. hopkins illustrates mr. henley's wonderful achievement, _hospital outlines_, as the poems were called when they appeared in july 1875. from this date to the last number of the shilling series, june 1883, the artists are limited to small and du maurier for the most part, and as this record has already exceeded its limits, no more need be said, except that until the last, the high standard of technical excellence was never abandoned. although the rare mastery of millais and the charm of walker were hardly approached by their successors, yet the magazine was always representative of the best work of those of its contemporaries who devoted themselves to black and white, and not infrequently, as this notice shows, attracted men who have made few, if any other, attempts to draw for publication. it is curious to find that, notwithstanding the evident importance it attached to its pictorial department, no artist's name is ever mentioned in the index or elsewhere. in a graceful and discriminative essay 's. c.' speaks feelingly and appreciatively of fred walker just after his death; but that seems to be the only time when the anonymity imposed on the artists was divulged in the magazine itself. it is but fair to add that the literary contents were never signed, or attributed in the index, except that a few articles bear the now familiar initials, 'l. s.', 'w. e. h.', 'r. l. s.', 'g. a.', and others. good words this popular, semi-religious, sixpenny magazine, established in 1860, achieved quickly a circulation that was record-breaking in its time. edited by dr. norman macleod, it was printed by thomas constable, and published (at first) in edinburgh by alexander strahan and co. although, viewed in the light of its later issues, one cannot help feeling disappointed with the first volume, yet even there the pictures are distinctly interesting as a forecast, even if they do not call for any detailed notice by reason of their intrinsic merit. they rarely exceed a half page in size, and were engraved none too well by various craftsmen. indeed, judging from the names of the artists, then as afterwards, given fully in the index of illustrations, it might not be unfair to blame the engravers still more strongly. the very fact that the illustrations are duly ascribed in a separate list is proof that, from the first, the editor recognised their importance. such honourable recognition of the personality of an illustrator is by no means the rule, even in periodicals that have equal right to be proud of their collaborators. where the artists' names are recorded it is rare to find them acknowledged so fully and thoroughly as in _good words_. in other magazines they are usually referred to under the title of the article they illustrate and nowhere else; or their name is printed (as in _once a week_) with a bare list of numerals showing the pages containing their pictures; but in _good words_ the subject, titles, and artists' names have always been accorded a special index. [illustration: g. du maurier 'good words' 1861, p. 579 a time to dance] in the first volume, for 1860, w. q. orchardson--not then even an associate of the royal academy--supplies nine drawings, engraved by f. borders. admirable in their own way, one cannot but feel that the signature leads one to expect something much more interesting; and, knowing the quality of mr. orchardson's later work, it is impossible to avoid throwing the blame on the engraver. keeley halswelle contributes six; in these you find (badly drawn or spoilt by the engraver) those water-lilies in blossom, which in after years became a mannerism in his landscape foregrounds. j. w. m'whirter has four--one a group of _autumn flowers_ (p. 664), cut by r. paterson, that deserves especial notice as a much more elaborate piece of engraving than any other in the volume. erskine nicol supplies two _genre_ pieces, the full-page, _mary macdonell and her friends_ (p. 216), being, most probably, a thoroughly good sketch, but here again the translator has produced hard scratchy lines that fail to suggest the freer play of pencil or pen, whichever it was that produced the original. others by 'j. b.,' j. o. brown, c. a. doyle, clarence dobell, jas. drummond, clark stanton, gourlay steell, and hughes taylor, call for no particular comment. from 1861 the chief full-page illustrations were printed separately on toned paper. a series of animal subjects by 'j. b.,' twelve 'illustrations of scripture,' engraved by dalziel brothers, were announced in the prospectus as a special feature. somewhat pre-raphaelite in handling they are distinctly interesting, but hardly masterly. but the volume will be always memorable for its early work by frederick walker and g. du maurier. _a time to dance_, by the latter, shows a certain decorative element, which in various ways has influenced his work at different periods, although no one could have deduced from it the future career of its brilliant author as a satirist of society, a draughtsman who imparted into his work, to a degree no english artist has surpassed, and very few equalled, that 'good form' so prized by well-bred people. the drawing unsigned _the blind school_ (p. 505), attributed to fred walker in the index, suggests some clerical error. like one attributed to sandys in a later volume, you hesitate before accepting evidence of the compiler of the list of engravings, which the picture itself contradicts flatly. _only a sweep_ (p. 609) is signed, and, although by no means a good example, is unquestionably attributed rightly. john pettie has two designs, _cain's brand_ (pp. 376, 422); j. m'whirter and w. q. orchardson, one each; h. h. armstead, a pre-raphaelite composition, _a song which none but the redeemed ever sing_, which is amongst the most interesting of the comparatively few illustrations by the royal academician, who is better known as a sculptor, as his _music, poetry, and painting_ in the albert memorial, the panels beneath dyce's frescoes at westminster palace, and a long series of works shown at the academy exhibitions suffice to prove. t. morten, a draughtsman who has missed so far his due share of appreciation, is represented by _the waker, dreamer, and sleeper_ (p. 634), a powerful composition of a group of men praying at night by the side of a breaking dyke. john pettie has two drawings; and j. d. watson, six subjects--the first, _the toad_, being singularly unlike his later style, and suggesting a closer discipleship with the pre-raphaelites than he maintained afterwards. two by clarence dobell, and three by t. graham--one, _the young mother_, a charming arrangement in lines; with others by j. wolf, zwecker, w. m'taggart, j. l. porter, a. w. cooper, a. bushnell, w. fyfe, w. linney, and c. h. bennett, are also included. altogether the second volume shows marked advance upon the first, although this admirable periodical had not yet reached its high-water mark. in 1862 we find added to its list of artists, millais, keene, sandys, whistler, holman hunt, e. burne-jones, a. boyd houghton, tenniel, s. solomon, and lawless, a notable group, even in that year when so many magazines show a marvellous 'galaxy of stars.' to millais fell the twelve illustrations to _mistress and maid_, by the author of _john halifax_, and two others, _olaf_ (p. 25) and _highland flora_ (p. 393). that these maintain fully the reputation of the great illustrator, whose later achievements in oil have in popular estimation eclipsed his importance as a black-and-white artist, goes without saying. if not equal to the superb _parables_ of the following year, they are worthy of their author. indeed, no matter when you come across a millais, it is with a fresh surprise each time that one finds it rarely falls below a singularly high level, and is apt to seem, for the moment, the best he ever did. [illustration: simeon solomon 'good words' 1862, p. 592 the veiled bride] [illustration: frederick walker 'good words' 1862, p. 657 out among the wild-flowers] the two illustrations by j. m'neill whistler seem to be very little known. those to _once a week_, possibly from the fact of their being reprinted in thornbury's _legendary ballads_, have been often referred to and reproduced several times; but no notice (so far as i recollect) of these, to _the first sermon_, has found its way into print. the one (p. 585) shows a girl crouching by a fire, with a man, whose head is turned towards her, seated at a table with his hand on a lute. the other (p. 649) is a seated girl in meditation before a writing-table. not a little of the beauty of line, which distinguishes the work of the famous etcher, is evident in these blocks, which were both engraved by dalziel, and as whatever the original lost cannot now be estimated, as they stand they are nevertheless most admirable works, preserving the rapid touch of the pen-line in a remarkable degree. the charles keene drawing to _nanneri the washerwoman_ is another dalziel block which merits praise in no slight measure; as here again one fancies that the attempt has been to preserve a facsimile of each touch of the artist, and not to translate wash into line. the _king sigurd_ of burne-jones has certainly lost a great deal; in fact, judging by drawings of the same period still extant, it conveys an effect quite different from that its author intended. certainly, at the present time, he regards it as entirely unrepresentative; but no doubt then as now he disliked drawing upon wood. to-day it has been said that his chaucer drawings in pencil were practically translated by another hand in the course of their being engraved on wood. certainly technique of lead pencil is hardly suggested, much less reproduced in facsimile in the entirely admirable engravings by the veteran mr. w. h. hooper. but if the designs were photographed on the block such translation as they have undergone is no doubt due to the engraver. a drawing by simeon solomon, _the veiled bride_ (p. 592), seems also much less dainty than his pencil studies of the same period. many artists, when they attempt to draw upon wood, find the material peculiarly unsympathetic. rossetti has left his opinion on record, and it is quite possible that in both the burne-jones and solomon, as in the tennyson drawings, although the engravers may have accomplished miracles, what the artist had put down was untranslatable. for the delicacies of pencil may easily produce something beyond the power of even the most skilful engraver to reproduce. the sandys, _until her death_ (p. 312), illustrating a poem, loses much as it appeared in the magazine; you have but to compare a proof from the block itself, in a reprinted collection of messrs. strahan's engravings, to realise how different a result was secured upon good paper with careful printing. a. boyd houghton is represented by four subjects: _my treasure_ (p. 504), _on the cliff_ (p. 624), _true or false_ (p. 721), and _about toys_ (p. 753); they all belong to the manner of his _home scenes_, rather than to his oriental illustrations. _the battle of gilboa_ (p. 89), by tenniel, is typical. m. j. lawless is at his best in _rung into heaven_ (p. 135), and in the _bands of love_ (p. 632) shows more grace than he sometimes secured when confronted by modern costume. t. morten has a finely-engraved night-piece, _pictures in the fire_ (p. 200), besides _the christmas child_ (p. 56) and _the carrier pigeon_ (p. 121). the holman hunt, _go and come_ (p. 32), a weeping figure, is not particularly interesting. _honesty_ (p. 736), by t. graham, gives evidence of the power of an artist who has yet to be 'discovered' so far as his illustrations are concerned. h. h. armstead's _seaweeds_ (p. 568), and eight by j. d. watson (pp. 9, 81, 144, 201, 209, 302, 400, 433) need no special comment, nor do the ten by j. pettie (pp. 264-713). fred walker is represented by _the summer woods_, a typical pastoral (p. 368), _love in death_, a careworn woman in the snow (p. 185), and _out among the wild flowers_ (p. 657), the latter an excellent example of the grace he imparted to rustic figures. these, with a few diagrams and engravings from photographs, complete the record of a memorable, if not the most memorable, year of the magazine. [illustration: t. graham 'good words' 1862, p. 736 honesty] [illustration: m. j. lawless 'good words' 1862, p. 153 rung into heaven] [illustration: m. j. lawless 'good words' 1862, p. 632 the bands of love] [illustration: j. pettie 'good words' 1863, p. 14 the monks and the heathen] [illustration: frederick sandys 'good words' 1863, p. 589 sleep] [illustration: frederick sandys 'good words' 1862, p. 312 until her death] [illustration: john tenniel 'good words' 1863, p. 201 the norse princess] in 1863 we find less variety in the artists and subjects, which is due to the presence of the superb series of drawings by millais, _the parables_, wherein the great illustrator touched his highest level. to call these twelve pictures masterpieces is for once to apply consistently a term often misused. for, though one ransacked the portfolios of europe, not many sets of drawings could be found to equal, and very few to excel them. the twelve subjects appeared in the following order: _the leaven_ (p. 1), _the ten virgins_ (p. 81), _the prodigal son_ (p. 161), _the good samaritan_ (p. 241), _the unjust judge_ (p. 313), _the pharisee and publican_ (p. 385), _the hid treasure_ (p. 461), _the pearl of great price_ (p. 533), _the lost piece of money_[1] (p. 605), _the sower_ (p. 677), _the unmerciful servant_ (p. 749), and _the labourers in the vineyard_ (p. 821). to f. sandys two drawings are attributed; one is obviously from another hand, but _sleep_ (p. 589) undoubtedly marks his final appearance in this magazine. t. morten is represented by _cousin winnie_ (p. 257), _hester durham_ (p. 492), _the spirit of eld_ (p. 629, unsigned), a powerful composition that at first glance might almost be taken for a sandys, and _an orphan family's christmas_ (p. 844). in _autumn thoughts_ (p. 743) we have an example of j. w. north, more akin to those he contributed to the dalziel table-books, a landscape, with a fine sense of space, despite the fact that it is enclosed by trees. john tenniel, in _the norse princess_ (p. 201) and _queen dagmar_ (p. 344), finds subjects that suit him peculiarly well. _the summer snow_ (p. 380), attributed to 'christopher' jones, is by sir edward burne-jones of course, and the final contribution of the artist to these pages. h. j. lucas, a name rarely encountered, has one drawing, _the sangreal_ (p. 454). a. boyd houghton, in _st. elmo_ (p. 64), _a missionary cheer_ (p. 547), and _childhood_ (p. 636), is showing the more mature style of his best period. g. j. pinwell has but a single drawing, _martin ware's temptation_ (p. 573), and that not peculiarly individual; john pettie appears with six, _the monks and the heathen_ (p. 14), _the passion flowers of life_ (p. 141), a study of an old man seated in a creeper-covered porch with a child on his lap, _the night walk over the mill stream_ (p. 185), and _not above his business_ (p. 272), _a touch of nature_ (p. 417), and _the negro_ (p. 476). to a later generation, who only know the pictures of the royal academician, these come as a surprise, and prove the versatility of an artist whose painting was somewhat mannered. walter crane's--a fine group of oriental sailors--_treasure-trove_ (p. 795), and j. d. watson's six drawings are all capable and accomplished; _a pastoral_ (p. 32), a very elaborate composition which looks like a copy of an oil-painting, _fallen in the night_ (p. 97), _the curate of suverdsio_ (p. 333), _the aspen_ (p. 401), _rhoda_ (p. 520), and _olive shand's partner_ (p. 774), with the not very important _sheep and goats_ wrongly attributed to sandys, two decorated pages by john leighton, one drawing by e. w. cooke and five by t. graham, complete the year's record. the volume for 1864 is distinctly less interesting. nevertheless it holds some fine things. notably five millais', including _oh! the lark_ (p. 65), _a scene for a study_ (p. 161), _polly_ (p. 248), (a baby-figure kneeling by a bed, which has been republished elsewhere more than once), _the bridal of dandelot_ (p. 304), and _prince philibert_ (p. 481), another very popular childish subject, a small girl with a small boy holding a toy-boat. frederick walker, in his illustrations to mrs. henry wood's novel, _oswald cray_ (pp. 32-129, 202, 286, 371, 453, 532, and 604), shows great dramatic insight, and a certain domestic charm, which has caused the otherwise not very entrancing story to linger in one's memory in a way quite disproportionate to its merits. the remaining illustrations to _oswald cray_ are by r. barnes (pp. 691, 761, 827), the same artist contributing also _grandmother's snuff_, (p. 411), _a burn case_ (p. 568), _a lancashire doxology_, (p. 585), _blessed to give_ (p. 641), and _the organ fiend_ (p. 697). m. j. lawless is responsible for only one subject, a study of a man and a harpsichord, _the player and the listeners_; in this case, as, on turning over the pages, you re-read a not very noteworthy poem, you find it has lingered in memory merely from its association with a picture. arthur hughes has a graceful design, _at the sepulchre_ (p. 728), which seems to have lost much in the engraving; john tenniel is also represented by a solitary example, _the way in the wood_ (p. 552); g. j. pinwell, in five full-page drawings, _a christmas carol_ (p. 30), _the cottage in the highlands_ (p. 427), _m'diarmid explained_ (p. 504), _malachi's cove_ (p. 729), and _mourning_ (p. 760), sustains his high level. other subjects, animal pictures by j. wolf, and figures and landscapes by r. p. leitch, florence claxton, f. eltze, j. w. ehrenger, r. t. pritchett, and w. colomb, call for no special mention. to john pettie is attributed a tail-piece of no importance. [illustration: m. j. lawless 'good words' 1864, p. 168 the player and the listeners] with 1865 comes a sudden cessation of interest, as seventy of the illustrations are engraved 'from photographs of oriental scenes to illustrate the editor's series of travel papers,' _eastward_. this leaves room merely for pictures to the two serials. paul gray contributed those to charles kingsley's novel, _hereward, the last of the english_; but the twelve drawings are unequal, and in few show the promise which elsewhere he exhibited so fully. robert barnes supplies nine for the story, _alfred hagart's household_, by alexander smith of _city poems_ fame. these, like all the artist's work, are singularly good of their kind, and show at once his great facility and his comparatively limited range of types. in 1866, although engravings after photographs do not usurp the space to the extent they did in the previous year, they are present, and the volume, in spite of many excellent drawings, cannot compare in interest with those for 1862-64. the frontispiece, _lilies_, is a most charming figure-subject by w. small, who contributes also three others: _the old yeomanry weeks_ (p. 127), _deliverance_ (p. 663), a typical example of a landscape with figures in the foreground, which, in the hands of this artist, becomes something entirely distinct from the 'figure with a landscape beyond' of most others; and _carissimo_ (p. 736), a pair of lovers on an old stone bench, 'just beyond the julian gate,' which seems as carefully studied as if it were intended for a painting in oils. to compare the average picture to a poem to-day, with the work of mr. small and many of his fellows, is not encouraging. thirty years ago it seemed as if the draughtsman did his best to evolve a perfect representation of the subject of the verses; now one feels doubtful whether the artist does not keep on hand, to be supplied to order, a series of lovers in attitudes warranted to fit, more or less accurately, any verses by any poet. of course for one picture issued then, a score, perhaps a hundred, are published to-day, and it might be that numerically as many really good drawings appear in the course of a year now, as then; but, while our average rarely descends to the feeblest depths of the sixties, it still more rarely comes near such work as mr. small's, whose method is still followed and has influenced more decidedly a larger number of draughtsmen than has that of millais, walker, pinwell, or houghton. studying his work at this date, you realise how very strongly he influenced the so-called '_graphic_ school' which supplanted the movement we are considering in the next decade. despite the appreciation, contemporary and retrospective, already bestowed upon his work, despite the influence--not always for good--upon the younger men, it is yet open to doubt if the genius of this remarkable artist has received adequate recognition. in a running commentary upon work of all degrees of excellence, one is struck anew with its admirably sustained power and its constantly fresh manner. this digression, provoked by the four delightful 'small' drawings, must not lead one to overlook the rest of the pictures in _good words_ for 1866. they include _the island church_, by j. w. north (p. 393), _the life-boat_, by j. w. lawson (p. 248), _between the showers_, by w. j. linton, (p. 424), six illustrations to _ruth thornbury_, by m. e. edwards, and one by g. j. pinwell, _bridget dally's change_. perhaps the most notable of the year are the five still to be named: a. boyd houghton's _the voyage_, and a set of four half-page drawings, _reaping_, _binding_, _carrying_, _gleaning_, entitled _the harvest_ (pp. 600, 601). these have a decorative arrangement not always present in the work of this clever artist, and a peculiarly large method of treatment, so much so that if the text informed you that they were pen-sketches from life-size paintings, you would not be surprised. whether by accident or design, it is curious to discover that the landscapes in each pair, set as they are on pages facing one another, have a look of being carried across the book in japanese fashion. 1867 might be called the pinwell year, as a dozen of his illustrations to dr. george mac donald's _guild court_, and one each to _a bird in the hand_ and _the cabin boy_, account for nearly half the original drawings in the volume. w. small is seen in five characteristic designs to dr. macleod's _the starling_, and one each to _beside the stile_ (p. 645) and _the highland student_ (p. 663). arthur boyd houghton contributes _omar and the persian_ (p. 104) and _making poetry_ (p. 248); the first a typical example of his oriental manner, the latter one of his home scenes. s. l. fildes appears with _in the choir_ (p. 537), a church interior showing the influence of william small. f. w. lawson illustrates _grace's fortune_ with three drawings, also redolent of small, and fred walker has _waiting in the dusk_, a picture of a girl in a passage, which does not illustrate the accompanying verses, and has the air of being a picture prepared for a serial some time before, that, having been delayed for some reason, has been served up with a poem that chanced to be in type. in 1868 pinwell and houghton between them are responsible for quite half the separate plates, and small contributes no less than thirty-four which illustrate delightfully _the woman's kingdom_, a novel by the author of _john halifax_, together with a large number of vignetted initials, a feature not before introduced into this magazine. without forgetting the many admirable examples of mr. small's power to sustain the interest of the reader throughout a whole set of illustrations to a work of fiction, one doubts if he has ever surpassed the excellence of these. the little sketches of figures and landscapes in the initials show that he did not consider it beneath his dignity to study the text thoroughly, so as to interpret it with dramatic insight. your modern _chic_ draughtsman, who reads hastily the few lines underscored in blue pencil by his editor, must laugh at the pains taken by the older men. indeed, a very up-to-date illustrator will not merely refuse to carry out the author's idea, but prefer his own conception of the character, and say so. that neither course in itself produces great work may be granted, but one cannot avoid the conclusion that if it be best to illustrate a novel (which is by no means certain) that artist is most worthy of praise who does his utmost to present the characters invented by the author. true, that character-drawing with pen and pencil is out of date,--subtle emotion has taken its place,--it is not easy to make a picture of a person smiling outwardly, but inwardly convulsed with conflicting desires; the smile you may get, but the conflicting desires are hard to work in at the same time. appreciation of mr. small's design need not imply censure of the work of others; but, all the same, the cheap half-tone from a wash-drawing, in the current sixpenny magazine, looks a very feeble thing after an hour devoted to the illustrations to _guy waterman's maze_, _the woman's kingdom_, _griffith gaunt_, and the rest of the serials he illustrated. in this volume two others, _the harvest home_ (p. 489) and _a love letter_ (p. 618), are also from the same facile hand. the first of the boyd houghtons is a striking design to tennyson's poem of _the victim_ (p. 18); neither picture nor poem shows its author at his best. others signed a. b. h. are: _the church in the cevennes_ (pp. 56, 57), _discipleship_ (p. 112), _the pope and the cardinals_ (p. 305), _the gold bridge_ (p. 321), _the two coats_ (p. 432), _how it all happened_ (seven illustrations), _dance my children_ (p. 568), a typical example of the peculiar mannerism of its author, and a _russian farmyard_ (p. 760); also a number of small designs to _russian fables_, some of which were illustrated also by zwecker. g. j. pinwell illustrates _notes on the fire_ (pp. 47, 49), _much work for little pay_ (p. 89), _a paris pawn-shop_ (p. 233), _mrs. dubosq's daughter_ (four pictures), _una and the lion_ (p. 361), _lovely, yet unloved_ (pp. 376, 377), _hop gathering_ (p. 424), _the quakers in norway_ (p. 504). s. l. fildes has _the captain's story_, a good study of fire-light reflected on three seated figures. other numbers worth noting are an excellent example of j. mahoney, _yesterday and to-day_ (p. 672), briton rivière's _at the window_ (p. 630), r. buckman's _the white umbrella_ (p. 473), and seven by francis walker to _hero harold_, and one each to _glenalla_ (p. 384), _the bracelet_ (p. 753), and _thieves' quarter_ (p. 553). with 1869 we lose sight of many of the men who did so much to sustain the artistic reputation of this magazine. w. small has but one drawing, _the old manor-house_ (p. 849). hubert herkomer is represented by _the way to machaerus_ (pp. 353, 497). j. mahoney by five designs to _the staffordshire potter_, francis walker by nine to _the connaught potters_ and _a burial at machaerus_ and _holyhead breakwater_. arthur hughes, an infrequent contributor so far, contributes two illustrations to _carmina nuptialia_. f. barnard has two to _house-hunting_; f. a. fraser has no less than seventy-five: thirty-five to _debenham's vow_, and thirty-three to _noblesse oblige_, with seven others, none of them worth reconsideration, although they served their purpose no doubt at the time. with 1870 we reach the limit of the present chronicle, to which francis walker and f. a. fraser contribute most of the pictures. the most interesting are: arthur hughes's _fancy_ (p. 777) and _the mariner's cave_ (p. 865); j. d. linton, _married lovers_ (p. 601); j. mahoney, _the dorsetshire hind_ (p. 21), _ascent of snowdon_ (p. 201); and _dame martha's well_ (p. 680), and g. j. pinwell's three very representative drawings, _rajah playing chess_ (p. 211), _margaret in the xebec_ (p. 280), and _a winter song_ (p. 321). [illustration: arthur hughes 'good words' 1870, p. 777 fancy] 1871 is memorable for three of arthur hughes's designs, made for a projected illustrated edition of tennyson's _loves of the wrens_, a scheme abandoned at the author's wish; the three drawings cut down from their original size, _fly little letter_ (p. 33), _the mist and the rain_ (p. 113), and _sun comes, moon comes_ (p. 183), are especially dear to collectors of mr. hughes's work, which appeared here with the lyrics set to sir arthur sullivan's music; another by the same artist, _the mother and the angel_ (p. 648), is also worth noting. one boyd houghton, _baraduree justice_ (p. 464), twenty-one drawings by w. small to katharine saunders, _the high mills_, and one by the same artist to _an unfinished song_ (p. 641) are in this volume, besides four by pinwell, _aid to the sick_ (p. 40), _the devil's boots_ (p. 217), _toddy's legacy_ (p. 336), and _shall we ever meet again?_ (p. 817). without discussing the remaining years of this still flourishing monthly one can hardly omit mention of the volume for 1878, in which william black's _macleod of dare_ is illustrated by g. h. boughton, r.a., j. pettie, r.a., p. graham, r.a., w. q. orchardson, r.a., and john everett millais, r.a., a group which recalls the glories of its early issues. london society this popular illustrated shilling magazine, started in february 1862 under the editorship of mr. james hogg, has not received so far its due share of appreciation from the few who have studied the publications of the sixties. yet its comparative neglect is easily accounted for. it contains, no doubt, much good work--some, indeed, worthy to be placed in the first rank. but it also includes a good deal that, if tolerable when the momentary fashions it depicted were not ludicrous, appears now merely commonplace and absurd. a great artist--millais especially--could introduce the crinoline and the dundreary whiskers, so that even to-day their ugliness does not repel you. but less accomplished draughtsmen, who followed slavishly the inelegant mode of the sixties, now stand revealed as merely journalists. journalism, useful and honourable as its work may be, rarely has lasting qualities which bear revival. aiming as it did to be a 'smart' and topical magazine, with the mood of the hour reflected in its pages, it remains a document not without interest to the social historian. amid its purely ephemeral contents there are quite enough excellent drawings to ensure its preservation in any representative collection of english illustrations. [illustration: m. j. lawless 'london society' vol. iv. p. 554 honeydew] [illustration: j. d. watson 'london society' 1866, p. 35 too late] [illustration: j. d. watson 'london society,' vol. i. p. 150 ash wednesday] in the first volume for 1862 we find a beautiful lawless, _beauty's toilet_ (p. 265), spoilt by its engraving, the texture of the flesh being singularly coarse and ineffectual. fred walker, in _the drawing-room, 'paris'_ (i. p. 401), is seen in the unusual and not very captivating mood of a 'society' draughtsman. _ash wednesday_ (p. 150), by j. d. watson, is a singularly fine example of an artist whose work, the more you come across it, surprises you by its sustained power. the frontispiece _spring days_ and _a romance_ and _a curacy_ (p. 386), are his also. other illustrations by t. morten, h. sanderson, c. h. bennett, adelaide claxton, julian portch, and f. r. pickersgill, r.a., call for no special comment. in the second volume there are two drawings by lawless, _first night at the seaside_ (p. 220) and _a box on the ear_ (p. 382); several by du maurier, one _a kettledrum_ (p. 203), peculiarly typical of his society manner; others, _refrezzment_ (p. 110), _snowdon_ (p. 481), _oh sing again_ (p. 433), _jewels_ (p. 105), and a _mirror scene_ (p. 107), which reveal the cosmopolitan student of nature outside the artificial, if admirable, restrictions of 'good form.' _the border witch_ (p. 181), by j. e. millais, a.r.a., is one of the very few examples by the great illustrator in this periodical. j. d. watson, in _moonlight on the beach_ (p. 333), _married_[2] (p. 449), _a summer eve_ (p. 162), _on the coast_ (p. 321), _holiday life_ (p. 339), and _how i gained a wife_ (p. 551), again surprises you, with regret his admirable work has yet not received fuller appreciation by the public. walter crane contributes some society pictures which reveal the admirable decorator in an unusual, and, to be candid, unattractive aspect. _kensington gardens_ (p. 172), _a london carnival_ (p. 79), and _which is fairest?_ (p. 242), are interesting as the work of a youth, but betray little evidence of his future power. robert barnes, in _dreaming love and waiting duty_ (p. 564), shows how early in his career he reached the level which he maintained so admirably. a. boyd houghton's _finding a relic_ (p. 89) is a good if not typical specimen of his work. the designs by e. j. poynter, _tip cat_ (p. 321), _i can't thmoke a pipe_ (p. 318), and _lord dundreary_ (pp. 308, 472), are singularly unlike the usual work of the accomplished author of _israel in egypt_. to these one must add the names of c. h. bennett (_beadles_, three), w. m'connell, c. a. doyle, george h. thomas, e. k. johnson, f. j. skill, f. claxton, h. sanderson, and a. w. cooper. so that 1862 offers, at least, a goodly list of artists, and quite enough first-rate work to make the volumes worth preserving. in vol. iii. 1863 there is a drawing, _the confession_ (p. 37), engraved by dalziel, that is possibly by pinwell. three by t. morten, _after the opera_ (p. 39), _a struggle in the clouds_ (p. 287), and _ruth grey's trial_ (p. 59), are good, if not the best of this artist's work. two by george du maurier (pp. 209, 216) employ, after the manner of the time, a sort of pictured parable entitled _on the bridge_ and _under the bridge_. _our honeymoon_, by marcus stone, is interesting. _struck down_ (p. 106) and _the heiress of elkington_ (p. 345), both by j. d. watson, are as good as his work is usually. _a may morning_ (p. 428), by george h. thomas, is also worthy of mention, but the rest, by e. k. johnson, e. h. corbould, w. brunton, w. cave thomas, louis huard, etc., are not peculiarly attractive. the concluding volume for 1863 has a very dainty figure, _honey-dew_, by m. j. lawless (p. 554). the three du mauriers are _a little hop in harley st._ (p. 469), _lords: university cricket match_ (p. 161), and the _worship of bacchus_ (p. 192) at first sight so curiously like a charles keene that, were it not for the signature, one would distrust the index. nine drawings by t. morten to _the first time_ are good, especially those on p. 180, and _a first attempt_, charles green (p. 205), is also worth notice. two drawings by g. j. pinwell, _wolsey_ (p. 311) and another (p. 319), are characteristic. for the rest, c. h. bennett, louis huard, felix darley, w. m'connell, w. brunton, matt morgan, florence claxton, t. godwin, waldo sargent, george thomas, and c. a. doyle, provide _entrées_ and sweets a little flavourless to-day, although palatable enough, no doubt, at the time. in 1864, m. j. lawless's _not for you_ (p. 85); a fine j. d. watson, _the duet_ (p. 268); _charley blake_, by g. du maurier (p. 385); _at swindon_ (p. 41), m. e. edwards, and _little golden hair_, by r. barnes, are the only others above the average. adelaide claxton, w. m'connell, h. sanderson, and j. b. zwecker provide most of the rest. the second half of the year (vol. vi.) is far better, contains some good work by the 'talented young lady,' m. e. e. (to quote contemporary praise); that her work was talented all students of the 'sixties' will agree. _a holocaust_ (p. 433), _dangerous_ (p. 353), _gone_ (p. 185), _magdalen_ (p. 553), _milly's success_ (p. 269), and _unto this last_ (p. 252) are all by miss edwards. a fine millais, _knightly worth_ (p. 247), and a good j. d. watson, _blankton weir_ (p. 416), would alone make the volume memorable. c. a. doyle has some of his best drawings to _a shy man_, and g. h. thomas and others maintain a good average. rebecca solomon has a good full page (p. 541). in the extra christmas number you will find e. j. poynter's _a sprig of holly_ (p. 28), j. d. watson's _story of a christmas fairy_ (p. 24), a notable design, besides capital illustrations by du maurier, r. dudley (_the blue boy_), r. barnes, and marcus stone. 1865 is a du maurier year. in vol. vii. eleven drawings by this fecund artist on pp. 38, 193, 202, 289, 296, 428, 430, 481, 488, and 697, all excellent examples of his early manner. arthur hughes, with _the farewell valentine_ (p. 188), makes his first appearance within the pages of _london society_. a. w. cooper, j. pasquier, t. r. lamont, and a. claxton are to the fore, and c. h. bennett has a series of typical members of various learned societies, which, characteristic as they are, might have their titles transposed without any one being the wiser. in vol. viii. 1865, paul gray appears with _my darling_ (p. 253). t. morten has three capital drawings: _two loves and a life_ (p. 400), _a romance at marseilles_ (p. 549), and _love and pride_ (p. 16); and du maurier has _codlingham regatta_ (p. 284), _how not to play croquet_ (p. 61), _where shall we go?_ (p. 17), _old jockey west_ (p. 288), _the rev. mr. green_ (p. 122), _furnished apartments_ (p. 481), and _ticklish ground_ (p. 488). g. j. pinwell is represented by a solitary example, _the courtship of giles languish_ (p. 384), j. d. watson by _green mantle_ (pp. 385, 388, 389), and m. e. edwards by _georgie's first love-letter_ (p. 152), _faithful and true_ (p. 263), _firm and faithful_ (p. 60). the other contributors are a. w. bayes (_to gertrude_, p. 460), l. c. henley, t. r. lamont, j. a. pasquier, kate edwards, w. brunton, t. s. seccombe, john gascoine, etc. in 1866, vol. ix., george du maurier signs the frontispiece, _two to one_, and also two illustrations to _much ado about nothing_ (pp. 289, 296), two to _second thoughts_ (pp. 385, 391), and two to _queen of diamonds_ (pp. 481-488). t. morten has again three designs: _mrs. reeve_ (p. 135), _on the wrekin_ (p. 1), and _the man with a dog_ (p. 239); r. dudley supplies one, _the tilt-yard_ (p. 441), and kate edwards one, _the june dream_ (p. 531). m. ellen edwards in three admirable examples, _in peril_ (p. 450), _mutually forgiven_ (p. 228), and _the cruel letter_ (p. 364), shows how cleverly she caught the influence in the air. other artists contribute many drawings of no particular interest. vol. x. shows w. small with two drawings, _agatha_ (p. 160) and _the reading of locksley hall_ (p. 8). it is curious to see how the sentimentality of the poem has influenced the admirable draughtsman, who is not here at his best. paul gray has also two, _an english october_ (p. 289) and _to a flirt_ (p. 373); g. du maurier is represented by one only, _life in lodgings_ (p. 516); j. g. thompson by one also, _caught at last_ (p. 80); t. morten again contributes three: _marley hall_ (p. 560), _may's window_ (p. 432), and _the trevillians' summer trip_ (p. 124); a. boyd houghton is represented by _ready for supper_ (p. 146), and m. e. edwards by two drawings to _something to my advantage_ (pp. 481-488). the christmas number contains one boyd houghton, _the christmas tree_ (p. 80); a j. d. watson, _given back on christmas morn_ (p. 63); a very good f. w. lawson, _did i offend?_ (p. 32); a delightful charles keene, _how i lost my whiskers_ (p. 27); _sir guy's goblet_ (p. 16), by m. e. edwards, and one by george cruikshank, _my christmas box_, looking curiously out of place here. in the eleventh volume (1867) the four by w. small are among the most important. they are _a pastoral episode_ (p. 406), _quite alone_ (p. 277), _the meeting_ (p. 163), and _try to keep firm_ (p. 361); a j. d. watson, _changes_ (p. 373); a paul gray, _goldsmith at the temple gate_ (p. 392); a j. g. thompson, _an expensive journey_ (p. 36); m. e. edwards's _winding of the skein_ (p. 177), and l. c. henley's _how i set about paying my debts_ (p. 388), are all that need be mentioned. in the twelfth volume (1867) a. boyd houghton signs a couple of drawings to _a spinster's sweepstake_ (pp. 376, 383), g. j. pinwell supplies two to _beautiful mrs. johnson_ (pp. 136-248), f. w. lawson two to _dedding revisited_ (p. 433), _without reserve_ (p. 440), and four to _mary eaglestone's lover_ (pp. 97, 103, 207, 362). charles green is responsible for _the meeting at the play_ (p. 276), and j. g. thompson for a series, _threading the mazy at islington_. the christmas number is honoured by two fine drawings by charles keene (p. 18) and a good double page by j. d. watson, _christmas at an old manor-house_. sir john gilbert, a rare contributor to these pages, is represented by _the rowborough hollies_ (p. 41), m. e. edwards by _the christmas rose_ (p. 16), and f. w. lawson by _my turn next_ (p. 73). with its thirteenth volume (1868) _london society_ still keeps up to the level it established. among much that was intended for the moment only there is also work of far more sterling value. charles keene, in two drawings for _tomkins' degree supper_ (pp. 224, 232), is seen at his best, and how good that is needs no retelling. sir john gilbert, among a new generation, keeps his place as a master, and in four drawings (pp. 113, 249, 314, 429) reveals the superb qualities of his work, coupled, it must be said, with certain limitations which are almost inseparable from rapid production. g. du maurier is represented by two, _lift her to it_ (p. 324) and _the white carnation_ (p. 558). the inscription of _expectation_ (p. 360), by 'the late m. j. lawless', marks the final discharge of an illustrator who did much to impart permanent interest to the magazine. it is always a regret to find that mr. sandys chose other fields of work, and that death withdrew lawless so soon; for these two, not displaying equal power, together with walter crane maintained the decorative ideal through a period when it was unpopular with the public and apparently found little favour in editors' eyes. m. e. edwards's _my valentine_ (p. 114) and _married on her tenth birthday_ (p. 206). to this list must be added w. small, with a delightful out-of-doors study, _'you did not come'_ (p. 368); g. b. goddard with some capital 'animal' pictures: _spring of life_ (p. 353), _buck shooting_ (p. 72), and _dogs of note_ (pp. 75, 179); wilfrid lawson, _a spring-tide tale_ (p. 472); f. barnard, _a bracing morning_ (p. 60); a. w. cooper, _the old seat_ (p. 268); and others by tom gray, j. g. thomson, w. l. thomas, j. a. pasquier, w. s. gilbert, s. e. illingworth, rice, w. brunton, h. french, a. crowquill, edwin j. ellis, fane wood, and isaac l. brown. vol. xiv., the second of 1868, contains j. d. watson's _the oracle_ (p. 457); w. small's _the lights on gwyneth's head_ (p. 165); a. boyd houghton, _the turn of the tide_ (p. 458); john gilbert's _cousin geoffrey's chamber_ (_frontispiece_), and _box and cox in bay of bengal_ (p. 392); birket foster's _the falconer's lay_, probably engraved from a water-colour drawing (p. 529); wilfrid lawson's _crush-room_ (p. 140); _for charity's sake_ (p. 112); _behind the scenes_ (p. 141), _the gentle craft_ (p. 86), and _the golden boat_ (p. 579), with many others by the regular contributors. in the christmas number we find _linley sambourne_, whose work is encountered rarely outside the pages of _punch_, with a design for a _christmas day costume_ (p. 17); charles keene, with two drawings for _our christmas turkey_ (pp. 44, 46); g. b. goddard's full-page, _knee-deep_ (p. 32); j. d. watson's _aunt grace's sweetheart_ (p. 19) and _the two voices_ (p. 86) deserve noting. in 1869 wilfrid lawson illustrates whyte-melville's _m. or n._, and has several other full-page drawings in his best vein (pp. 8, 48, 89, 128, 152, 232, 307, 467, 540); j. mahoney is first met here with _officers and gentlemen_ (p. 284), and j. d. watson supplies the frontispiece to vol. xv., _bringing home the hay_, and also that to vol. xvi., _second blossom_. in this latter wilfrid lawson has illustrations to _m. or n._ (pp. 156, 193, 236, 386); t. morten, a powerful drawing, _winter's night_ (p. 550); g. b. goddard, _the sportman's resolve_ (p. 528). the other artists, including some new contributors, are m. a. boyd, horace stanton, e. j. ellis, t. sweeting, james godwin, f. roberts, a. w. cooper, l. huard, and b. ridley. the christmas number for 1869 contains a good charles keene, _the coat with the fur lining_ (pp. 1, 6); gilbert's _secret of calverly court_ (p. 4); m. e. edwards's _how the choirs were carolling_ (p. 84); and j. mahoney's _mr. daubarn_ (p. 49), with others of no particular importance. the numbers for 1870 contain, _inter alia_, in the first half-year, a good j. d. watson, _going down the road_ (_frontispiece_); _a leaf from a sketch-book_, by linley sambourne (printed, like a series this year, on special sheets of thick white paper, as four-page supplements), which contained lighter work by artists of the hour, but none worth special mention. j. mahoney's _going to the drawing-room_ (p. 321), and _sir stephen's question_ (p. 112), and _spring-time_, drawn and engraved by w. l. thomas (p. 375), are among the most interesting of the ordinary full pages. in the second half of the year, volume 18, there is a full page, _not mine_ (p. 501), by arthur hughes, which links 1855 to 1870; a. w. small, _after the season_ (p. 338); the very unimportant drawing by m. j. lawless, _an episode of the italian war_ (p. 97), has interest as a relic; j. mahoney contributes two to _the old house by the river_ (pp. 67, 172), and many others by h. paterson, wilfrid lawson, a. claxton. this year a holiday number appeared, with a not very good j. d. watson, _a landscape painter_ (p. 47), and two francis walkers, _a summer holiday_ and _rosalind and celia_, and other seasonable designs by various hands. the christmas number has a coloured frontispiece and other designs by h. d. marks; j. d. watson illustrates _what might have happened_ (pp. 8, 17, 19); and charles keene, _gipsy moll_ (pp. 39, 45); francis walker has _the star rider_ (p. 59) and _a tale_ (p. 63); f. a. fraser, typical of the next decade, and one might say, without undue severity, of the decadence also, and f. gilbert, that facile understudy of _sir john_, show examples of work differing as far as it well could; but 1870 is the last stage we need note here in the career of a magazine which did notable service to the cause of illustration, and brought a good many men into notice who have taken prominent part in the history of 'black and white.' without placing it on a level with _once a week_, it is an interesting collection of representative work, with some really first-rate drawing. [illustration: frederick sandys,del. "oh, what's that in the hollow, so pale i quake to follow? oh, that's a thin dead body which waits th'eternal term." _christina rossetti._] chapter v: other illustrated periodicals of the sixties. 'churchman's family magazine,' 'sunday magazine,' etc. in devoting another chapter to periodicals one must insist upon their relative importance; for the time and money expended on them in a single year would balance possibly the cost of all the books mentioned in this volume. in a naïve yet admirable article in the christmas _bookseller_, 1862, written from a commercial standpoint, the author says, speaking of some pictures in _good words_: 'some of these, we are informed, cost as much as £50 a block, a sum which appears marvellous when we look at the low price of the magazine'; he instances also the celebrated 'j. b.'[3], 'whose delineations of animals are equal to landseer. the magazines to be noticed are those only which contain original designs; others, _the national magazine_, the _fine arts quarterly_, and the like, which relied upon the reproductions of paintings, are not even mentioned. the churchman's family magazine any periodical containing the work of millais and sandys is, obviously, in the front rank, but _the churchman's family magazine_, which started in january 1863, did not long maintain its high level; yet the first half a dozen volumes have enough good work to entitle them to more than passing mention. this, like _london society_, was published by mr. james hogg, and must not be confounded with another of the same price, with similar title, _the churchman's shilling magazine_, to which reference is made elsewhere. in the familiar octavo of its class, it is well printed and well illustrated. the first volume contains two full pages by millais, _let that be please_ (p. 15) and _you will forgive me_ (p. 221); three illustrations by e. j. poynter to _the painter's glory_ (pp. 124, 131, 136); three by t. morten (pp. 137, 432, and 531); five by j. d. watson, _only grandmamma_ (p. 89), _christian martyr_ (p. 104), _sunday evening_ (p. 191), _the hermit_ (p. 260), and _mary magdalene_ (p. 346); three by charles green to _how susy tried_ (pp. 57, 64, 71), and one each to _henry ii._ (p. 385), and _an incident in canterbury cathedral_ (p. 482), a drawing strangely resembling a 'john gilbert.' h. s. marks is represented by _home longing_ (p. 113) and _age and youth_ (p. 337); h. h. armstead by _fourth sunday in lent_ (p. 245) and _angel teachers_ (p. 539); j. c. horsley by _anne boleyn_ (p. 136); f. r. pickersgill by _the still small voice_ (p. 586); g. h. thomas by _catechising in church_ (p. 225), and r. barnes by _music for the cottage_ (p. 289) and _the strange gentleman_ (p. 293). besides these the volume contains others by rebecca (sister to simeon) solomon (p. 571), l. huard, d. h. friston, h. c. selous, t. macquoid, w. m'connell, t. sulman, e. k. johnson (_spenser_, p. 576), and j. b. zwecker--a very fairly representative group of the average illustrator of the period. the second half of 1863 (vol. ii.) enshrines the fine frederick sandys, _the waiting time_, an incident of the lancashire cotton famine (p. 91). another of m. j. lawless's most charming designs, _one dead_ (p. 275), (reprinted under the title of _the silent chamber_), will be found here. m. e. edwards contributes two, _ianthe's grave_ (p. 128) and _child, i said_ (p. 405); g. j. pinwell is represented once with _by the sea_ (p. 257); and t. morten with _the bell-ringers' christmas story_ (p. 513). the other artists include h. c. selous, c. w. cope, f. r. pickersgill, e. armitage, a. w. cooper, e. h. wehnert, e. h. corbould, marshall claxton, p. w. justyne, p. skelton, paulo priolo, d. h. friston, h. sanderson, creswick, and t. b. dalziel. in vol. iii. (1864) m. j. lawless has _harold massey's confession_ (p. 65); c. green, _thinking and wishing_ (p. 223); g. j. pinwell, _march winds_ (p. 232); m. e. edwards, _at the casement_ (p. 354); and t. morten, _the twilight hour_ (p. 553). among other contributors are florence caxton, l. huard, h. m. vining, w. m'connell, rebecca solomon, h. fitzcook, john absolon, percy justyne, f. w. keyl, w. j. allen. [illustration: m. j. lawless 'churchman's family magazine' vol. ii. p. 275 'one dead'] [illustration: frederick sandys 'churchman's family magazine' vol. ii. p. 91 the waiting time] in vol. iv. are j. d. watson's _crusaders in sight of jerusalem_ (p. 557), t. b. dalziel's _in the autumn twilight_ (p. 441), and a. w. cooper's _lesson of the watermill_ (p. 339); florence caxton illustrates the serial. and in vol. v. m. e. edwards's _deare childe_ (p. 114), and _the emblem of life_ (p. 64), and a. boyd houghton's _a word in season_ (p. 409), are best worth noting. vol. vi. has a good study of a monk, _desert meditations_ (p. 493), and a _gretchen's lament_ (p. 82), by m. e. edwards. from vol. vii. onwards portraits, chiefly of ecclesiastical dignitaries, take the place of pictures. the shilling magazine this somewhat scarce publication is often referred to as one of the important periodicals of the sixties, but on looking through it, it seems to have established its claim on somewhat slender foundation. true, it contains one of sandys' most memorable designs--here reproduced in photogravure from an early impression of the block, a peculiarly fine drawing--to christina rossetti's poem, _amor mundi_. it was reproduced from a photograph of the drawing on wood in the first edition of mr. pennell's admirable _pen drawing and pen draughtsmen_, and in the second edition are reproductions by process, not only of mr. sandys' original drawing as preserved in a hollyer photograph, but of preliminary studies for the figures. the rest of the illustrations of the magazine, which only lived for a few months, are comparatively few and not above the average in merit. the numbers, may 1865 to may 1866, contain eight drawings by j. d. watson, illustrating mrs. riddell's _phemie keller_. thirteen by paul gray illustrate _the white flower of ravensworth_, by miss m. betham-edwards. others noteworthy are: _gythia_, by t. r. lamont; _dahut_, and _an incident_ of 1809, by j. lawson; _mistrust_ and _love's pilgrimage_, by edward hughes; a fine composition, _lost on the fells_, by w. small, and a few minor drawings mostly in the text. it was published by t. bosworth, 215 regent street. this is a brief record of a fairly praiseworthy venture, but there is really no more to be said about it. the sunday magazine, another sixpenny illustrated monthly more definitely religious in its aim than _good words_, of which it was an offspring, was started in 1865. the illustrations from the first were hardly less interesting than those in the other publications under the direction of mr. alexander strahan. indeed, it would be unjust not to express very clearly and unmistakably the debt which all lovers of black-and-white art owe to the publisher of these magazines. the conditions of oil-painting demand merely a public ready to buy: whether the artist negotiates directly with the purchaser, or employs an agent, is a matter of convenience. but black-and-white illustration requires a well-circulated, well-printed, well-conducted periodical: not as a middleman whose services can be dispensed with, but as a vital factor in the enterprise. therefore drawings intended for publication imply a publisher, and one who is not merely a man with pronounced artistic taste, but also a good administrator and a capable man of business. these triple qualifications are found but rarely together, and when they do unite, the influence of such a personality is of the utmost importance. mr. strahan, who appears to have combined in no small degree the qualities which go to make a successful publisher, set on foot two popular magazines, which, in spite of their having long passed their first quarter of a century, are still holding their own. a third, full of promise, _good words for the young_, was cut off in its prime, or rather died of a lingering disease, caused by that terrible microbe _the foreign cliché_. others, _the day of rest_ and _saturday journal_, also affected by the same ailment, succumbed after more or less effort; but the magazines that relied on the best contemporary illustrators still flourish. the moral, obvious as it is, deserves to be insisted upon. to-day the photograph from life is as popular with many editors as the _cliché_ from german and french originals was in the seventies; but a public which tired of foreign electros may soon grow weary of the inevitable photograph, and so the warning is worth setting down. [illustration: j. mahoney 'sunday magazine' 1866, p. 825 summer] [illustration: j. w. north 'sunday magazine' 1865, p. 328 winter] like its companion, _good words_, it has known fat years and lean years; volumes that were full of admirable drawings, and volumes that barely maintained a respectable average. from the very first volume of the _sunday magazine_ we find among others r. barnes, a. boyd houghton, m. e. edwards, paul gray, j. lawson, f. w. lawson, j. w. north, g. j. pinwell, and marcus stone well represented. the standard of excellence implied by these names was preserved for a considerable time. to this pinwell contributes two drawings, _the house of god_ (p. 144) and _only a lost child_ (p. 592), a typical character-study of town life. paul gray has a full page, _the maiden martyr_ (p. 272), engraved by swain; either the drawing is below his level, or it has suffered badly at the hands of the engraver. _the orphan girl_ (p. 296), _clara linzell's commentary_ (p. 401), and _dorcas_ (p. 617), by the same artist, are all interesting, but do not represent him at his best. the single contribution by a. boyd houghton, _friar ives_ (p. 384), is not particularly good. in _winter_, by j. w. north (p. 328), we have a most excellent drawing of a snow-clad farm with a thrashing machine at work in the distance, and two children in the foreground. the delicacy and breadth of the work, and its true tonality deserve appreciation; it was engraved by swain. _drowned_ (p. 585), by marcus stone, is not very typical. _the watch at the sepulchre_ (p. 940), by j. lawson, is a spirited group of roman soldiers. _caught in a thunderstorm_, by r. p. leitch, engraved by w. j. linton, is interesting to disciples of 'the white line.' edward whymper supplies the frontispiece, _the righi_. m. e. edwards, in the drawings to _grandfather's sunday_ (pp. 481, 489), appears to be under the influence of g. h. thomas. robert barnes has twenty illustrations to _kate the grandmother_, and one each to _light in darkness_ (p. 25) and _our children_. a series of fourteen to _joshua taylor's passion_, engraved by dalziel, are unsigned; the style leads one to credit them to f. a. fraser, who in later volumes occupied a prominent position. f. w. lawson, in _a romance of truth_ (pp. 641, 649) and _the vine and its branches_ (p. 904), has not yet found his individual manner. the rest of the pictures by t. dalziel, f. j. slinger, r. t. pritchett, f. eltze, w. m'connell, etc., call for no special comment. in 1866 j. mahoney's _summer_, the frontispiece to the volume, is a notable example of a clever artist, whose work has hardly yet attracted the attention it deserves; _marie_ (p. 753), a study of an old woman knitting, is no less good. birket foster's _autumn_ (p. 1) is also a very typical example. paul gray's _among the flowers_ (p. 624), a group of children from the slums in a country lane, is fairly good. w. small, in _hebe dunbar_ 'from a photograph' (p. 441), supplies an object-lesson of translation rather than imitation, which deserves to be studied to-day. in it, a really great draughtsman has given you a personal rendering of facts, like those he would have set down had he worked from life, and thereby imparted individual interest to a copy of a photograph. this one block, if photographers would but study it, should convince them that a good drawing is in every way preferable to a 'half-tone' block from a photograph of the subject; it might also teach a useful lesson to certain draughtsmen, who employ photographs so clumsily that the result is good neither as photography nor as drawing, but partakes of the faults of both. three designs to the _annals of a quiet neighbourhood_, by dr. george mac donald, (pp. 641, 713, 785), the first quite in the mood of the hour, a capital piece of work, and _a sunday afternoon in a london court_, complete mr. small's share in this volume. robert barnes supplies the other eight drawings to dr. mac donald's story, and another, _the pitman and his wife_ (p. 17), an excellent specimen of his 'british workman' manner. f. j. shields, a very infrequent contributor to these magazines, has a biblical group, '_even as thou wilt_' (p. 33). edward hughes (who must not be confounded with arthur hughes, nor with the present member of the old water-colour society, e. r. hughes) is responsible for _under a cottage roof_ (p. 192), _the bitter and sweet_ (p. 249), _the first tooth_ (p. 337), and _the poor seamstress_ (p. 409); although a somewhat fecund illustrator not devoid of style and invention, his work fails to interest one much to-day. j. gordon thomson, so many years the cartoonist of _fun_, is represented by _on the rock_ (p. 544). f. w. lawson's _hope_ (p. 120) and a. w. bayes's _saul and david_ (p. 703), with a drawing of wild animals drinking, by wolf, complete the list of original work, the rest being engraved from photographs. [illustration: s. l. fildes 'sunday magazine,' 1868, p. 656 the farmer's daughter] [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'sunday magazine' 1867, p. 817 a lesson to a king] [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'sunday magazine' 1867, p. 258 luther the singer] [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'sunday magazine' john baptist] [illustration: j. mahoney 'good words' 1868, p. 672 yesterday and to-day] [illustration: j. w. north 'sunday magazine' 1867, p. 609 anita's prayer] [illustration: g. j. pinwell 'sunday magazine' 1868, p. 704 madame de krudener] in 1867 a. boyd houghton is well to the fore with twelve illustrations to the serial story by sarah tytler, _the huguenot family in the english village_, besides full-page drawings, some in his best manner, to _a proverb illustrated_ (p. 33), _heroes_ (p. 129), _luther the singer_ (p. 256), _the martyr_ (p. 348), _the last of the family_ (p. 393), and _a lesson to a king_ (p. 817). w. small is only represented twice, with _wind me a summer crown_ (p. 65) and _philip's mission_ (p. 752). j. w. north has three admirable drawings, _foundered at sea_ (p. 280), _peace_ (p. 560), _anita's prayer_ (p. 609), the first and last of these, both studies of shipwrecks, deserve to be remembered for the truth of movement of the drawing of the waves, and one doubts if any sea-pieces up to the date of their appearance had approached them for fact and beauty combined. both are engraved by dalziels in an admirably intelligent fashion. f. w. lawson's _the chained book_ (p. 104) and _the revocation of the edict of nantes_ (p. 496), and _in the times of the lollards_ (p. 529), all deal with acrimonious memories of the past. after the scenes of cruelty, persecution, and martyrdom which unfortunately are too often the chief dishes in the _menu_ of a religious periodical, it is a relief to turn to the _cottar's farewell_ (p. 417), by j. d. watson, or to the 'norths' before quoted. this most straightforward and accomplished study of a dying peasant and his family shows the dignified and simple treatment which the artist at his happiest moments employed with complete mastery. in 1868 a. boyd houghton is again the most frequent contributor of full-page designs; a bare list must suffice. _sunday at hippo_ (p. 57), _three feasts of israel_ (p. 67), _paul's judge_ (p. 88), _sunday songs, sweden_ (p. 112), _the charcoal burners_ (p. 118), a drawing which looks like an intentional 'exercise in the manner of gustave doré,' who, despite his enormous popularity in england, seems to have had singularly little influence on english artists, so that this stands out as a unique exception. houghton has also _the feast of the passover_ (p. 185), _the poor man's shuttle_ (p. 273), _feast of pentecost_ (p. 296), _samuel the ruler_ (p. 357), _george herbert's last sunday_ (p. 424), _baden-baden_ (p. 520), _the good samaritan_ (p. 552), _church of the basilicas_ (p. 561), _joseph's coat_ (p. 616), _st. paul preaching_ (p. 681), and _the parable of the sower_ (p. 777). g. j. pinwell is seen in three examples, _a westphalian parsonage_ (p. 192), _madame de krudener_ (pp. 704, 785); s. l. fildes is here for the first time with _the farmer's daughter_ (p. 656); j. pettie has a small drawing, _my sister_ (p. 176); j. wolf, a clever 'lamb' study (p. 529); and w. small a most typical, almost mannered, _sunday morning_ (p. 182). j. mahoney supplies twenty-eight illustrations to _the occupations of a retired life_, by edward garrett, besides separate plates, _sunday songs from denmark_ (p. 16), _love days_ (p. 137), and _just suppose_ (p. 649). j. gordon thomson contributes eighteen drawings for dr. george macdonald's _the seaboard parish_, and others of no particular interest are attributed to shield, f. a. fraser, c. morgan, miles, lamont, and pasquier. here, as in many other volumes, are vignettes and tail-pieces by t. dalziel, some of them most admirably drawn and all charmingly expressed in the engraving. in 1869 a. boyd houghton still maintains his position. this year his drawings are _wisdom of solomon_ (p. 16), _the jews in the ghetto_ (p. 44), _martha and mary_ (p. 65), _rehoboam_ (p. 85), _jewish patriotism_ (p. 125), _sunday in the bush_ (p. 161), _miss bertha_ (pp. 384, 513), _babylonian captivity_ (p. 633), _john baptist_ (p. 641), and _samson_ (p. 760). g. j. pinwell illustrates edward garrett's _the crust and the cake_ with thirty-four cuts. in one of these (p. 529), as in two other designs by the same artist, you find that in drawing the lines of a harpsichord, or grand piano, he has forgotten that the reversal required by engraving would represent the instrument with its curve on the bass, instead of the treble side--a sheer impossibility, which any pianist cannot help noticing at a glance. his one other contribution this year is _the gang children_ (p. 25). represented by a solitary example in each case are j. m'whirter, _sunday songs_ (p. 12); j. pettie, _philip clayton's first-born_ (p. 69); edward hughes, _mother mahoney_ (p. 196); towneley green, _village doctor's wife_ (p. 505); robert barnes, _a missionary in the east_ (p. 57); and arthur hughes, _blessings in disguise_ (p. 156). j. mahoney has _the centurion's faith_ (p. 60), _building of the minster_ (p. 352), _hoppety bob_ (p. 417), _roger rolf_ (p. 608), and _christmas eighteenth century_ (p. 252). francis walker, with his _sunday songs_ (p. 93), _bird fair, shoreditch_ (p. 409), _feast of tabernacles_ (p. 600), _widow mullins_ (p. 673), and _a little heroine_ (p. 736); h. french, with '_it is more blessed_' (p. 229), and _a narrative sermon_ (p. 632); and f. a. fraser with _jesuit missions_ (p. 101), _wesley_ (p. 152), _the year_ (p. 217), _a queer charity_ (p. 576), and _a schwingfest_ (p. 665); the three latter belong by rights to the men of the seventies rather than to the group with which this volume is concerned. [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'sunday magazine' 1868, p. 777 the parable of the sower] [illustration: arthur hughes 'sunday magazine' 1871 p. 10 my heart] [illustration: arthur hughes 'sunday magazine' 1869, p. 156 blessings in disguise] [illustration: j. leighton 'sunday magazine' 1871, p. 408 a parable] in 1870 a. boyd houghton, one of the heroes of the sixties, reappears with five contributions, one, quite out of his ordinary manner, being a design for a group of statues, _st. paul's companions_ (p. 33); the others are _my mother's knee_ (p. 16), _sunday at aix-les-bains_ (p. 88), achsah's _wedding gifts_ (p. 104), and _sister edith's probation_ (p. 600). j. mahoney signs but two: _a sun-dial in a churchyard_ (p. 704) and _passover observances_ (p. 736). f. a. fraser and towneley green supply the illustrations to the serials. w. j. wiegand contributes decorative head-pieces, and hubert herkomer has two drawings, _diana's portrait_ and _diana coverdale's diary_. in 1871 houghton has but two: _a woman that was a sinner_ (p. 104) and _the withered flower_ (p. 512). arthur hughes, in three delightful designs, _my heart_ (p. 10), _the first sunrise_ (p. 302), and _tares and wheat_ (p. 353); j. mahoney with _diet of augsburg_ (p. 417) and _our milkmen_ (p. 217); and w. small with _the sea-side well_ (p. 249), _one of many_ (p. 446), and fourteen illustrations to _the story of the mine_, are about the only remnants of the old army. john leighton, a frequent contributor of decorative borders and head-pieces, has a typical full-page, _a parable_ (p. 408). the 'seventies' are represented by r. macbeth's _tom joiner's good angel_ (p. 313); and c. green (who, like small, belongs to both periods) with his designs to _the great journey_ (p. 119) and _mills of clough_ (pp. 560, 728). cassell's magazine, a popular monthly periodical that is still in full vigour under a slightly altered title, started in the decade immediately before the date that this book attempts to cover. as _cassell's family paper_, a large folio weekly, beyond the fact that the ubiquitous sir john gilbert did innumerable good things for its pages, one is not greatly interested in it. but in 1865 it was changed to a quarto shape, and although l. huard supplied the front page pictures to vol. i., and so the artistic position of the paper was not improved, yet soon after the change we find a great illustrator contributing the weekly drawing for its chief serial. for despite the indifferent engraving accorded to many of the blocks and the absence of any signature, the autograph of william small is legible in every line of the illustrations to _bound to the wheel_ which started with vol. ii. in august 26, 1866, and has sixteen half-page illustrations. this was followed by _the secret sign_, with the same artist for a few chapters. then another hand appears, and soon after the monogram f. g. shows that the second gilbert (a brother, i believe, of the more famous artist) has replaced w. small. to one drawing of another serial, _the lion in the path_, the signature of t. morten is appended. in april 1867 its title is changed to _cassell's family magazine_, and it is printed on toned paper. the serial, _anne judge, spinster_, by f. w. robinson, has thirty illustrations by charles green. no doubt the originals were worthy of that admirable draughtsman; indeed, despite their very ordinary engraving, enough remains to show the handling of a most capable artist. the succeeding serial, _poor humanity_, is illustrated by b. bradley. j. d. watson contributes occasional drawings--_ethel_, on p. 22, being the first. m. ellen edwards also appears, with f. w. lawson, f. a. fraser, henley, c. j. staniland, r. t. pritchett, m. w. ridley, j. mahoney, and g. h. thomas. it is noteworthy of the importance attached to the illustrator at this date, that the names of those artists who have contributed to the magazine are printed in bold type upon the title-page to each volume. these, as later, bear no date, so that only in volumes bound with the wrappers in british museum fashion can you ascertain the year of their publication. in vol. iii. (may 1868 onwards) you discover on p. 9 a drawing, _cleve cliff_, by g. j. pinwell. its serial, _a fight for life_, is illustrated by g. h. thomas, whose pictures are not signed, nor have i found that the authorship is attributed to the artists within the magazine itself. but in the 'in memoriam' volume, published soon after his death, several are reprinted and duly credited to him. they were all engraved by w. thomas. the first appearance of s. l. fildes, _woodland voices_, is on p. 137 of this volume. t. blake wirgman has also a notable composition, _a sculptor's love_, and in this and in volume iv. there are other drawings by fildes, pinwell, and many by f. barnard, f. s. walker, and other popular draughtsmen of the period. [illustration: frederick sandys 'the argosy' 1866, vol. i. p. 336 'if'] in 1870 we find another change, this time to a page that may be a quarto technically, but instead of the square proportions we usually connect with that shape, it seems more akin to an octavo. the illustrations are smaller, but far better engraved and better printed. w. small illustrates wilkie collins's cleverly-constructed story, _man and wife_, with thirty-seven pictures. his character-drawing appears at its best in 'bishopriggs,' the old scotch waiter, his love of beauty of line in two or three sketches of the athlete, 'geoffrey delamayne,' the working villain of the story. the dramatic force of the group on p. 305, the mystery of the scene on p. 529, or the finely-contrasted emotions of anne silvester and sir patrick on p. 481, could hardly be beaten. the other contributors to this vol. i. of the new series, include r. barnes, basil bradley, h. k. browne, w. r. duckman, e. h. corbould, m. e. edwards, e. ellis, s. l. fildes, f. a. fraser, e. hughes, f. w. lawson, h. paterson, and others, most of whom it were kindness to ignore. for side by side with mr. small's masterly designs appear the weakest and most commonplace full pages. hardly one, except s. l. fildes's _a sonnet_ (p. 9), tempts you to linger a moment. in vol. ii. the serial story, _checkmate_, is illustrated by towneley green. the drawings throughout are mainly by those who contributed to the first volume. in the third volume, charles reade's _a terrible temptation_ is illustrated by edward hughes; a somewhat powerful composition by j. d. l[inton], p. 377; one by w. small (p. 9), and others by j. lawson, f. w. lawson, m. e. edwards, are all that can claim to be noted. belgravia this illustrated shilling monthly, the same size and shape as most of its predecessors, was not started until 1866, and its earlier volumes have nothing in them sufficiently important to be noticed. in the seventies better things are to be found. the argosy this monthly periodical, as we know it of late years, suggests a magazine devoted to fiction and light literature, with a frontispiece by some well-known artist, and small engravings in the text mostly from photographs, or belonging to the diagram and the record rather than to fine art. i am not speaking of the present shilling series, but of the long array of volumes from 1868 until a few years ago. nor does this opinion belittle the admirable illustrations by walter crane, m. ellen edwards, and other artists who supplied its monthly frontispiece. but the first four half-yearly volumes were planned on quite different lines, and these deserve the attention of all interested in the subject of this book, to a degree hardly below that of the better-known magazines; better known, that is to say, as storehouses of fine illustrations. as these volumes seem to be somewhat scarce, a brief _résumé_ of their contents will not be out of place. in the year 1866 we have william small at his best in twelve illustrations to charles reade's dramatic novel, _griffith gaunt_. whether because the ink has sunk into the paper and given a rich tone to the prints, or because of their intrinsic merit, it is not quite easy to say, but the fact remains that these drawings have peculiar richness, and deserve to be placed among the best works of a great artist not yet fully recognised. one design by f. sandys to christina rossetti's poem, _if_, is especially noticeable, the model biting a strand of hair embodies the same idea as that of _proud maisie_, one of the best-known works of this master. a. boyd houghton has a typical eastern figure-subject, _the vision of sheik hamil_; edward hughes one, _hermione_; paul gray, a singularly good drawing to a poem _the lead-melting_, by robert buchanan. another to a poem by george macdonald, _the sighing of the shell_, is unsigned, whether by morten or paul gray i cannot say, but it is worthy of either artist; j. lawson has one to _the earl of quarterdeck_, m. ellen edwards one to _cuckoo_ and one to _cape ushant_, a ballad by william allingham; a group, with napoleon as the central figure, is by g. j. pinwell, and j. mahoney contributes three: _autumn tourists, bell from the north_, a girl singing by a trafalgar square fountain, and _the love of years_. the next year, 1867, is illustrated more sparsely. _robert falconer_, by george macdonald, has one unsigned drawing, and nine by william small; these, with _a knight-errant_ by boyd houghton, make up the eleven it contains. in the next year walter crane illustrates the serial, _anne hereford_, by mrs. henry wood, and also a poem, _margaret_, by his sister. [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'the argosy' 1866, vol. i. p. 500 the vision of sheik hamil] [illustration: g. j. pinwell 'the quiver' 1867 the sailor's valentine] the quiver this semi-religious monthly magazine, published by messrs. cassell and co., was not illustrated at first. it is almost unnecessary to describe it volume by volume, as a reprint of its principal illustrations was made in 1867, when fifty-two pictures were sandwiched between poems, and published in a small quarto volume entitled '_idyllic pictures_, drawn by barnes, miss ellen edwards, paul gray, houghton, r. p. leitch, pinwell, sandys, small, g. thomas, etc' the curiously colloquial nomenclature of the artists on the title-page is the only direct reference to their share in the book, which is well printed, and includes some admirable illustrations. the book is now exceptionally scarce, and like its companion, _pictures of society_, selected from _london society_, must be searched for long and patiently. personal inquiries at all the accessible shops in london, bath, and edinburgh failed to find one bookseller who had ever heard of either book. yet, in spite of it, single copies of both turned up alternately on the shelves of men who were at the moment of its discovery glibly doubting its existence. the ignorance of booksellers concerning this period is at once the terror and the joy of the collector. for when they do know, he will have to pay for their knowledge. yet it would be unfair to the reputation of a periodical which issued so many designs by representative artists of the sixties to dismiss it without a little more detail. started as a non-illustrated paper on october 6, 1864, it entered the ranks with a very capable staff. in 1866 a third series on toned paper still further established its claim to be considered seriously, and the fact that these few years supplied the matter for the volume just mentioned shows that it fulfilled its purpose well. in volume i. third series (1866), pictures by a. boyd houghton will be found on pages 532, 585, 664, 728, 737, 776, and 868; and in vol. ii. 1867, he appears upon pages 88 and 456. those by william small (pp. 90, 232), g. j. pinwell (pp. 60, 641), and j. d. watson (p. 596) also deserve looking up. m. w. ridley, an illustrator of promise, is also represented. in vol. iii. 1868, j. d. watson's designs on pages 25, 57, 497, 680, 713, and 745 are perhaps his best. drawings by john lawson (p. 108), hubert herkomer (p. 73), a. boyd houghton (pp. 97, 705, 721, 737), s. l. fildes (pp. 327, 417, 433), g. j. pinwell (pp. 121, 193, 449, 481, 585 and 753), c. green (p. 241), j. mahoney (p. 328), and t. b. wirgman (p. 649) all merit notice. in vol. iv. many of the above artists are represented--s. l. fildes (p. 396), j. d. watson (p. 407), w. small (p. 696), and the designs by s. l. fildes and j. d. watson in the christmas number being perhaps the most noticeable. other frequent contributors include r. barnes, c j. staniland, m. e. edwards, j. a. pasquier, g. h. thomas, f. w. lawson, and edith dunn. although not to be compared artistically with its rivals, _good words_ and the _sunday magazine_, it is nevertheless a storehouse of good, if not of exceptionally fine, work. the churchman's shilling magazine, a periodical of the conventional octavo size, affected by the illustrated shilling periodicals of the sixties, was commenced in 1867. the first two volumes contain little of note, and are illustrated by r. huttula, john leigh, e. f. c. clarke; the third volume has m. e. edwards, and in the fifth volume walter crane supplies two full pages (pp. 267, 339). despite the fact that it credited its artists duly in the index, and seemed to have been most favourably noticed at the time, it may be dismissed here without further notice. tinsley's magazine this shilling monthly was started in august 1867 with illustrations by 'phiz,' w. brunton, d. h. friston, and a. w. cooper. a. boyd houghton's contributions include _the story of a chignon_ (i. p. 544), _for the king_ (ii. p. 149), and _the return from court_ (ii. p. 377). j. d. watson appears in vol. iii. pp. 87, 399, 665, and a drawing, signed a. t. (possibly alfred thompson), is on p. 207. but the magazine, although published at a shilling, and therefore apparently intended as a rival to the _cornhill_ and the rest, is not important so far as its illustrations are concerned. the broadway this international magazine, heralded with much flourish in 1867 by messrs. routledge, is of no great importance, yet as it was illustrated from its first number in september 1867 to july 1874, it must needs be mentioned. examples of the following artists will be found therein:--f. barnard, g. a. barnes, w. brunton, m. e. edwards, paul gray, e. griset, a. b. houghton, r. c. huttula, f. w. lawson, matt morgan, thomas nash, j. a. pasquier, alfred thompson, and j. gordon thomson. saint paul's, yet another shilling magazine which was started in october 1867, and published by messrs. virtue and co., is memorable for its twenty-two drawings by millais. these appeared regularly to illustrate trollope's _phineas finn the irish member_. a few illustrations by f. a. fraser were issued to _ralph the heir_, the next story, and to _the three brothers_, but from 1871 it appears without pictures. by way of working off the long serial by trollope, _ralph the heir_, independent supplements as thick as an ordinary number, but entirely filled with chapters of the story in question, were issued in april and october 1870. so curious a departure from ordinary routine is worth noting. good words for the young, a most delightful children's magazine, which began as a sixpenny monthly under the editorship of dr. norman macleod in 1869, bids fair to become one of those books peculiarly dear (in all senses) to collectors. there are many reasons why it deserves to be treasured. its literature includes several books for children that in volume-form afterwards became classics; its illustrations, especially those by arthur hughes, appeal forcibly to the student of that art, which is called pre-raphaelite, æsthetic, or decorative, according to the mood of the hour. like all books intended for children, a large proportion of its edition found speedy oblivion in the nursery; and those that survive are apt to show examples of the amateur artist in his most infantile experiments with a penny paint-box. from the very first it surrounded itself with that atmosphere of distinction, which is well-nigh as fatal to a magazine's longevity as saintliness of disposition to a sunday-school hero. after a career that may be called truthfully--brilliant, it suddenly changed to a periodical of no importance, illustrated chiefly by foreign _clichés_. how long it lingered in this state does not concern us. indeed, it is only by a liberal interpretation of the title of this book that a magazine which was not started until 1869 can be included in _the sixties_ at all; but it seems to have continued the tradition of the sixties, and until the first half of 1874, although it changed its editor and its title (to _good things_), it kept the spirit of the first volume unimpaired; but after that date it joined the majority of uninteresting periodicals for children, and did not survive its recantation for many years. in 1869 arthur hughes has twenty-four drawings to george macdonald's _at the back of the north wind_, and ten to the earlier chapters of henry kingsley's _boy in grey_. the art of a. boyd houghton is seen in three instances: _cocky locky's journey_ (p. 49), _lessons from russia_ (p. 101), and _the boys of axleford_ (p. 145). j. mahoney has about a dozen; h. herkomer one to _lonely jane_ (p. 28); and g. j. pinwell one to _black rock_ (p. 255). although, following the example set by its parent _good words_, it credits the illustrations most faithfully to their artists in a separate index, yet it developed a curious habit of illustrating its serials with a fresh artist for each instalment; and, as their names are bracketed, it is not an easy task to attribute each block to its rightful author. the list which i have made is by my side, but it is hardly of sufficient general interest to print here; as many of the sketches, despite the notable signatures upon them, are trivial and non-representative. other illustrations in the first volume include one hundred and fifty-five grotesque thumb-nail sketches by w. s. gilbert to his _king george's middy_, and many by f. barnard, b. rivière, e. f. brewtnall, e. dalziel, f. a. fraser, h. french, s. p. hall, j. mahoney, j. pettie, t. sulman, f. s. walker, w. j. wiegand, j. b. zwecker, etc. in 1870 arthur hughes contributes thirty-six illustrations to _ranald bannerman's boyhood_, by george mac donald (who succeeded dr. macleod as editor), forty-eight to the continuation of the other serial by the same author, _at the back of the north wind_, four to the concluding chapters of henry kingsley's _boy in grey_, and one to _the white princess_. a. boyd houghton has but two: _two nests_ (p. 13), _keeping the cornucopia_ (p. 33); _miss jane_ 'wandering in the wood' (p. 44) is by h. herkomer, while most of the artists who contributed to the first volume reappear; we find also e. g. and t. dalziel, charles green, towneley green, and ernest griset. [illustration: paul gray 'the quiver' cousin lucy] [illustration: h. herkomer 'good words for the young' 1870, p. 44 wandering in the wood] [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'good words for the young' 1870, p. 28 don jose's mule] [illustration: arthur hughes 'good words for the young' 1871, p. 100 barbara's pet lamb] [illustration: arthur hughes 'good words for the young' 1871, p. 145 mercy] [illustration: w. small 'the quiver' between the cliffs] in 1871, arthur hughes, the chief illustrator of this magazine, to whose presence it owes most of its interest (since other artists are well represented elsewhere, but he is rarely met with outside its pages), contributes thirty pictures to dr. george mac donald's _princess and the goblin_, and fourteen others, some of which have been republished in _lilliput lectures_ and elsewhere,--one, _mercy_ (p. 195), reappearing in that work, and again as the theme of a large painting in oils, which was exhibited at the royal academy 1893, and reproduced in _the illustrated london news_, may 3rd of that year. a. boyd houghton, in _don josé's mule_ (p. 28), has a most delightfully grotesque illustration, and in two drawings for _the merry little cobbler of bagdad_ (pp. 337-338), both in his 'arabian nights' vein, is typically representative. for the rest, w. small in _my little gypsy cousin_ (p. 95), a good full page, and ernest griset with ten of his humorous animal pictures, combine with most of the artists already named to maintain the well-deserved reputation of the magazine. in 1872 arthur hughes supplies nine delightful designs for _gutta-percha willie_, by the editor; twenty-four to _innocent's island_, a long-rhymed chronicle by the author of _lilliput levée_, and a curiously fantastic drawing to george mac donald's well-known poem, _the wind and the moon_. some one, with the initials f. e. f. (not f. a. f.), illustrates _on the high meadows_ in nineteen sketches; with the exception of two by j. mahoney, the rest of the pictures are chiefly by f. a. fraser, t. green, f. s. walker, w. j. wiegand, and j. b. zwecker. in 1873 the magazine changed its name to _good things_. the most attractive illustrations are by arthur hughes: ten to _sindbad in england_ (pp. 25, 89, 129, 193, 236, 432, 481, 594, 641), two to _henry and amy_ (pp. 72, 73), and one each to _a poor hunchback_ (p. 17), _the wonderful organ_ (p. 24), and _my daughter_ (p. 136). j. mahoney has a small design, _the old mill_ (p. 600). the rest are by ernest griset, w. j. wiegand, and francis walker. on and after 1874 the _cliché_ enters, and all interest ceases. at this time the business of trading in _clichés_ had begun to assume large proportions. you find sometimes, in the course of a single month, that an english periodical hitherto exclusively british becomes merely a vehicle for foreign _clichés_. in this instance the change is so sudden that, excepting a few english blocks which we may presume had been prepared before, the foreigner is supreme. that, in at least three cases, the demise of the publication was merely a question of months is a sequel not to be regretted. but we need not assume too hastily that the _cliché_ killed it--possibly it had ceased to be profitable before, and the false economy of spending less has tempted the proprietor to employ foreign illustrations. britannia, another shilling illustrated magazine, was started in 1869. the british museum, it seems, possesses no set, and my own copy has disappeared, excepting the first volume, but so far as that proves, and my memory can be trusted, it was illustrated solely by matt morgan, a brilliant but ephemeral genius who shortly after migrated to new york. the peculiarity of this magazine is that, like _the tomahawk_, a satirical journal illustrated by the same artist, its pictures were all printed in two colours, after the fashion of the old venetian wood-blocks. the one colour was used as a ground with the high lights cut away; the other block, for the ordinary convention of line-drawing. some of the pictures are effective, but none are worthy of very serious consideration. dark blue although _dark blue_, a shilling monthly magazine, did not begin until march 1871, and ran its brief career until march 1873 only, it deserves mention here, because quite apart from its literary contributions which were notable, including as they did swinburne's _end of a month_, rossetti's _down stream_, its earlier volumes contain at least two drawings that will be prized when these things are collected seriously. besides, it has a certain _cachet_ of its own that will always entitle it to a place. its wrapper in colours, with three classically-attired maidens by a doorway, is singularly unlike that of any other publication; possibly f. w. l. would not be anxious to claim the responsibility of its design, yet it was new in its day, and not a bad specimen of the good effect of three simple colours on a white ground. its serial, _lost_, a romance by j. c. freund, was illustrated by f. w. lawson, t. w. perry, t. robinson, and d. t. white; and its second serial, _take care whom you trust_, by m. e. freere and t. w. ridley. a full-page drawing (they are all separately printed plates in this magazine), by cecil lawson, _spring_, is far more interesting. _musaeus_, by a. w. cooper, a somewhat jejune representation of the hero and leander motive, and other illustrations by e. f. clarke, w. j. hennessey, m. fitzgerald, d. h. friston, s. p. hall, j. a. h. bird, are commonplace designs engraved by c. m. jenkin; but _the end of a month_, a study of two heads, by simeon solomon, and _down stream_, by ford madox brown, (here reproduced from the original drawing on wood by kind permission of mr. frederick hollyer), represent the work of two artists who very rarely appeared as magazine illustrators. the literature includes many names that have since become widely known, but the project failed, one imagines, to secure popular support, and so it must be numbered with the long list of similar good intentions. the british workman it would be unjust to ignore a very popular penny magazine because of its purely philanthropic purpose. for from the first it recognised the importance of good illustrations as its great attraction, and enlisted some of the best draughtsmen to fulfil its didactic aim. we cannot help admiring its pluck, and congratulating the cause it championed (and still supports), and its fortune in securing coadjutors. the first number, issued in february 1855, has a design, the _loaf lecture_, by george cruikshank on its first page; for some time h. anelay and l. huard were the most frequent contributors; then came john gilbert and harrison weir, the earliest important gilbert being _the last moments of thomas paine_ (january 1862). as a sample of white-line engraving, a block after a medallion of the _prince consort_, by l. c. wyon, and another of _h.m. the queen_, would be hard to beat. among these more frequent contributors, we find drawings by j. d. watson, _my account with her majesty_ (august 1864) and _parley and flatterwell_ (december 1865) being the most notable; and others by a. w. cooper, and lastly many by r. barnes, whose studies of humble life yet await the full appreciation they deserve. these large and vigorous engravings maintain a singularly high level of excellence, and, if not impeccable, are yet distinctly of art, and far above the ephemeral padding of more pretentious magazines. the band of hope review of all unlikely publications to interest artist or collector a halfpenny monthly devoted to teetotalism might take first place. not because of its price, nor because it was a monthly with a mission, for many cheap serials have attracted the support of artists who gave liberally of their best for the sake of the cause the publications championed. _the band of hope review_ is no esoteric pamphlet, but a perfect instance of a popular venture unconcerned, one would think, with art. it would be easy to claim too much for it; still the good work in its pages merits attention. it was started in 1861 as a folio sheet about the size of _the sketch_, its front page being always filled by a large wood-engraving. the first full page, by h. anelay, a draughtsman whose speciality was the good little boy and girl of the most commonplace religious periodicals, promises little enough. a series of really fine drawings of animals and birds by harrison weir commenced in no. 2. the third issue included a page by l. huard, whose work occasionally found its way to the shilling magazines, although the bulk of it appeared in the mass of journals of the type of the _london journal_, _bow bells_, etc. in the fifth number john gilbert (not then knighted) appears with a fine drawing, _the golden star_; j. wolf, honourably distinguished as an illustrator of animals, is also represented. for december 1862 john gilbert provided a decorative composition of _the ten virgins_, that is somewhat unlike his usual type. in august 1865 robert barnes appears for the first time with admirably drawn boys and girls full of health and characteristically british. afterwards one finds many of his full pages all vigorous and delightfully true to the type he represents. in august 1866 a group, _young cadets_, may be selected as a typical example of his strength and perhaps also of his limitations. in 1870 the falling off apparent everywhere is as noticeable in this unimportant publication as in those of far higher pretensions. here, as elsewhere, the foreign _cliché_ appears, or possibly the subjects were engraved specially, and were not, as was so often the case, merely replicas of german and french engravings. but all the same they are from oil-paintings, not from drawings made for illustration. [illustration: unknown 'leisure hour' 1864 enoch arden] [illustration: simeon solomon 'leisure hour' 1866, p. 604 the feast of tabernacles] [illustration: simeon solomon 'leisure hour' 1866, p. 540 the day of atonement] the leisure hour the publications of the religious tract society have employed an enormous mass of illustrations, but as the artist's name rarely appears at the period with which we are concerned, either in the index of illustrations or below the engravings, the task of tracing each to its source would be onerous and the result probably not worth the labour. yet, in the volumes of the _leisure hour_ for the sixties, there are a few noteworthy pictures which may later on attract collectors to a periodical which so far appealed more, one had thought, to parish workers than to art students. the 1861 volume starts with the 471st number of the magazine, illustrated by 'gilbert' (probably sir john). in 1863 coloured plates are given monthly, three being after originals by the same artist, but, although attributed duly in the advertising pages of its wrapper, the name of the design does not appear in the index. with 1864 a surprise faces you in the illustrations to _hurlock chase_, which are vigorous, dramatic, and excellently composed, full of colour and breadth. that they are by g. du maurier internal evidence proves clearly, but there is no formal recognition of the fact. robert barnes has a full page, _granny's portrait_ (p. 825). _enoch arden_ is by 'an amateur whose name the publishers are not able to trace.'[4] in 1865 the illustrations to _the awdries_, also unsigned, are distinctly interesting; later the well-known monogram of j. mahoney is met with frequently. in 1866 a series of ten illustrations of the ceremonies of modern jewish ritual, domestic and ecclesiastical (pp. 72, 167, 216, 328, 376-475, 540, 603, 653, 823) appear. contrary to the rule usually observed here, they are entitled, 'by s. solomon.' these are, so far as i know (with four exceptions), the only contributions to periodical literature by simeon solomon, an artist who at this date bade fair to be one of the greatest pre-raphaelite painters. they are distinctly original both in their technical handling and composition, and excellently engraved by butterworth and heath. for their sake no collector of the sixties should overlook a book which is to be picked up anywhere at present. the illustrations to _the great van bruch property_, unsigned, are most probably by j. mahoney. others include _george iii. and mr. adams_, a full page by c. j. staniland (p. 494); a series of _pen and pencil sketches among the outer hebrides_, r. t. pritchett; _finding the body of william rufus_, j. m. in 1867 j. mahoney illustrates the serial, _the heiress of cheevely dale_, and contributes a full page, _the blue-coat boy's mother_ (p. 812); whymper has two series, _on the nile_ and _a trip through the tyrol_, both oddly enough attributed to him in the index. silent, with scarce an exception, as regards other artists, the sentence, 'engraved by whymper,' finds a place each time. in 1868 are more mahoneys; in 1869 charles green illustrates the serial. the sunday at home this magazine, uniform with the _leisure hour_ in style and general arrangement, is hardly of sufficient artistic interest to need detailed comment here. started in 1852 it relied, like its companion, on gilbert and other less important draughtsmen. in the sixties it was affected a little by the movement. in 1863 there is one design by g. j. pinwell, _the german band_ (p. 753), several by c. green, and one probably by du maurier (p. 513), who has also six most excellent drawings to _the artist's son_ in the number for january, and one each to short stories, _john henderson_ and _siller and gowd_, later in the year. a serial in 1865 and one in 1866 are both illustrated by j. mahoney; and, in the latter year, w. small supplies drawings to another story. beyond a full page, obviously by r. barnes, there is nothing else peculiarly interesting in 1866; in the 1867 volume f. w. lawson and charles green contribute a good many designs. in 1868 s. l. fildes has one full page, _st. bartholomew_ (p. 329), and f. a. f. appears; in 1869 charles green is frequently encountered, but the magazine is not a very happy hunting-ground for our purpose. other serial publications serial issues of cassell's _history of england_, the _family bible_, and other profusely illustrated works might also repay a close search, but, as a rule, the standard is too ordinary to attract any but an omnivorous collector. still, men of considerable talent are among the contributors, (sir) john gilbert for instance, and others like h. c. selous, paolo priolo, who never fell below a certain level of respectability. _golden hours_, a semi-religious monthly, started in 1864 as a penny magazine. in 1868 its price was raised to sixpence, and among its artist-contributors we find m. e. edwards, r. barnes, and a. boyd houghton (represented once only) with _an eastern wedding_ (p. 849). in 1869 towneley green, c. o. murray, and others appear, but the magazine can hardly be ranked as one representative of the period. nor is it essential to record in detail the mass of illustrations in the penny weeklies and monthlies--to do so were at once impossible and unnecessary; nor the mass of semi-religious periodicals such as _our own fireside_ and _the parish magazine_, which rarely contain work that rises above the dull average. the boys' own magazine the art of this once popular magazine may be dismissed very briefly. j. g. thomson made a lot of designs to _silas the conjuror_ and other serials. r. dudley, a conscientious draughtsman whose speciality was mediæval subjects, illustrated its historical romances with spirit and no little knowledge of archæological details. a. w. bayes, j. a. pasquier, and others adorned its pages; but from 1863 to its death it contains nothing interesting except to a very rabid collector. every boy's magazine this well-intentioned periodical (routledge, 1863, etc.), except for certain early works by walter crane, would scarce need mention here. its wrapper for 1865 onwards was from a capital design by walter crane, who contributed coloured frontispieces and titles to the 1864 and 1865 volumes. c. h. bennett illustrated his own romance of _the young munchausen_. in 1867 it called itself _the young gentleman's magazine_; an heraldic design by j. forbes nixon, with the shields of the four great public schools, replaced the crane cover. t. morten, m. w. ridley, and others contributed. a. boyd houghton illustrated _barford bridge_, its serial for 1866, and walter crane performed the same offices to mrs. henry wood's _orville college_ in 1867. these few facts seem to comprise all of any interest. aunt judy's magazine the sixpenny magazine for children, edited by mrs. alfred gatty, issued its first number, may 1866. the artists who contributed include f. gilbert, j. a. pasquier, t. morten, m. e. edwards, e. griset, f. w. lawson, e. h. wehnert, a. w. bayes, a. w. cooper, and others. there are two drawings by george cruikshank, and later on randolph caldecott will be found. in both cases the illustrations were for mrs. ewing's popular stories, which had so large a sale, reprinted in volume-form. neither in the drawings nor in their engraving do you find anything else which is above the average of its class. two other magazines remain to be noticed out of their chronological order, both of little intrinsic importance, but of peculiar value to collectors. everybody's journal, a weekly periodical the size of the _london journal_, and not more attractive in its appearance, nor better printed, began with no. 1, october 1, 1859, and ceased to exist early in the following year; probably before the end of january, since the british museum copy in monthly parts is inscribed 'discontinued' on the part containing the december issues. that a complete set is not in our great reference library is a matter for regret; for the first published illustration by fred walker, which was issued in _everybody's journal_, january 14, must needs have been in the missing numbers. those which are accessible include drawings by (sir) john gilbert, t. morten, and harrison weir, none of peculiar interest. among the names of the contributors will be found several that have since become widely known. entertaining things this twopenny monthly magazine, which is probably as unfamiliar to those who read this notice as it was to me until a short time since, was published by virtue and co., the first number appearing in january 1861. it contains many designs by j. portch, f. j. skill, m. s. morgan, e. weedar, w. m'connell, p. justyne, and w. j. linton, none being particularly well engraved. but it contains also walter crane's first published drawing--a man in the coils of a serpent (p. 327), illustrating one of a series of articles, _among the mahogany cutters_, which is not very important; another a few pages further on in the volume is even less so. collectors will also prize _a nocturne_ by g. du maurier, and some designs by t. morton (_sic_). the christmas number contains a delightful design by a. boyd houghton, _the maid of the wool-pack_, and another drawing by du maurier. the publication ceased, according to a note in the british museum copy, in may 1862. among rarities of the sixties this magazine may easily take a high place, for one doubts if there are many copies in existence. should the mania for collecting grow, it is quite possible this volume, of such slight intrinsic value, will command record prices. beeton's annuals these were of two sorts, a badly printed shilling annual, which appealed to children of all ages, and a six-shilling variety, which appealed to those of a smaller growth. in the higher-priced volumes for 1866 t. morten, j. g. thomson, and j. a. pasquier appear. in the shilling issue, an independent publication, are more or less execrably engraved blocks, after c. h. bennett, g. cruikshank, jun., and others who would probably dislike to have their misdeeds chronicled. these publications added to the gaiety of nations, but when they ceased no eclipse was reported. yet a patient collation of their pages renewed a certain boyish, if faded, memory of their pristine charm, which the most cautious prophet may assert can never be imparted anew to any reader. _kingston's annuals_ and _peter parley's annuals_, also revisited, left impressions too sad to be expressed here. nor need _routledge's christmas annuals_ be noticed in detail. _tom hood's comic annuals_, which contained much work typical of the seventies, although it began its long career in 1869, includes so little work by heroes of the 'sixties' that it need not be mentioned. the mass of penny magazines for children do not repay a close search. here and there you will find a design by a notable hand, but it is almost invariably ruined by poor engraving; so that it were kinder not to attempt to dispel the obscurity which envelops the juvenile 'goody-goody' literature of thirty years ago. [illustration: g. du maurier 'punch.' march 3, 1866 a legend of camelot, part i] [illustration: g. du maurier 'punch.' march 10, 1866 a legend of camelot, part ii] [illustration: g. du maurier 'punch.' march 17, 1866. a legend of camelot, part iii] [illustration: g. du maurier 'punch.' march 24, 1866 a legend of camelot, part iv] [illustration: g. du maurier 'punch.' march 31, 1866 a legend of camelot, part v] chapter vi: some illustrated weekly papers in the sixties punch.--it is impossible to overlook the famous weekly that from its own pages could offer a fairly representative group of the work of any decade since it was established; a paper which, if it has not attracted every great illustrator, could nevertheless select a hundred drawings from its pages that might be fairly entered in competition with any other hundred outside them. but, at the same time, to give a summary of its record during the sixties, even as compressed as those of _the cornhill magazine_, _once a week_, etc., would occupy more pages than all the rest put together. fortunately the labour has been accomplished quite recently. mr. m. h. spielmann's _history of punch_ supplies a full and admirably digested chronicle of its artistic achievements. so that here (excluding the staff-artists, sir john tenniel, mr. du maurier, mr. linley sambourne, and the rest, and the greatest _punch_ artist, charles keene, who was never actually upon its staff) it will be sufficient to indicate where admirers of the men of the sixties may find examples of their work for _punch_; sir john millais appears twice upon p. 115 of vol. xliv. (1863) with a design to _mokeanna_, mr. f. c. burnand's laughable parody, and again with _mr. vandyke brown's sons thrashing the lay figure_, in the _almanac_ for 1865, a drawing that faces, oddly enough, one of fred walker's two contributions, _the new bathing company, limited, specimens of costumes to be worn by the shareholders_. the other fred walker, _captain jinks of the 'selfish,'_ is on p. 74 of vol. lvii. 1869; george j. pinwell is an infrequent contributor from 1863 to 1869; walter crane appears but once, p. 33 (vol. li. 1866); frederick shields's three initials, which appeared in 1870, were drawn in 1867; m. j. lawless is represented by six drawings, which appeared between may 1860 and january 1861; f. w. lawson has some initials and one vignette in the volume for 1867; ernest griset appears in the _almanac_ for 1867; j. g. thomson, for twenty years cartoonist of _fun_, is an occasional contributor between 1861 and 1864; h. s. marks appears in 1861, and paul gray, also with a few initials and 'socials,' up to 1865; charles keene's first drawing for _punch_ is in 1852, he was 'called to the table' in 1860, and on a few occasions supplied the political cartoon. the mass of his work within the classic pages is too familiar to need more than passing reference. the first drawing by 'george louis palmella busson du maurier' appears in 1860, the _legend of camelot_, with five drawings, which are already historic, in 1866. these delicious parodies (here reproduced) of the pre-raphaelite manner are as fascinating to-day as when they first appeared. fun this popular humorous penny weekly, which is still running, would be forever memorable as the birthplace of the famous _bab_ ballads, with w. s. gilbert's own thumb-nail sketches: yet it would be foolish to rank him as an illustrator, despite the grotesque humour of these inimitable little figures. the periodical, not (i believe) at first under the editorship of tom hood, the younger, began in september 21, 1861. the mass of illustrations must be the only excuse for failing to include an orderly summary; yet there is not, and there is certainly no necessity for, an elaborate chronicle of the paper, like mr. spielmann's admirable monograph in _punch_. but those who are curious to discover the work of less-known men of the sixties will find plenty to reward their search. a clever parody of millais' pre-raphaelite manner is given as a tail-piece to the preface of vol. i. a. boyd houghton supplied the cartoons for a short period, november 1866 to april 6, 1867. at least those signed a. h. are attributed to him, and the first would almost suffice by itself to decide it, did any doubt exist. another cartoonist, who signed his work with the device of a hen, is very freely represented. f. barnard was also cartoonist for a long time--1869 onwards--and j. g. thomson, for a score of years, did excellent work in the same department. the authorship of many of the drawings scattered through its pages is easily recognised by their style--others, as for instance one on page five of the _almanac_ for 1866, puzzle the student. it looks like a paul gray, but the monogram with which it is signed, although it is indecipherable, is certainly not 'p. g.' w. j. wiegand, w. brunton, h. sanderson, matt stretch, lieut. seccombe, l. c. henley, f. s. walker, and f. w. lawson (see for instance, _almanac_ for 1865, p. 11) contributed a great many of the 'socials' to the early volumes. then, as now, you find unconscious or deliberate imitations of other artists' mannerisms. a rash observer might attribute drawings here to c. keene (_almanac_ for 1865, vi.), and credit tenniel with the title-page to vol. iv. n.s. still, as a field to discover the work of young artists who afterwards become approximately great, _fun_ is not a very happy hunting-ground. despite some notable exceptions, its illustrators cannot be placed even upon the average of the period that concerns us; the presence of a half a dozen or so of first-rate men hardly makes a set of the comic paper essential to a representative collection. after renewed intimacy with its pages there is a distinct feeling of disappointment. that its drawings pleased you mightily, and seemed fine stuff at the time, may be true; but it only proves that the enjoyment of a schoolboy cannot be recaptured in after-life if the quality of the drawing be too poor to sustain the weight of old-fashioned dress and jokes whose first sparkle has dimmed beyond restoration. judy, the twopenny rival to _punch_, began life on may 1, 1867. although matt morgan supplied many of the early cartoons and 'socials,' the really admirable level it reached in the eighties is not foreshadowed even dimly by its first volumes. with vol. ii. j. proctor, an admirable draughtsman, despite his fondness for the decisive, unsympathetic line which sir john tenniel has accustomed us to consider part and parcel of a political cartoon, is distinctly one of the best men who have worked this particular form of satire. afterwards 'w. b.' contributed many. the mass of work, in the volumes which can be considered as belonging to the period covered by this book, contains hardly a single drawing to repay the weary hunt through their pages. yet the issues of a later decade are as certain to be prized by students of the 'eighties' as the best periodicals of the sixties are by devotees of that period. punch and judy, beginning in october 1869, yet another paper on similar lines, ran a short but interesting career of twelve weeks, and continued, in a commonplace way, for a year or two longer. the reason the first dozen issues are worth notice here is that the illustrations are all by 'graphotype process' (which must not be confused with the far earlier 'glyptography'), and so appeal to students of the technique of illustration. the principle of the graphotype process, it is said, was discovered accidentally. the inventor was removing, with a wet camel-hair brush, the white enamel from the face of a visiting-card, when he noticed that the printing on it was left in distinct relief. after many experiments the idea was developed, and a surface of metal was covered with a powdered chalky substance, upon which the drawing was made with a silicate ink which hardened the substance wherever it was applied. the chalk was then brushed away and the drawing left in low but distinct relief on the metal-plate, from which electrotypes could be taken in the usual way. the experiment gained some commercial success, and quite a notable group of artists experimented with it for designs to an edition of dr. isaac watts's _divine and moral songs_, a most curious libretto for an artistic venture. in _punch and judy_ the blocks are by no means bad as regards their reproduction. despite the very mediocre drawing of the originals, they are nevertheless preferable to the cheap wood-engravings of their contemporaries. after its change, 'g. o. m.' (if one reads the initials aright), or 'c. o. m.,'contributes some average cartoons. when it first appeared, at least one schoolboy was struck with the curious difference of technique that the illustrations showed, and from that time onwards had his curiosity aroused towards process-work. therefore, this lapse into anecdotage, in the short record of a venture otherwise artistically unworthy to be noticed here, may be pardoned. will o' the wisp this, another periodical of the same class, started on september 12, 1868, but unlike its fellows relied at first solely upon a double-page political cartoon. from the second number these were contributed by j. proctor until and after april 17, 1869, when other pictures were admitted. with the 31st of july another hand replaces proctor's vigorous work. the volume for 1870 contains many woodcuts (i use the word advisedly), unintentionally primitive, that should please a certain school to-day. whether the journal ceased with its fourth volume, or lasted into the seventies, the british museum catalogue does not record, nor is it worth while to pursue the inquiry further. the illustrated london news to notice this important paper in a paragraph is little better than an insult, and yet between a full monograph (already anticipated partially in mr. mason jackson's _the pictorial press_) and a bare mention there is no middle course. as a rule the drawings are unsigned, and not attributed to the artists in the index. the christmas numbers, however, often adopt a different method, and print the draughtsman's name below each engraving, which is almost always a full page. in that for 1865 we find alfred hunt, george thomas, s. read, and john gilbert, all regular contributors, well represented. in the christmas number of 1866 there is boyd houghton's _child's christmas carol_, and other drawings by corbould, s. read, j. a. pasquier, charles green, matt morgan, and c. h. bennett. other illustrated weeklies _the illustrated times_, first issued in october 1855, maintained a long and honourable effort to achieve popularity. a new series was started in 1867, but apparently also failed to gain a footing. the artists included many men mentioned frequently in this volume. the non-topical illustrations occasionally introduced were supplied chiefly by m. e. edwards, adelaide and florence claxton, lieut. seccombe, p. skelton, and t. sulman. yet a search through its pages revealed nothing sufficiently important to notice in detail. _the illustrated weekly news_ and _the penny illustrated weekly news_ are other lost causes, but the _penny illustrated paper_, which started in 1861, is still a flourishing concern; yet it would be superfluous to give a detailed notice of its work. _pan_ (date uncertain[5]), a short-lived sixpenny weekly. its cover was from a design by jules chéret. facsimiles of _a head_ by lord leighton, and _proud maisie_ by frederick sandys, appeared among its supplements. the graphic that this admirably conducted illustrated weekly revolutionised english illustration is granted on all sides. its influence for good or ill was enormous. with its first number, published on december 4, 1869, we find a definite, official date to close the record of the 'sixties'; one by mere chance, chronologically as well as technically, appropriate. of course the break was not so sudden as this arbitrary limit might suggest. the style which distinguished the _graphic_ had been gradually prepared before, and if mr. william small is credited with the greatest share in its development, such a statement, incomplete as most generalities must needs be, holds a good part of the truth, if not the whole. the work of mr. small introduced new qualities into wood-engraving; which, in his hands and those of the best of his followers, grew to be meritorious, and must needs place him with those who legitimately extended the domain of the art of drawing for the engraver. but to discuss the style which succeeded that of the sixties would be to trespass on new ground, and that while the field itself is all too scantily searched. mr. ruskin dubbed the new style 'blottesque,' but, as we have seen, he was hardly more enamoured of the manner that immediately preceded it. many of the surviving heroes of the sixties contributed to the _graphic_. charles green appears in vol. i. with _irish emigrants_, g. j. pinwell with _the lost child_ (january 8, 1870), a. boyd houghton has a powerful drawing, _night charges_, and later, the marvellous series of pictures recording his very personal visit to america. william small, r. w. macbeth, s. l. fildes, hubert herkomer, and a crowd of names, some already mentioned frequently in this book, bore the weight of the new enterprise. but a cursory sketch of the famous periodical would do injustice to it. the historian of the seventies will find it takes the place of _once a week_ as the happy hunting-ground for the earliest work of many a popular draughtsman and painter--that is to say, the earliest work after his student and experimental efforts. to declare that it still flourishes, and with the _daily graphic_, its offspring, keeps still ahead of the popular average, is at once bare truth and the highest compliment which need be paid. the illustrated weeklies in the sixties were almost as unimportant, relatively speaking, as are the illustrated dailies to-day. yet to say that the weeklies did fair to monopolise illustration at the present time is a common truth, and, remembering what the _daily graphic_ and the _daily chronicle_ have already accomplished, to infer that the dailies will do likewise before 1900 has attained its majority is a prophecy that is based upon a study of the past. chapter vii: some illustrated books of the period before 1860 to draw up a complete list, with the barest details of title, artist, author, and publisher of the books in the period with which this volume is concerned would be unnecessary, and well-nigh impossible. the _english catalogue_, 1863-1872, covering but a part of the time, claims to give some 30,000 entries. many, possibly a large majority, of these books are not illustrated; but on the other hand, the current periodicals not included contain thousands of pictures. the following chapters cannot even claim to mention every book worth the collector's notice, and refer hardly at all to many which seemed to the compiler to represent merely the commercial average of their time. whether this was better or worse than the commercial average to-day is of no moment. nearly all of the books mentioned have been referred to personally, and the facts reported at first hand. in spite of taxing the inexhaustible courtesy of the officials of the british museum to the extent of eighty or more volumes during a single afternoon, i cannot pretend to have seen the whole output of the period, for it is not easy to learn from the catalogue those particulars that are needed to identify which books are illustrated. so far as we are concerned here, the interest of the book lies solely in its illustrations, but the catalogue may not even record the fact that it contains any, much less attribute them to their author. of those in which the artist's share has been recognised by the publisher in his announcements, i have done my best to find the first edition of each. by dint of patient wading through the advertisements, and review columns of literary journals, trade periodicals, and catalogues, a good many have turned up which had otherwise escaped notice; although for the last twenty years at least i have never missed an opportunity of seeing every illustrated book of the sixties, with a view to this chronicle, which had been shaping itself, if not actually begun, long before any work on modern english illustrators had appeared. when a school-boy i made a collection of examples of the work of each artist whose style i had learned to recognise, and some of that material gathered together so long ago has been of no little use now. these personal reminiscences are not put forward by way of magnifying the result; but rather to show that even with so many years' desultory preparation the digesting and classification of the various facts has proved too onerous. a staff of qualified assistants under a capable director would be needed to accomplish the work as thoroughly as mr. sidney lee has accomplished a not dissimilar, if infinitely more important, task--_the dictionary of national biography_. a certain proportion of errors must needs creep in, and the possible errors of omission are even more to be dreaded than those of commission. a false date, or an incorrect reference to a given book or illustration, is easily corrected by a later worker in the same field; but an omission may possibly escape another student of the subject as it escaped me. as a rule, in a majority of cases--so large that it is practically ninety-nine per cent., if not more--the notes have been made side by side with the publication to which they refer. but in transcribing hasty jottings errors are apt to creep in, and despite the collation of these pages when in proof by other hands, i cannot flatter myself that they are impeccable. for experience shows that you never open the final printed text of any work under your control as editor or author, but errors, hitherto overlooked, instantly jump from the page and force themselves on your notice. an editor of one of the most widely circulated of all our magazines confesses that he has made it a rule never to glance at any number after it was published. he had too often suffered the misery of being confronted with obvious errors of fact and taste which no amount of patient care on his part (and he is a most conscientious workman) had discovered, until it was too late to rectify them. in the matter of dates alone a difficulty meets one at first sight. many books dated one year were issued several months before the previous christmas, and are consequently advertised and reviewed in the year before the date which appears upon their title-page. again, many books, and some volumes of magazines (messrs. cassell and co.'s publications to wit), bear no date. 'women and books should never be dated' is a proverb as foolish as it is widely known. yet all the same, inaccuracy of a few months is of little importance in this context; a book or a picture does not cease to exist as soon as it is born, like the performance of an actor or a musician. consequently, beyond its relative place as evidence of the development or decline of the author's talent, it is not of great moment whether a book was issued in 1869 or 1870, whether a drawing was published in january or february. but for those who wish to refer to the subjects noted, the information has been made as exact as circumstances permitted. when, however, a book has been reissued in a second, or later edition, with no reference to earlier issues, it is tempting to accept the date on its title-page without question. one such volume i traced back from 1868 to 1849, and for all i know the original may have been issued some years earlier; for the british museum library is not complete; every collector can point with pride to a few books on his shelves which he has failed to discover in its voluminous catalogue. to select a definite moment to start from is not easy, nor to keep rigidly within the time covered by the dates upon the cover of this book. it is necessary to glance briefly at some work issued before 1855, and yet it would be superfluous to re-traverse ground already well covered in _the history of wood engraving_, by chatto and jackson, with its supplementary chapter by h. g. bohn (in the 1861 edition), in mr. w. j. linton's _masterpieces of engraving_, in mr. joseph pennell's two sumptuous editions of _pen drawing and pen draughtsmen_ (macmillan), and the same author's _modern illustrations_ (bell), not to mention the many admirable papers read before learned societies by messrs. w. j. linton, comyns carr, henry blackburn, walter crane, william morris, and others. still less is it necessary to attempt to indorse their arguments in favour of wood-engraving against process, or to repeat those which support the opposite view. so that here, in the majority of cases, the question of the engraver's share has not been considered. mr. pennell, for one, has done this most thoroughly, and has put the case for process so strongly, that if any people yet believe a wood-engraving is always something sacred, while a good process block of line work is a mere feeble substitute, there is little hope of convincing them. here the result has been the chief concern. the object of these notes is not to prove what wood-engraving ruined, or what might or ought to have been, but merely to record what it achieved, without too frequent expression of regret, which nevertheless will intrude as the dominant feeling when you study many of the works executed by even the better class wood-engravers. one must not overlook the very obvious fact that, in the earlier years, an illustration was a much more serious affair for all concerned than it is to-day. in jackson's _pictorial press_ we find the author says: 'illustration was so seldom used that the preparation of even a small woodcut was of much moment to all concerned. i have heard william harvey relate that when whittingham, the well-known printer, wanted a new cut for his chiswick press series, he would write to harvey and john thompson, the engraver, appointing a meeting at chiswick, when printer, designer, and engraver talked over the matter with as much deliberation as if about to produce a costly national monument. and after they had settled all points over a snug supper, the result of their labours was the production a month afterwards of a woodcut measuring perhaps two inches by three. at that time perhaps only a dozen persons besides bewick were practising the art of wood-engraving in england.' but this preamble does not seek to excuse the meagre record it prefaces. a complete bibliography of such a fecund illustrator as sir john gilbert would need a volume to itself. to draw up detailed lists of all the various drawings in _the illustrated london news_, _punch_, and other prominent weeklies, would be a task needing almost as much co-operation as dr. murray's great dictionary. the subject, if it proves to be sufficiently attractive, will doubtless be done piece by piece by future workers. i envy each his easy pleasure of pointing out the shortcomings of this work, for no keener joy awaits the maker of a handbook than gibbeting his predecessors, and showing by implication how much more trustworthy is his record than theirs. [illustration: d. g. rossetti 'the music-master' by william allingham 1855 the maids of elfenmere] few artistic movements are so sharply defined that their origin can be traced to a particular moment, although some can be attributed more or less to the influence of one man. even the pre-raphaelite movement, clearly distinct as its origin appears at first glance, should not be dated from the formal draft of the little coterie, january 13th, 1851, for, as mr. w. m. rossetti writes, 'the rules show or suggest not only what we intended to do, but what had been occupying our attention since 1848. the day when we codified proved also to be the day when no code was really in requisition.' nor has the autumn 1848 any better claim to be taken as the exact moment, for one cannot overlook the fact that there was ford madox brown, a pre-raphaelite, long before the pre-raphaelites, and that ruskin had published the first volume of _modern painters_. there can be little doubt that it was the influence of the so-called pre-raphaelites and those in closest sympathy with them, which awakened a new interest in illustration, and so prepared the ground for the men of the sixties; but to confine our notice from 1857 to 1867--a far more accurate period--would be to start without sufficient reference to the work superseded by or absorbed into the later movement. so we must glance at a few of the books which preceded both the _music-master_ of 1855 and the _tennyson_ of 1857, either volume, the latter especially, being an excellent point whence to reckon more precisely 'the golden decade of british art,' as mr. pennell terms it so happily. without going back too far for our purpose, one of the first books that contains illustrations by artists whose work extended into the sixties (and, in the case of tenniel, far beyond) is _poems and pictures_, 'a collection of ballads, songs, and poems illustrated by english artists' (burns, 1846). so often was it reprinted that it came as a surprise to discover the first edition was fourteen years earlier than the date which is upon my own copy. despite the ornamental borders to each page, and many other details which stamp it as old-fashioned, it does not require a rabid apologist of the past to discuss it appreciatively. from the first design by c. w. cope, to the last, _a storm at sea_, by e. duncan, both engraved by w. j. linton, there is no falling off in the quality of the work. the influence of mulready is discernible, and it seems probable that certain pencil drawings for the _vicar of wakefield_, engraved in facsimile--so far as was within the power of the craftsmen at that time--did much to shape the manner of book-illustrations in the fifties. nor does it betray want of sympathy with the artists who were thus influenced to regret that they chose to imitate drawings not intended for illustration, and ignored in very many cases the special technique which employs the most direct expression of the material. in _the mourner_, by j. c. horsley (p. 22), you feel that the engraver (thompson) has done his best to imitate the softly defined line of a pencil in place of the clearly accentuated line which is most natural in wood. yet even in this there is scarcely a trace of that elaborate cross-hatching so easily produced in plate-engraving or pen drawing, so tedious to imitate in wood. another design, _time_, by c. w. cope (p. 88), shows that the same engraver could produce work of quite another class when it was required. curiously enough, these two, picked at random, reappear in almost the last illustrated anthology mentioned in these chapters, cassell's _sacred poems_ (1867). several books earlier in date, including de la motte fouqué's _undine_, with eleven drawings by 'j. tenniel, junr.' (burns, 1846), and _sintram and his companions_, with designs by h. s. selous and a frontispiece after dürer's _the knight and death_ need only be mentioned. the _juvenile verse and picture book_ (burns, 1848), with many illustrations by gilbert, tenniel, 'r. cruikshank,' weigall, and w. b. scott, which was reissued with altered text as _gems of national poetry_ (warne, 1868), and _æsop's fables_ (murray, 1848), with 100 illustrations by tenniel, deserve a bare mention. nor should _the 'bon gaultier' ballads_ (blackwood, 1849) be forgotten. the illustrations by doyle, leech, and crowquill were enormously popular in their day, and although the style of humour which still keeps many of the ballads alive has been frequently imitated since, and rarely excelled, yet its drawings have often been equalled and surpassed, humorous although they are, of their sort. _the salamandrine_, a poem by charles mackay, issued in a small quarto (ingram, cooke, and co., 1853), with forty-six designs by john gilbert, is one of the early volumes by the more fecund illustrators of the century. it is too late in the day to praise the veteran whose paintings are as familiar to frequenters of the royal academy now as were his drawings when the great exhibition entered a formal claim for the recognition of british art. honoured here and upon the continent, it is needless to eulogise an artist whom all agree to admire. the prolific invention which never failed is not more evident in this book than in a hundred others decorated by his facile pencil, yet it reveals--as any one of the rest must equally--the powerful mastery of his art, and its limitations. thomson's _seasons_, illustrated by the etching club (1852), s. c. hall's _book of british ballads_ (1852), an edition of _the arabian nights_, with 600 illustrations by w. harvey (1852), and _uncle tom's cabin_, with 100 drawings by george thomas, can but be named in passing. gray's _elegy_, illustrated by 'b. foster, g. thomas, and a lady,' (sampson low), _the book of celebrated poems_, with eighty designs by cope, kenny meadows, and others (sampson low), _the vicar of wakefield_, with drawings by george thomas, _the deserted village_, illustrated by members of the etching club--cope, t. creswick, j. c. horsley, f. tayler, h. j. townsend, c. stenhouse, t. webster, r.a., and r. redgrave--all published early in the fifties--may also be dismissed without comment. about the same time the great mental sedative of the period--tupper's _proverbial philosophy_ (hatchard, 1854)--was reprinted in a stately quarto, with sixty-two illustrations by c. w. cope, r.a., e. h. corbould, birket foster, john gilbert, j. c. horsley, f. r. pickersgill and others, engraved for the most part by 'dalziel bros.' and h. vizetelly. the dull, uninspired text seems to have depressed the imagination of the artists. despite the notable array of names, there is no drawing of more than average interest in the volume, except perhaps _to-morrow_ (p. 206), by f. r. pickersgill, which is capitally engraved by dalziel and much broader in its style than the rest. _poems by henry wadsworth longfellow_ (david bogue, 1854) appears to be the earliest english illustrated edition of any importance of a volume that has been frequently illustrated since. this book is uniform with the _poetical works of john milton_ with 120 engravings by thompson, williams, etc., from drawings by w. harvey, _the works of william cowper_ with seventy-five illustrations engraved by j. orrin smith from drawings by john gilbert; thomson's _seasons_ with illustrations 'drawn and engraved by samuel williams,' and _beattie and collins' poems_ with engravings by the same hand from designs by john absolon. the title-page of the longfellow says it is illustrated by 'jane e. benham, birket foster, etc.' it is odd to find the not very elegant, 'etc.' stands for john gilbert and e. wehnert, also to note that the engravers have in each of the above volumes taken precedence of the draughtsman. except that we miss the pre-raphaelite group for which we prize the moxon _tennyson_ to-day, the ideal of these books is very nearly the same as of that volume. this edition of longfellow must not be confused with another, a quarto, issued the following year (routledge, 1855), 'with over one hundred designs drawn by john gilbert and engraved by the brothers dalziel.' this notable instance of the variety and inventive power of the artist also shows (in the night pieces especially, pp. 13, 360), that the engraver was trying to advance in the direction of 'tone' and atmospheric effect; and endeavouring to give the effect of a 'wash' rather than of a line drawing or the imitation of a steel engraving. this tendency, which was not the chief purpose of the work of the sixties, in the seventies carried the technicalities of the craft to its higher achievements, or, as some enthusiasts prefer to regard it, to its utter ruin, so that the photographic process-block could beat it on its own ground. but these opposite views have been threshed out often enough without bringing the parties concerned nearer together to encourage a new attempt to reconcile the opposing factions. the longfellow of 1855 was reissued with the addition of _hiawatha_ in 1856. another edition of _hiawatha_, illustrated by g. h. thomas, issued about this time, contains some of his best work. allingham's _music-master_ (routledge, 1855) is so often referred to in this narrative that its mere name must suffice in this context. but, as the book itself is so scarce, a sentence from its preface may be quoted: 'those excellent painters' (writes mr. allingham), 'who on my behalf have submitted their genius to the risks of wood-engraving, will, i hope, pardon me for placing a sincere word of thanks in the book they have honoured with this evidence through art of their varied fancy.' to this year belongs also _the task_, illustrated by birket foster (nisbet, 1855). _eliza cook's poems_ (routledge, 1856) is another sumptuously illustrated quarto gift-book with many designs by john gilbert, j. wolf, harrison weir, j. d. watson, and others, all engraved by dalziel brothers. a notable drawing by h. h. armstead, _the trysting place_ (p. 363), deserves republication. in this year appeared also the famous edition of adams's _sacred allegories_ with a number of engravings from original drawings by c. w. cope, r.a., j. c. horsley, a.r.a., samuel palmer, birket foster, and george c. hicks. the amazing quality of the landscapes by samuel palmer stood even the test of enormous enlargement in lantern slides, when mr. pennell showed them at his lectures on the men of the sixties; had w. t. green engraved no other blocks, he might be ranked as a great craftsman on the evidence of these alone. in _george herbert's poetical works_ (nisbet, 1856), with designs by birket foster, john clayton, and h. n. humphreys, notwithstanding the vitality of the text, the drawings are sicklied over with the pale cast of religious sentimentality which has ruined so much religious art in england. a draughtsman engaged on new testament subjects of that time rarely forgot overbeck, raphael, or still more 'pretty' masters. in the religious illustrations of the period many landscapes are included, some of them exquisite transcripts of english scenery, others of the 'oriental' order dear to the annuals. the delightful description of one of these imaginary scenes, by leland, 'hans breitmann,' will come to mind, when he says of its artist that 'all his work expanded with expensive fallacies, castles, towered walls, pavilions, real-estately palaces. in the foreground lofty palm-trees, as if full of soaring love, bore up cocoa-nuts and monkeys to the smiling heavens above; jet-black indian chieftains--at their feet, too, lovely girls were sighing, with an elephant beyond them, here and there a casual lion.' george herbert the incomparable may be hard to illustrate, but, if the task is attempted, it should be in any way but this delineation of pretty landscapes, with 'here and there a casual lion.' this reflection upon the mildly sacred compositions of 'gift-book' art generally, although provoked by this volume, is applicable to nearly every one of its fellows. in _rhymes and roundelays_, illustrated by birket foster (bogue, 1856), the designs are not without a trace of artificiality, but it contains also some of the earliest and best examples of a most accomplished draughtsman, and in it many popular blocks began a long career of 'starring,' until from guinea volumes some were used ultimately in children's primers and the like. _the works of william shakespeare_ illustrated by john gilbert (routledge, 1856-8) will doubtless be remembered always as his masterpiece. at a public dinner lately, an artist who had worked with sir john gilbert on the _illustrated london news_, and in nearly all the books of the period illustrated by the group of draughtsmen with whom both are associated, spoke of his marvellous rapidity--a double-page drawing done in a single night. yet so sure is his touch that in the mass of these hundreds of designs to shakespeare you are not conscious of any scamping. without being archæologically impeccable, they suggest the types and costumes of the periods they deal with, and, above all, represent embodiments of actual human beings. they stand apart from the grotesque caricatures of an earlier school, and the academic inanities of both earlier and later methods. virile and full of invention, the book is a monument to an artist who has done so much that it is a pleasure to discover some one definite accomplishment that from size alone may be taken as his masterpiece, if merely as evidence that praise, scantily bestowed elsewhere, is limited by space only. [illustration: ford madox brown willmott's 'poets of the nineteenth century,' 1857 the prisoner of chillon] scott's _lady of the lake_, illustrated by john gilbert, appeared in 1856. the other volumes, _marmion_, the _lady of the lake_, and the _lay of the last minstrel_, appear to have been published previously; but to ascertain their exact date of issue, the three bulky volumes of the british museum catalogue devoted to 'scott (walter)' can hardly be faced with a light heart. this year saw an edition of bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_ with outline drawings by j. r. clayton, who is sometimes styled 'j. r.,' and sometimes 'john.' an illustrated guinea edition of a once popular 'goody' book, _ministering children_, with designs by birket foster and h. le jeune (nisbet, 1856), an edition of _edgar allan poe's works_, illustrated by e. h. wehnert and others (addey, 1856); coleridge's _ancient mariner_, with pictures by birket foster, a. duncan, and e. h. wehnert, are also of this year, to which belongs, although it is post-dated, pollok's _course of time_ (w. blackwood, 1857), a book containing fifty fine illustrations by birket foster, john tenniel, and j. r. clayton, engraved by edward evans, dalziel brothers, h. n. woods, and john green. a block by dalziel, after clayton, on page 19, shows a good example of the white line, used horizontally, for the modelling of flesh, somewhat in the way, as pannemaker employed it so effectively in many of gustave doré's illustrations years after. the twenty-seven birket fosters are full of the special charm that his work possesses, and show once again how a great artist may employ a method, which, merely 'pretty' in inferior hands, has something of greatness when he touches it. in the next year appeared the famous '_poems by alfred tennyson, d.c.l._, poet-laureate. london. edward moxon, dover st., 1857.' not even the bare fact that it was illustrated appears on the title-page. as the book has been re-issued lately in a well-printed edition, a detailed list of its contents is hardly necessary; nor need any of the illustrations be reproduced here. it will suffice to say that dante gabriel rossetti is represented by five designs to _the lady of shallott_ (p. 75), _mariana_ (p. 82), _palace of art_ (pp. 113-119), _sir galahad_ (p. 305); millais has eighteen, w. holman hunt seven, w. mulready four, t. creswick six, j. c. horsley six, c. stanfield six, and d. maclise two. a monograph by mr. g. somes layard, _tennyson and his pre-raphaelite illustrators_ (stock, 1894), embodies a quantity of interesting facts, with many deductions therefrom which are not so valuable. in the books about rossetti and the pre-raphaelites, and their name is legion, this volume has rarely escaped more or less notice, so that one hesitates to add to the mass of criticism already bestowed. the whole modern school of decorative illustrators regard it rightly enough as the genesis of the modern movement; but all the same it is only the accidental presence of d. g. rossetti, holman hunt, and millais, which entitles it to this position. it satisfies no decorative ideal as a piece of book-making. except for these few drawings, it differs in no respect from the average 'quarto poets' before and after. the same 'toned' paper, the same vignetted pictures, appear; the proportions of the type-page are merely that in ordinary use; the size and shape of the illustrations was left apparently to pure chance. therefore, in place of talking of the volume with bated breath as a masterpiece, it would be wiser to regard it as one of the excellent publications of the period, that by the fortuitous inclusion of a few drawings, quite out of touch with the rest, has acquired a reputation, which, considered as a complete book, it does not deserve. the drawings by rossetti, even as we see them after translation by the engraver had worked his will, must needs be valued as masterpieces, if only for the imagination and thought compressed into their limited space, and from their exquisite manipulation of details. at first sight, some of these--for instance, the soldier munching an apple in the _st. cecilia_--seem discordant, but afterwards reveal themselves as commentaries upon the text--not elucidating it directly, but embroidering it with subtle meanings and involved symbolism. such qualities as these, whether you hold them as superfluous or essential, separate these fine designs from the jejune simplicity of the mass of the decorative school to-day. to draw a lady with 'intense' features, doing nothing in particular, and that in an anatomically impossible attitude, is a poor substitute for the fantasy of rossetti. no amount of poorly drawn confused accessories will atone for the absence of the dominant idea that welded all the disturbing elements to a perfect whole. one artist to-day, or at most two, alone show any real effort to rival these designs on their own ground. the rest appear to believe that a coarse line and eccentric composition provide all that is required, given sufficient ignorance of academic draughtsmanship. [illustration: john gilbert willmott's 'poets of the nineteenth century,' 1857 hohenlinden] [illustration: f. r. pickersgill willmott's 'poets of the nineteenth century,' 1857 the water nymph] another book of the same year, _the poets of the nineteenth century_, selected and edited by the rev. robert aris willmott (routledge, 1857), is in many respects quite as fine as the tennyson, always excepting the pre-raphaelite element, which is not however totally absent. for in this quarto volume millais' _love_ (p. 137) and _the dream_ (p. 123) are worthy to be placed beside those just noticed. ford madox brown's _prisoner of chillon_ (p. 111) is another masterpiece of its sort. for this we are told the artist spent three days in a dissecting-room (or a mortuary--the accounts differ) to watch the gradual change in a dead body, making most careful studies in colour as well as monochrome all for a foreshortened figure in a block 3-3/4 by 5 inches. this procedure is singularly unlike the rapid inspiration which throws off compositions in black and white to-day. in a recent book received with well-deserved applause, some of the smaller 'decorative designs' were produced at the rate of a dozen in a day. the mere time occupied in production is of little consequence, because we know that the apparently rapid 'sketch' by phil may may have taken far more time than a decorative drawing, with elaborately minute detail over every inch of its surface; but, other qualities being equal, the one produced with lavish expenditure of care and thought is likely to outlive the trifle tossed off in an hour or two. in the _poets of the nineteenth century_ the hundred engravings by the brothers dalziel include twenty-one of birket foster's exquisite landscapes, all with figures; fourteen by w. harvey, nine by john gilbert, six by j. tenniel, five by j. r. clayton, eleven by t. dalziel, seven by j. godwin, five by e. h. corbould, two by d. edwards, five by e. duncan, seven by j. godwin, and one each by arthur hughes, w. p. leitch, e. a. goodall, t. d. hardy, f. r. pickersgill, and harrison weir--a century of designs not unworthy as a whole to represent the art of the day; although rossetti and holman hunt, who figure so strongly in the tennyson, are not represented. this year john gilbert illustrated the _book of job_ with fifty designs; _the proverbs of solomon_ (nisbet, 1858), a companion volume, contains twenty drawings. another noteworthy volume is barry cornwall's _dramatic scenes and other poems_ (chapman and hall, 1857) illustrated by many of the artists already mentioned. the fifty-seven engravings by dalziel include one block on p. 45, from a drawing by j. r. clayton, which is here reprinted--not so much for its design as for its engraving; the way the breadth of the drapery is preserved, despite the elaborate pattern on its surface, stamps it as a most admirable piece of work. thornbury's _legends of the cavaliers and roundheads_ (hurst and blackett, 1857), was illustrated by h. s. marks. so far the few books of 1857 noticed have considerable family likeness. the bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_ (nisbet, 1857), illustrated with twenty designs by g. h. thomas, more slight in its method, reflects the journalistic style of its day rather than the elaborate 'book' manner, which in many an instance gives the effect of an engraving 'after' a painting or a large and highly-wrought fresco. as one of the many attempts to illustrate the immortal protestant romance it deserves noting. to this year belongs _the poetical works of edgar allan poe_, illustrated with some striking designs by john tenniel, and others by f. r. pickersgill, r.a., birket foster, percival skelton; and besides these, felix darley, p. duggan, jasper cropsey, and a. w. madot--draughtsmen whose names are certainly not household words to-day. in the lists of 'artists' the portrait of the author is attributed to 'daguerreotype'! one of the earliest instances i have encountered of the formal appearance of the ubiquitous camera as an artist. longfellow's prose romance, _kavanagh_ (kent, 1857), with exquisite illustrations by birket foster, appeared this year; _hyperion_ (dean), illustrated by the same author, being issued the following christmas. _poetry and pictures from thomas moore_ (longman, 1857), the _poems and songs of robert burns_ (bell and daldy, 1857), both illustrated by birket foster and others, and _the fables of æsop_, with twenty-five drawings by c. h. bennett, also deserve a passing word. _gertrude of wyoming_, by thomas campbell (routledge, 1857), is only less important from its dimensions, and the fact that it contains only thirty-five illustrations, engraved by the brothers dalziel, as against the complete hundred of most of its fellows. the drawings by birket foster, thomas dalziel, harrison weir, and william harvey include some very good work. _lays of the holy land_ (nisbet, 1858), clad in binding of a really fine design adapted from persian sources, is another illustrated quarto, with one drawing at least--_the finding of moses_--by j. e. millais, which makes it worth keeping; a 'decorative' _song of bethlehem_, by j. r. clayton, is ahead of its time in style; the rest by gilbert, birket foster, and others are mostly up to their best average. the title-page says 'from photographs and drawings,' but as every block is attributed to an artist, the former were without doubt redrawn and the source not acknowledged--a habit of draughtsmen which is not obsolete to-day. [illustration: j. r. clayton barry cornwall's 'dramatic scenes' 1857 olympia and bianca] [illustration: j. e. millais 'home affections from the poets,' 1858 there's nae luck about the house] [illustration: j. e. millais 'home affections from the poets,' 1858 the border widow] perhaps the most important illustrated volume of the next year is _the home affections [portrayed] by the poets_, by charles mackay (routledge, 1858), which continues the type of quarto gilt-edged toned paper table-books so frequent at this time. its illustrations are a hundred in number, all engraved by dalziels. its artists include birket foster, john gilbert, j. r. clayton, harrison weir, t. b. dalziel, s. read, john abner, f. r. pickersgill, r.a., john tenniel, with many others, 'and' (as play-bills have it) j. everett millais, a.r.a. _there's nae luck about the house_ (p. 245) and _the border widow_ (p. 359) are curiously unlike in motive as well as handling; the one, with all its charm, is of the mulready school, the other intense and passionate, highly wrought in the pre-raphaelite manner. yet after the millais' all the other illustrations in the book seem poor. a landscape by harrison weir (p. 193), _lenore_, by a. madot (p. 159), a very typical tenniel, _fair ines_ (p. 135), _oriana_ (p. 115), _hero and leander_ (p. 91), _the hermit_ (p. 67), and _good-night in the porch_ (p. 195), by pickersgill, claim a word of appreciation as one turns over its pages anew. whether too many copies were printed, or those issued were better preserved by their owners than usual, no book is more common in good condition to-day than this. another book of the same size, with contents less varied, it is true, but of almost the same level of excellence, is _wordsworth's selected poems_ (routledge, 1859), illustrated by birket foster, j. wolf, and john gilbert. this contains the hundred finely engraved blocks by the brothers dalziel, some of them of the first rank, which was the conventional equipment of a gift-book at that time. other noteworthy volumes of 1858-9 are _merrie days of england, sketches of olden times_, illustrated by twenty drawings by birket foster, g. thomas, e. corbould, and others; _the scouring of the white horse_, with designs by richard doyle (macmillan), his foreign tour of _brown, jones, and robinson_, and the same artist's _manners and customs of the english_, all then placed in the first rank by most excellent critics; _favourite english poems of the last two centuries_, illustrated by birket foster, cope, creswick, and the rest; wordsworth's _white doe of rylstone_ (longmans), also illustrated by birket foster and h. n. humphreys; _childe harold_, with many designs by percival skelton and others; blair's _grave_, illustrated by tenniel (a. and c. black); milton's _comus_ (routledge, 1858), with illustrations by pickersgill, b. foster, h. weir, etc.; and c. h. bennett's _proverbs with pictures_ (chapman and hall). _thomas moore's poems_ (longmans, 1858); _child's play_, by e. v. b., appeared also about this time. krummacher's _parables_, with forty illustrations by j. r. clayton (bohn's library, 1858), is another unfamiliar book likely to be overlooked, although it contains good work of its sort; inspired a little by german design possibly, but including some admirable drawings, those for instance on pages 147 and 347. _the shipwreck_, by robert falconer, illustrated by birket foster (edinburgh, black, 1858), contains thirty drawings, some of them charmingly engraved by w. t. green, dalziel brothers, and edward evans in 'the turner vignette' manner; they are delightful of their kind. in 1859 there seems to be a falling off, which can hardly be traced to the starting of _once a week_ in july, for christmas books--and nearly all the best illustrated volumes fall into that category--are prepared long before midsummer. c. h. bennett's illustrated bunyan's _pilgrim progress_ (longmans) is one of the best of the year's output. a survival of an older type is _a book of favourite modern ballads_, illustrated by c. w. cope, j. c. horsley, a. solomon, s. palmer, and others (kent), which, but for the publisher's announcement, might well be regarded as a reprint of a book at least ten years earlier; but its peculiar method was unique at that time, and rarely employed since, although but lately revived now for half-tone blocks. it consists in a double printing, black upon a previous printing in grey, not solid, but with the 'lights' carefully taken out, so that the whole looks like a drawing on grey paper heightened by white chalk. whether the effect might be good on ordinary paper, these impressions on a shiny cream surface, set in gold borders, are not captivating. _odes and sonnets_, illustrated by birket foster (routledge, 1859), has also devices by henry sleigh, printed in colours. it is not a happy experiment; despite the exquisite landscapes, the decoration accords so badly that you cannot linger over its pages with pleasure. _byron's childe harold_, with eighty illustrations by percival skelton, is another popular book of 1859. _hiawatha_, with twenty-four drawings by g. h. thomas, and _the merchant of venice_ (sampson low, 1860), illustrated by g. h. thomas, birket foster, and h. brandling, with ornaments by harry rogers, are two others a trifle belated in style. of different sort is _the voyage of the constance_, a tale of the arctic seas (edinburgh, constable), with twenty-four drawings by charles keene, a singularly interesting and apparently scarce volume which reveals powers of imagining landscape which he had never seen in a very realistic manner. i once heard him declare that he had never in his life been near either an irish bog or a scotch moor, both subjects being very frequent in his work. _the seasons_, by james thomson (nisbet, 1859), illustrated by birket foster, f. r. pickersgill, r.a., j. wolf, g. thomas, and noel humphreys, is another small quarto gift-book with the merits and defects of its class. yet, after making all due allowance, one feels that even these average volumes of the fifties, if they do not interest us as much as those of the sixties, are yet ahead, in many important qualities, of the average christmas gift-book to-day. the academic scholarship and fine craft of this era would equip a whole school of 'decorative students,' and leave still much to spare. yet if we prefer, in our heart of hearts, the birmingham books to-day, this is merely to confess that modernity, whether it be frankly actual, or pose as mediæval, attracts us more than a far worthier thing out of fashion for the moment. but such preference, if it exists, is hardly likely to outlast a serious study of the books of 'the sixties.' chapter viii: some illustrated books of the period 1860-1864 among the books dated 1860, or issued in the autumn of that year, are more elaborately illustrated editions of popular poets--all, as a rule, in the conventional quarto, or in what a layman might be forgiven for describing as 'quarto,' even if an expert preferred to call it octavo. of these tennyson's _the princess_, with twenty-six drawings by maclise, may be placed first, on account of the position held by author and artist. all the same, it belongs essentially to the fifties or earlier, both in spirit and in style. a more ample quarto, _poems_ by james montgomery (routledge, 1860), (not the montgomery castigated by lord macaulay), 'selected and edited by robert aris wilmott (routledge), with one hundred designs by john gilbert, birket foster, f. r. pickersgill, r.a., j. wolf, harrison weir, e. duncan, and w. harvey, is perhaps slightly more in touch with the newer school. its engravings by the brothers dalziel are admirable. _the clouds athwart the sky_ (p. 23), by john gilbert, and other landscapes by the same hand, may hold their own even by the side of those in the moxon _tennyson_, or in wilmott's earlier anthology. of quite different calibre is moore's _lalla rookh_, with its sixty-nine drawings by tenniel, engraved by the dalziels (longmans, 1861). if to-day you hardly feel inclined to indorse the verdict of the _times_ critic, who declared it to be 'the greatest illustrative achievement by any single hand,' it shows nevertheless not a few of those qualities which have won well-merited fame for our oldest cartoonist, even if it shows also the limitations which just alienate one's complete sympathy. yet those who saw an exhibition of sir john tenniel's drawings at the fine art society's galleries will be less ready to blame the published designs for a certain hardness of style, due in great part (one fancies) to their engraver. [illustration: h. h. armstead willmott's 'english sacred poetry' 1862, p. 49 a dream] [illustration: frederick walker willmott's 'sacred poetry,' 1862 the nursery friend] [illustration: frederick walker willmott's 'sacred poetry,' 1862 a child in prayer] in bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_ (routledge), with a hundred and ten designs by j. d. watson, engraved by the dalziels, we are confronted with a book that is distinctly of the 'sixties,' or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that most of its illustrations are distinguished by the broader treatment of the new school. it is strange that the ample and admirable achievements of this artist have not received more general recognition. when you meet with one of his designs set amid the work of the greatest illustrators, it rarely fails to maintain a dignified equality. if it lack the supreme artistry of one or the fine invention of another, it is always sober and at times masterly, in a restrained matter-of-fact way. some sketches reproduced in the _british architect_ (january 22, 1878) display more freedom than his finished works suggest. _quarles' emblems_ (nisbet), illustrated by c. h. bennett, a caricaturist whose style seems to have lost touch with modern taste, with decorative adornments by w. h. rogers, must not be overlooked; nor tennyson's _may queen_ (sampson low), with designs by e. v. b., a gifted amateur, whose work in this book, in _child's play_, and elsewhere, has a distinct charm, despite many technical shortcomings. _lyra germanica_ (longmans, 1861), an anthology of hymns translated from the german by catherine winkworth, produced under the superintendence of john leighton, f.s.a., must not be confused with a second series, with the same title, the same anthologist and art editor, issued in 1868. this book contains much decorative work by john leighton, who has scarcely received the recognition he deserves as a pioneer of better things. at a time when lawless naturalistic detail was supreme everywhere he strove to popularise conventional methods, and deserves full appreciation for his energetic and successful labours. the illustrations include one fine charles keene (p. 182), three by m. j. lawless (pp. 47, 90, 190), four by h. s. marks (pp. 1, 19, 57, 100), and five by e. armitage (pp. 29, 62, 111, 160, 197). the engraving by t. bolton, after a flaxman bas-relief, is apparently the same block bohn includes in his supplementary chapter to the 1861 edition of chatto and jackson's _history of wood-engraving_, as a specimen of the first experiment in mr. bolton's 'new process for photographing on the wood.' as this change was literally epoch-making, this really beautiful block, with its companion p. 111, is of historic interest. _shakespeare: his birthplace_, edited by j. r. wise, with twenty-three pictures drawn and engraved by w. j. linton (longmans); _the poetry of nature_, with thirty-six drawings by harrison weir (low), and _household song_ (kent, 1861), illustrated by birket foster, samuel palmer, g. h. thomas, a. solomon, j. andrews, and others, including two rather powerful blocks, _to mary in heaven_ especially, by j. archer, r.s.a.; _chambers's household shakespeare_, illustrated by keeley halswelle, must not be forgotten; nor _a boy's book of ballads_ (bell and daldy), illustrated by sir john gilbert; but _the adventures of baron munchausen_, with designs by a. crowquill (trübner), is not very important. an illustrated edition of mrs. gatty's _parables from nature_ (bell and daldy) would be remarkable if only for the _nativity_ by 'e. burne-jones.' it is instructive to compare the engraving with the half-tone reproduction of the original drawing which appears in mr. pennell's _modern illustrations_ (bell). but there are also good things in the book by john tenniel, holman hunt, m. e. edwards, and drawings of average interest by w. (not j. e.) millais, otto speckter, f. keyl, l. frolich, harrison weir, and others. in the respective editions of 1861 and 1867 the illustrations vary considerably. another book that happened to be published in 1860 would at any time occupy a place by itself. founded on blake, david scott developed a distinctly personal manner, that has provoked praise and censure, in each case beyond its merit. yet without joining either detractors or eulogists, one must own that the bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_ (edinburgh, 1860), illustrated by david and w. b. scott, if a most ugly piece of book-making, contains many very noteworthy designs. it is possible, despite the monograph of j. m. gray (one of the earliest critics who devoted special study to the works of frederick sandys) and a certain esoteric cult of a limited number of disciples, that david scott still remains practically unknown to the younger generation. yet this book, and coleridge's _ancient mariner_, which he also illustrated, contain a great many weird ideas, more or less adequately portrayed, which should endear themselves to the symbolist to-day. [illustration: h. s. marks, r.a. willmott's 'sacred poetry' 1862 a quiet mind] [illustration: h. s. marks willmott's 'sacred poetry,' 1862 in a hermitage] [illustration: frederick sandys willmott's 'sacred poetry,' 1862 life's journey] [illustration: frederick sandys willmott's 'sacred poetry,' 1862 a little mourner] _goldsmith's poems_, with coloured illustrations by birket foster, appeared this year, which saw also many volumes (issued by day and son), resplendent with chromo-lithography and 'illuminations' in gold and colours. so that the christmas harvest, that might seem somewhat meagre in the short list above, really contained as many high-priced volumes appealing to art, 'as she was understood in 1860,' as the list of 1897 is likely to include. but the books we deem memorable had not yet appeared, and the signs of 1860 hardly point to the rapid advance which the next few years were destined to reveal. in passing it may be noted that this was the great magenta period for cloth bindings. 'surely the most exquisite colour that ever left the chemist's laboratory,' exclaims a contemporary critic, after a rapturous eulogy. the 'wicked fratricidal war in america,' we find by references in the trade periodicals of the time, was held responsible for the scarcity of costly volumes at this date. perhaps the most important book of 1862 is willmott's _sacred poetry of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries_ (like many others issued the previous christmas). it contains two drawings by sandys, which are referred to elsewhere, three by fred walker, seven by h. s. marks, two by charles keene, twenty-eight by j. d. watson, one by holman hunt, eight by john gilbert, and others by g. h. andrews, h. h. armstead, w. p. burton, f. r. pickersgill, s. read, f. smallfield, j. sleigh, harrison weir, and j. wolf. although the absence of millais and rossetti would suffice to place it just below the tennyson, it may be considered otherwise as about of equal interest with that and the earlier anthology of _poets of the nineteenth century_, gathered together by the same editor. it is distinctly a typical book of the earlier sixties, and one which no collector can afford to miss. _poetry of the elizabethan age_, with thirty illustrations by birket foster, john gilbert, julian portch, and e. m. wimperis, is not quite representative of the sixties, but of a transitional period which might be claimed by either decade. _the songs and sonnets of shakespeare_, with ten coloured and thirty black-and-white drawings by john gilbert, to whatever period it may be ascribed, is one of his most superb achievements in book-illustration. _christmas with the poets_, 'embellished with fifty-three tinted illustrations by birket foster' (bell and daldy), can hardly be mentioned with approval, despite the masterly drawings of a great illustrator. as a piece of book-making, its gold borders and weak 'tinted' blocks, printed in feeble blues and browns, render it peculiarly unattractive. yet in all honesty one must own that its art is far more thorough and its taste possibly no worse essentially than many of the deckle-edged superfluities with neo-primitive designs which are popular at the present time. the work of this artist is perhaps somewhat out of favour at the moment, but its neglect may be attributed to the inevitable reaction which follows undue popularity. there are legends of the palmy days of the old water-colour society, when the competition of dealers to secure drawings by 'birket foster' was so great that they crowded round the doors before they opened on the first day, and one enterprising trader, crushing in, went straight to the secretary and said, 'i will buy the screen,' thereby forestalling his rivals who were hastily jotting down the works by this artist hung with others upon it. but even popular applause is not always misdirected; and the master of english landscape, despite a certain prettiness and pettiness, despite a little sentimentality, is surely a master. there are 'bests' and bests so many; and if birket foster is easily best of his kind, and the fact would hardly be challenged, then as a master we may leave his final place to the future, sure that it is always with the great who have succeeded, and not with the merely promising who just escape success. among the minor volumes of this year, now especially scarce, are dr. george mac donald's _dealings with the fairies_, with illustrations by arthur hughes; and several of strahan's children's books: _the gold thread_, by dr. norman macleod, with illustrations by j. d. watson, j. m'whirter, and others; and _the postman's bag_, illustrated by j. pettie and others. a curious volume, _spiritual conceits_, 'illustrated by harry rogers,' is printed throughout in black letter, and, despite the title, would be described more correctly to-day as 'decorated' by the artists, for the engravings are 'emblematical devices' more or less directly inspired by the emblem books of the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. as one of the few examples of conventional design of the period, it is interesting. new copies are by no means scarce, so it would seem to have been printed in excess of the demand, which, judging by the laudatory criticism it received, could not have been meagre. [illustration: birket foster 'pictures of english landscape,' 1864 the green lane] [illustration: birket foster 'pictures of english landscape,' 1864 the old chair-mender at the cottage door] 1862, the year of the second great international exhibition, might have been expected to yield a full crop of lavishly produced books, but as a matter of fact there are singularly few. two important exceptions occur: christina rossetti's _goblin market_, with the title-page and frontispiece by her brother, and _the new forest_, by j. r. wise, with drawings by walter crane, 'a very young artist, whom we shall be glad to meet with again,' as a contemporary criticism runs. yet, on the whole the men of the sixties appear to have exhausted their efforts on the new magazines which had just attained full vigour; hence, as we might expect, publishers refrained from competing with the annual volumes, which gave at least twice as much for seven shillings and sixpence as they had hitherto included in a guinea table-book. birket foster's _pictures of english landscape_, with pictures in words by tom taylor (routledge 1863), contains thirty singularly fine drawings engraved by dalziels, of which the editor says: 'it is still a moot point among the best critics how far wood-engraving can be profitably carried--whether it can attempt, with success, such freedom and subtlety of workmanship as are employed, for example, on the skies throughout this series, or should restrict itself to simple effects, with a broader and plainer manner of execution.' its companion was styled _beauties of english landscape_, and appeared much later. _early english poems, chaucer to pope_ (sampson low, 1863), is another book of the autumn of 1862, which like the rest is a quarto, with an elaborately designed cover and the usual hundred blocks delightfully engraved, after john gilbert, birket foster, george thomas, t. creswick, r.a., r. redgrave, r.a., e. duncan, and many others. although there is no reference to the fact in the book itself, many of the illustrations had already done duty in other books, or possibly did duty afterwards, for, without a tedious collation of first editions, it is difficult to discover the first appearance of any particular block. probably this was the original source of many blocks which afterwards were issued in all sorts of volumes, so frequently that their charm is somewhat tarnished by memories of badly printed _clichés_ in children's primers and the like. [illustration: frederick shields defoe's 'history of the plague,' 1862 the plague-cart] _the life of st. patrick_, by h. formby, is said to be illustrated by m. j. lawless, but the labour in tracking it was lost; for, whoever made the designs, the wood-engravings are of the lowest order, and the book no more interesting than an illustrated religious tract is usually. a sumptuously produced volume, _moral emblems_ (longmans), 'from jacob cats and robert fairlie,' contains 'illustrations freely rendered from designs found in their works,' by john leighton. the text is by richard pigot, whose later career affords us a moral emblem of another sort; if indeed he be the hero of the parnell incident, as contemporary notices declared. its two hundred and forty-seven blocks were engraved by different hands--leighton, dalziel, green, harral, de wilde, swain, and others, all duly acknowledged in the contents. it is only fair to say that the decorators rarely fall to the level of the platitudes, interspersed with biblical quotations, which form the text of the work. among other volumes worth mentioning are: _papers for thoughtful girls_, by sarah tytler, illustrated by j. e. millais; _children's sayings_, with four pictures by walter crane; _stories of old_, two series, each with seven illustrations by the same artist; _stories little breeches told_, illustrated by c. h. bennett; and volumes of laurie's _shilling entertainment library_, including probably (the date of the first edition is not quite clear) defoe's _history of the plague_, with singularly powerful designs by frederick shields,--'rembrandt-like in power,' mr. joseph pennell has rightly called them; and _puck on pegasus_, a volume of humorous verses by h. cholmondeley pennell, illustrated, and well illustrated, by leech, tenniel, doyle, millais, sir noel paton, 'phiz,' portch, and m. ellen edwards. the doyle tailpiece is the only one formally attributed, but students will have little difficulty in identifying the work of the various hands represented in its pages. a volume, artless in its art, that has charmed nevertheless for thirty years, and still amuses--lear's _book of nonsense_ appeared this year; but luckily its influence has been nil so far, except possibly upon modern posters; wordsworth's _poems for the young_, with fifty illustrations by john pettie and j. m'whirter; an illustrated edition of mrs. alexander's _hymns for little children_, mildly exciting as works of art, _famous boys_ (darton), illustrated by t. morten; _one year_, with pictures by clarence dobell (macmillan), and _wood's natural history_, with fine drawings by zwecker, wolf, and others, are also in the sterile crop of the year 1862. _passages from modern english poets_ (1862), illustrated by the junior etching club, an important book of its sort, is noticed elsewhere. in 1863 millais' _parables of our lord_ was issued, although it is dated 1864. of the masterpieces it contained a reviewer of the period wrote: 'looked at with unfeeling eyes there is little to commend them to the average class of book-buyers.' this, which is no doubt a fairly representative opinion, may be set against the wide appreciation by artists they aroused at the time, and ever since, merely to show that the good taste of the sixties was probably confined to a minority, and that the public in 1867 or 1897, despite its pretence of culture, is rarely moved deeply by great work. it is difficult to write dispassionately of this book. granted that when you compare it with the drawings of some of the subjects which are still extant, you regret certain shortcomings on the part of the engravers; yet, when studied apart from that severe test, there is much that is not merely the finest work of a fine period, but that may be placed among the finest of any period. we are told in the preface that 'mr. millais made his first drawing to illustrate the _parables_ in august 1857, and the last in october 1863; thus he has been able to give that care and consideration to his subjects which the beauty as well as the importance of _the parables_ demanded.' it is not necessary to describe each one of the many illustrations. those which appeared in _good words_ are printed with the titles they first bore in the notice of that magazine. the other eight are: _the tares_, _the wicked husbandman_, _the foolish virgins_, _the importunate friend_, _the marriage feast_, _the lost sheep_, _the rich man and lazarus_, and _the good shepherd_, all engraved by the brothers dalziel, who (to quote again from the preface), 'have seconded his efforts with all earnestness, desiring, as far as their powers would go, to make the pictures specimens of the art of wood-engraving.' here it would be superfluous to ask whether the designs could have been better engraved, or even whether photogravure would not have retained more of the exquisite beauty of the originals. as they are, remembering the conditions of their production, we must needs accept them; and the full admiration they demand need not be dashed by useless regret. in place of blaming dalziels, let us rather praise lavishly the foresight and sympathy which called into being most of the books we now prize. indeed, a history of dalziels' undertakings fully told would be no small part of a history of modern english illustration. if any one who loves art, especially the art of illustration, does not know and prize these _parables_, then it were foolish to add a line in their praise, for ignorance of such masterpieces is criminal, and lukewarm approval a fatal confession. [illustration: j. e. millais 'the parables of our lord,' routledge, 1864 the prodigal son] [illustration: j. e. millais 'the parables of our lord,' 1864 the tares] [illustration: j. e. millais 'the parables of our lord,' routledge, 1864 the sower] it is difficult to place any book of 1863 next in order to _the parables_; despite many fine publications, there is not one worthy to be classed by its side. perhaps the most important in one sense, and the least in another, is longmans' famous edition of the _new testament_, upon the preparation of which a fabulous amount of money was spent. yet, although an epoch-making book to the wood-engraver, it represents rather the end of an old school than the beginning of a new. its greatly reduced illustrations, wherein a huge wall-painting occupies the space of a postage-stamp, the lack of spontaneity in its formal 'correct' borders, impress us to-day more as curiosities than as living craft. all the same, it was considered a marvellous achievement; but its spirit, if it ever existed, has evaporated with age; indeed, one cannot help thinking that it was out of date when it appeared. ten years earlier it would have provoked more hearty approval; but, with millais' treatment of the similar subjects, who could look at this precise, unimaginative work? that it ever exercised any influence on wood-engraving is doubtful, and that it repaid, even in part, its cost and labour is still more problematical. bound, if memory can be trusted, in sham carved and pierced oak, it may be still encountered among the _rep_ and polished walnut of the period, a monument of misapplied endeavour. its ideal seems to have been to imitate steel-plates by wood-blocks. just as crusaders' tombs had been modelled in parian to do duty as match-boxes, and a thousand other attempts, then and since, with the avowed intention of imitation, have attracted no little common popularity; so its tediously minute handiwork no doubt won the approbation of those whose approval is artistic insult. one has but to turn to the tiny woodcuts of holbein's _dance of death_ to find that size is of no importance; a _netsuke_ may be as broadly treated as a colossus, but the art of the miniature is too often miniature art. therefore, side by side with the splendour of millais, this mildly exciting 'art-book' comes as a typical contrast. no matter how millais was rewarded, the mere engraver in this case must have been paid more, if contemporary accounts are true; yet the result is that nobody wants the one, and every artist, lay or professional, who is awake to really fine things, treasures a chance impression of a _parable_, torn out of _good words_, as a thing to reverence. on turning back to a scrap-book, where a number of them were preserved by the present writer in the late sixties, the old surprise comes back with irresistible force to find that things which he then ranked first still maintain their supremacy. at that time, when the wonders of japanese art were a sealed book, the masterpieces of dürer and rembrandt, the triumphs of whistler, and the exquisite engravings of the french wood-engravers, past and present, all unknown to him, he, in common with dozens of others, was conscious that here was something so great that it was almost uncanny, for, obvious and simple as it looked, it yet accomplished what all others seemed only to attempt. there are very few pictures which after thirty years retain the old glamour; but while the longmans' _new testament_ when seen anew raises no thrill of appreciation, the _parables_ appear as astoundingly great to one familiar with modern illustrations as they did to an ignorant boy thirty years ago. other _fetishes_ have gone unregretted to the lumber-room, but the millais of 1863 is a still greater master in 1896. they builded better than they knew, these giants of the sixties, and that the approval of another generation indorses the verdict of the best critics of their own may be taken as a promise of abiding homage to be paid in centuries yet to come. curiously enough, among some literary notes for christmas 1863, we find that 'early next year messrs. dalziel hoped to issue their bible pictures,' and the writer goes on to praise several of the drawings--notably the leightons, which were even then engraved: this note, nearly twenty years before the book actually appeared, is interesting, but it must not be thought that the time was devoted entirely to the engraving or in waiting for the perfection of photographic transfer to wood. an english edition of michelet's _the bird_, illustrated by giacomelli (nelson), was issued this year, and the highly wrought naturalistic details of the engravings became extremely popular. its 'pretty' finish, and tame, colourless effect influenced no little work of the period, and, coupled with the _clichés_ of gustave doré engravings, so lavishly reprinted here about this date, did much to promote a style of wood-engraving which found its highest expression in the pages of american magazines years afterwards, and its lowest in the 'decorated' poems of cheap 'snippet' weeklies, which to-day are yet imitated unconsciously by those who work in wash for half-tone processes. the next important volume of the year, after millais' _parables_, judged by our standard, is unquestionably dalziels' edition of _the arabian nights_ (ward, lock, and tyler)--'illustrated by a. boyd houghton,' one feels tempted to add to the title. but although the book is often referred to as the work of one artist, as a matter of fact it is the work of many. houghton does not even contribute the largest number; his eighty-seven designs are beaten by t. dalziel's eighty-nine. nor is he the greatest draughtsman therein, for there are two by millais. still, notwithstanding these, and eight by john tenniel, ten by g. j. pinwell, one by t. morten, two by j. d. watson, and six by e. dalziel, it is for houghton's sake that the book has suddenly assumed importance, even in the eyes of those who do not search through the volumes of the sixties for forgotten masterpieces, but are content with _once a week_, the _cornhill gallery_, and thornbury's _legendary ballads_. one thing is beyond doubt: that with the _arabian nights_ and the others on this short list you have a national gallery of the best things--not the best of all possible collections, not even an exhaustive collection of specimens of each, but a good working assortment that suffices to uphold the glory of 'the golden decade,' and can only be supplemented but not surpassed by the addition of all the others. the book was issued in weekly numbers, as you see on opening a first edition of the volume at the risk of breaking its back. close to the fold appears the legend, 'printed by dalziel brothers, the camden press, n.w.,' etc. it was eventually issued in two volumes in october 1864, but dated '1865.' mr. laurence housman's volume, _arthur boyd houghton_ (kegan paul, 1896), and his excellent article in _bibliographica_, are available for those who wish for a fuller appreciation of this fine book. [illustration: a. boyd houghton dalziels' 'arabian nights,' p. 149 noureddin ali on his journey] by the side of the books already mentioned the rest seem almost commonplace, but another edition of _the pilgrim's progress_, with one hundred illustrations by t. dalziel, must not be overlooked. these show that one of the famous engravers was also an artist of no mean importance, and explain much of the fine taste that distinguished the publications of the firm with which he was associated. elsewhere the many original designs by other members of the firm go to prove this up to the hilt. it is curious to find 1864 the date of the 'new' illustrated edition of _the ingoldsby legends_ (bentley).[6] those familiar with contemporary volumes would have hazarded a time ten to fifteen years earlier, had the matter been open to doubt. it is profusely illustrated by leech, tenniel, and cruikshank, but in no way a typical book of the sixties. _english sacred poetry of the olden time_ (religious tract society, 1864) was issued this year. it contains f. walker's _portrait of a minister_ (p. 184); _the abbey walk_ (p. 6), and _sir walter raleigh_ (p. 60), by g. du maurier; ten drawings by j. w. north, three by c. green, three by j. d. watson, and many by tenniel, percival skelton, and others, all engraved by whymper; _our life illustrated by pen and pencil_ (religious tract society, undated), is a similar book with designs by j. d. watson, pinwell, c. h. selous, du maurier, barnes, j. w. north. aytoun's _lays of the scottish cavaliers_ is another book of 1863 that is noticeable for its illustrations, from designs by [sir] noel paton. _robinson crusoe_, with one hundred designs by j. d. watson (routledge); wordsworth's _poetry for the young_, illustrated by j. pettie and j. m'whirter (strahan, 1863); c. h. bennett's _london people_, and the same artist's _mr. wind and madam rain_ (sampson low); _hymns in prose_ by mrs. barbauld, illustrated by barnes, whymper, etc.; dr. cumming's _life and lessons of our lord_, with pictures by c. green, p. skelton, a. hunt, and others; yet another _pilgrim's progress_, this time with illustrations by h. c. selous and p. priolo (cassell), and another _robinson crusoe_, illustrated by g. h. thomas (cassell); the _family fairy tales_, illustrated 'by a young lady of eighteen,' signed m. e. e., the first published works of m. ellen edwards, who soon became--and deservedly--one of the most popular illustrators of the day; _homes without hands_, by j. g. wood, with animal drawings by f. w. keyl; _hacco the dwarf_, with illustrations, interesting, because they are (i believe) the earliest published work by g. j. pinwell; and _golden light_ (routledge), with eighty drawings by a. w. bayes, are some of the rest of the books of this year that must be dismissed with a bare record of their titles. _the lake country_, with illustrations drawn and engraved by w. j. linton (smith and elder, 1864), is of technical rather than general interest. champions of the 'white line' will find practical evidence of its masterly use in the engravings. _the victorian history of england_ (routledge, 1864) has at least one drawing by a. b. houghton, but, so far as a rapid turn over of its pages revealed, only one--the frontispiece. _the golden harp_ (routledge) appears to be a re-issue of blocks by j. d. watson used elsewhere. _what men have said about women_ (routledge) is illustrated by the same artist, who is responsible--indirectly, one hopes--for coloured designs to _melbourne house_, issued about this time. _the months illustrated with pen and pencil_ (religious tract society, undated) contains sixty engravings by butterworth and heath, after j. gilbert, robert barnes, j. w. north, and others; uniform in style with _english sacred poetry_, it does not reach the same level of excellence. a book, _words for the wise_ (nelson), illustrated by w. small, i have failed to see; a critic calls attention to it as 'the work of a promising young artist hitherto unknown to us.' _pictures of english life_, with sixteen engravings by j. d. cooper, after drawings by r. barnes (sampson low), contains blocks of a size unusual in books. the superb drawings by charles keene to _mrs. caudle's curtain lectures_ (bradbury and evans) enrich this prolific period with more masterpieces. [illustration: frederick walker 'english sacred poetry' r. t. s. portrait of a minister] [illustration: g. j. pinwell 'wayside poesies,' 1867 king pippin] [illustration: autumn] chapter ix: some illustrated books, 1865-1872 with 1865 we reach the height of the movement--this and the following year being of all others most fertile in books illustrated by the best representative men. it saw rossetti's frontispiece and title to _the prince's progress_ (macmillan, 1866), these two designs being almost enough to make the year memorable. _a round of days_ (routledge), one of the finest of the illustrated gift-books, contains walker's _broken victuals_ (p. 3), _one mouth more_ (p. 58), and the well-known _four seasons_ (pp. 37, 39, 41, 43), for one of which the drawing on wood is at south kensington museum. a. boyd houghton appears with fourteen examples (pp. 1, 2, 5, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30, 47, 48, 71, 73, 77, 78), j. w. north with three exquisite landscapes (pp. 15, 17, 18), g. j. pinwell with five subjects, paul gray with one (p. 81), j. d. watson with five (pp. 26, 28, 62, 64, 66), t. morten with one (p. 79), a. w. bayes with two, t. dalziel with seven, and e. dalziel with two. these complete its contents, excepting two delicately engraved studies of heads after warwick brookes. the book itself is distinctly a lineal descendant from the annuals of the earlier half of the century; a typical example of a not very noble ideal--a scrap-book of poems and pictures made important by the work of the artists. yet, with full recognition of the greater literalism of reproductive process to-day, one doubts if even _the london garland_ (macmillan, 1895), which most nearly approaches it, will maintain its interest more fully, after thirty years' interval, than does this sumptuous quarto, and a few of its fellows. that we could get together, at the present time, as varied and capable a list of artists is quite possible; but where is the publisher who would risk paying so much for original work designed for a single book, when examples by the same men are to be obtained in equally good reproductions, and not less well printed in many of the sixpenny weeklies and the monthly magazines? the change of conditions seems to forbid a revival of volumes of this class, although the _yellow book_, _the pageant_, _the savoy_, and _the quarto_, are not entirely unrelated to them. to 1864 belongs formally _the cornhill gallery_, a hundred impressions from the original blocks of pictures. among the early volumes issued for christmas 1865, this is, perhaps, the most important book, but, as its contents are fully noticed elsewhere, no more need be said here. it is amusing to read that a critic disliked 'mr. leighton's unpleasant subjects'--the romola designs! dalziels' _illustrated goldsmith_ (ward and lock, 1865), may be considered, upon the whole, the masterpiece of g. j. pinwell, who designed the hundred illustrations which seemed then to be accepted as the only orthodox number for a book. how charming some of these are every student of the period knows. pinwell, as certain original drawings that remain prove only too clearly, suffered terribly at the engraver's hands, and, beautiful as many of the designs are, one cannot avoid regret that they were not treated more tenderly. it is quite possible that bold work was needed for the serial issue in large numbers, and that the engravers simplified the drawings of set purpose; but the delicacy and grace of the originals are ill-replaced by the coarser modelling of the faces and the quality of the 'line' throughout. this year saw also _home thoughts and home scenes_, a book with thirty-five drawings of children, by a. boyd houghton (routledge, 1865); which was afterwards reprinted as _happy day stories_. this book is absolutely essential to any representative collection of the period, but nevertheless its designs can hardly be regarded as among the artist's most masterly works. warne's edition of _the arabian nights_ (1866), with sixteen drawings, eight by a. boyd houghton, must not be confused with the other edition to which he contributed quite distinct subjects. this, and _don quixote_ (warne) appear in the christmas lists for 1865. the great spanish novel hardly seems to have sustained the artist to his finest achievements throughout. it contains 100 most interesting designs; some that reveal his full accomplishment. at the same time it fails to astound you, as the _arabian nights_ have a knack of doing again and again, whenever you turn over their pages. [illustration: g. j. pinwell dalziels' 'illustrated goldsmith,' p. 155 what, bill! you chubby rogue] [illustration: frederick walker 'a round of days' autumn] this was a great year for gustave doré. so many english editions of his books were issued that a summary of the year's art begins with an apology for calling it 'l'année dorée.' among these _don quixote_ gained rapid and firm hold of popular fancy. many people who have risen superior to doré to-day, and speak of him with contempt now, at that time grovelled before the french artist's work. a contemporary critic writes of him as one who, 'by common consent occupies the first place of all book-illustrators of all time.' as he is not in any sense an english illustrator we need not attempt to appraise his work here, but it influenced public taste far more than it influenced draughtsmen; yet the fact that _don quixote_, as houghton depicted him, even now fails to oust the lean-armoured, grotesque hero (one of doré's few powerful creations), may be the reason for houghton's version failing to impress us beyond a certain point. a book of the year, _ballads and songs of brittany_, from the french of hersart de la villemarqué, by tom taylor (macmillan), should be interesting to-day, if only for the two steel plates after tissot, which show that, in his great eastern cycle of biblical drawings, he reverts to an earlier manner, which he had employed before the _mondaine_ and the _demi-monde_ attracted him. the book contains also four millais', and a fine keene, which, with most of the other subjects, had already appeared with the poems in _once a week_. _enoch arden_ (e. moxon & co., 1866), with twenty-five most dainty drawings by arthur hughes, is said, in some contemporaneous announcements of the season, to be the first successful attempts at photographing the designs on wood; but we have already noticed the fine example of mr. bolton's new process for photographing on wood, a bas-relief after flaxman, in the _lyra germanica_ (1861). another table-book, important so far as price is concerned, is _the life of man symbolised_ (longmans, 1866), with many illustrations by john leighton, f.s.a. _gems of literature_, illustrated by noel paton (nimmo); _pen and pencil pictures from the poets_ (nimmo), with forty illustrations by keeley halswelle, pettie, m'whirter, w. small, j. lawson, and others; and _scott's poems_, illustrated by keeley halswelle, were also issued at this time. an epoch-making book of this season, _alice in wonderland_ (macmillan), with tenniel's forty-two immortal designs, needs only bare mention, for who does not know it intimately? a very interesting experiment survives in the illustration to watts's _divine and moral songs_ (nisbet, 1865). this book, edited by h. fitzcock, the enthusiastic promoter of graphotype, enlisted the services of notable artists, whose tentative efforts, in the first substitute for wood-engraving that attained any commercial recognition, make the otherwise tedious volume a treasure-trove. the du maurier on page 14, the j. d. watson (p. 22), t. morten (p. 43), holman hunt (p. 49), m. e. edwards (p. 62), c. green (p. 9), and w. cave thomas (p. 75), are all worth study. a not very important drawing, _the moon shines full_, by dr. c. heilbuth (p. 3), is a very successful effort to rival the effect of wood-engraving by mechanical means. the titles of the poems come with most grotesque effect beneath the drawings. an artist in knickerbockers, by du maurier, entitled 'the excellency of the bible,' for instance, is apt to raise a ribald laugh; and some of the calvinistic rhymes and unpleasant theology of the good old doctor are strangely ill-matched with these experiments in a medium which evidently interested the draughtsman far more than the songs which laid so heavy a burden on the little people of a century ago. _legends and lyrics_, by a. a. procter (bell and daldy, 1865), is another quarto edition of a popular poet, but here, in place of the usual hundred birket fosters, gilberts, and the rest, we have but nineteen engravings; but they are all full pages. charles keene's two subjects are _the settlers_ and _rest_ (a night bivouac of soldiers); john tenniel with _a legend of bregenz_, and du maurier with _a legend of provence_ and _the requital_, also represent the _punch_ contingent. the others are by w. t. c. dobson, a. r. a., l. frolich, t. morten, g. h. thomas, samuel palmer, j. d. watson, w. p. burton, j. m. carrick, m. e. edwards, and william h. millais; all engraved by horace harral, who cannot be congratulated upon his rendering of some blocks. a very charming set of drawings by j. e. millais will be found in henry leslie's _little songs for me to sing_ (cassell, undated). the subjects, seven in number, are slightly executed studies of childhood by a master-hand at the work. the first volume of cassell's _shakespeare_, which contains a large number of drawings by h. c. selous, was issued this year. [illustration: g. j. pinwell 'wayside poesies' the little calf] [illustration: frederick walker 'wayside poesies' the bit o' garden] a fine collection of reprinted illustrations is _pictures of society_ (sampson low, 1866); its blocks are taken from mr. james hogg's publications, _london society_ and _the churchman's family magazine_, and include the fine sandys, _the waiting time_, and m. j. lawless's _silent chamber_, both reproduced here by his permission. it is a scarce but very interesting, if unequal, book. the minor books at this time are rich in drawings by most of the artists who are our quest in this chronicle. the number, and the difficulty of ascertaining which of them contain worthy designs, must be the excuse for a very incomplete list, which includes _keats's poetical works_, with a hundred and twenty designs by g. scharf; _the children's hour_ (hunter, edinburgh), w. small, etc.; _jingles and jokes for little folks_, paul gray, etc.; _the magic mirror_, w. s. gilbert (strahan); _dame dingle's fairy tales_, j. proctor (cassell); _ellen montgomery's bookshelf_, twelve plates in colour by j. d. watson (nisbet); _an old fairy tale_, r. doyle (routledge); _what the moon saw_, eighty illustrations by a. w. bayes (routledge); _ernie elton the lazy boy_, _patient henry_, _the boy pilgrims_, all illustrated by a. boyd houghton and published by warne; _sybil and her snowball_, r. barnes (seeley); _stories told to a child_, houghton, etc. (strahan); _aunt sally's life_, g. thomas, (bell); _mother's last words_, m. e. edwards, etc. (jarrold), and _watts's divine songs_ (sampson low), with some fine smalls and birket fosters. although the style of work that prevailed in 1865-66 was so widely popular, it did not find universal approval. critics deplored the 'sketchy' style of dalziels' engraving and, comparing it unfavourably with longmans' _new testament_, moaned, 'when shall we find again such engraving as in mulready's drawings by thompson.' in _don quixote_ they owned houghton's designs were clever, but thought, 'on the whole, the worthy knight deserved better treatment.' and so all along the line we find the then present contrasted with the golden past; even as many look back to-day to the golden 'sixties' from the commonplace 'nineties.' this time saw the beginning of the superb toy-books by walter crane--which are his masterpieces, and monuments to the skill and taste of edmund evans, their engraver and printer. for wood-block printing in colours, no western work has surpassed them even to this date. _poems by jean ingelow_ (longmans, 1867) is a very notable and scarce volume, which was published in the autumn of 1866. it contains twenty drawings by g. j. pinwell, of which the seven to _the high tide_ are singularly fine; but that they suffered terribly at the engraver's hands some originals, in the possession of mr. joseph pennell, prove only too plainly. j. w. north is represented by twenty-four, a. boyd houghton by sixteen, j. wolf by nine, e. j. poynter by one, w. small by four, e. dalziel by three, and t. dalziel by twenty. the level of this fine book is singularly high, and it must needs be placed among the very best of one of the most fruitful years. another book published at this time, _ballad stories of the affections_, by robert buchanan (routledge, undated), contains some singularly fine examples of the work of g. j. pinwell, w. small, a. b. houghton, e. dalziel, t. dalziel, j. lawson, and j. d. watson, engraved by the brothers dalziel; _signelil_ (pp. 7 and 9), _helga and hildebrand_ (p. 17), _the two sisters_ (p. 29), and _signe at the wake_ (_frontispiece_) show houghton at his best; _maid mettelil_ (p. 47) exhibits pinwell in an unusually decorative mood. indeed, the thirty-four illustrations are all good, and the book is decidedly one of the most interesting volumes of the period, and unfortunately one least frequently met with to-day. [illustration: j. w. north 'wayside poesies' glen oona] [illustration: j. w. north from the original drawing glen oona] [illustration: j. w. north 'wayside poesies,' 1867 the nutting] [illustration: j. w. north 'wayside poesies' afloat] if _wayside poesies_ (routledge, 1867) is not the finest illustrated book of the christmas season of 1866, it is in the very front rank. its eighteen drawings by g. j. pinwell are among the best things he did; the five by fred walker are also well up to his best manner, and the nineteen by j. w. north include some of the most exquisite landscapes he ever set down in black and white. it was really one of messrs. dalziels' projects, and its publishers were only distributors; so that the credit--and it is not slight--of producing this admirable volume belongs to the popular engravers whose names occur in one capacity or another in almost every paragraph of this chronicle. still more full of good things, but all reprinted, is _touches of nature by eminent artists_ (strahan, 1866). this folio volume, 'into which is gathered much of the richest fruit of strahan and company's magazines,' does not belie its dedication. as almost every one of its ninety-eight subjects is referred to in the record of the various magazines whence they were collected, it will suffice to note that it contains three by sandys, nine by fred walker, four by millais, five by a. boyd houghton, eight by g. j. pinwell, two by lawless, and many by j. w. north, w. small, j. pettie, g. du maurier, j. tenniel, j. d. watson, robert barnes, with specimens of charles keene, j. mahoney, marcus stone, w. orchardson, f. j. shields, paul gray, h. h. armstead, and others. a volume of even greater interest is _millais's collected illustrations_ (strahan, 1866). the eighty drawings on wood include many subjects originally published in _lays of the holy land_, _once a week_, _tennyson's poems_, _good words_, _orley farm_, etc. etc. copies in good condition are not often in the market; but it should be the blue riband of every collector, for the blocks here receive more careful printing than that allowed by the exigencies of their ordinary publication, and, free from any gold border, set on a large and not too shiny page, they tell out as well as one could hope to find them. as you linger over its pages you miss many favourites, for it is by no means an exhaustive collection even from the sources mentioned; but it is representative and full of superb work, interspersed though it be with the less fine things done while the great draughtsman was still hampered by the conventions of mulready and maclise. _idyllic pictures_ (cassell, 1867) is another reprinted collection, this time selected entirely from one magazine, _the quiver_. it contains a fine sandys here called _october_, elsewhere _the advent of winter_, whereof the artist complained bitterly of the 'cutting.' in march 1884, the _art journal_ contained a very excellent paper on 'frederick sandys,' by j. m. gray, where the original drawing for this subject is reproduced by process. the more important things in _idyllic pictures_ are: g. j. pinwell's _faded flowers_ (p. 13), _sailor's valentine_ (p. 47), _the angel's song_ (p. 73), _the organ-man_ (p. 121), and _straight on_ (p. 169); a. boyd houghton's _wee rose mary_ (p. 89), _st. martin_ (p. 181), and _sowing and reaping_ (p. 189); paul gray's _cousin lucy_ (_frontispiece_), _a reverie_ (p. 17), _by the dead_ (p. 21), _mary's wedding-day_ (p. 141), and _the holy light_ (p. 193); w. small's _between the cliffs_ (p. 29), _my ariel_ (p. 43), _a retrospect_ (p. 85), _babble_ (p. 109), and _church bells_ (p. 173); t. morten's _izaak walton_ (p. 69) and _hassan_ (p. 81); m. e. edwards's _a lullaby_ (p. 49), _seeing granny_ (p. 117), and _unrequited_ (p. 129), with others by the artists already named, and r. barnes, h. cameron, r. p. leitch, c. j. staniland, and g. h. thomas. _two centuries of song_, selected by walter thornbury (sampson low, 1867), is a book almost exactly on the lines of those of the earlier sixties, which seems at first sight to be out of place amid the works of the newer school. it has nineteen full-page drawings, set in ornamental borders, which, printed in colours, decorate (? disfigure) every page of the book. the illustrations, engraved by w. j. linton, gavin smith, h. harral, are by eminent hands: h. s. marks, t. morten, w. small, g. leslie, and others. the frontispiece, _paying labourers, temp. elizabeth_, by the first named, is very typical; _phyllis_, by g. leslie, a pretty half-mediæval, half-modern 'decorative' subject; and _colin and phoebe_, by w. small, a delightful example of a broadly-treated landscape, with two figures in the distance--a really notable work. in my own copy, freely annotated with most depreciatory criticisms of text and pictures in pencil by a former owner, the illustration (p. 138) has vanished, but on its fly-leaf the late owner has written- 'this verse its picture had, a vulgar lass and lout; the _wood-cut_ was so bad that i _would cut_ it out.' that it is signed g. w. is a coincidence more curious than pleasing to me, and i quote the quatrain chiefly to show that the term 'wood-cut' for 'wood-engraving' has been in common use unofficially, as well as officially, all through this century. nevertheless it is a distinct gain to differentiate between the diverse methods, by refusing to regard the terms as synonymous. [illustration: g. du maurier 'story of a feather' p. 63 'send the culprit from the house instantly'] [illustration: g. du maurier 'story of a feather' p. 14 'he felt the surpassing importance of his position'] [illustration: t. morten 'the quiver' izaak walton] foxe's _book of martyrs_ (cassell, undated), issued about this time, has a number of notable contributors; but the one-sided gruesome record of cruelties which, whether true or false, are horribly depressing, has evidently told upon the artists' nerves. the illustrators, according to its title-page, are: 'g. h. thomas, john gilbert, g. du maurier, j. d. watson, a. b. houghton, w. small, a. pasquier, r. barnes, m. e. edwards, t. morten, etc.' some of the pictures have the names of artist and engraver printed below, while others are not so distinguished. those most worthy of mention are by a. boyd houghton (pp. 389, 480, 508, 572, 596, and 668), s. l. fildes (p. 493), g. du maurier (p. 541), and w. small (pp. 333, 365, 624). among artists not mentioned in the title-page are f. j. skill, j. lee, j. henley, and f. w. lawson. the first volume of cassell's _history of england_ appeared this year with many engravings after w. small and others. another book of the season worth noting is _heber's hymns_ (sampson low, 1867). it contains 100 illustrations by t. d. scott, w. small, h. c. selous, wilfrid lawson, percival skelton, and others; but they can hardly be styled epoch-making. _christian lyrics_ (sampson low, 1868) (re-issued later in warne's _chandos classics_), contains 250 illustrations by a. b. houghton, r. barnes, and others. _the story of a feather_ (bradbury, evans, and co. 1867), illustrated by g. du maurier, is a book that deserves more space than can be allowed to it. it holds a large number of drawings, some of which, especially the initial vignettes, display the marvellously fecund and dramatic invention of the artist. _the spirit of praise_ (warne, 1867) is an anthology of sacred verse, containing delightful drawings by w. small (pp. 57, 97, 149, 189), by paul gray (p. 89), by g. j. pinwell (pp. 19, 157), by a. boyd houghton (p. 53), and others by j. w. north and t. dalziel. to 1866 belongs most probably _gulliver's travels_, illustrated with eighty designs by 'the late t. morten,' in which the ill-fated artist is seen at his best level; they display a really convincing imagination, and if, technically speaking, he has done better work elsewhere, this is his most successful sustained effort. _moore's irish melodies_ (mackenzie) contains many illustrations by birket foster, harrison weir, cope, and others. _art and song_ has thirty original illustrations engraved on _steel_, which naturally looks very out of date among its fellows. _a new table-book_ by mark lemon (bradbury) is illustrated by f. eltze. mackay's 1001 _gems of poetry_ (routledge) numbers among its illustrations at least one millais. books containing designs by artists whose names appear after the title, may be noted briefly here. _little songs for little folks_, j. d. watson; _æsop's fables_, with 114 drawings by harrison weir (routledge); _washerwoman's foundling_, w. small (strahan); _lilliput levée_, j. e. millais, g. j. pinwell, etc. (strahan); _roses and holly_ (nimmo); _moore's irish melodies_, birket foster, h. weir, c. w. cope, etc. (mackenzie); _chandos poets: longfellow_, a. boyd houghton, etc. (warne); _things for nests_ (nisbet). the popularity of the illustrator at this time provoked a critic to write: 'book-illustration is a thriving fad. _jones fecit_ is the pendant of everything he does. the dearth of intellectual talent among book-illustrators is amazing. the idea is thought less of than the form. mental growth has not kept pace with technical skill'--a passage only worth quoting because it is echoed to-day, with as little justice, by irresponsible scribblers. in another criticism upon this year's books we find: 'for the pre-raphaelite draughtsman and the pre-bewick artist, who love scratchy lines without colour, blocks which look like spoilt etchings, and the first "proofs" of artists' work untouched by the engraver, nothing can be better.' it was the year of doré's _tennyson_, and doré's _tupper_, a year when the fine harvests were nearly at an end, when a new order of things was close at hand, and the advent of _the graphic_ should set the final seal to the work of the sixties and inaugurate a new school. but, although the christmas of 1866 saw the ingathering of the most fertile harvest, the next three years must be not overlooked. in 1867 _lucile_, with du maurier's designs, carries on the record; and _north coast and other poems_, by robert buchanan (routledge, 1868), nobly maintains the tradition of dalziels. it contains fifty-three drawings: thirteen by houghton, six by pinwell, two by w. small, one by j. b. zwecker, three by j. wolf, twenty-five by t. and three by e. dalziel, and the engraving is at their best level, the printing unusually good. [illustration: t. morten 'gulliver's travels' cassell gulliver in lilliput] [illustration: t. morten 'gulliver's travels' cassell the laputians] _golden thoughts from golden fountains_ (warne, 1867) is another profusely illustrated anthology, on the lines of those which preceded it. the first edition was printed in sepia throughout, but the later editions printed in black do more justice to the blocks. in it we find seventy-three excellent designs by a. boyd houghton, g. j. pinwell, w. small, j. lawson, w. p. burton, g. dalziel, t. dalziel, and others; if the book, as a whole, cannot be placed among the best of its class, yet all the same it comprises some admirable work. the _savage club papers_, 1867 (tinsley), has also a galaxy of stars in its list of illustrators, but their sparkle is intermittent and feeble. true that du maurier, a. boyd houghton, j. d. watson, and a host of others drew, and dalziels, swain, harral, and the rest engraved their work; but all the same it is but an ephemeral book. _krilof and his fables_ (strahan, 1867) enshrines some delightful, if slight, houghtons, and many spirited animal drawings by zwecker. wood's _bible animals_ is also rich in fine zoological pictures. the _ode on the morning of christ's nativity_ (nisbet, 1867) would be notable if only for its three designs by albert moore, who appears here as an illustrator, probably the only time he ever contributed to any publication. notwithstanding two or three powerful and fantastic drawings by w. small, the rest are a very mixed lot, conceived in all sorts of manners. _the illustrated book of sacred poems_ (cassell, undated) is a big anthology, with a silver-print photograph by way of frontispiece. it contains a rather fine composition, _side by side_ (p. 17), with no signature or other means of identification. w. small (p. 21), j. d. watson (pp. 69, 89, 105, 200, 209), m. e. edwards, h. c. selous, j. w. north, and many others are represented; but the engravers, for the most part, cannot be congratulated upon their interpretation of the artists' designs. other books worth mention are: _the mirage of life_, with twenty-nine characteristic illustrations by john tenniel (religious tract society); _the story without an end_, illustrated by e. v. b.; _cassell's illustrated readings_, two volumes with a mass of pictures of unequal merit, but the omnivorous collector will keep them for the sake of designs by f. barnard, j. d. watson, j. mahoney, w. small, s. l. fildes, and many another typical artist of the sixties, in spite of the unsatisfactory blocks; _fairy tales_, by mark lemon, illustrated by c. h. bennett and richard doyle; _pupils of st. john the divine_, illustrated by e. armitage (macmillan); _puck on pegasus_ (the new and enlarged edition); _poetry of nature_, illustrated by harrison weir; and _original poems_ by j. and e. taylor (routledge, 1868), with a large number of designs by r. barnes, a. w. bayes, etc. with 1868 the end is near; the few books of real merit which bear its date were almost all issued in the autumn of the previous year. _the savage club papers_, 1868, is a book not worth detailed comment; _five days' entertainment at wentworth grange_, by f. t. palgrave (macmillan), contains some charming designs by arthur hughes; _stories from memel_, illustrated by walter crane (w. hunt and co.), is a pleasant book of the year; and, about this time, other work by the same artist appeared in _the merrie heart_ (cassell). _king gab's story bag_ (cassell), _the magic of kindness_ (cassell), and other children's books i have been unable to trace, nor the _poetry of nature_, edited by j. cundall. _lyra germanica_ (longmans), a second anthology of hymns translated from the german, contains three illustrations by ford madox brown, _at the sepulchre_, _the sower_, and _abraham_, six by edward armitage, r.a., and many headpieces and other decorations by john leighton, which should not be undervalued because the taste of to-day is in favour of a bolder style, and dislikes imitation gothic detail. of their sort they are excellent, and may be placed among the earliest modern attempts to decorate a page, with some show of consistency of treatment. compared with the so-called 'rustic' borders of earlier efforts, they at once assume a certain importance. the binding is similar to that upon the first series. _tom brown's school days_, illustrated by arthur hughes and s. p. hall, is one of the most notable books of the year. it is curious that at the close of the period, as at its beginning, this artist is so much to the fore, although examples of his work appear at long intervals during the years' chronicle. yet, as 1855 shows his work in the van of the movement, so also he supplies a goodly proportion of the interesting work which is the aftermath of the sixties, rather than the premature growth of the seventies. _tom brown_ is too well known in its cheap editions, where the same illustrations are used, to require any detailed comment here. _gray's elegy_ (illustrated in colour by r. barnes, birket foster, wimperis, and others) is of little importance. [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'golden thoughts from golden fountains' love] [illustration: w. small 'golden thoughts from golden fountains' mark the grey-haired man] in 1869 _the nobility of life_ (warne), an anthology, edited by l. valentine, is attractive, less by reason of its coloured plates after j. d. watson, c. green, e. j. poynter, and others, than from its headpieces, by a. boyd houghton (pp. 26, 106, 122, 136, 146, 178), francis walker (pp. 82, 170), j. mahoney (p. 98), which, subsidiary as they appear here, are in danger of being overlooked. _carmina crucis_ (bell and daldy, 1860), poems by dora greenwell, has two or three decorative pieces, by g. d. l[eslie], which might be attributed to the influence of the _century guild hobby horse_, if direct evidence did not antedate them by twenty years. _miss kilmansegg_, illustrated by seccombe; _the water babies_, sir noel paton and p. skelton; _in fairyland_, r. doyle (longmans); _vikram and the vampire_, e. griset (longmans), and _æsop's fables_ (cassell), with one hundred clever and humorous designs, by the same artist, are among the few others that are worth naming. several series of volumes, illustrated by various hands, may be noticed out of their due order. for the date of the first volume is often far distant from the last, and yet, as the series maintained a certain coherency, it would be confusing to spread its record over a number of years and necessitate continual reiteration of facts. the _choice series_ of selections from the poets, published by messrs. sampson low and co., include several volumes issued some time before they were included as part of this series. the ideal of all is far more akin to that of the early fifties--when the original editions of several of these were first issued--than to that of the sixties. they include bloomfield's _farmer's boy_ (1857), campbell's _pleasures of hope_ (1855), coleridge's _ancient mariner_ (1857), goldsmith's _deserted village_ and _vicar of wakefield_, gray's _elegy_ (1853), keats's _eve of st. agnes_, milton's _l'allegro_, warton's _the hermit_, wordsworth's _pastoral poems_, and rogers's _pleasures of memory_ (1864). all the volumes, but the last, have wood-engravings by various hands after drawings by birket foster, harrison weir, gilbert and others; but in the _pleasures of memory_ 'the large illustrations' are produced by a new method without the aid of an engraver, and some little indulgence is asked for them on the plea of the inexperience of the artists in this process. 'the drawing is made' (to continue the quotation) 'with an etching needle, or any suitable point, upon a glass plate spread with collodion. it is then photographed [? printed] upon a prepared surface of wax, and from this an electrotype is formed in relief which is printed with the type.' samuel palmer, j. d. watson, charles green, and others are the artists to whom this reference applies, and the result, if not better than the best contemporary engraving, is certainly full of interest to-day. the _golden treasury_ series (macmillan and co.) contains, in each volume, a vignette engraved on steel by jeens, after drawings by j. e. millais, t. woolner, w. holman hunt, sir noel paton, arthur hughes, etc. although the 'household edition' of charles dickens's complete works was issued early in the seventies, it is illustrated almost entirely by men of the sixties, and was possibly in active preparation during that decade. fred barnard takes the lion's share, the largest number of drawings to the most important volumes. his fame as a dickens illustrator might rest secure on these alone, although it is supplemented by many other character-drawings of the types created by the author of _pickwick_. to _sketches by boz_ he supplies thirty-four designs, to _nicholas nickleby_ fifty-nine, to _barnaby rudge_ forty-six, to _christmas books_ twenty-eight, to _dombey and son_ sixty-four, to _david copperfield_ sixty, to _bleak house_ sixty-one, and to the _tale of two cities_ twenty-five. 'phiz' re-illustrates _the pickwick papers_ with fifty-seven designs, concerning which silence is best. j. mahoney shows excellent work in twenty-eight drawings to _oliver twist_ and fifty-eight each to _little dorrit_ and _our mutual friend_; charles green's thirty-nine illustrations to the _old curiosity shop_ are also admirable. f. a. fraser is responsible for thirty to _great expectations_, e. g. dalziel for thirty-four to _christmas stories_ (from _all the year round_), twenty-six to the _uncommercial traveller_, and a few to minor pieces, issued with _edwin drood_, which contain s. l. fildes's excellent designs. h. french contributes twenty to _hard times_, a. b. frost illustrates _american notes_, j. gordon thomson _pictures from italy_, and j. m'l. ralston supplies fifteen for _a child's history of england_. to re-embody characters already stereotyped, for the most part, by the earlier plates of the original editions, was a bold enterprise: that it did not wholly fail is greatly to its credit. it is quite possible that as large a number of readers made their first acquaintance with the _dramatis personæ_ of the novels in these popular editions as in the older books, and it would be interesting to discover what they really felt when the much-vaunted copper-plates afterwards fell under their notice. the sentiment of english people has been amply expended on the hablot k. browne designs. cruikshank is still considered a great master by many people; but if one could 'depolarise' their pictures (to use wendell holmes's simile), and set them before their admirers free from early associations, free from the glamour of dickens romance, and then extract a frank outspoken opinion, it would be, probably, quite opposite to that which they are now ready to maintain. recognising that the old illustrations are still regarded with a halo of memory and romance, not unlike that which raises mumbo jumbo to a fetish among his worshippers, a wish to estimate anew the intrinsic value, considered as works of art, of these old illustrations, is not provoked by merely destructive tendencies. so long as thackeray's drawing of _amelia_ is accepted as a type of grace and beauty, how can the believer realise the beauty of millais's _was it not a lie?_ in _framley parsonage_. in the earlier and later engravings alike, the costume repels; but in the one there is real flesh and blood, real passion, real art, in the other a merely conventional symbol, which we agree to accept as an interesting heroine, in the way a child of five accepts the scratches on his slate as real pirates and savages. there is little use in trying to appreciate the best, if the distinctly second-best is reverenced equally; and so, at any cost of personal feeling, it is simply the duty of all concerned to rank the heroes of the sale-room, 'phiz,' cruikshank, and leech at their intrinsic value. this is by no means despicable. for certain qualities which are not remotely connected with art belong to them; but the beauty of truth, the knowledge born of academic accomplishment, or literal imitation of nature, were alike absolutely beyond their sympathy. hence to praise their work as one praises a dürer, a whistler, or a millais, is apt to confuse the minds of the laity, already none too clear as to the moment when art comes in. this protest is not advanced to prove that every drawing mentioned in these pages surpasses the best work of the men in question, but merely to suggest whether it would not be better to recognise that the praise bestowed for so many years was awarded to a conventional treatment now obsolete, and should not be regarded as equivalent to that bestowed upon works of art which owe nothing to parochial conventions, and are based on unalterable facts, whether a hokousaï or a menzel chances to be the interpreter. the _chandos poets_ (warne), a series of bulky octavos, with red-line borders, are of unequal merit. some, _willmott's poets of the nineteenth century_, _james montgomery's poems_, _christian lyrics_, and _heber's poetical works_, appear to be merely reprints of earlier volumes with the original illustrations; others have new illustrations by men of the sixties. the _longfellow_ has several by a. boyd houghton, who is also represented by a few excellent designs in the _byron_; _legendary ballads_ (j. s. roberts) has three full-page designs, by walter crane, to _thomas of ercildoune_ (p. 357), _the jolly harper_ (p. 462), and _robin hood_ (p. 580). later volumes, with designs by f. a. fraser and h. french, do not come into our subject. other series of the works of 'standard poets,' as they were called, all resplendent in gold and colours, and more or less well illustrated, were issued by messrs. routledge, nimmo, warne, cassell, moxon, and others, beginning in the fifties. here and there a volume has interest, but one suspects that many of the plates had done duty before, and those which had not are not always of great merit; as, for instance, the drawings by w. b. scott to the poetical works of l. e. l. (routledge). in these various books will be found, _inter alia_, examples of sir john gilbert, birket foster, e. h. corbould, w. small, and keeley halswelle. _hurst and blackett's standard library_ is the title of a series of novels by eminent hands in single volumes, each containing a frontispiece engraved on steel. that to _christian's mistake_ is by frederick sandys, engraved by john saddler. _john halifax_, _nothing new_, _the valley of a hundred fires_, and _les misérables_, each have a drawing by millais, also engraved by john saddler. in _studies from life_ holman hunt is the draughtsman and joseph brown the engraver. _no church_, _grandmother's money_, and _a noble life_, contain frontispieces by tenniel, _barbara's history_, one by j. d. watson, and _adèle_, a fine design by john gilbert. others by leech and edward hughes are not particularly interesting. the steel engraving bestowed upon most of these obliterated all character from the designs, and superseded the artist's touch by hard unsympathetic details; but, all the same, compositions by men of such eminence deserve mention. with 1870 the end of our subject is reached; it is the year of _edwin drood_, which established s. l. fildes's position as an illustrator of the first rank; it also has a pleasant book of quasi-mediæval work, _mores ridicula_, by j. e. rogers (macmillan), (followed later by _ridicula rediviva_ and _the fairy book_, by the author of _john halifax_, with coloured designs by the same artist), of which an enthusiastic critic wrote: 'worthy to be hung in the royal academy side by side with rossetti, sandys, barnes, and millais'; whymper's _scrambles on the alps_, a book greatly prized by collectors, with drawings by whymper and j. mahoney; _the cycle of life_ (s.p.c.k.); and _episodes of fiction_ (nimmo, 1870) containing twenty-eight designs by r. paterson, after c. green, c. j. staniland, p. skelton, f. barnard, harrison weir, and others. _novello's national nursery rhymes_, by j. w. elliott, published in 1871, belongs to the sixties by intrinsic right. it includes two delightful drawings by a. boyd houghton--one of which, _tom the piper's son_ (owned by mr. pennell), has been reproduced from the original by photogravure in mr. laurence housman's monograph--and many by h. s. marks, w. small, j. mahoney, g. j. pinwell, w. j. wiegand, arthur hughes, t. and e. dalziel, and others. _h. leslie's musical annual_ (cassell, 1870) contains a fine drawing, _the boatswain's leap_, by g. j. pinwell, and a steel engraving, _a reverie_, after millais, which was re-issued in _the magazine of art_, september 1896. _pictures from english literature_ (cassell) is an excuse for publishing twenty full-page engravings after elaborate drawings by du maurier, s. l. fildes, w. small, j. d. watson, w. cave thomas, etc. etc. this anthology, with a somewhat heterogeneous collection of drawings, seems to be the last genuine survivor of the old christmas gift-books, which is lineally connected with the masterpieces of its kind. soon after the inevitable anthology of poems reappeared, in humbler pamphlet shape, as a birthday souvenir, or a christmas card, embellished with chromo-lithographs, as it had already been allied with photographic silver-prints; but it is always the accident of the artists chosen which imparts permanent interest to the otherwise feeble object; whether it take the shape of a drawing-room table-book, gaudy, costly, and dull, or of a little booklet, it is a thing of no vital interest, unless by chance its pictures are the work of really powerful artists. the decadence of a vigorous movement is never a pleasant subject to record in detail. fortunately, although the king died, the king lived almost immediately, and _the graphic_, with its new ideals and new artists, quickly established a convention of its own, which is no less interesting. if it does not seem, so far as we can estimate, to have numbered among its articles men who are worthy in all respects to be placed by rossetti, millais, sandys, houghton, pinwell, fred walker, and the rest of the typical heroes of the sixties, yet in its own way it is a worthy beginning of a new epoch. before quitting our period, however, a certain aftermath of the rich harvest must not be forgotten; and this, despite the comparatively few items it contains, may be placed in a chapter by itself. [illustration: frederick sandys 'once a week' vol. vii. p. 266 death of king warwolf] chapter x: the aftermath, a few belated volumes that thornbury's _legendary ballads_ (dated 1876) should be regarded as a most important volume in a collection of the 'sixties' is not odd, when you find that its eighty-one illustrations were reprinted from _once a week_. many of the drawings were republished in this book, with the poem they originally illustrated; others, however, were joined to quite different text. if the memories of those living are to be trusted, not a few of the artists concerned were extremely annoyed to find their designs applied to new purposes. to take a single instance, the sandys design to _king warwolf_ re-accompanied the poem itself, but the drawing by john lawson, which is herein supposed to illustrate the lines, 'and then there came a great red glare that seemed to crimson fitfully the whole broad heaven.' was first published with a poem, _ariadne_, by w. j. tate, in august 1866, long after _king warwolf_ first appeared. its design is obviously based on this passage: 'my long hair floating in the boisterous wind, my white hands lightly grasping theseus' knees, while he, his wild eyes staring, urged his slaves to some last effort of their well-tried skill.' but it requires a great effort of perverted imagination to drag in the picture, which shows a greek hero on one ship, watching, you suppose, the dying norse king on another ship; when the ballad infers, and the dramatic situation implies, that the old monarch put out at once across the bar, and his people from the shore watched his ship burn in the night. to wrench such a picture from its context, and apply it to another, was a too popular device of publishers. as, however, it preserves good impressions of blocks otherwise inaccessible, it would be ungracious to single out this particular instance for blame. yet all the same, those who regard the artist's objection to the sale of _clichés_ for all sorts of purposes, as a merely sentimental grievance, must own that he is justified in being annoyed, when the whole intention of his work is burlesqued thereby. a contemporary review says that the illustrations had 'appeared before in _once a week_, _the cornhill_, and elsewhere.' it would be a long and ungrateful task to collate them, but, so far as my own memory can be trusted, they are all from the first named. in place of including a description of the book itself, a few extracts, from a review by mr. edmund gosse in the _academy_ (february 1876, p. 177), will not only give a vivid appreciation of the work of two of the artists, but show that twenty years ago the book was prized as highly as we prize it to-day. he says: 'we have thought the illustrations sufficiently interesting to demand a separate notice for themselves, the more so as in many cases they are totally unconnected with mr. thornbury's poems.... we are heartily glad to have collected for us some of the most typical illustrations of a school that is, above all others, most characteristic of our latest development in civilisation, and of which the principal members have died in their youth, and have failed to fulfil the greatness of their promise. 'the artists represented are mainly those who immediately followed the so-called pre-raphaelites, the young men who took up many of their principles, and carried them out in a more modern and a more quiet way than their more ambitious masters. mr. sandys, who pinned all his early faith to holbein, and messrs. walker, pinwell, lawless, and houghton, who promised to form a group of brother artists unrivalled in delicacy and originality of sentiment, are here in their earliest and strongest development.... m. j. lawless contributes no less than twenty designs to the volume. we have examined these singular and beautiful drawings, most of them old favourites, with peculiar emotion. the present writer [mr. edmund gosse] confesses to quite absurd affection for all the few relics of this gifted lad, whose early death seems to have deprived his great genius of all hope of fame. years ago these illustrations, by an unknown artist, keenly excited a curiosity which was not to be satisfied till we learned, with a sense of actual bereavement, that their author was dead. he seems to have scarcely lived to develop a final manner; with the excessive facility of a boy of high talent we find him incessantly imitating his elder rivals, but always with a difference.... no doubt, in m. j. lawless, english art sustained one of the sharpest losses it ever had to mourn. [illustration: w. holman hunt willmott's 'sacred poetry,' 1862 the lent jewels] [illustration: j. lawson 'once a week' vol. ii. n. s. p. 127 ariadne] 'of pinwell no need to say so much. he has lived, not long enough indeed to fulfil the great promise of his youth, but to ensure his head a lasting laurel. there have been stronger intellects, purer colourists, surer draughtsmen among his contemporaries, but where shall we seek a spirit of poetry more pathetic, more subtle, more absolutely modern than his? the critics are for ever urging poets and painters to cultivate the materials that lie about them in the common household-life of to-day. it is not so easy to do so; it is not to be done by writing "idylls of the gutter and the gibbet"; it is not to be done by painting the working-man asleep by his baby's cradle. perhaps no one has done it with so deep and thorough a sympathy as pinwell; and it is sympathy that is needed, not curiosity or pity.' but it would be hardly fair to quote further from mr. gosse's appreciation twenty years ago of artists still living. the volume contains eight designs by sandys, namely, _labours of thor_ (_harold harfagr_), _king warwolf_, _the apparitor of the secret tribunal_ (_jacques de caumont_), _tintoretto_ (_yet once more on the organ play_), _the avatar of zeus_ (_the king at the gate_), _the search of ceres for proserpine_ (_helen and cassandra_), _the boy martyr_, _the three statues of egina_, and _the miller's meadow_ (_the old chartist_); the alternative title given in brackets is that of the original as it first appeared in _once a week_. to show how carelessly the author treated the artists, to whom, in a flowery preface, he says he owes so much, 'for they have given to his airy nothings a local habitation and a name, and have caught and fixed down on paper, like butterflies in an entomologist's cabinet, many a fleeting cynthia of his brain,' it will suffice to quote his profuse acknowledgments to 'mr. poynter, an old schoolfellow of the author's, and now professor in the london university, [who] has expended all his learning, taste, and thought in the _the three statues_. the drapery might be copied by a sculptor, it is arrayed with such fine artistic feeling, and over the whole the artist has thrown the solemnity of the subject, and has shown, in pluto's overshadowing arm, the vanity of all things under the sun--even the pure ambition of a great artist.' this charming eulogy, be it noted, is bestowed on a drawing that is by frederick sandys!!! not by poynter, who is unrepresented in the book. the four whistlers of _once a week_ are all here, absurdly renamed. there are twenty by m. j. lawless, seven by t. morten, ten by j. lawson, one by a. boyd houghton, two by fred walker, eight by g. j. pinwell, six by w. small, three by j. tenniel, three by f. eltze, and one each by j. d. watson, c. keene, g. du maurier, towneley green, c. green, t. r. macquoid, p. skelton, a. fairfield, e. h. corbould, and a. rich. the book is well printed, and a treasure-house of good things, which appear to more advantage upon its 'toned paper' than in the pages of the periodical where they first saw daylight. the preface to _dalziels' bible gallery_ is dated october 1880, so that the volume was probably issued for the season of 1880-81. as we have seen, the work was in active preparation in the early sixties. it contained sixty-nine blocks excellently printed upon an india tint. these include nine by the late lord leighton, p.r.a., three by g. f. watts, r.a., five by f. r. pickersgill, r.a., twelve by e. j. poynter, r.a., three by e. armitage, r.a., two by h. h. armstead, r.a., one by sir e. burne-jones, one by holman hunt, three by ford madox brown, six by simeon solomon, two by a. boyd houghton, two by w. small, one by e. f. brewtnall, fourteen by t. dalziel, one by e. dalziel, two by a. murch, and one by f. s. walker, and one by frederick sandys. the praise lavished on these designs is amply justified if you regard them as a whole; but, turning over the pages critically after a long interval, there is a distinct sense of disillusion. at the time they seemed all masterpieces; sixteen years after they stand confessed as a very mixed group, some conscientious pot-boilers, others absolutely powerful and intensely individual. the book is monumental, both in its ambitious intention and in the fact that it commemorates a dead cause. it is easy to disparage the work of the engravers, but when we see what fine things owe their very existence to messrs. dalziels' enterprise, it is but just to pay due tribute to the firm, and to regret that so powerful an agency is no longer actively engaged in similar enterprises. [illustration: edward burne jones dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 the parable of the boiling pot] [illustration: sir frederick leighton, p.r.a. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1883 cain and abel] [illustration: sir frederick leighton, p.r.a. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 moses viewing the promised land] [illustration: sir frederick leighton, p.r.a. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 abram and the angel] as copies are both scarce and costly, it may be well to call attention to a volume entitled _art pictures from the old testament_ (society for promoting christian knowledge, 1897), wherein the whole sixty-nine reappear supplemented by twenty-seven others, which would seem to have prepared for the _bible gallery_, but not previously issued: thirteen of these added designs are by simeon solomon, two by h. h. armstead, r.a., three by e. armitage, r.a., three by f. r. pickersgill, r.a., three by t. dalziel, and one each by f. s. waltges (_sic_), g. j. pinwell, and e. g. dalziel. as impressions of the famous blocks are obtainable at a low cost, it would be foolish to waste space upon detailed descriptions. of course the popular reprint ought not to be compared with the fine proofs of the great _édition-de-luxe_, which cost about twenty times as much. but for many purposes it is adequate, and gives an idea of the superb qualities of the leighton designs, and the vigour and strongly dramatic force of the poynters. it is interesting to compare sir edward burne-jones's original design for _the boiling pot_, reproduced in _pen-drawing and pen-draughtsmen by joseph pennell_ (macmillan, 1894), with the engraving, which is from an entirely different version of the subject. other drawings on wood obviously intended for this work, but never used, can be seen at south kensington museum. a few belated volumes still remain to be noticed--they are picked almost at random, and doubtless the list might be supplemented almost indefinitely: _the trial of sir jasper_, by s. c. hall (virtue, undated), with illustrations by gilbert, cruikshank, tenniel, birket foster, noel paton, and others, including w. eden thomson and g. h. boughton. the latter, a drawing quite in the mood of the sixties, seems to be the earliest illustration by its author. another design by h. r. robertson, of a dead body covered by a cloth in a large empty room, is too good to pass without comment. _beauties of english landscape_, drawn by birket foster, is a reprint, in collected form, of the works of this justly popular artist; it is interesting, but not comparable to the earlier volume with a similar title. in _nature pictures_, thirty original illustrations by j. h. dell, engraved by r. paterson (warne), the preface, dated october 1878, refers to 'years of patient painstaking labour on the part of artist and engraver'; so that it is really a posthumous child of the sixties, and one not unworthy to a place among the best. _songs of many seasons_, by jemmett brown (pewtress and co., 1876), contains two little-known designs by walter crane, two by g. du maurier and one by c. m. (c. w. morgan). _pegasus re-saddled_ (h. s. king, 1877), with ten illustrations by g. du maurier is, as its title implies, a companion volume to the earlier _puck on pegasus_, by h. cholmondeley pennell. _the children's garland_ (macmillan, 1873), contains fourteen capital things by john lawson--no relative of 'cecil' or 'f. w. lawson.' _the lord's prayer_, illustrated by f. r. pickersgill, r.a., and henry alford, d.d. (longmans, 1870), has a curiously old-fashioned air. one fancies, and the preface supports the theory, that its nine designs should be considered not as an aftermath to the sixties, but as a presage of the time, near the date of _the music-master_. their vigorous attempt to employ modern costume in dignified compositions deserves more than patronising approval. any art-student to-day would discover a hundred faults, but their one virtue might prove beyond his grasp. although engraved on wood by dalziel, printed as they are upon a deep yellow tint, the pictures at first sight suggest lithographs, rather than wood-engravings. _rural england_, by l. seguin (strahan, 1885) has many delightful designs by millais and pinwell, but all, apparently, reprints of blocks used in _good words_ and elsewhere. possibly the whole series of mr. walter crane's toy-books, which began to be issued in the mid-sixties, should be noticed here; but they deserve a separate and complete iconography. in fact, any attempt to go beyond the arbitrary date is a mistake, and this chapter were best cut short, with full consciousness of its being a mere fragment which may find place in some future volume, upon 'the seventies,' that i hope may find its historian before long. [illustration: edward j. poynter, r.a. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 joseph before pharaoh] [illustration: edward j. poynter, r.a. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 pharaoh honours joseph] a book of this sort, which aimed to be complete, should contain a critical summary of the period it attempts to record. but to extract from the mass of material a clearly-defined purpose, and build up a plausible theory to show that all the diverse tendencies could be traced to a common purpose, would surely be at best merely an academic argument. all that the sixties prove, to a very sincere if incapable student, seems to be that the artist, if he be indeed an artist, can make the meanest material serve his purpose. the men of the sixties tried obviously to do their best. they took their art seriously, if not themselves. it is tempting to affirm that the tendency now is for no one to take himself seriously, and even at times to look upon his art, whatever it may be, as merely a useful medium to exploit for his own ends. yet such an opinion would be probably too sweeping; and one is driven back to the primal fact, that the energy and knowledge which results in masterly achievement is, and must always be, beyond rules, beyond schools, as it is beyond fashion or mood. a man who tries to do his best, if he be endowed with ripe knowledge and has the opportunity, will make a fine thing; which, whether intended for a penny paper, or a guinea gift-book, will possess both vitality and permanent value. but the men of the sixties took themselves quite seriously; and this is surely evident from their drawings. not a few committed suicide, or died from over-work; neither catastrophe being evidence of flippant content with the popularity they had achieved. whether inspired by pure zeal for art, by rivalry, or by money-making, they felt the game well worth the candle, and did all they could do to play it fairly. those of us to-day who try to do our best may be inept, ignorant, and attain only failure; yet the best is not achieved by accident, and the only moral of the sixties is the moral of the nineties: 'whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.' whether it be the triumph of a master or a pot-boiling illustrator, the real artist never takes his art lightly. life, even reputation, he may play with, but his craft is a serious thing. in short, the study of the thousands of designs--some obviously burlesqued by the engraver, others admirably rendered--will not leave an unprejudiced spectator with a cut and dried opinion. that, as it happened, a number of really distinguished men enlisted themselves as illustrators may be granted, but each one did his own work in his own way; and to summarise the complex record in a sentence to prove that any method, or any manner, is a royal road to greatness is impossible. yet no one familiar with the period can avoid a certain pride in the permanent evidence it has left, that english art in illustration, (no less than english music in the part-songs of the elizabethan period), has produced work worthy to be entered on the cosmopolitan roll of fame. this is unquestionable; and being granted, no more need be said, for an attempt to appraise the relative value of totally distinct things is always a foolish effort. chapter xi: certain influences upon the artists of the sixties although it would be retraversing beaten paths to trace the illustrator of the sixties back to bewick, or to still earlier progenitors in dürer or the florentines, there can be little doubt that the pre-raphaelites gave the first direct impulse to the newer school. that their work, scanty as it is, so far as book-illustration is concerned, set going the impulse which in kelmscott press editions, the birmingham school, the vale press, beardsley, bradley, and a host of others on both sides of the atlantic, is 'the movement' of the moment is too obvious to need stating. but for 'the sixties' proper, the paramount influence was millais--the millais after the pre-raphaelite brotherhood had disbanded. despite a very ingenious attempt to trace the influence of menzel upon the earlier men, many still doubt whether the true pre-raphaelites were not quite ignorant of the great german. later men--fred walker especially, and charles keene many years after--knew their menzel, and appreciated him as a few artists do to-day, and the man in the street may at no distant future. but some of the survivors of the pre-raphaelites, both formal and associated, deny all knowledge of menzel at this date; others, however, have told mr. joseph pennell that they did know his work, and that it had a distinct influence. some who did not know him then regret keenly that they were unaware of his very existence until they had abandoned illustration for painting. all agree, of course, in recognising the enormous personality of one who might be called, without exaggeration, the greatest illustrator of the century; so that, having stated the evidence as it stands, no more need be added, except a suggestion that the theory of menzel's influence, even upon those who declare they knew not the man, may be sound. an edition of _frederick the great_, by kügler, with five hundred illustrations by menzel, was published in england (according to the british museum catalogue, the book itself is undated) in 1844.[7] it is quite possible that any one of the men of the time might have seen it by chance, and turned over its pages ignorant of its artist's name. a few minutes is enough to influence a young artist, and the one who in all honesty declares he never heard of menzel may have been thus unconsciously influenced. but, if a foreign source must be found, so far as the pre-raphaelites are concerned, rethel seems a far more possible agent. his famous prints, _death the friend_ and _death the avenger_, had they met his eye, would doubtless have influenced mr. sandys, and many others who worked on similar lines. [illustration: ford madox brown dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 elijah and the widow's son] whether lasinio's 'execrable engravings,' as ruskin calls them, or others, will be found to have exerted any influence, i have no evidence to bring forward. in fact the theory is advanced only as a working hypothesis, not as an argument capable of proof. it is possible that france at that time was an important factor as regards technique, as it has been since, and is still. but, without leaving our own shores, the logical sequence of development from bewick, through harvey, mulready and others, does not leave very many terrible gaps. it is true that this development is always erratic--now towards the good, now to meretricious qualities. the more one studies the matter, the more one fancies that certain drawings not intended for engraving by mulready, and others by maclise, must have had a large share in the movement which culminated about 1865 and died out entirely about 1870. but whatever the influence which set it going, the ultimate result was british; and, for good or evil, one cannot avoid a feeling of pride that in the sixties there was art in england, not where it was officially expected perhaps, but in popular journals. it is quite possible that the revival of etching as a fine art, which took place early in the second half of this century, had no little direct influence on the illustration of the period. many artists, who are foremost as draughtsmen upon wood, experimented with the etcher's needle. _the germ_, 1850, was illustrated by etchings; but, with every desire to develop this suggestion, it would be folly to regard the much discussed periodical as the true ancestor of _once a week_ and the rest; even the etching which millais prepared for it, but never issued, would not suffice to establish such claim. two societies, the etching club and the junior etching club, are responsible for the illustration of several volumes, wherein the etched line is used in a way almost identical with the same artists' manner when drawing for the engraver. indeed, the majority of these etchings would suffer little if reproduced by direct process to-day, as the finesse of _rebroussage_ and the more subtle qualities of biting and printing are not present conspicuously in the majority of the plates. the _poems by tom hood_, illustrated by the junior etching club, include two delightful millais', _the bridge of sighs and ruth_, a _lee shore_ by charles keene, and two illustrations to the _ode to the moon_, and _the elm-tree_ by henry moore. _passages from modern english poets_, illustrated by the junior etching club, was issued (undated), by day and son, in 1862, in a large octavo. in 1876 another edition in larger quarto, with the etchings transferred to stone, and printed as lithographs, was published by william tegg. in this notable volume millais is represented by _summer indolence_ (p. 10), a most graceful study of a girl lying on her back in a meadow with a small child, who is wearing a daisy chain, seated at her side. mr. j. mcneill whistler contributes two delightful landscapes, _the angler_ (p. 7) and _a river scene_ (p. 45). in these the master-hand is recognisable at a glance, although the authorship of many of the rest can only be discovered by the index. they would alone suffice to make the book a treasure to light upon. to praise them would be absurd, for one can conceive no more unnecessary verbiage than a eulogy of mr. whistler's etchings--one might as well praise the beauty of june sunshine. there are many other good things in the book--a tenniel, _war and glory_ (p. 3), four capital studies by henry moore (pp. 1, 16, 27, 28), which come as a revelation to those who only know him as a sea-painter. four others by m. j. lawless, an artist who has been neglected too long, _the drummer_ (p. 2), _sisters of mercy_ (p. 12), _the bivouac_ (p. 30), and _the little shipwrights_ (p. 36), are all interesting, if not quite so fascinating, as his drawings upon wood. h. s. marks has a _genre_ subject, _a study in the egyptian antiquity department of the british museum_. this portentous title describes an etching of a country lad in smock-frock, who, with dazed surprise, is staring into vacancy amid the gigantic scarabs, the great goddess pasht, and other familiar objects of the corridor leading to the refreshment-room in the great bloomsbury building, which people of grub street hurry through daily, with downcast eyes, to enjoy the frugal dainties that a beneficent institution permits them to take by way of sustenance during the intervals of study in the reading-room. another plate, _scene of the plague in london_, 1665, by charles keene, would hardly tempt one to linger before it, but for its signature. it is a powerful bit of work, but does not show the hand of the great _punch_ artist at its best. the rest of the contributions to this volume are by c. rossiter, f. smallfield, viscount bury, lord g. fitzgerald, j. w. oakes, a. j. lewis, f. powell, j. sleigh, h. c. whaite, walter severn, and w. gale. two by j. clark deserve mention. to find the painter of cottage-life, with all his dutch realistic detail, in company with mr. whistler, is a curious instance of extremes meeting. without wishing to press the argument unduly, it is evident that etching which afterwards developed so bravely, and left so many fine examples, exerted also a secondary influence on the illustration of the sixties. hence the somewhat extended reference to the few books which employed it largely for illustrations. those who would have you believe that the great english masters of illustration failed to obtain contemporary appreciation should note the three editions of this work as one fact, among a score of others, which fails to support their theory. whether from a desire to extol the past or not, it is certain that those publishers who have been established more than a quarter of a century claim to have sold far larger editions of their high-priced illustrated volumes then than any moderately truthful publisher or editor would dare to claim for similar ventures to-day. of course there were fewer books of the sort issued, and the rivalry of illustrated journalism was infinitely less; still the people of the fifties, sixties, and seventies paid their tribute in gold freely and lavishly, and if they offered the last insult of the populace--popularity--to these undoubted works of art, it prevents one placing artists of the period among the noble army of martyrs. their payment was quite equal to that which is the average to-day, as a file-copy of one of the important magazines shows. they were reproduced as well as the means available permitted; the printing and the general 'get-up' of the books, allowing for the different ideals which obtained then, was not inferior to the average to-day, and, as a rule, the authorship of the drawings was duly acknowledged in the table of contents, and the artists 'starred' in contemporary advertisements. it is painful to own that even the new appreciation is not absolutely without precedent. one notable instance of depreciation cannot be forgotten. mr. ruskin, who never expressed admiration of the illustrations of the sixties, in _ariadne florentina_, chose the current number of the _cornhill magazine_ for the text of a diatribe in which the following passages occur:- 'the cheap popular art cannot draw for you beauty, sense, or honesty; but every species of distorted folly and vice--the idiot, the blackguard, the coxcomb, the paltry fool, the degraded woman--are pictured for your honourable pleasure in every page, with clumsy caricature, struggling to render its dulness tolerable by insisting on defect--if, perchance, a penny or two may be coined out of the cockneys' itch for loathsomeness.... these ... are favourably representative of the entire art industry of the modern press--industry enslaved to the ghastly service of catching the last gleams in the glued eyes of the daily more bestial english mob--railroad born and bred, which drags itself about the black world it has withered under its breath. in the miserable competitive labour of finding new stimulus for the appetite--daily more gross, of this tyrannous mob, we may count as lost beyond any hope, the artists who are dull, docile, or distressed enough to submit to its demands. and for total result of our english engraving industry for the last hundred and fifty years, i find that practically at this moment [1876] i cannot get a _single_ piece of true, sweet, and comprehensible art to place for instruction in any children's school.' but ignoring mr. ruskin--if it be possible to ignore the absolute leader of taste in the sixties--we find little but praise. yet the popularity of 1860-1870 naturally incurred the inevitable law of reaction, and was at its lowest ebb in the eighties; but now late in the nineties our revived applause is but an echo of that which was awarded to the work when it appealed not only by all its art, but with novelty and an air of being 'up to date' that cannot, in the course of things, be ever again its portion. we are not so much better than our fathers, after all, in recognising the good things of the sixties, or in trying to do our best in our way. which is just what they tried to do in theirs. chapter xii: some illustrators of the sixties although space forbids biographical notice, even in the briefest form, of all the artists mentioned in the preceding pages, and it would be folly to summarise in a few hasty sentences the complete life-work of sir j. e. millais, p.r.a., sir john gilbert, r.a., mr. birket foster, or mr. g. du maurier, to take but a few instances; yet in the case of mr. arthur hughes, the late m. j. lawless, and others, to give more exact references to their published illustrations is perhaps easier in this way than any other, especially as a complete iconography of all the chief artists in the movement had perforce to be abandoned for want of space. many illustrators--ford madox brown, charles keene, a. boyd houghton, dante gabriel rossetti, w. b. scott, fred walker, and j. wolf--have already been commemorated in monographs; not confined, it is true, in every instance to the subject of this book, but naturally taking it as part of the life-work of the hero, even when, as in rossetti's case, the illustrations form but an infinitesimally small percentage of the works he produced. the artists hereafter noticed have been chosen entirely from the collector's standpoint, and with the intention of assisting those who wish to make representative or complete collections of the work of each particular man. * * * * * george housman thomas (1824-1868) was born in london, december 4, 1824. when only fourteen he became apprenticed to g. bonner, a wood-engraver, and at fifteen obtained the prize of a silver palette from the society of arts, for an original drawing, _please to remember the grotto_. after he had served his apprenticeship, in conjunction with henry harrison he set up in paris as a wood-engraver. the firm became so successful that they employed six or seven assistants. he was then tempted to go to new york to establish an illustrated paper, which was also a success, although losses on other ventures forced the proprietors to give it up. this led the artist to turn his attention to another field of engraving for bank notes, which are estimated among the most beautiful of their kind. a few years later he returned to england, and became attached to the _illustrated london news_. in 1848 a special expedition to italy, which resulted in a long series of illustrations of garibaldi's defence of rome against the french, not merely established his lasting reputation, but incidentally extended his taste and knowledge by the opportunity it gave him for studying the works of the old masters. in 1854 a sketch of sailors belonging to the baltic fleet, which was published in the _illustrated london news_, attracted the attention of the queen, who caused inquiries to be made, which led to the artist being employed by her majesty to paint for her the principal events of her reign. besides a series of important paintings in oil, he executed a large number of drawings and sketches which form an album of great interest. 'as an illustrator of books he was remarkable,' says his anonymous biographer,[8] 'for facility of execution and aptness of character.' his illustrations of _hiawatha_ (kent and co.), _armadale_ (wilkie collins), and _the last chronicle of barset_ (anthony trollope), are perhaps the most important; but _london society_, mrs. gatty's _parables_, _cassell's magazine_, _the quiver_, _illustrated readings_, and many other volumes of the period, contain numerous examples of his work in this department. in the person of his brother, mr. w. luson thomas, the managing director of the _graphic_ and the _daily graphic_, and his nephew, carmichael thomas, art director of the _graphic_, the family name is still associated with the most notable movement in illustration during the period which immediately followed that to which this book is devoted. * * * * * [illustration: ford madox brown dalziels' 'bible gallery' 1880 joseph's coat] sir john everett millais, bart., p.r.a. (born june 8, 1829, died august 13, 1896).--as these proofs were being sent to press, the greatest illustrator of all (having regard to his place as the pioneer of the school which immediately succeeded the pre-raphaelites, the number of his designs, and their superlative excellence), has joined the majority of his fellow-workers in the sixties. it would be impossible in a few lines to summarise his contributions to the 'black-and-white' of english art; that task will doubtless be undertaken adequately. but, if all the rest of the work of the period were lost, his contributions alone might justly support every word that has been or will be said in praise of 'the golden decade.' from the 1857 _tennyson_ to his latest illustration he added masterpiece to masterpiece, and, were his triumphant career as a painter completely ignored, might yet be ranked as a great master on the strength of these alone. * * * * * paul gray (1848-1868).--a most promising young illustrator, whose early death was most keenly regretted by those who knew him best, paul gray was born in dublin, may 17, 1848. he died november 14, 1868. in the progress of this work mention has been made of all illustrations which it has been possible to identify; many of the cartoons for _fun_, being unsigned, could not be attributed to him with certainty. _the savage club papers_, first series (tinsley, 1863), contain his last drawing, _sweethearting_. in the preface we read: 'when this work was undertaken, that clever young artist [paul gray] was foremost in offering his co-operation; for he whom we mourned, and whose legacy of sorrow one had accepted, was his dear friend. the shock which his system, already weakened by the saddest of all maladies, received by the sudden death of that friend was more than his gentle spirit could sustain. he lived just long enough to finish his drawing, and then he left us to join his friend.' in the record of the periodicals of the sixties will be found many references to his work, which is, perhaps, most familiar in connection with charles kingsley's _hereward the wake_. * * * * * dante gabriel rossetti (_b._ 1828, _d._ 1882). the comparatively few illustrations by rossetti have been described and reproduced so often, that it would seem superfluous to add a word more here. yet, recognising their influence to-day, we must also remember that many people who are attracted by this side of rossetti's art may not be familiar with the oft-told story of his career. he, more than any modern painter, would seem to be responsible for the present decorative school of illustrators, whose work has attracted unusual interest from many continental critics of late, and is recognised by them as peculiarly 'english.' while the man in the street would no doubt choose 'phiz,' cruikshank, leech, tenniel, gilbert, fred walker, or pinwell as typically 'english,' the foreigner prefers to regard the illustrations by rossetti, his immediate followers, and his later disciples as representing that english movement, which the native is apt to look upon as something exotic and bizarre. yet it is not necessary to discuss rossetti's position as founder of the pre-raphaelite school, nor to weigh his claims to the leadership against those of ford madox brown and holman hunt. but, without ignoring the black-and-white work of the two last named, there can be no doubt that it is rossetti who has most influenced subsequent draughtsmen. nor at the time was his position as an illustrator misunderstood. when we find that he received £30 each for the small tennyson drawings on wood, the fact proves at the outset that the market value of his work was not ignored by his publishers. at the present day when any writer on men of the sixties is accused of an attempt to 'discover' them, and the appreciation he bestows is regarded as an attempt to glorify the appreciator at the expense of the appreciated, it is well to insist upon the fact that hardly one of the men in favour to-day failed to meet with substantial recognition at the time. it was not their fate to do drawings for love, or to publish engravings at their own cost, or sell as cheap curios works which now realise a thousand times their first cost. drawings paid for at the highest market rate, or, to speak more accurately, at 'star' prices, published in popular volumes that ran through large editions, received favourably by contemporary critics, and frequently alluded to as masterpieces by writers in current periodicals, cannot be said to have been neglected, nor have they even been out of favour with artists. that work, which has afforded so much lasting pleasure, was not achieved without an undue amount of pain, is easily proved in the case of rossetti. so pertinent is a description by his brother, published lately, that it may be quoted in full, to remind the illustrators of to-day, who draw on paper and card-board at their ease to any scale that pleases them, how much less exacting are the conditions under which they work than those encountered by the artists who were forced to draw upon an unpleasant surface of white pigment spread upon a shining wooden block:- 'the tennyson designs, which were engraved on wood and published in the _illustrated tennyson_, in which millais, hunt, mulready, and others co-operated,' says mr. william michael rossetti, 'have in the long run done not a little to sustain my brother's reputation with the public. at the time they gave him endless trouble and small satisfaction. not indeed that the invention or the mere designing of these works was troublesome to him. he took great pains with them, but, as what he wrought at was always something which informed and glowed in his mind, he was not more tribulated by these than by other drawings. it must be said, also, that himself only, and not tennyson, was his guide. he drew just what he chose, taking from his author's text nothing more than a hint and an opportunity. the trouble came in with the engraver and the publisher. with some of the doings of the engraver, dalziel (not linton, whom he found much more conformable to his notion), he was grievously disappointed. he probably exasperated dalziel, and dalziel certainly exasperated him. blocks were re-worked upon and proofs sent back with vigour. the publisher, mr. moxon, was a still severer affliction. he called and he wrote. rossetti was not always up to time, though he tried his best to be so. in other instances he was up to time, but his engraver was not up to his mark. i believe that poor moxon suffered much, and that soon afterwards he died; but i do not lay any real blame on my brother, who worked strenuously and well. as to our great poet tennyson, who also ought to have counted for something in the whole affair, i gather that he really liked rossetti's designs when he saw them, and he was not without a perceptible liking and regard for rossetti himself, so far as he knew him (they had first met at mr. patmore's house in december 1849); but the illustration to _st. cecilia_ puzzled him not a little, and he had to give up the problem of what it had to do with his work.'[9] later on, in the same volume, we find an extract from a letter dated february 1857, which dante gabriel rossetti wrote to w. bell scott:- 'i have designed five blocks for tennyson, save seven which are still cutting and maiming. it is a thankless task. after a fortnight's work my block goes to the engraver, like agag delicately, and is hewn in pieces before the lord harry. 'address to dalziel brothers 'o woodman spare that block, o gash not anyhow! it took ten days by clock, i'd fain protect it now. _chorus_--wild laughter from dalziels' workshop.' several versions of this incident are current, but mr. arthur hughes's account has not, i think, been published. it chanced that one day, during the time he was working in rossetti's studio, the engraver called, and finding rossetti was out, poured forth his trouble and stated his own view of the matter with spirit. for his defence, as he put it, much sympathy may be awarded to him. the curious drawings executed in pencil, ink, and red chalk, crammed with highly-wrought detail, that were to be translated into clean black and white, were, he declared, beyond the power of any engraver to translate successfully. how mr. hughes pacified him is a matter of no importance; but it is but fair to recollect that, even had the elaborate designs been executed with perfection of technique, any engraver must have needs encountered a task of no ordinary difficulty. when, however, the white coating had been rubbed away in parts, and all sorts of strokes in pen, pencil, and pigment added, it is not surprising that the paraphrase failed to please the designer. although the drawings naturally perished in the cutting, and cannot be brought forward as decisive evidence, we may believe that the engraver spoilt them, and yet also believe that no craftsman who ever lived would have been absolutely successful. the number of rossetti's book-illustrations is but ten in all, according to the list given in mr. william sharp's admirable monograph. to these one might perhaps add the frontispiece to that volume; as although the pen-drawing, _a sonnet is a moment's monument_, was never intended for reproduction, it forms a most decorative page. there is also a design for a frontispiece to the _early italian poets_, which was first reproduced in the _english illustrated magazine_, no. 1. the actual frontispiece was etched but never used, and the exquisitely dainty version survives only in two impressions from the plate, both owned by mr. fairfax murray. another frontispiece, to _the risen life_,[10] a poem by r. c. jackson, in a cover designed by d. g. r. (r. elkins and co., 10 castle st., east oxford st., w., 1884), belongs to the same category, in which may be placed _the queen's page_, drawn in 1854, and reproduced in _flower pieces_ by allingham (reeves & turner, 1888). the ten which were all (i believe) drawn upon the wood include: _elfen-mere_, published first in william allingham's _the music-master_, 1855, and afterwards reprinted in a later volume, _life and phantasy_, and again in _flower pieces_ (1888), by the same author. this design 'revealed to young burne-jones' (so his biographer, mr. malcolm bell, has recorded) that there existed a strange enchanting world beyond the hum-drum of this daily life--a world of radiant, many-coloured lights, of dim mysterious shadows, of harmonies of form and line, wherein to enter is to walk among the blest--that far-off world of art into which many a time since he has made his way and brought back visions of delight to show his fellow-men. the first suspicion of that land of faëry came to him when, in a small volume of poems by william allingham, he found a little wood-cut, 'elfen-mere,' signed with a curious entwinement of the initials d. g. r. the slumbering spirit of fancy awoke to life within him and cast her spells upon him never to be shaken off.' in the _oxford and cambridge magazine_, 1856, mr. burne-jones wrote of this very design: 'there is one more i cannot help noticing, a drawing of higher finish and pretension than the last, from the pencil of rossetti, in allingham's _day and night songs_, just published. it is, i think, the most beautiful drawing for an illustration i have ever seen: the weird faces of the maids of elfen-mere, the musical, timed movement of their arms together as they sing, the face of the man, above all, are such as only a great artist could conceive.' this picture, 'three damsels clothed in white,' who came 'with their spindles every night; two and one, and three fair maidens, spinning to a pulsing cadence, singing songs of elfen-mere,' reproduced here, is still issued in william allingham's volume of poems entitled _flower pieces_ (reeves and turner, 1888). five illustrations to moxon's edition of _tennyson's poems_, 1857, two in christina rossetti's _the goblin market and other poems_, 1862, and two in _the princes progress and other poems_, 1866, by the same author, complete the ten in question. as the _tennyson_ has been republished lately, and a monograph, _tennyson and his pre-raphaelite illustrators_, by g. somes layard (elliot stock, 1894), has brought together every available scrap of material connected with the famous quintette of designs, it would be superfluous to describe them here in detail. any distinctly recognised 'movement' is very rarely a _crescendo_, but nearly always a waning force that owes what energy it retains to the original impetus of its founder. should this statement be true of any fashion in art, it might be most easily supported, if applied to rossetti's ten drawings on wood, set side by side with the whole mass of modern 'decorative' illustration. even a great artist like howard pyle has hardly added a new motive to those crowded into these wood-engravings. the lady by the casement, '_the long hours come and go_,' upon the title-page of _the princes progress_, is an epitome of a thousand later attempts. mr. fairfax murray has collected over a dozen studies and preliminary drawings for this little block, that would appal some of the younger men as evidence of the intense care with which a masterpiece was wrought of old. highly-finished drawings were done over and over again until their author was satisfied. the frontispieces to _goblin market_ and to _the prince's progress_, no less than the tennyson designs, form, obviously enough, the treasure-trove whence later men have borrowed; too often exchanging the gold for very inferior currency. without attempting to give undue credit to rossetti, or denying that collateral influences--notably that of walter crane--had their share in the revival of the nineties, there can be no doubt that the strongest of the younger 'decorative' artists to-day are still fascinated by rossetti--no less irresistibly than 'the young burne-jones' was influenced in 1855. therefore the importance of these ten designs cannot be exaggerated. whether you regard their influence as unwholesome, and regret the morbidity of the school that founded itself on them, or prefer to see in them the germ of a style entirely english in its renaissance, which has already spread over that continent which one had deemed inoculated against any british epidemic, the fact remains that rossetti is the golden milestone wherefrom all later work must needs be measured. no doubt the superb work of frederick sandys, had it been more accessible to the younger artists when the new impetus to decorative black-and-white began to attract a popular audience, would have found hardly as ardent disciples. [illustration: dante gabriel rossetti you should have wept her yesterday 'the prince's progress' 1866] * * * * * m. j. lawless (born 1837, died 1864).--this artist, faithful to the best tradition of the pre-raphaelite illustrators, seems to have left few personal memories. born in 1837, a son of barry lawless, a dublin solicitor, he was educated at prior park school, bath, and afterwards attended several drawing schools, and was for a time a pupil of henry o'neil, r.a. he died august 6, 1864. mr. edward walford, who contributes a short notice of matthew james lawless to the _dictionary of national biography_, has only the barest details to record. nor do others, who knew him intimately, remember anything more than the ordinary routine of a short and uneventful life. but his artistic record is not meagre. in contemporary criticism we find him ranked with millais and sandys; not as equal to either, but as a worthy third. a fine picture of his, _the sick call_ (from the leathart collection), was exhibited again in 1895 at the guildhall. but it is by his work as an illustrator he will be remembered, and, despite the few years he practised, for his first published drawing was in _once a week_, december 15, 1859 (vol. i. p. 505), he has left an honourable and not inconsiderable amount of work behind him. no search has lighted upon any work of his outside the pages of the popular magazines, except a few etchings (in the publications of the junior etching club), three designs of no great importance in _lyra germanica_ (longmans, 1861), and a pamphlet, the _life of st. patrick_, with some shocking engravings, said by his biographer to be from lawless's designs. in the chapters upon _once a week_, _london society_, _good words_, etc., every drawing i have been able to identify is duly noted. it is not easy to refrain from eulogy upon the work of a draughtsman with no little individuality and distinction, who has so far been almost completely forgotten by artists of the present day. the selection of his work reproduced here by the courtesy of the owners of the copyright will, perhaps, send many fresh admirers to hunt up the rest of it for themselves. * * * * * arthur boyd houghton (1836-1875) was born in 1836, the fourth son of his father, who was a captain in the royal navy. he visited india, according to some of his biographers; others say that he was never in the east, but that it was a brother who supplied him with the oriental details that appear in so many of his drawings. be that as it may, his fellow-workers on the _arabian nights_ pretended to be jealous of his egyptian experience, and declared that it was no good trying to rival from their imaginings the scenes that he knew by heart. at present, when all men unite to praise him, it would almost lend colour to a belief that he was unappreciated by his fellows to read in a contemporary criticism: 'his designs were often striking in their effects of black and white, but were wanting in tone and gradation--a defect partly due to the loss of one eye.' this is only quoted by way of encouragement to living illustrators, who forget that their hero, despite sympathy and commissions, suffered also much the same misunderstanding that is often their lot. against this may be set a criticism of yesterday, which runs:- 'as regards "the school of the sixties," now that it has moved away, we can rightly range the heads of that movement, and allowing for side impulses from the technique of menzel, and still more from the magnetism of rossetti's personality, we see, broadly speaking, that with millais it arrived, with houghton it ceased. under these two leaders it gathered others, but within ten years its essential work was done. it has all gone now nobly into the past from the hands of men, some still living, some dead but yesterday. 'in houghton's work, two things strike us especially, when we see it adequately to-day: its mastery of technique and style, and its temperament: the mastery so swift and spontaneous, so lavish of its audacities, so noble in its economies; the temperament so dramatic, so passionate, so satiric, and so witty. in many of his qualities, in vitality and movement, houghton tops millais. what is missing from his temperament, if it be a lack and not a quality, is the power to look at things coolly; he has not, as millais, the deep mood of stoical statement, of tragedy grown calm. his tragic note is vindictive, a little shrill: when he sets himself to depict contemporary life, as in the _graphic america_ series, he is sardonic, impatient, at times morose: his humour carries an edge of bitterness. but in whatever mood he looks at things, the mastery of his aim is certain.'[11] [illustration: _drawn by a. boyd houghton._ _swan electro-engraving co._ reading the chronicles] the mass of work accomplished in illustration alone, between his first appearance and his death in 1875, is amazing. there is scarce a periodical of any rank which has not at least one example from his pen. the curt attention given here to the man must be pardoned, as reference to his work is made on almost every page of this book. for an appreciative essay, that is a model of its class, one has but to turn to mr. laurence housman's volume[12] which contains also five original drawings on wood (reproduced in photogravure) and eighty-three others from _dalziel's arabian nights_ (ward, lock & co., 1863-65 and warne, 1866), _don quixote_, the two volumes of mr. robert buchanan's poems--_ballad stories of the affections_ (1866), and _north coast_ (1868), _home thoughts_ (1865), _national nursery rhymes_ (1871), and _the graphic_ (1870). * * * * * frederick walker[13] (1840-1875), who was born in marylebone on the 26th of may 1840, has been the subject of so many appreciations, and at least one admirable monograph, that a most brief notice of his career as an illustrator will suffice here. his father was a designer of jewelry and his grandfather had some skill in portrait-painting. how he began drawing from the elgin marbles in the british museum at the age of sixteen has been told often enough. many boys of sixteen have done the same, but it is open to doubt if any one of them has absorbed the spirit of their models so completely as fred walker did. it would be hardly asserting too much to say for him that they replaced humanity, and that his male figures seem nearly always youths from the parthenon in peasant costume. at seventeen or eighteen he was working at leigh's life-class in newman street, and at the same time was employed in mr. whymper's wood-engraving establishment. his first appearance in _everybody's journal_ is duly noted elsewhere, also his first drawing in _once a week_; but the peculiar affection he had inspired by his work has kept most of his critics from saying that some of his earliest designs, as we know them after engraving, appear distinctly poor. but, from the time he ceased to act as 'ghost' for thackeray, and signed his work with the familiar f. w., his career shows a distinct and sustained advance until the ill-fated 1875, in which george mason, g. j. pinwell, and a. boyd houghton also died. it is unnecessary to recapitulate in brief the various contributions to the _cornhill magazine_, _good words_, _once a week_, etc., which have already been noted in detail. nor would it be in place here to dwell upon the personality of the artist; sufficient matter has been printed already to enable lovers of his works to construct a faithful portrait of their author--lovable and irritable, with innate genius and hereditary disease both provoking him to petulant outbursts that still live in his friends' memories. one anecdote will suffice. a group of well-known painters were strolling across a bridge on the upper thames. walker, who was passionately fond of music, had been playing on a tin whistle, which one of the party, half in joke, half weary of the fluting, struck from his mouth, so that it fell into the stream below. in a moment walker had thrown off his clothes, and, 'looking like a statue come to life, so exquisitely was he built,' plunged from the wall of the bridge, and, diving, rescued his tin whistle, which he bore to land in triumph. the trifling incident is an epitome of the character of the wayward boy, who kept his friends nevertheless. 'he did not seek beauty,' wrote an ardent student of his work, 'but it came, while pinwell thought of and strove for beauty always, yet often failed to secure it.' that he knew menzel, and was influenced by him, is an open secret; but he also owes much to the pre-raphaelites--millais especially. yet when all he learned from contemporary artists is fully credited, what is left, and it is by far the largest portion, is his own absolutely--owing nothing to any predecessor, except possibly to the sculptors of greece. he died in scotland in june 1875, and was buried at the marlow he painted so delightfully, leaving behind him the peculiar immortality that is awarded more readily to a half-fulfilled life than to one which has accomplished all it set out to do, and has outlived its own reputation. * * * * * george john pinwell (1842-1875).--this notable illustrator, whose work bulks so largely in the latter half of the sixties, was born december 26, 1842, and died september 8, 1875. he studied at the newman street academy, entering in 1862. at first his illustrations show little promise; some of the earliest, in _lilliput levée_, a book of delightful rhymes for children, by matthew browne, are singularly devoid of interest. no engraver's name appears on them, nor is it quite clear by what process they were reproduced. they are inserted plates, and, under a strong magnifying glass, the lines suggest lithography. the unfamiliar medium, supposing they were drawn in lithographic ink, or by graphotype, or some similar process, would account for the entire absence of the qualities that might have been expected. some others, in _hacco the dwarf_ and in _the happy home_, the latter in crude colours, are hardly more interesting. [illustration: a. boyd houghton 'good words' 1862, p. 504 my treasure] according to mr. harry quilter,[14] pinwell began life as a butterman's boy in the city road, whose duty, among other things, was to 'stand outside the shop on saturday nights shouting buy! buy! buy!' later on he seems to have been a 'carpet-planner.' if one might read the words as 'carpet-designer,' the fact of turning up about this time at leigh's night-school, where he met fred walker, would not be quite so surprising. between walker and pinwell a friendship sprang up, but it seems to have been thomas white who introduced the former to _once a week_, wherein his first contribution, _the saturnalia_, was published, january 31, 1863. in 1864 he began to work for messrs. dalziel on the _arabian nights_ and the _illustrated goldsmith_, which latter is his most important volume. in 1869 he became a member of the old water colour society, but his work as a colourist does not concern us here. nor is it necessary to recapitulate the enormous quantity of his designs which in magazines and books are noticed elsewhere in these pages. some illustrations to _jean ingelow's poems_, notably seven to _the high tide_, represent his best period. but he suffered terribly by translation at the engravers' hands. the immobility, which characterises so many of his figures, does not appear in the few drawings which survive. mr. pennell is the fortunate possessor of several of the designs for _the high tide_; but the pleasure of studying these originals is changed to pain when one remembers how many others were cut away by the engraver. it is curious that three men, so intimately associated as walker, pinwell, and houghton, should have preserved their individuality so entirely. it is impossible to confuse the work of any of them. walker infused a grace into the commonplace which, so far as the engravings are concerned, sometimes escaped pinwell's far more imaginative creations; while houghton lived in a world of his own, wherein all animate and inanimate objects obeyed the lines, the swirling curves, he delighted in. if, as has been well said, walker was a greek--but a dull greek--then pinwell may be called a naturalist with a touch of realism in his technique, while houghton was romantic to the core in essence and manipulation alike. * * * * * arthur hughes.--in 1855 appeared _the music-master_, the second enlarged and illustrated edition of _day and night songs_, a book of poems by william allingham, to which reference has been made several times in this chronicle. of its ten illustrations, seven and a vignette are from the hand of arthur hughes. the artist thus early associated with the leaders of the pre-raphaelite movement, and still actively at work, was never, technically, a member of the brotherhood. in 1858, however, we find him one of the enthusiastic young artists rossetti had gathered round him with a view to the production of the so-called frescoes in the oxford union. the oft-told tale of this noble failure need not be repeated here. those who were responsible for the paintings in question appear more or less relieved to find that the work has ceased to exist. true, the majority of picture-lovers who have never seen them regard them, sentimentally, as the fine flower of pre-raphaelite art, which faded before it was fully open. judging from the restored fragments which remain, had they been permanent, they would not have been more than interesting curiosities; examples of the 'prentice efforts' of men who afterwards shaped the course of british art, not merely for their own generation, but, as we can see to-day, for a much longer time. the great difficulties of the task these ardent novices undertook so light-heartedly may or may not have checked the practice of wall-painting in england, if, indeed, one can speak of a check to a movement that never existed. to trace in detail the course of mr. hughes's work, from this date to the present, would be a pleasant and somewhat lengthy task. yet, although greater men are less fully dealt with, a running narrative showing where the illustrations appeared will be more valuable than any attempt to estimate the intrinsic value of the work, or explain its attractive quality. that the work is singularly lovable, and has found staunch and ardent admirers amid varying schools of artists, is unquestionable. without claiming that it equals the best work of the 'brotherhood,' it has a charm all its own. the sense of delight in lovely things is present throughout, nor does its elegance often degenerate to mere prettiness. the naïve expression of a child's ideal of lovely forms, with a curiously well-sustained type of beauty, neither greek nor gothic, yet having a touch of paganism in its mysticism, is always present in it. with a peculiarly individual manner--so that the signature, which is usually to be found in some unobtrusive corner, is needless,--a student of illustration can 'spot' an arthur hughes at the most rapid glance as surely as he could identify a du maurier. there are painters and draughtsmen of all periods, before whose work you are well content to cease from criticism, and to enjoy simply, with all their imperfections, the qualities that attract you. passionate intensity, the perfection of academic draughtsmanship, dramatic composition as it is usually understood, may, or may not, be always evident. whether they are or not is in this case of entirely secondary importance. certain indefinable qualities, lovable and lasting, are sure to be the most noticeable, whether you light on a print that has escaped you hitherto, or turn up one that you have known since the day it was published. like caters for the like, and this love which the work provokes from those to whom it appeals seems also its chief characteristic. in the whole mass of pictorial art you can hardly find its equal in this particular respect. the care and sorrow of life, its disillusions and injustice, are not so much forgotten, or set aside thoughtlessly, as recognised at their relative unimportance when contrasted with the widespread, yet absolutely indefinable thing, which it is convenient to term love. not, be it explained, love in its carnal sense, but, in an abstract spiritual way, which seeks the quiet happiness in adding to the joy of others, and trusts that somehow, somewhere, good is the final end of ill. it may be that this attempt to explain the impression of mr. hughes's work is a purely personal one, but it is one that intimate study for many years strengthens and raises to the unassailable position of a positive fact. at the risk of appearing mawkishly sentimental, even with the greater risk of reflecting sentimentality upon artistic work which it has not, this impression of mr. arthur hughes's art must be set down unmistakably. looking upon it from a purely technical aspect, you might find much to praise, and perhaps a little to criticise; but, taking it as an art addressed often enough to the purpose of forming artistic ideals in the minds of the young, you cannot but regret that the boys and girls of to-day, despite the army of artists of all ranks catering for them, cannot know the peculiar delight that the children of the sixties and early seventies enjoyed. arthur hughes was born in london in 1832, and became a pupil of soames of the royal academy schools, exhibiting for the first time at the annual exhibition in 1854. in 1855 appeared, as we have just seen, _the music-master_. the artist seems to have worked fitfully at illustrations, but his honourable labours in painting dispose of any charge of indolence, and, did but the scope of this work permit it, a still more interesting record of his artistic career could be made by including a list of pictures exhibited at the royal academy, the institute, the grosvenor, the new gallery, and elsewhere. between 1855 and 1861 i have found no illustrations, nor does he himself recall any. in the latter year there are two designs in _the queen_ to poems by george mac donald and f. greenwood. the next magazine illustration in order is _at the sepulchre_ in _good words_, 1864. in 1866 appeared an edition of tennyson's _enoch arden_, with twenty-five illustrations by arthur hughes.' this noteworthy book is one of the essential volumes to those who make ever so small a collection of the books of the sixties. although the work is unequal, it contains some of his most delightful drawings. in the same year _london society_ contained _the farewell salutation_. in 1867 george mac donald's _dealings with the fairies_ was published. this dainty little book, which contains some very typical work, is exceptionally scarce. another book which was published in 1868 is now very difficult to run across in its first edition, _five days' entertainment at wentworth grange_, by f. t. palgrave, illustrated with seventeen designs, the woodcuts (_sic_) being by j. cooper, and a vignette engraved on steel by c. h. jeens. [illustration: arthur hughes 'good words' 1871, p. 33 the letter] [illustration: arthur hughes 'good words' 1871, p. 183 the dial--'sun comes, moon comes'] to 1869 belongs the book with which the artist is most frequently associated, _tom brown's school days_, by tom hughes, not a relative of the illustrator as the name might suggest. to descant on the merits of this edition to-day were foolish. when one hears of a new illustrated edition being contemplated, it seems sacrilege, and one realises how distinctly a newly illustrated _tom brown_ would separate the generation that knew the book through mr. arthur hughes's imagination from those who will make friends with it in company with another artist. incidents like these bring home the inevitable change of taste with passing time more vividly than far weightier matters enforce it. _good words_ in 1869 contains two drawings to _carmina nuptialia_, and _the sunday magazine_ the same year has a very beautiful composition, _blessings in disguise_. in 1870-1871 _good words for the young_ includes, in the first two volumes, no less than seventy-six illustrations by mr. hughes to _at the back of the north wind_, fourteen to _the boy in grey_, thirty to _ranald bannerman's boyhood_, thirty to _the princess and goblin_, ten to _lilliput revels_, six to _lilliput lectures_, and two to _king arthur_, besides one each to _fancy_, _the mariner's cave_, and a notable design to _the wind and the moon_. in 1871 also belongs _my lady wind_ (p. 38), _little tommy tucker_ (p. 46), in _novello's national nursery rhymes_. in 1870 _good words_ contains four: _the mother and the angel_ and three full-page designs, which rank among the most important of the artist's work in illustration, to tennyson's _loves of the wrens_. this song-cycle, which the late poet laureate wrote expressly for sullivan to set to music, was issued in 1870 in a sumptuous quarto. the publisher, strahan, who at that time issued all tennyson's work, had intended to include illustrations, and three were finished before the poet vetoed the project. these were cut down and issued with the accompanying lyrics in _good words_. although the artist, vexed no doubt at their curtailment, and by no means satisfied with their engraving, does not rank them among his best things, few who collect his work will share his view. despite the trespass beyond the limit of this book, it would be better to continue the list to date, and it is all too brief. in 1872 _good words_ contains five of his designs, and _good words for the young_ twenty-four to _innocent's island_, and eight to _gutta-percha willie_. 1872 saw two remarkably good volumes decorated by this artist, t. gordon hake's _parables and tales_ (chapman and hall) and _sing song_, a book of nursery rhymes by christina rossetti (routledge). in 1873 ten to _sindbad the sailor_, and six or seven others appeared in _good words for the young_, now entitled _good things_. to this year belongs also _speaking likenesses_ by christina rossetti, with its dozen fanciful and charming designs; and a frontispiece and full page (p. 331), in mr. george mac donald's _england's antiphon_ (macmillan). in 1889 or 1890 _the graphic_ christmas number contained two full-page illustrations by this artist. to 1892 belongs a delightful vignette upon the title-page of mrs. george mac donald's _chamber dramas_. with a bare mention of seven drawings, inadequately reproduced in _the london home monthly_, 1895, the record of mr. arthur hughes's work must close; several designs to a poem by jean ingelow, _the shepherd's lady_, the artist has lost sight of, and the date of the first edition of _five old friends and a young prince_, by miss thackeray, with a vignette, i have failed to trace at the british museum or elsewhere. as mr. arthur hughes, in the _music-master_ (1855), heads the list, so it seemed fit to mark his position by a fuller record than could be awarded to other of his contemporaries still living; partly because the comparatively small number of illustrations made a fairly complete record possible. * * * * * frederick sandys.--this most admirable illustrator 'was born in norwich in 1832, the son of a painter of the place, from whom he received his earliest art-instruction. among his first drawings was a series of illustrations of the birds of norfolk, and another dealing with the antiquities of his native city. probably he first exhibited in 1851, with a portrait (in crayons) of "henry, lord loftus" which appears as the work of "f. sands" in the catalogue of the royal academy to whose exhibitions he has contributed in all forty-seven pictures and drawings.'[15] the above, extracted from mr. j. m. gray's article, 'frederick sandys and the woodcut designers of thirty years ago,' gives the facts which concern us here. a most interesting study of the same artist by the same critic, in the _art journal_,[16] supplies more description and analysed appreciation. the eulogy by mr. joseph pennell in _the quarto_[17] must not be forgotten. further references to mr. sandys appear in a lecture delivered by professor herkomer at the royal institution, printed in the _art journal_, 1883, and in a review of thornbury's _ballads_ by mr. edmund gosse in _the academy_.[18] [illustration: frederick sandys 'century guild hobby-horse' vol. iii. p. 147 danae in the brazen chamber] [illustration: frederick sandys dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 jacob hears the voice of the lord] it is quite possible, although only thirteen of the thirty or so of illustrations by frederick sandys appeared in _once a week_, that these thirteen have been the most potent factor in giving the magazine its peculiar place in the hearts of artists. the general public may have forgotten its early volumes, but at no time since they were published have painters and pen-draughtsmen failed to prize them. during the years that saw them appear there are frequent laudatory references in contemporary journals, with now and again the spiteful attack which is only awarded to work that is unlike the average. elsewhere mention is made of articles upon them which have appeared from time to time by messrs. edmund gosse, j. m. gray, joseph pennell, and others. during the 'seventies,' no less than in the 'eighties' or 'nineties,' men cut out the pages and kept them in their portfolios; so that to-day, in buying volumes of the magazine, a wise person is careful to see that the 'sandys' are all there before completing the purchase. therefore, should the larger public admit them formally into the limited group of its acknowledged masterpieces, it will only imitate the attitude which from the first fellow-artists have maintained towards them. the original drawings, '_if_,' _life's journey_, _the little mourner_, and _jacques de caumont_, were exhibited at the 'arts and crafts,' 1893. that a companion volume to millais's _parables_, with illustrations of _the story of joseph_, was actually projected, and the first drawings completed, is true, and one's regret that circumstances--those hideous circumstances, which need not be explained fully, of an artist's ideas rejected by a too prudish publisher--prevented its completion, is perhaps the most depressing item recorded in the pages of this volume. that some thirty designs all told should have established the lasting reputation of an artist would be somewhat surprising, did not one realise that almost every one is a masterpiece of its kind. owing to the courtesy of all concerned, so large a number of these are reproduced herewith that a detailed description of each would be superfluous. but, at the risk of repeating a list already printed and reprinted, it is well to condense the scattered references in the foregoing pages in a convenient paragraph, wherein those republished in thornbury's _legendary ballads_ (chatto, 1876) are noted with an asterisk:-the cornhill magazine: _the portent_ ('60), _manoli_ ('62), _cleopatra_ ('66); once a week: *_yet once more on the organ play_, _the sailor's bride_, _from my window_, *_three statues of ægina_, _rosamund queen of the lombards_ (all 1861), *_the old chartist_, *_the king at the gate_, *_jacques de caumont_, *_king warwolf_, *_the boy martyr_, *_harold harfagr_ (all '62), and _helen and cassandra_ ('66); good words: _until her death_ ('62), _sleep_ ('63); churchman's family magazine: *_the waiting time_ ('63); shilling magazine: _amor mundi_ ('65); the quiver: _advent of winter_ ('66); the argosy: _'if'_ ('65); the century guild hobby horse: _danae_ ('88); wilmot's sacred poetry: _life's journey_, _the little mourner_; cassell's family magazine: _proud maisie_ ('81); and dalziels' bible gallery: _jacob hears the voice of the lord_. [illustration: frederick sandys 'the quiver' october] in addition, it may be interesting to add notes of other drawings:--_the nightmare_ (1857)[19], a parody of _sir isumbras at the ford_, by millais, which shows a braying ass marked 'j. r.' (for john ruskin), with millais, rossetti, and holman hunt on his back; _morgan le fay_, reproduced as a double-page supplement in _the british architect_, october 31, 1879; a frontispiece, engraved on steel by j. saddler, for miss muloch's _christian's mistake_ (hurst and blackett), and another for _the shaving of shagpat_ (chapman and hall, 1865); a portrait of matthew arnold, engraved by o. lacour, published in _the english illustrated magazine_, january 1884; another of professor j. r. green, engraved by g. j. stodardt, in _the conquest of england_, 1883; and one of robert browning, published in _the magazine of art_ shortly after the poet's death; _miranda_, a drawing reproduced in _the century guild hobby horse_, vol. iii. p. 41; _medea_, reproduced (as a silver-print photograph) in col. richard's poem of that name (chapman and hall, 1869); a reproduction of the original drawing for _amor mundi_, and studies for the same, in the two editions of mr. pennell's _pen-drawing and pen-draughtsmen_ (macmillan); a reproduction of an unfinished drawing on wood, _the spirit of the storm_, in _the quarto_ (no. 1, 1896); _proud maisie in pan_ (1881), reissued in _songs of the north_, and engraved by w. spielmayer (from the original in possession of dr. john todhunter) in the _english illustrated magazine_, may 1891, and the original drawing for the _advent of winter_ and one of _two heads_, reproduced in j. m. gray's article in the _art journal_ (march 1884). whether the _judith_ here reproduced was originally drawn for engraving i cannot say. to add another eulogy of these works is hardly necessary at this moment, when their superb quality has provoked a still wider recognition than ever. concerning the engraving of some mr. sandys complained bitterly, but of others, notably the _danae_, he wrote in october 1880: 'my drawing was most perfectly cut by swain, from my point of view, the best piece of wood-cutting of our time--mind i am not speaking of my work, but swain's.' to see that the artist's complaint was at times not unfounded one has but to compare the _advent of winter_ as it appears in a reproduction of the drawing (_art journal_, march 1884) and in _the quiver_. 'it was my best drawing entirely spoilt by the cutter,' he said; but this was perhaps a rather hasty criticism that is hardly proved up to the hilt by the published evidence. as a few contemporary criticisms quoted elsewhere go to prove, sandys was never ignored by artists nor by people of taste. to-day there are dozens of men in europe without popular appreciation at home or abroad, but surely if his fellows recognise the master-hand, it is of little moment whether the cheap periodicals ignore him, or publish more or less adequately illustrated articles on the man and his work. frederick sandys is and has been a name to conjure with for the last thirty years. though still alive, he has gained (i believe) no official recognition. but that is of little consequence. there are laureates uncrowned and presidents unelected still living among us whose lasting fame is more secure than that of many who have worn the empty titles without enjoying the unstinted approval of fellow-craftsmen which alone makes any honour worthy an artist's acceptance. * * * * * sir edward burne-jones.--the illustrations of this artist are so few that it is a matter of regret that they could not all be reproduced here. but the artist, without withholding permission, expressed a strong wish that they should not be reprinted. the two in _good words_ have been already named. others to a quite forgotten book must not be mentioned; but it is safe to say that no human being, who did not know by whom they were produced, would recognise them. a beautiful design[20] for a frontispiece to mr. william morris's _love is enough_ was never engraved. the _nativity_ in gatty's _parables from nature_, and the one design in the _dalziel bible_ have already been named. many drawings for _cupid and psyche_, the first portion of a proposed illustrated folio edition of _the earthly paradise_, were actually engraved, some of the blocks being cut by mr. morris himself. several sets of impressions exist, and rumour for a long time babbled of a future kelmscott press edition. of his more recent designs nothing can be said here; besides being a quarter of a century later than the prescribed limits of the volume, they are as familiar as any modern work could be. * * * * * walter crane.--this popular artist was born in liverpool, august 15, 1845, his father being sometime secretary and treasurer of the (then) liverpool academy. after a boyhood spent mostly at torquay the family came to london in 1857. in 1859 he became a pupil of mr. w. j. linton, the well-known engraver, and remained with him for three years. about 1865 he first saw the work of burne-jones at the society of painters in water colours. these drawings, and some japanese toy-books which fell in his way, have no doubt strongly influenced his style; but the earlier pre-raphaelites and the _once a week_ school had been eagerly studied before. although mr. crane, with his distinctly individual manner, is not a typical artist of the sixties any more than of the seventies, or of to-day, and although his style had hardly found its full expression at that time, except in the toy-books, yet no record of the period could be complete without a notice of one whose loyalty to a particular style has done much to found the modern 'decorative school.' [illustration: walter crane 'good words' 1863, p. 795 treasure-trove] his first published drawing, _a man in the coils of a serpent_, appears in a quite forgotten magazine called _entertaining things_, vol. i. 1861, p. 327 (virtue); others, immature, and spoilt by the engraver, are in _the talking fire-irons_ and similar tracts by the rev. h. b. power. in many of the magazines, of which the contents are duly noted,--_good words_, _once a week_, _the argosy_, _london society_, etc.--reference has been already made to each of his drawings as it appeared therein. a bibliography of his work, to be exhaustive, would take up more room than space permitted here. as it will be the task of the one, whoever he may be, who undertakes to chronicle english illustrations of the seventies, it may be left without further notice. for, with the exception of the _new forest_ (1862), all the other books which may be called masterpieces of their order, _grimms' household stories_, _the necklace of princess fiorimonde_, _the baby's bouquet_, _baby's opera_, _æsop's fables_, _flora's feast_, _queen summer_, the long series of mrs. molesworth's children's books, many 'coloured boards' for novels, and the rest, belong to a later period. to find that a large paper copy of _grimms' household stories_ fetched thirty-six pounds at lord leighton's sale is a proof that collectors of 'cranes' are already in full cry. two hundred and fifty copies of this book were issued in large paper; the copy in question, although handsomely bound, did not derive its value solely from that fact. modern readers rubbed their eyes to find a recent _édition de luxe_ fetching a record price; but, if certain signs are not misleading, the market value of many books of the sixties will show a rapid increase that will surprise the apathetic collector, who now regards them as commonplace. to believe that the worth of anything is just as much as it will bring is a most foolish test of intrinsic value; but, should the auctioneer's marked catalogue of a few years hence show that 'the sixties' produced works which coax the reluctant guineas out of the pockets of those who a short time before would not expend shillings, it will but reflect the well-seasoned verdict of artists for years past. in matters of science and of commerce the man in the street acts on the opinion of the expert, but in matters of art he usually prefers his own. if, when he wakens to the intrinsic value of objects about which artists know no difference of opinion, he has to pay heavily for his conceited belief in his own judgment, it is at once poetic justice and good common sense. space forbids, unfortunately, detailed notices of fred barnard, c. h. bennett, t. morten, george du maurier, john pettie, r.a., and many other deceased artists whose works have been frequently referred to in previous chapters. fairly complete iconographies had been prepared of the works of mr. birket foster, sir john gilbert, and ernest griset. these, and other no less important lists, have also been omitted for the same reason. nor is it necessary to include here notices of artists whose fame has been established in another realm of art--such as mr. whistler, mr. luke fildes, r.a., professor herkomer, r.a., messrs. w. q. orchardson, r.a., h. s. marks, r.a., h. h. armstead, r.a., edmund j. poynter, r.a., g. h. boughton, j. w. north, r.a., and george frederick watts, r.a. others, including w. small, charles green, sir john tenniel, would each require a volume, instead of a few paragraphs, to do even bare justice to the amazing quantity of notable illustrations they have produced. fortunately most of them are still alive and active, so that a more worthy excuse remains for omitting to give a complete iconography of each one here, for they belong to a far more extended period than is covered by this book. dalziel brothers the firm of dalziel brothers deserves more notice than it has received in the many incidental references throughout this book. to mr. thomas dalziel (still alive though past fourscore) and to his brother edward may be awarded the credit of exercising keen critical judgment in the discovery of latent talent among the art students of their day, and of acting as liberal patrons of the art of illustration. in a most courteous letter, written in reply to my request for some details of the establishment of the firm, the youngest brother of the four (mr. thomas dalziel) writes: 'we were constant and untiring workers with our own hands, untiring because it was truly a labour of love. the extension and development of our transactions and the carrying out of many of the fine art works which we published, is unquestionably due to my brother edward dalziel, and to this i am at all times ready to bear unhesitating testimony.' that these talented engravers were draughtsmen of no mean order might be proved in a hundred instances; one or two blocks here reprinted will suffice to establish their right to an honourable position as illustrators. [illustration: t. dalziel dalziels' 'arabian nights,' p. 161 bedreddin hassan and the pastrycook] [illustration: t. dalziel dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 1880 the destruction of sodom] among the young artists to whom they gave commissions, at the time in a student's career when encouragement of that description is so vital, we find:--fred walker, g. j. pinwell, a. boyd houghton, j. d. watson, john pettie, r.a., professor herkomer, r.a., j. w. north, a.r.a., and fred barnard. artists of eminence, who in all human probability would never have experimented in drawing upon wood but for messrs. dalziels' suggestion, include the late lord leighton, p.r.a., mr. g. f. watts, r.a., and mr. h. stacy marks, r.a. other illustrators who owe much to the enterprise of this firm, and who in turn helped to make its reputation, include mr. birket foster, sir john gilbert, r.a., mr. george du maurier, sir john tenniel, and mr. harrison weir. it has been impossible to credit these engravers with their due share in every work mentioned in our pages, because to do this would have necessitated, in common justice, a complete record of the other engravers also; in itself enough to double the length of the chronicle already far too verbose. the engravings in _punch_ in its early years, and the _cornhill_ through its finest period, were intrusted to messrs. dalziel, while of _good words_ and _the sunday magazine_ the choice of pictures and their reproduction alike were entirely under their control. the dalziel brothers were born at wooler, northumberland, but spent most of their early days in newcastle-on-tyne. their craft was learned from pupils of thomas bewick. in 1835 george dalziel came to london, followed soon after by edward, and later by john and thomas. they were all draughtsmen as well as engravers. thomas devoted himself entirely to drawing. there was also a sister, 'margaret' (who died in 1894), who practised the art of wood-engraving for many years, with results distinguished for their minute elaboration and fine feeling. soon after settling in london, george was associated with ebenezer landells (who died in 1869); and the brothers later became intimate with bewick's favourite pupil, william harvey, for whom they engraved many of his drawings for lane's _arabian nights_, charles knight's _shakespeare_ and _bunyan_, and many other works. still later they became acquainted with [sir] john gilbert, and were 'the first who endeavoured to render his drawings throughout according to his own style of lining and suggested manipulation.' their effort was to translate the draughtsman's line, not to paraphrase it by tint-cutting. as a former apologist has written: 'this has been called "facsimile work"; but it is not so, strictly speaking. certainly, whatever it may be called, it required as much artistic knowledge and taste to produce a good result as the so-called tint-work against which they [dalziel brothers] have no word to say, having practised that branch of art to a considerable extent, as may be seen in hundreds of instances, but perhaps most notably in the rev. j. g. wood's _natural history_ and _the history of man_.' the dalziels had clever pupils to whom they attribute most readily no little of their success; of these harry fenn and c. kingdon, who both went to america, may be specially mentioned. but a record of so notable an enterprise cannot be adequately treated here; yet a few authorised facts must needs find place. did space permit, the eulogies of many artists who were entirely satisfied with messrs. dalziels' engraving could be quoted as a set-off to the few, rossetti included, who were querulous. it would be invidious to pick out their best work, but millais's _parables_, birket foster's _beauties of english landscape_, and the illustrated editions of classics: _don quixote_, _arabian nights_, _goldsmith's works_, _the bible gallery_, etc. etc., which bear their imprint, may be numbered among their highest achievements. the share of mr. edmund evans in many notable volumes that owe at least a moiety of their interest to his engraving, and of messrs. swain, must needs be left without comment. mr. joseph swain contributed to _good words_ in 1888 some very interesting articles on fred walker, c. h. bennett, and g. j. pinwell. these have since been issued in a volume,[21] with essays, by various hands, on frederick shields, [sir] john tenniel, and others. it contains ninety illustrations, including the rare early 'fred walker' from _everybody's journal_, and specimens of mr. shields's illustrations to an edition of _the pilgrim's progress_, published (apparently) by the _manchester examiner_. but so far as i know, neither mr. evans nor messrs. swain (in the sixties at all events) projected works as messrs. dalziel did; and the appreciation which they merit, in their own field, would be unfairly recorded in a few hasty lines. index abner, j., 108. absolon, j., illustrations to beattie and collins's 'poems,' 101. adams's 'sacred allegories' (1856), illustrations to, by cope, birket foster, horsley, hicks, and s. palmer, 102, 103. 'adventures of philip,' 40. 'æsop's fables' (1848), tenniel's illustrations to, 100. (1857) c. h. bennett, 108. (1867) h. weir, 133. (1869) e. griset, 137. 'alice in wonderland' (1866), tenniel's illustrations to, 127. allen, w. j., 64. allingham's 'the music-master' (1855), 6, 99, 102, 160, 168, 170. ---'day and night songs,' 161, 168. ---'flower pieces,' 160. ---'life and phantasy,' 160. _ally sloper_, 19. andrews, g. h., 155. andrews, j., 114. anelay, h., 81, 82. 'anglers of the dove,' millais's illustrations to, 24. ansdell, r., 35. 'arabian nights' (1852), w. harvey's illustrations to, 101. ---dalziels' edition (1865), illustrations by boyd houghton, t. and e. dalziel, g. j. pinwell, t. morten, j. tenniel, and j. d. watson, 122. ---(warne, 1866) illustrations by boyd houghton, etc., 126. archer, j., 114. _argosy_, illustrations and illustrators of, 73, 74. boyd houghton, a., 74. crane, w., 73, 74. edwards, m. e., 73, 74. gray, paul, 74. hughes, e., 74. lawson, j., 74. mahoney, j., 74. pinwell, g. j., 74. sandys, f., 74. small, w., 74. 'armadale,' 41, 42. armitage, e., 64; illustrations to: 'lyra germanica,' 113, 136. 'pupils of st. john the divine,' 135. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. armstead, h. h., illustrations to: _good words_, 45. 'albert memorial,' 46, 48. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. eliza cook's 'poems,' 102. 'sacred poetry,' 115. 'touches of nature,' 131. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. 'art pictures from old testament,' 147. armytage, j. c., 42. art, the new appreciation for, 1-2. ---old and new tastes in, 2. ---of the 'sixties,' 2-3, 15. ---of the 'thirties,' 10. ---black and white, 10. ---influence of great exhibition of 1851 on, 21. 'art and song' (1867), 133. _art journal_, 14. artists of the 'sixties,' contemporary appreciation of, 4. ---comparison with present-day artists, 11. ---collectors of the works of, 4. ---of the 'thirties,' 10. ---value of, in various mediums, 10. ---considerations which influence their quality of work, 25. 'art pictures from the old testament' (1894), reprints of the illustrations in the 'bible gallery,' 146, 147. _art union_, 14. 'aunt sally's life' (1866), illustrations by g. thomas, 129. _aunt judy's magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 85, 86. bayes, a. w., 86. caldecott, r., 86. cooper, a. w., 86. cruikshank, g., 86. edwards, m. e., 85. gilbert, f., 85. griset, e., 85. lawson, f. w., 85. morten, t., 85. pasquier, j. a., 85. wehner, e. h., 85. aytoun's 'lays of the scottish cavaliers' (1865), illustrations by noel paton, 123. bagford, john, 6. 'ballads and songs of brittany' (1866), illustrations by c. keene and j. e. millais, 127. _band of hope, the_, 14. ---_review_, illustrations and illustrators of, 81, 82; characters of, 82. anelay, h., 82. barnes, r., 82. gilbert, sir j., 82. huard, l., 82. weir, h., 82. wolf, j., 82. barbauld's 'hymns in prose' (1864), illustrations by barnes and whymper, 123. barnard, f., 177, illustrations to: _once a week_, 37. _good words_, 54. _london society_, 60. _cassell's magazine_, 72. _broadway_, 76. _good words for the young_, 78. _fun_, 89. cassell's 'illustrated readings,' 135. dickens's 'works' (household edition), 138. 'episodes of fiction,' 141. barnes, g. a., 76. barnes, r., illustrations to: _once a week_, 34-37. _cornhill magazine_, 41, 42. _good words_, 50, 51. _london society_, 56, 57, 158. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. _sunday magazine_, 66, 67, 68, 70. _cassell's magazine_, 73. _quiver_, 74, 75. _british workman_, 81. _band of hope review_, 82. _leisure hour_, 83. _sunday at home_, 84. _golden hours_, 84. 'our life,' 123. 'the months illustrated,' 124. 'pictures of english life,' 124. 'sybil and her snowball,' 129. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'idyllic pictures,' 132. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132. 'christian lyrics,' 133. 'original poems' (taylor), 135. gray's 'elegy,' 136. baxter (_ally sloper_), 19. bayes, a. w., 58, 68, 85, 86, 124, 125, 129, 135. beattie and collins's 'poems,' illustrations by j. absolon, 101. 'beauties of english landscape,' 117. ---illustrations by b. foster, 147. _beeton's annuals_, illustrators of, 87: bennett, c. h., 87. cruikshank, g., 87. morten, t., 87. pasquier, j. a., 87. thomson, j. g., 87. _belgravia_, illustrations of, 73. benham, j. e., 101. bennett, c. h., illustrations to: 'the excursion train,' _cornhill magazine_, 40. _good words_, 46. _london society_, 56, 57, 58. _every boy's magazine_, 85. _beeton's annuals_, 87. _illustrated london news_, 92. 'fables of æsop,' 108. 'proverbs with pictures,' 109. 'pilgrim's progress,' 110. quarles's 'emblems,' 113. 'stories little breeches told,' 118. 'london people,' 123. 'mrs. wind and madam rain,' 123. lemon's 'fairy tales,' 135. bewick, collectors of, 4. 'bible gallery.' _see_ dalziel. 'bible woodcuts,' 39. bird, j. a. h., 81. black and white art, 10. b[lackburn], j., illustrations to _good words_, 45, 63. blake, collectors of, 4. blair's 'grave' (1859), illustrations by tenniel, 109. 'bon gaultier ballads' (1849), illustrations to, by doyle, leech, and crowquill, 100. books, illustrated, the destruction of, for collecting purposes, 6. ---the difficulty of collecting them, 96. ---the value of dates in, 96, 97. ---difficulties in compiling a complete bibliography of, 98. 'book of british ballads' (s. c. hall, 1852), 101. 'book of celebrated poems,' illustrations by cope and k. meadows, 101. 'book of favourite modern ballads' (1859), illustrations by cope, horsley, a. solomon, and s. palmer, 110. 'book of job' (1858), illustrated by j. gilbert, 107. borders, f., 44. boughton, g. h., viii, 55, 147. _bow bells_, 14. bowers, g., 34, 35. 'boy pilgrims,' the (1866), illustrations by a. boyd houghton, 129. 'boy's book of ballads' (1861), illustrations by sir j. gilbert, 114. _boy's own magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 1, 85. bayes, a. w., 85. dudley, r., 85. pasquier, j. a., 85. thomson, j. g., 85. boyd houghton, a., illustrations to: _once a week_, 33, 34, 36. _good words_, 46, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55. _london society_, 56, 59, 61. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. _sunday magazine_, 66-71. _argosy_, 74. _quiver_, 74, 75. _tinsley's magazine_, 76. _broadway_, 76. _good words for the young_, 78, 79. _golden hours_, 84. _every boy's magazine_, 85. _fun_, 89. _illustrated london news_, 92. _graphic_, 93, 165. dalziels' 'arabian nights,' 122, 164. 'victorian history of england,' 124. 'a round of days,' 125. 'home thoughts and home scenes,' 126, 165. 'happy day stories,' 126. 'arabian nights,' 126, 164. 'don quixote,' 126, 165. 'ernie elton, the lazy boy,' 129. 'patient henry,' 129. 'stories told to a child,' 129. 'the boy pilgrims,' 129. jean ingelow's 'poems,' 130. 'ballad stories of the affections,' 130, 165. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'idyllic pictures,' 131. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132, 133. 'christian lyrics,' 133. 'spirit of praise,' 133. longfellow's 'poems,' 134, 140. 'north coast and other poems,' 134, 165. 'golden thoughts from golden fountains,' 134. 'savage club papers,' 135. 'nobility of life,' 136. novello's 'national nursery rhymes,' 141, 165. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 144, 146. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. ---biographical account of, 163, 164, 165. ---the quality of his designs, 164. ---catalogue of forty designs exhibited (1896), 164. ---his great fecundity in work, 164. ---mr. laurence housman's book on, 164, 165. bradley, b., 34-37, 72, 73. brandling, h., 110. brewtnall (e. f.), 36, 78, 146. _britannia_, illustrations for, by matt morgan, 80. _british architect_, 113. _british workman_, 14. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 81. anelay, h., 81. barnes, r., 81. cruikshank, g., 81. cooper, a. w., 81. gilbert, sir j., 81. huard, l., 81. watson, j. d., 81. weir, harrison, 81. wyon, l. c., 81. _broadway, the_, illustrators of, 76. barnard, f., 76. barnes, g. a., 76. boyd houghton, a., 76. brunton, w., 76. edwards, m. e., 76. gray, paul, 76. griset, e., 76. huttula, r. c., 76. lawson, f. w., 76. morgan, matt, 76. nash, thomas, 76. pasquier, j. a., 76. thompson, alfred, 76. thomson, j. g., 76. brookes, warwick, 125. brown, ford madox, illustrations to: _once a week_, 37. _dark blue_, 81. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 106. 'lyra germanica,' 136. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. brown, isaac l., 60. brown, j. o., 45. browne, h. k. _see_ 'phiz.' browning (mrs.) 'ariadne in naxos,' 40. brunton, w., illustrations to: _london society_, 57, 58, 60. _tinsley's magazine_, 76. _broadway_, 76. _fun_, 89. buchanan's 'ballad stories of the affections' (1867), illustrations by boyd houghton, e. and t. dalziel, j. lawson, g. j. pinwell, w. small, and j. d. watson, 130. ---'north coast and other poems' (1863), illustrations by boyd houghton, e. and t. dalziel, g. j. pinwell, w. small, j. wolf, j. b. zwecker, 134. buckman, w. r., 54, 73. bunyan's 'pilgrim's progress' (1856), illustrations by: clayton, 104. (1857) j. h. thomas, 107. (1859) c. h. bennett, 110. (1860) d. scott and w. b. scott, 114. (1863) dalziel, 123. (1864) p. priolo and c. h. selous, 123. burne-jones (sir e.), illustrations to: _good words_, 46, 47, 49, 175. chaucer drawings, 47. 'parables from nature,' 114, 176. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146, 175. 'cupid and psyche,' 175. ---on rossetti, 161. ---summary of his work, 175. ---design for 'love is enough,' 175. burns's 'poems and songs' (1857), illustrations by birket foster, 108. burton, w. p., 115, 128, 134. burton, w. s., illustrations to _once a week_, 33. bury, viscount, 153. bushnell, a., 46. caldecott, randolph, illustrations to _aunt judy's magazine_, 86. cameron, h., 132. caricaturists, victorian, 18, 19. carrick, j. m., 128. carroll's 'alice in wonderland' (1866), tenniel's illustrations to, 127. cassell and co., publications of, 15. _cassell's family paper_, 71. ---illustrations by w. small, sir j. gilbert, l. huard, f. gilbert, and t. morten, 71. _cassell's magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 71, 72, 73. barnard, f., 72. barnes, r., 73. bradley, b., 72, 73. browne, h. k., 73. corbould, e. h., 73. duckman, w. r., 73. edwards, m. e., 72, 73. ellis, e., 73. fildes, s. l., 72, 73. fraser, f. a., 72, 73. green, c., 72. green, t., 73. henley, 72. hughes, e., 73. lawson, j., 73. lawson, f. w., 72, 73. linton, j. d., 73. mahoney, j., 72. paterson, h., 73. pinwell, g. j., 72. pritchett, r. t., 72. ridley, m. w., 72. small, w., 72, 73. staniland, c. j., 72. thomas, g. h., 72. walker, f. s., 72. watson, j. d., 72. wirgman, t. b., 72. cassell's 'history of england' (1867, vol. i.), illustrations by w. small, 133. ---'illustrated readings' (1867), illustrations by f. barnard, j. mahoney, s. l. fildes, w. small, and j. d. watson, 135. cassell, john, 14. _casket, the_, 14. 'chambers's household shakespeare' (1861), illustrations by k. halswelle, 114. 'chandos poets,' the (1869), illustrations by boyd houghton, fraser, and french, 140. chatto and jackson's 'history of wood engraving,' 97, 113. 'childe harold' (1859), illustrations by skelton, 109, 110. 'children's garland,' the (1873), illustrations by j. lawson, 148. 'children's hour,' the (1866), illustrations by w. small, 129. 'children's sayings' (1862), illustrations by w. crane, 118. 'child's play' (1858), 109. 'choice series,' the (1869), illustrations by b. foster, gilbert, h. weir, etc., 137, 138. 'christian lyrics' (1868), illustrations by r. barnes, boyd houghton, etc., 133. 'christmas with the poets' (1861), illustrations by birket foster, 115, 116. _chromo-lithograph, the_, 34. _churchman's family magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 63, 64, 65. allen, w. j., 64. armitage, e., 64. armstead, h. h., 64. barnes, r., 64 boyd houghton, a., 64. claxton, f., 64. claxton, m., 64. cooper, a. w., 64. cope, c. w., 64. corbould, e. h., 64, creswick, 64. dalziel, t. b., 64. edwards, m. e., 64, 65. fitzcook, h., 64. friston, d. h., 64. green, c, 63, 64. horsley, j. c., 64. huard, l., 64. johnson, e. k., 64, justyne, p. w., 64. keyl, f. w., 64. lawless, m. j., 64. m'connell, w., 64. macquoid, t., 64. marks, h. s., 64. millais, j. e., 63. morten, t., 63, 64. pickersgill, f. r., 64. pinwell, g. j., 64. poynter, e. j., 63. priolo, p., 64. sanderson, h., 64. sandys, f., 64. selous, h. c., 64. skelton, p., 64. solomon, r., 64. sulman, t., 64. thomas, g. h., 64. vining, h. m., 64. watson, j. d., 63, 64. wehnert, e. h., 64. zwecker, j. b., 64. _churchman's shilling magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 76. crane, w., 76. edwards, m. e., 76. huttula, r., 76. leigh, john, 76. clark, j., 153. clarke, e. f. c., 76, 80. claxton, a., illustrations to _london society_, 56. ---other illustrations, 57, 58, 62, 92. claxton, florence, 50, 57, 64, 92. claxton, marshall, 64. clayton, john, illustrations to: herbert's 'poetical works,' 103. 'pilgrim's progress,' 104. pollok's 'course of time,' 104. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. 'dramatic scenes,' 107. 'lays of the holy land,' 108. 'home affections,' 108. krummacher's 'parables,' 109. _clichés_, beginning of the use of, 79. ---bad influence on original productions, 79. 'cloister and the hearth,' the, 20. coleridge's 'ancient mariner' (1856), illustrations by: b. foster, a. duncan, and wehnert, 104. (1860), d. scott, 114. collecting, cost of, 7. collections, how to arrange, 7. ---methods for preserving, 7. collectors, two objects of, 4-5. ---delights of, 5. ---objects supplied by the present volume for, x. 5-6. ---dangers to be avoided by, 6. collins's (wilkie) 'armadale,' 41, 42. colomb, w., 50. cook's (eliza) 'poems' (1856), illustrations by armstead, j. gilbert, j. d. watson, h. weir, j. wolf, 102. cope, c. w., 64, 99, 100, 101, 102; illustrations to: 'favourite english poems,' 109. 'book of favourite modern ballads,' 110. moore's 'irish melodies,' 133. cooke, e. w., 49. cooper, a. w., 46, 57, 58, 60, 64, 76, 80, 81, 86. corbould, e. h., 57, 64, 73, 92, 101, 107, 109, 140, 146. 'cornhill gallery': its quality and characteristics, 39, 126. _cornhill magazine_, 14. ---aim of its editor, 38. ---the anonymity of artists in, 44. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 38-44. allingham, h., 43. barnes, r., 41, 42. bennett, c. h., 40. doyle, r., 40. du maurier, g., 41, 42, 43. edwards, m. e., 42. fildes, s. l., 42. herkomer, h., 42. hopkins, a., 43. hughes, a., 41. keene, c., 41. lawson, f. w., 42. leighton, f., 40. leslie, c. d., 43. millais, j. e., 40. paterson, h., 43. paton, noel, 41. pinwell, g. j., 41. sandys, f., 40, 42. small, w., 43. stone, marcus, 43. thackeray, w. m., 39, 40. walker, f., 40, 41, 42. cornwall (barry), 'dramatic scenes' (1857), illustrations by dalziel, clayton, 107. cowper's 'works,' illustrations by john gilbert, 101. ---'the task,' illustrations by birket foster, 102. crane, w., illustrations to: _once a week_, 33, 176. _good words_, 49, 176. _london society_, 56, 60, 176. _argosy_, 73, 74, 176. _churchman's shilling magazine_, 76. _every boy's magazine_, 85. _punch_, 88. _entertaining things_, 176. 'the new forest,' 117, 176. 'children's sayings,' 118. 'stories of old,' 118. toy-books, 129, 148. 'stories from memel,' 136. 'merry heart,' 136. 'king gab's story bag,' 136. 'magic of kindness,' 136. 'poetry of nature,' 136. roberts's 'legendary ballads,' 140. 'songs of many seasons,' 137. 'the necklace of princess fiorimonde,' 176. grimms' 'fairy tales,' 176. 'the baby's bouquet,' 176. 'baby's opera,' 176. æsop's 'fables,' 176. 'flora's feast,' 176. 'queen summer,' 176. ---critical and biographical notice of, 175, 176. ---a pupil of w. j. linton, 175. ---influence of burne-jones and japanese art, 176. creswick, t., 64, 101; illustrations to: tennyson's 'poems,' 105. 'favourite english poems,' 109. 'early english poems,' 117. cropsey, j., 108. crowquill, a., 60; illustrations to: 'bon gaultier ballads,' 100. 'munchausen,' 114. cruikshank (g.), collectors of, 4. ---quality of his art work, 18, 19; illustrations to: _london society_, 59. _british workman_, 81. _aunt judy's magazine_, 86. _beeton's annuals_, 87. 'ingoldsby legends,' 123. cruikshank, r., 100. cumming's 'life and lessons of our lord' (1864), illustrations by c. green, a. hunt, and p. skelton, 123. 'cycle of life,' the (1870), 141. dalziels' 'bible gallery' (1880-81), illustrations by f. leighton, g. f. watts, f. r. pickersgill, e. j. poynter, e. armitage, h. h. armstead, burne-jones, holman hunt, madox brown, s. solomon, boyd houghton, w. small, e. f. brewtnall, e. and t. dalziel, a. murch, f. s. walker, and f. sandys, 146. dalziel, e., 78, 122, 125, 130, 134, 138, 141, 146, 147. dalziel, t. b., viii. 64, 67, 69, 78, 107, 108, 122, 123, 125, 130, 134, 141, 146, 147. ---his own expressions about his work, 177. dalziels, the, 12, 13. ---sketch of their careers, 177, 178, 179. ---commissions given by them, 178. ---works engraved by them, 178, 179. ---their aims in engraving, 179. ---their pupils, 179. 'dame dingle's fairy tales' (1866), illustrations by j. proctor, 129. 'dance of death,' 39. _dark blue_, illustrations and illustrators of, 80, 81. bird, j. a. h., 81. brown, ford madox, 81. clarke, e. f., 80. cooper, a. w., 80. fitzgerald, m., 81. freere, m. e., 80. friston, d. h., 81. hall, s. p., 81. hennessey, w. j., 81. lawson, cecil, 80. lawson, f. w., 80. perry, t. w., 80. ridley, t. w., 80. robinson, t., 80. solomon, simeon, 81. white, d. t., 80. darley, felix, 57, 108. 'day and night songs,' 161, 168. _day of rest_, 66. 'dealings with the fairies' (1861), illustrations by a. hughes, 116. defoe's 'history of the plague,' shield's illustrations to, 32, 118. defoe's 'robinson crusoe' (1863), illustrations by: j. d. watson, 123. (1804) g. h. thomas, 123. dell, j. h., illustrations to 'nature pictures,' 147. 'denis duval,' 41. 'deserted village' (etching club), 101. dickens's works, illustrations of, 18, 19. ---'household edition' (1869), illustrations by fred barnard, 'phiz,' j. mahoney, c. green, f. a. fraser, e. g. dalziel, s. l. fildes, h. french, g. b. frost, j. g. thomson, j. m'l. ralston, 138, 139. ---'edwin drood' (1870), illustrations by s. l. fildes, 141. 'divine and moral songs' (1866), illustrations by du maurier, m. e. edwards, c. green, morten, w. c. thomas, and g. d. watson, 127, 128. dobell, c., 33, 45, 118. dobson, w. t. c., 128. 'don quixote' (1866), illustrations by: doré, 126, 127. boyd houghton, 127. doré, g., 69. ---illustrations to 'don quixote,' 126, 127. doyle, c. a., illustrations to _london society_, 57, 58. doyle, j. o., 45. doyle, r., 'pictures of society,' 40; illustrations to: 'bon gaultier ballads,' 100. 'foreign tour of brown, jones, and robinson,' 109. 'manners and customs of the english,' 109. 'scouring of the white horse,' 109. 'puck on pegasus,' 118. 'an old fairy tale,' 129. 'lemon's fairy tales,' 135. 'in fairyland,' 137. drummond, j., 45. dudley, r., illustrations to: _london society_, 58, 59. _boys' own magazine_, 85. du maurier, g., illustrations to: _once a week_, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37. 'foul play,' 37. _cornhill_, 41, 42. 'wives and daughters,' 41, 42. 'harry richmond,' 42, 43. 'the hand of ethelberta,' 43. _good words_, 45. _london society_, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60. _leisure hour_, 83. _sunday at home_, 84. _punch_, 88, 89. 'sacred poetry,' 123. 'our life,' 123. watts's 'divine and moral songs,' 128. 'the moon shines full,' 128. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. 'touches of nature,' 131. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132, 133. 'story of a feather,' 133. 'lucile,' 134. 'savage club papers,' 135. 'pictures from english literature,' 141. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. 'songs of many seasons,' 147. 'pegasus re-saddled,' 148. duncan, a., illustrations to 'ancient mariner,' 104. duncan, e., 34, 99, 107, 112, 117. dunn, edith, 75. 'early english poems' (1863), illustrations by creswick, duncan, b. foster, j. gilbert, r. redgrave, and j. thomas, 117. edwards, d., 107. edwards, kate, 36, 58, 59. edwards, m. e., illustrations to: _once a week_, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37. _cornhill magazine_, 42. _good words_, 52. _london society_, 57-61. _churchman's family magazine_, 64, 65. _sunday magazine_, 66, 67. _cassell's magazine_, 72, 73. _argosy_, 73, 74. _quiver_, 74. _churchman's shilling magazine_, 76. _broadway_, 76. _golden hours_, 84. _aunt judy's magazine_, 85. _illustrated times_, 92. 'parables from nature,' 114. 'puck on pegasus,' 118. 'family fairy tales,' 123. watts's 'divine and moral songs,' 128. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. 'mother's last words,' 129, 131. 'idyllic pictures,' 132. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132. 'illustrated book of sacred poems,' 135. ehrenger, j. w., 50. 'ellen montgomery's book-shelf' (1866), illustrations by j. d. watson, 129. eliot, g., 'romola,' 41. ---'brother jacob,' 41. ellis, e. j., 60, 61, 73. eltze, f., illustrations to: _once a week_, 33, 35, 36. _good words_, 50. _sunday magazine_, 67. lemon's 'a new table-book,' 133. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. 'english sacred poetry of the olden time' (1864), illustrations by du maurier, c. green, j. w. north, j. tenniel, p. skelton, f. walker, and j. d. watson, 123, 124. engravers, old methods of, 12. ---work in the 'sixties,' 13. ---enterprise of, 13. engraving, responsibility of artist in, 12. ---relation of publisher to, 12. ---object of an, 17. ---white line, 81. _entertaining things_, its rarity, 87. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 86, 87. boyd houghton, a., 87. crane, w., 86. du maurier, g., 86, 87. justyne, p., 86. linton, w. j., 86. m'connell, w., 86. morgan, m. s., 86. morten, t., 86. portch, j., 86. skill, f. j., 86. weedar, e., 86. 'episodes of fiction' (1870), illustrations by f. barnard, c. green, r. paterson, p. skelton, c. j. staniland, h. weir, etc., 141. 'ernie elton the lazy boy' (1866), illustrations by boyd houghton, 129. etching, influence of the revival of, 151, 152, 153, 154. etching club, the, 101, 151, 152. 'evan harrington,' keene's illustrations to, 25. evans, edmund, 180. _everybody's journal_, the british museum edition imperfect, 86. ---illustrators of, 86. gilbert, sir, j., 86. morten, t., 86. walker, f., 86, 180. weir, harrison, 86. _every boy's magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 85. bennett, c. h., 85. boyd houghton, a., 85. crane, walter, 85. morten, t., 85. nixon, j. forbes, 85. ridley, m. w., 85. _every week_, 14. ewart, h. c., 'toilers in art,' 180. exhibition of 1851, influences of, on art, 21. fairfield, a. r., illustrations to: _once a week_, 33. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. falconer's 'the shipwreck' (1858), illustrations by b. foster, 110. 'family fairy tales' (1864), illustrations by m. e. edwards, 123. 'famous boys' (1862), illustrations by t. morten, 118. 'favourite english poems of the last two centuries' (1858), illustrations by cope, creswick, foster, 109. fildes, s. l., 34, 35, 36, 37, 42, 52, 54, 69, 72, 73, 75, 84, 93, 133, 135, 138, 141. fitzcook, h., 64. fitzgerald, lord g., 153. fitzgerald, m., 81. foster, birket, x, 61, 67, illustrations to: gray's 'elegy,' 101, 136. 'proverbial philosophy,' 101. longfellow's 'poems' (1854), 101. cowper's 'the task,' 102. adams's 'sacred allegories,' 103. herbert's 'poetical works,' 103. 'rhymes and roundelays,' 103. 'ministering children,' 104. 'ancient mariner,' 104. 'course of time,' 104. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. poe's 'poetical works,' 108. 'kavanagh,' 108. 'moore's poetry,' 108. burns's 'poems and songs,' 108. 'gertrude of wyoming,' 108. 'lays of the holy land,' 108. 'home affections,' 108. wordsworth's 'poems,' 109. 'merry days of england,' 109. 'favourite english poems,' 109. 'white doe of rylstone,' 109. 'comus,' 109. 'shipwreck,' 110. 'odes and sonnets,' 110. 'merchant of venice,' 110. 'the seasons,' 111. montgomery's 'poems,' 112. 'household song,' 114. goldsmith's 'poems,' 114. 'poetry of the elizabethan age,' 115. 'christmas with the poets,' 115. 'early english poems,' 117. 'pictures of english landscape,' 117. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. moore's 'irish melodies,' 133. 'choice series,' 137. 'standard poets,' 140. 'the trial of sir jasper,' 147. 'beauties of english landscape,' 147. ---rage for his drawings, 116. 'flower pieces,' 160. 'foul play,' du maurier's illustrations to, 37. 'found drowned,' edwards's illustrations to, 33. 'four georges,' the, 39. foxe's 'book of martyrs' (1867 ?), r. barnes, boyd houghton, du maurier, m. e. edwards, j. gilbert, j. henley, j. lee, f. w. lawson, a. pasquier, t. morten, f. j. skill, w. small, g. h. thomas, and j. d. watson, 132, 133. 'framley parsonage,' 40. fraser, f. a., 36, illustrations to: _good words_, 54. _london society_, 62. _sunday magazine_, 67, 69, 70. _cassell's magazine_, 72, 73. _saint paul's_, 77. _good words for the young_, 78, 79. dickens's works (household edition), 138. chandos poets, 140. freere, m. e., 80. french, h., 60, 70, 78, 138, 140. friston, d. h., 64, 76, 81. frölich, l., 114, 128. frost, a. b., 138. _fun_, illustrations and illustrators of, 89, 90. barnard, f., 89. boyd houghton, a., 89. brunton, w., 89. gilbert, w. s., 89. henley, l. c., 89. lawson, f. w., 89. sanderson, h., 89. seccombe, lieutenant, 89. stretch, matt, 89. thomson, j. g., 89. walker, f. s., 89. fyfe, w., 46. gale, w., 153. gascoine, j., 58. gaskell, mrs., 'wives and daughters,' 41, 42. 'gems of literature' (1866), illustrations by noel paton, 127. 'gems of national poetry' (1868), 100. 'gertrude of wyoming' (1857), illustrations by b. foster, t. dalziel, h. weir, w. harvey, 108. giacomelli, illustrations to michelet's 'the bird,' 121. gilbert, f., 62, 71, 85. gilbert, sir john, x.; illustrations to: _once a week_, 33, 34, 36. _london society_, 60, 61. _cassell's family paper_, 71. _british workman_, 81. _band of hope review_, 82. _leisure hour_, 83. _sunday at home_, 84. illustrations to cassell's serials, 84. _illustrated london news_, 92. 'the salamandrine,' 100, 101. 'proverbial philosophy,' 101. longfellow's 'poems' (1854), 101. ---(1855), 102. cowper's 'works,' 101. eliza cook's 'poems,' 102. shakespeare's 'works,' 104. scott's 'lady of the lake,' 104. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. 'book of job,' 107. 'proverbs of solomon,' 107. 'lays of the holy land,' 108. 'home affections,' 108. wordsworth's 'poems,' 109. montgomery's 'poems,' 112. 'boy's book of ballads,' 114. 'sacred poetry,' 115. 'poetry of the elizabethan age,' 115. 'songs and sonnets of shakespeare,' 115. 'early english poems,' 117. 'months illustrated,' 124. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132. 'the choice series,' 137. 'standard poets,' 140. 'standard library' (hurst and blackett), 140. gilbert, w. s., illustrations to: _london society_, 60. _good words for the young_, 78. _fun_, 89. 'juvenile verse picture book,' 100. 'magic mirror,' 129. gilray, j., 19. goddard, g. b., 33, 34, 35, 60, 61. godwin, j., 107. godwin, t., 57. 'golden harp,' the (1864), illustrations by watson, etc., 124. _golden hours_, illustrations and illustrators of, 84, 85. barnes, r., 84. boyd houghton, a., 84. edwards, m. e., 84. green, t., 85. murray, c. o., 85. 'golden light' (1864), illustrations by a. w. bayes, 124. 'golden thoughts from golden fountains' (1867), illustrations by boyd houghton, w. p. burton, the dalziels, j. lawson, g. j. pinwell, and w. small, 134, 135. 'golden treasury series' (1869), illustrations by a. hughes, holman hunt, millais, noel paton, and t. woolner, 138. 'gold thread,' the (1861), illustrations by j. m'whirter and j. d. watson, 116. goldsmith's 'poems' (1860), illustrations by b. foster, 114. ---'works,' illustrations by pinwell (dalziel, 1865), 126. ---'deserted village,' illustrations by etching club, 101. goodall, e. a., 107. 'good fight,' a, 20. _good words_, 14. ---poverty of early work in, 44. ---good indexes in, 44. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 44-55. armstead, h. h., 45, 48. barnard, f., 54. barnes, r., 50, 51. bennett, c. h., 46. b[lackburn], j., 45. boyd houghton, a., 46, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55. brown, j. o., 45. buckman, r., 54. burne-jones, e., 46, 47, 49. bushnell, a., 46. cooke, e. w., 49. cooper, a. w., 46. crane, w., 49. dobell, c., 45. doyle, c. a., 45. drummond, j., 45. du maurier, g., 45. edwards, m. e., 52. fildes, s. l., 52, 54. fraser, f. a., 54. fyfe, w., 46. graham, t., 46, 48, 49. gray, p., 50. halswelle, k., 45. herkomer, h., 54. hughes, a., 50, 54, 55. hunt, holman, 46, 48. keene, c., 46. lawless, m. j., 46, 48, 50. lawson, j. w., 52. leighton, j., 49. linney, w., 46. linton, j. d., 54. linton, w. j., 52. lucas, h. j., 49. m'taggart, w., 46. m'whirter, j. w., 45. mahoney, j., 54. millais, j. e., 46, 48, 49, 50, 55. morten, t., 46, 48, 49. nicol, erskine, 45. north, j. w., 52. orchardson, 44, 45, 55. pettie, j., 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 55. pinwell, g. j., 49, 50, 52, 54, 55. porter, j., 46. riviere, briton, 54. sandys, f., 46, 47, 49. solomon, s., 46, 47. small, w., 51, 52, 53, 54, 55. stanton, clark, 45. steele, gourlay, 45. taylor, hughes, 45. tenniel, j., 46, 48, 49, 50. walker, fred, 45, 48, 50. walker, francis, 54. watson, j. d., 46, 48, 49. whistler, j. m'n., 46. wolf, j., 46. zwecker, j. b., 46. _good words for the young_, 66. ---its value to collectors, 77. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 77, 78, 79. barnard, f., 78. boyd houghton, 78, 79. brewtnall, e. f., 78. dalziel, e., 78. dalziel, t., 78. fraser, f. a., 78, 79. french, h., 78. gilbert, w. s., 78. green, c., 78. green, t., 78, 79. griset, e., 78, 79. hall, s. p., 78. herkomer, h., 78. hughes, a., 77, 78, 79. mahoney, j., 78, 79. pettie, j., 78. pinwell, c. j., 78. rivière, b., 78. small, w., 79. sulman, t., 78. walker, f. s., 78, 79. wiegand, w. j., 78, 79. zwecker, j. b., 78, 79. gosse, e., 3. ---on thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 144, 145. ---on sandys, 172. _germ, the_ (1850), 151. graham, p., 55. graham, t., illustrations to _good words_, 46, 48, 49. _graphic, the_, its influence on english illustration, 93. ---w. small's work in it, 93. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 93, 94. boyd houghton, a., 93. fildes, s. l., 93. green, c., 93. herkomer, h., 93. macbeth, r. w., 93. pinwell, c. j., 93. small, w., 92. _graphic_ school, 51. graphotype, 35, 36. ---the beginning of 'process-work,' 36. ---its principle and development, 91. ---illustrations in _punch and judy_, 91. ---watts's 'songs,' 127, 128. gray's 'elegy' (1860), illustrations to, by b. foster and g. thomas, 101. (1868) r. barnes, b. foster, wimperis, etc., 136. gray, j. m., 3. ---paper on sandys in _art journal_, 131. gray, paul, illustrations to: _once a week_, 33, 34. _good words_, 50. _london society_, 58, 59. _shilling magazine_, 65. _sunday magazine_, 66, 67. _argosy_, 74. _quiver_, 75. _broadway_, 76. _punch_, 88. 'a round of days,' 125. 'jingles and jokes for little folks,' 129. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'idyllic pictures,' 131. 'spirit of praise,' 133. ---biographical notice of, 157. ---_fun_ cartoons, 159. ---his last drawing in 'savage club papers,' 157. ---illustrations to kingsley's 'hereward,' 157. gray, tom, 60. green, charles, illustrations to: _once a week_, 31, 32, 35. _london society_, 57, 59. _churchman's family magazine_, 63, 64. _sunday magazine_, 71. _cassell's magazine_, 72. _good words for the young_, 78. _sunday at home_, 84. _illustrated london news_, 92. _graphic_, 93. 'sacred poetry,' 123. cumming's 'life of our lord,' 123. watts's 'divine and moral songs,' 128. 'nobility of life,' 136. 'choice series,' 138. dickens's works (household edition), 138. 'episodes of fiction,' 141. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. green, t., 36, 70, 73, 78, 85, 146. greenwell, dora, 'carmina crucis' (1860), 137. grimms' 'fairy tales,' illustrations by w. crane, 176. griset, e., 35, 36, 76, 78, 79, 88, 137. 'gulliver's travels' (1866 ?), illustrations by t. morten, 133. 'hacco the dwarf' (1864), illustrations by g. j. pinwell, 123, 124. haden, sir seymour, 10. halkett, g. r., viii. hall's 'book of british ballads' (1852), 101. hall, s. p., 78, 81, 136. hall's 'the trial of sir jasper,' illustrations by cruikshank, b. foster, gilbert, g. h. boughton, w. eden thomson, h. r. robertson, noel paton, and tenniel, 147. halswelle, k., illustrations to: _good words_, 45. 'pen and pencil pictures,' 127. scott's 'poems,' 127. 'standard poets' (routledge, etc.), 140. 'hampdens,' the, millais's illustrations to, 24. 'happy day stories,' 126. hardy, thomas, 'far from the madding crowd,' 43. ---'the hand of ethelberta,' 43. hardy, t. d., 107. _harper's magazine_, 9. 'harry richmond,' du maurier's illustrations to, 42, 43. harvey, w., illustrations to: 'arabian nights,' 101. milton's 'poetical works,' 101. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. 'gertrude of wyoming,' 108. montgomery's 'poems,' 112. heber's 'hymns' (1867), illustrations by w. lawson, t. d. scott, h. c. selous, p. skelton, and w. small, 133. henley, l. c., 58, 59, 72, 133. hennessey, w. j., 81. 'herberts of elfdale,' the, fred walker's illustrations to, 27. herbert's 'poetical works' (1856), illustrations by birket foster, j. clayton, h. n. humphreys, 103. herkomer, hubert, illustrations to: _cornhill magazine_, 43. _sunday magazine_, 71. _quiver_, 75. _good words for the young_, 78. _graphic_, 93. 'lecture on sandys,' 172. hicks, g. c., 103. 'history of wood engraving' (chatto and jackson), 97, 113. hogarth, w., 18. 'home affections' (1858), illustrations by b. foster, j. gilbert, clayton, h. weir, t. dalziel, s. read, j. abner, pickersgill, millais, tenniel, madot, 108, 109. 'home thoughts and home scenes' (1865), illustrations by boyd houghton, 126. 'home without hands' (1864), illustrations by f. w. keyl, 123. _hood's comic annuals_, 87. hood's 'miss kilmansegg' (1869), illustrations by seecombe, 137. ---'poems,' illustrations by junior etching club (millais, c. keene, and h. moore), 152. hooper, w. h., 47. horsley, j. c., 64, 89, 100, 101, 103, 105, 110. houghton. _see_ boyd houghton. 'household song' (1861), illustrations by b. foster, s. palmer, g. h. thomas, a. solomon, and j. andrews, 113, 114. housman, l., on boyd houghton, 122, 164. _howitt's journal of literature_, 14. huard, l., 57, 64, 71, 81, 82. hughes, arthur, illustrations to: _cornhill magazine_, 41. _good words_, 50, 54, 55, 170, 171. _london society_, 58, 62, 170. _sunday magazine_, 70, 71, 171. _good words for the young_, 77, 78, 79, 171. _the queen_, 170. _the graphic_, 172. _the london home monthly_, 172. tennyson's 'loves of the wrens,' 54, 55, 171. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. 'dealings with the fairies,' 116, 170. 'enoch arden,' 127, 170. 'five days' entertainment at wentworth grange,' 136, 170. 'tom brown's school days,' 136, 170. 'golden treasury series,' 138. 'national nursery rhymes,' 141. 'the music-master,' 168. designs for _the queen_, 170. hake's 'parables and tales,' 171. rossetti's 'sing song,' 171. 'sinbad the sailor,' 171. rossetti's 'speaking likenesses,' 171, 172. 'england's antiphon,' 172. 'chamber dramas,' 172. ingelow's 'the shepherd's lady,' 172. miss thackeray's 'five old friends,' 172. 'at the back of the north wind,' 171. 'ranald bannerman's boyhood,' 171. 'the princess and goblin,' 171. 'lilliput lectures,' 171. ---biographical account of, 168-172. ---appreciation of his work, 168, 169. ---his association with the pre-raphaelites, 168. ---impression of his work, 168, 169. hughes, e., 35, 36, 65, 68, 70, 73, 74, 140. hughes, t., 'tom brown's school days' (1868), illustrations by a. hughes and s. p. hall, 136. hunt, alfred, 92, 123. hunt, holman, illustrations to: _once a week_, 30. _good words_, 46, 48. tennyson's 'poems,' 105. 'parables from nature,' 114. 'sacred poetry,' 115. watts's 'divine and moral songs,' 128. 'golden treasury series,'138 'studies from life,' 140. humphrey's, h. n., illustrations to: herbert's 'poetical works,' 103. 'white doe of rylstone,' 109. thomson's 'seasons,' 111. hurst and blackett's 'standard library,' illustrations by f. sandys, holman hunt, j. gilbert, j. d. watson, j. leech, and e. hughes, 140, 141. huttula, r., 76. 'hymns for little children' (1862), 118. 'hyperion' (1857), illustrations by b. foster, 108. 'idyllic pictures' (1867), illustrations by r. barnes, boyd houghton, h. cameron, m. e. edwards, p. gray, r. p. leitch, g. j. pinwell, f. sandys, w. small, c. j. staniland, and g. h. thomas, 131, 132. illingworth, s. e., 60. 'illustrated book of sacred poems' (1867?), illustrations by m. e. edwards, j. w. north, h. c. selous, w. small, and j. d. watson, 138. _illustrated chronicle of the great exhibition_, 14. _illustrated family journal_, 14. _illustrated london news_, 14; illustrations of the 'seventies,' 92. bennett, c. h., 92. boyd houghton, a., 92. corbould, e. h., 92. gilbert, j., 92. green, c., 92. hunt, alfred, 92. morgan, matt, 92. pasquier, j. a., 92. read, s., 92. thomas, george, 92. _illustrated times_, illustrations in, by a. claxton, f. claxton, m. e. edwards, lieutenant seccombe, p. skelton, t. sulman. _illustrated weekly news_, 92. illustration, reasons for serial issue of, ---demand for, 10. ---importance of, 10. ---influence of 'process-work' on, 11. ---earliest attempt of magazine, 16. ---object of, 17. ---to the early victorian novels, 18. ---to the _cornhill_, 38, 39. ---black and white, its requisites, 65, 66. ---influence of photography on, 66. ---preference of a drawing to a photograph, 67, 68. ---in daily papers, 94. ---new method employed in 'pleasures of memory' (1867), 137, 138. ---regard for the older, 139. ---comparisons of old and modern, 139. illustrator, position of the modern, 3, 9. ---the popular artist of the period, 10, 134. ---appreciation of, 10. ---summary of the work of the sixties, 148, 149. ingelow, jean, 'poems' (1867, 4to), 4; illustrations to, by boyd houghton, e. and t. dalziel, j. w. north, e. j. poynter, g. j. pinwell, and j. wolf, 129, 130. 'ingoldsby legends,' the (1864), illustrations by cruikshank, leech, and tenniel, 123. jackson, mason, 'the pictorial press,' 92, 98. jackson's 'engraving.' _see_ chatto. jerrold's 'story of a feather' (1867), illustrations by du maurier, 133. 'jingles and jokes for little folks' (1866), illustrations by paul gray, 129. johnson, e. k., 57, 64. journalism, 55. _judy_, general poorness of its drawings, 90. ---illustrated by matt morgan and j. proctor, 90. ---value as representative of the 'eighties,' 90. junior etching club, 118, 151, 152, 153. justyne, p. w., 64. 'juvenile verse and picture book' (1848), gilbert, tenniel, r. cruikshank, weigall, and w. b. scott's illustrations to, 100. 'kavanagh' (1857), illustrations by birket foster, 108. keats's 'poetical works' (1866), illustrations by g. scharf, 129. keene, charles, 19. ---quality of his work, 25; illustrations to: _once a week_, 25, 26, 36. _cornhill magazine_, 41. _good words_, 47. _london society_, 59-62. _punch_, 88, 89. 'voyage of the _constance_,' 110, 111. 'lyra germanica,' 113. 'sacred poetry,' 115. 'mrs. caudle's curtain lectures,' 124. 'ballads and songs of brittany,' 127. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. 'touches of nature,' 131. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. hood's 'poems,' 152. 'passages from modern english poets,' 153. kennedy, t., 129. keyl, f. w., 64, 114, 123. 'king gab's story bag' (1868), illustrations by w. crane, 136. kingsley, c., 'hereward,' 50. ---'the water babies' (1869), illustrations by paton and skelton, 137. _kingston's annuals_, 87. 'krilof and his fables' (1867), illustrations by boyd houghton and zwecker, 135. krummacher's 'parables' (1858), illustrations by clayton, 109, 110. 'lake county,' the (1864), illustrations by linton, 124. lamont, t. r., 58, 65. landon (l. e.), 'poetical works' (1869), illustrations by w. b. scott, 140. lasinio, his influence, 151. laurie's 'shilling entertainment library' (1862), 118. lawless, m. j., quality of his work, 28; illustrations to: _once a week_, 28, 29, 163. _good words_, 46, 48, 50, 163. _london society_, 56, 57, 60, 62, 163. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. _punch_, 88. 'lyra germanica,' 113, 163. 'life of st. patrick,' 117. _churchman's shilling magazine_, 129. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'legendary ballads,' 144, 145. 'passages from modern english poets,' 152. ---biographical accounts of, 162, 163. ---his picture 'the sick call,' 163. lawson, cecil, 80. lawson, f. w., illustrations to: _once a week_, 35-37. _cornhill magazine_, 42. _london society_, 59-62. _shilling magazine_, 65. _sunday magazine_, 66-69. _cassell's magazine_, 72, 73. _quiver_, 75. _broadway_, 76. _dark blue_, 80. _aunt judy's magazine_, 85. _punch_, 88. _fun_, 89. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 133. heber's 'hymns,' 133. lawson, j., 33-36; illustrations to: _good words_, 52. _sunday magazine_, 66, 67. _cassell's magazine_, 73. _argosy_, 74. _quiver_, 75. 'pen and pencil pictures,' 127. 'ballad stories of the affections,' 130. 'golden thoughts,' 134. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 143, 146. 'children's garland,' 148. layard, g. s., 'tennyson and his pre-raphaelite illustrators,' 105, 161, 162. 'lays of the holy land' (1858), illustrations by millais, clayton, birket foster, gilbert, 108. lear's 'book of nonsense,' 118. lee, j., 133. leech (j.), collectors of, 4. ---quality of his art work, 18, 38; illustrations to: _once a week_, 20, 21. 'bon gaultier ballads,' 100. 'puck on pegasus,' 118. 'ingoldsby legends,' 123. hurst and blackett's 'standard library,' 140. 'legends and lyrics' (1866), illustrations by burton, carrick, du maurier, w. t. c. dobson, m. e. edwards, l. frölich, birket foster, john gilbert, charles keene, morten, w. h. millais, s. palmer, j. tenniel, and g. h. thomas, 128. leigh, john, 76. leighton, lord, p.r.a., illustrations to: 'cornhill gallery,' 39. _cornhill magazine_, 40. 'romola,' 41. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. leighton, john, 35, 49, 71; illustrations to: 'lyra germanica,' 113, 136. 'moral emblems,' 118. dalziels' 'bible pictures,' 121. 'life of man symbolised,' 127. _leisure hour_, 34. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 82, 83, 84. barnes, r., 83. du maurier, g., 83. gilbert, sir j. (?), 83. green, c., 84. mahoney, j., 83. pritchett, r. t., 83. solomon, s., 83. staniland, c. j., 83. whymper, 84. leitch, r. p., 50, 67, 74, 107, 132. le jeune, h., designs to 'ministering children,' 104. lemon's, m., 'a new table-book' (1867), illustrations by f. eltze, 133. ---'fairy tales' (1867), illustrations by c. h. bennett and r. doyle, 135. leslie, g., 132. leslie's 'musical annual' (1870), illustrations by millais and pinwell, 141. lever, c., 'lord kilgobbin,' 42. lewis, a. j., 153. 'liber studiorum,' 39. 'life and phantasy,' 160. 'life of man symbolised' (1866), illustrations by john leighton, 127. 'life of st. patrick' (1862), illustrations by m. j. lawless, 117. 'lilliput lectures,' 79, 171. 'lilliput levée' (1864), illustrations by millais, pinwell, etc., 133, 134, 166. linney, w., 46. linton, j. d., illustrations to: _good words_, 54. _cassell's magazine_, 73. linton's 'masterpieces of engraving,' 97. linton, w. j., 52, 99; illustrations to: wise's 'shakespeare,' 113. 'the lake country,' 124. 'little songs for me to sing' (1865), illustrations by j. e. millais, 128. 'little songs for little folks' (1867), illustrations by j. d. watson, 133. 'london garland,' the (1895), 125. _london journal, the_, 14. 'london people' (1864), illustrations by c. h. bennett, 123. _london reader_, 14. _london society_, account of its neglect, 55. ---its excellence, 55, 57. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 55-62. barnard, f., 60. barnes, r., 56, 57, 58. bayes, a. w., 58. bennett, c. h., 56, 57, 58. boyd, m. a., 61. boyd houghton, a., 56, 59, 61. brown, isaac l., 60. brunton, w., 57, 58, 60. claxton, a., 56, 57, 58, 62. claxton, f., 57. cooper, a. w., 57, 58, 60. corbould, e. h., 57. crane, w., 56, 60. crowquill, a., 60. cruikshank, g., 59. darley, felix, 57. doyle, c. a., 57, 58. dudley, r., 58, 59. du maurier, g., 56-60. edwards, k., 58, 59. edwards, m. e., 57-61. ellis, e. j., 60, 61. fraser, f. a., 62. french, h., 60. foster, birket, 61. gascoine, j., 61. gilbert, f., 62. gilbert, sir j., 60, 61. gilbert, w. s., 60. goddard, g. b., 60, 61. godwin, t., 57. gray, p., 58, 59. gray, tom, 60. green, c., 57, 59. henley, l. c., 58, 59. huard, l., 57. hughes, a., 58, 62. illingworth, s. e., 60. johnson, e. k., 57. keene, c., 59-62. lamont, t. r., 58. lawless, m. j., 56, 57, 60, 62. lawson, f. w., 59-62. m'connell, w., 57. mahoney, j., 61, 62. marks, h. s., 62. millais, j. e., 56, 58. morgan, matt, 57. morten, t., 56-62. paterson, h., 62. pasquier, j., 58, 60. pickersgill, f. r., 56. pinwell, g. j., 57, 58, 59. portch, j., 56. poynter, e. j., 56, 58. rice, 60. ridley, b., 61. sambourne, l., 61. sanderson, h., 56, 57. sandys, f., 60. sargent, waldo, 57. seccombe, t. s., 58. skill, f. j., 57. small, w., 59, 60, 62. solomon, rebecca, 57. stanton, h., 61. stone, marcus, 57, 58. sweeting, t., 61. thomas, g. h., 57, 58. thomas, w. cave, 57. thomas, w. l., 61. thomson, j. g., 59, 60. walker, francis, 62. walker, fred, 56. watson, j. d., 56-62. wood, fane, 60. zwecker, j. b., 57. longfellow's 'hiawatha' (1856), illustrations to, by g. h. thomas, 102, 110. ---'poems' (1854), illustrations to: jane e. benham, birket foster, gilbert, and wehnert, 101. (1867) boyd houghton, etc., 134. longmans' 'new testament' (1863), 121. 'lord's prayer,' the (1870), illustrations by f. r. pickersgill, 148. luard, j., illustrations to _once a week_, 32. lucas, h. j., 49. 'lucile' (1867), illustrations by du maurier, 134. 'lyra germanica' (1861), illustrations by: j. leighton, h. s. marks, e. armitage, m. j. lawless, c. keene, 113. (1868) e. armitage, madox brown, and j. leighton, 136. m[acbeth], r., 37, 71, 93. m'connell, w., 57, 64, 67. mackay's '1001 gems of poetry' (1867), illustrations by millais, 133. maclise, (d.), illustrations to: tennyson's 'poems,' 105. 'the princess,' 111. macquoid, t. r., 64, 146. m'taggart, w., 46. m'whirter, j. w., illustrations to: _good words_, 45. _sunday magazine_, 70. 'the gold thread,' 116. wordsworth's 'poems for the young,' 118, 123. 'pen and pencil pictures,' 127. madot, a. w., 108, 109. _magazine of art_, 14. magazines, collecting of, 6. ---precursors of weekly papers, 14. ---earliest attempt of illustrated, 16. 'magic mirror,' the (1866), illustrations by w. s. gilbert, 129. 'magic of kindness,' the (1868), illustrations by w. crane, 135. mahoney, j., 36, 54, 61, 62; illustrations to: _sunday magazine_, 67, 69, 70, 71. _cassell's magazine_, 72. _argosy_, 74. _quiver_, 75. _good words for the young_, 78, 79. _leisure hour_, 83. _sunday at home_, 84. 'touches of nature,' 131. cassell's 'illustrated readings,' 135. 'nobility of life,' 136. dickens's works (household edition), 138. 'scrambles on the alps,' 141. 'national nursery rhymes,' 141. marks, h. d., 62. marks, h. s., 34, 36, 64; illustrations to: thornbury's 'legends of the cavaliers,' 107. 'lyra germanica,' 113. 'sacred poetry,' 115. 'two centuries of song,' 132. 'national nursery rhymes,' 141. 'passages from modern english poets,' 152. 'masterpieces of engraving,' (linton), 97. meadows, kenny, illustrations to 'book of celebrated poems,' 101. mearns, miss l., 33. 'melbourne house' (1864), 124. menzel, his influence on english illustrators, 150. ---his illustrations to kügler's 'frederick the great,' 150, 151. meredith, g., 'evan harrington,' 25. ---'adventures of harry richmond,' 42, 43. 'merrie days of england' (1858), illustrations by b. foster, g. thomas, and corbould, 109. 'merrie heart,' the (1868), illustrations by w. crane, 136. michelet's 'the bird' (1862), illustrations by giacomelli, 121, 122. miles, helen j., 35. millais, sir j., p.r.a., illustrations to: trollope, 18, 40. _once a week_, 22, 23, 24, 25, 37. 'cornhill gallery,' 39. _cornhill magazine_, 39, 40. 'small house at allington,' 40, 41. _good words_, 46, 48, 49, 50, 55. _london society_, 56, 58. _churchman's family magazine_, 63. _saint paul's_, 77. _punch_, 88. tennyson's 'poems,' 105, 157. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 106. 'lays of the holy land,' 108. 'home affections,' 109. 'papers for thoughtful girls,' 118. 'puck on pegasus,' 118. 'parables of our lord,' 48, 49, 119, 120, 121. 'ballads and songs of brittany,' 127. 'little songs for me to sing,' 128. 'gems of poetry,' 131. 'collected illustrations,' 131. 'lilliput levée,' 133. 'golden treasury series,' 138. hurst and blackett's 'standard library,' 140. leslie's 'musical annual,' 141. hood's 'poems,' 152. 'passages for modern english poets,' 152. ---characteristics of his work, 22, 23. ---advantages in studying them, 25. ---biographical notice of, 156, 157. ---appreciation of his work, 156, 157. millais, w., 114, 128. milton's 'poetical works,' harvey's illustrations to, 101. ---'comus' (1858), illustrations by foster, pickersgill, and weir, 109. 'ministering children' (1856), illustrations by b. foster and h. le jeune, 104. 'mirage of life,' the (1867), illustrations by tenniel, 135. _mirror, the_, 14. 'modern illustration' (pennell), 97, 114. 'months illustrated by pen and pencil' (1864), illustrations by r. barnes, j. gilbert, and j. w. north, 124. moore (albert), illustrations to 'ode on the nativity,' 135. moore, h., illustrations to: hood's 'poems,' 152. 'passages from modern english poets,' 152. moore's 'poetry and pictures' (1857), illustrations by b. foster, 108. ---'poems' (1858), 109. ---'irish melodies' (1867), illustrations by c. w. cope, b. foster, and h. weir, 133, 134. 'moral emblems' (1862), illustrations by j. leighton, 118. 'mores ridicula' (1870), illustrations by j. e. rogers, 141. morgan, c. w., 69, 90; illustrations to 'songs of many seasons,' 147. morgan, matt, 57, 76; illustrations to: _britannia_ and the _tomahawk_, 80. _illustrated london news_, 92. morten, t., illustrations to: _once a week_, 31, 34, 35. _good words_, 46, 48, 49. _london society_, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61. _churchman's family magazine_, 63, 64. _cassell's family paper_, 71. _every boy's magazine_, 85. _aunt judy's magazine_, 85. _beeton's annuals_, 87. 'famous boys,' 118. dalziels' 'arabian nights,' 122. 'a round of days,' 125. watts's 'divine and moral songs,' 128. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. 'idyllic pictures,' 131. 'two centuries of song,' 132. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132. 'gulliver's travels,' 133. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. 'mother's last words' (1866), illustrations by m. e. edwards and t. kennedy, 129. 'mrs. caudle's curtain lectures' (1864), illustrations by c. keene, 124. 'mrs. wind and madam rain' (1864), illustrations by c. h. bennett, 123. mulock (miss), 'the fairy book' (1876), illustrations by j. e. rogers, 141. mulready, w., illustrations in 'vicar of wakefield,' 99. ---his influence on the 'sixties,' 151. ---illustrations to tennyson's 'poems,' 105. 'munchausen' (1861), illustrations by a. crowquill, 114. murch, a., 146. murray, c. o., 85. murray, fairfax, viii; his rossetti collections, 160, 162. 'music-master,' 6, 99, 102, 160, 168. nash, t., 76. _nature and art_, 34. 'nature pictures' (1878), illustrations by j. h. dell, 147. 'new forest,' the (1862), illustrations by w. crane, 117. nicol erskine, illustrations to _good words_, 45. nixon, j. forbes, 85. 'nobility of life,' the (1869), illustrations by boyd houghton, c. green, j. mahoney, e. j. poynter, francis walker, and j. d. watson, 136, 137. north, j. w., illustrations to: _once a week_, 33, 35, 36. _good words_, 52. _sunday magazine_, 66, 67, 68. 'sacred poetry,' 123. 'our life,' 123. 'the months illustrated,' 124. 'a round of days,' 125. jean ingelow's 'poems,' 130. 'wayside poesies,' 130. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'spirit of praise,' 133. 'illustrated book of sacred poems,' 135. novello's 'national nursery rhymes' (1870), illustrations by boyd houghton, e. and t. dalziel, a. hughes, h. s. marks, j. mahoney, g. j. pinwell, w. small, w. j. wiegand, 141. oakes, j. w., 153. odd numbers, method for preserving, 7. 'ode on the morning of christ's nativity' (1867), illustrations by a. moore, w. small, etc., 135. 'odes and sonnets' (1859), illustrations by foster, sleigh, 110. 'old fairy tale,' an (1866), illustrations by r. doyle, 129. _olio, the_, 14. _once a week_, collectors of, 4, 7, 14. ---its original aim, 16. ---its characteristics, 17. ---its success and merits, 19, 20. ---its illustrations and illustrators, 16-37. ansdell, 34, 35. barnard, f., 37. barnes, r., 34-37. boyd houghton, a., 33, 34, 36. bradley, 34-37. brewtnall, 34, 35. brown, ford madox, 37. burton, 33. crane, w., 33. dobell, c., 33. du maurier, g., 30, 31, 33, 34, 37. duncan, e., 33, 34, 35. edwards, kate, 36. edwards, m. e., 32, 33, 35, 36, 37. eltze, f., 33. fairfield, 33. fraser, a. w., 34, 35, 36. fildes, s. l., 34, 35, 36, 37. gilbert, sir j., 33, 34, 36. goddard, 33, 34, 35. gray, p., 33, 34. green, c., 31, 32, 35. green, t., 36. griset, e., 35, 36. hughes, a., 34, 35. hughes, edward, 35. hunt holman, 30. keene, c., 25, 26. lawson, j., 33, 34, 35, 36. lawson, f. w., 35, 36, 37. leech, j., 20, 21. leighton, j., 35, 36. luard, j., 32. macbeth, r., 37. mahoney, j., 36, 37. marks, h. s., 33, 34. mearns (miss), 33. miles, h. j., 34, 35. millais, j. e., 22-25, 37. morten, t., 31, 34. north, j. n., 33, 36. paterson, h., 36, 37. pinwell, g. j., 30, 31, 35, 36, 37. poynter, e. j., 31, 35. prinsep, val, 37. pritchett, r. t., 33. sandys, f., 29, 30, 33. scott. t., 36. sheil, e., 35, 36. shields, f. j., 32, 35. skelton, 33. slinger, 33. small, w., 33, 34, 35, 36. solomon, s., 32. straszinski, 36. sulman, t., 36. tenniel, j., 21, 22, 35. walker, fred, 26, 27, 33. watson, j. d., 33. wells (miss), 33. whistler, j. m'n., 30. white, 33. wimpress, e. m., 36. wolf, j., 33. 'one year' (1862), illustrations by c. dobell, 118. orchardson, w. q., illustrations to: _good words_, 44, 45, 55. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'original pictures' (1868), illustrations by r. barnes, a. w. bayes, etc., 135. 'our life illustrated by pen and pencil' (1864), illustrations by barnes, du maurier, north, pinwell, h. c. selous, and j. d. watson, 123. _oxford and cambridge magazine_ (1856), 161. 'pageant,' the, 125. palgrave's 'five days' entertainment at wentworth grange' (1868), illustrations by a. hughes, 136. palmer, s., 103, 110, 114, 128, 137. _pan_, 92, 93. 'papers for thoughtful girls' (1862), illustrations by j. e. millais, 118. 'parables from nature' (1867), illustrations by e. burne-jones, m. e. edwards, l. frölich, holman hunt, f. keyl, otto specker, j. tenniel, and h. weir, 114. 'parables of our lord' (1863), illustrations by j. e. millais, 119, 120, 121. _parterre, the_, 14. partridge and co., publications of, 15. pasquier, j., 58, 60, 69, 75, 76, 85, 87, 92, 132. 'passages from modern english poets' (1862 and 1876), illustrations by junior etching club (millais, whistler, tenniel, h. moore, m. j. lawless, h. s. marks, c. keene, c. rossetti, f. smallfield, viscount bury, lord c. g. fitzgerald, j. w. oakes, a. j. lewis, f. powell, j. sleigh, h. c. whaite, w. severn, w. gale, and t. clark), 118, 152, 153. 'patient henry' (1866), illustrations by boyd houghton, 129. paterson, h., 37, 43, 62, 73. paterson, r., 45, 141. paton, sir noel, illustrations to: _cornhill_, 41. 'puck on pegasus,' 118. aytoun's 'lays,' 123. 'gems of literature,' 127. 'the water babies,' 137. 'golden treasury series,' 138. 'pegasus re-saddled' (1877), illustrations by du maurier, 147, 148. 'pen and pencil pictures from the poets' (1866), illustrations by k. halswelle, j. lawson, j. m'whirter, pettie, and w. small, 127. pennell, joseph, viii, 3, 10. ---'pen drawing and pen draughtsmen,' 65, 97. ---'modern illustrations,' 97, 114. ---arguments for wood-engraving, 97. ---on shield's illustrations, 118. ---eulogy on f. sandys in _the quarto_, 172. 'pen drawing and pen draughtsmen' (pennell), 65, 97. _penny illustrated paper_, 92. _penny illustrated weekly news_, 92. _penny magazine_, 13. _people's journal, the_, 14. _people's magazine_, 34. periodicals, legitimate field for illustration, 9. ---estimation of, 14-15. perry, t. w., 80. _peter parley's annuals_, 87. pettie, john, illustrations to: _good words_, 45, 46, 48, 49. _sunday magazine_, 69, 70. _good words for the young_, 78. 'the postman's bag,' 46. wordsworth's 'poems for the young,' 118, 123. 'pen and pencil pictures,' 127. 'touches of nature,' 131. phillips (c.), monograph on f. walker, 165. 'philip in church,' 40. 'phiz,' quality of his art work, 18, 19, 38. ---illustrations to 'puck on pegasus,' 118. pickersgill, f. r., 56, 64, 101. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. poe's 'poetical works,' 107. 'home affections,' 108. 'comus,' 109. 'the seasons,' 111. montgomery's 'poems,' 112. 'sacred poetry,' 115. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. 'art pictures from old testament,' 147. 'the lord's prayer,' 148. 'pickwick papers,' 18, 19. 'pictorial press' (jackson), 92, 98. 'pictures from english literature' (1870), illustrations by du maurier, s. l. fildes, w. small, w. c. thomas, and j. d. watson, 141. 'pictures of english life' (1864), illustrations by r. barnes, 124. 'pictures of english landscape' (1863), illustrations by b. foster, 117. 'pictures of society' (1866), reprints of illustrations by sandys, lawless, etc., 128, 129. pinnock's _guide to knowledge_, 14. pinwell, g. j., illustrations to: _once a week_, 29, 30, 35, 36, 37, 167. _cornhill magazine_, 41. _good words_, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55. _london society_, 57, 58, 59. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. _sunday magazine_, 66, 69, 70. _cassell's magazine_, 72. _argosy_, 74. _quiver_, 74, 75. _good words for the young_, 78. _sunday at home_, 84. _punch_, 88. _graphic_, 93. 'arabian nights' (dalziels'), 122, 167. 'our life,' 123. 'hacco the dwarf,' 123, 124, 166. 'a round of days,' 125. dalziels' 'goldsmith,' 126, 167. jean ingelow's 'poems,' 130, 167. 'ballad stories of the affections,' 130. 'wayside poesies,' 130. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'idyllic pictures,' 131. 'spirit of praise,' 133. 'lilliput levée,' 134, 166. 'north coast and other poems,' 134. 'golden thoughts from golden fountains,' 134. 'national nursery rhymes,' 141. leslie's 'musical annual,' 141. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. 'art pictures from the old testament,' 147. 'the happy home,' 166. ---biographical account of, 166, 167, 168. ---quilter (h.), on, 167. ---comparison with walker and boyd houghton, 167. 'pleasures of memory' (1869), illustrations by s. palmer, j. d. watson, c. green, etc., 137, 138. poe's 'poetical works' (1856), illustrations by: wehnert, etc., 104. (1857), tenniel, pickersgill, birket foster, p. skelton, felix darley, duggan, j. cropsey, madot, 107, 108. 'poems and pictures' (1846), 99. 'poems for the young' (1862), illustrations by j. m'whirter and j. pettie, 118. 'poetry of the elizabethan age' (1861), illustrations by b. foster, j. gilbert, and e. m. wimperis, 115. 'poetry of nature' (1861), illustrations by h. weir, 113. ---new edition (1867), 135. ---(1868, edited by j. cundall), illustrations by w. crane, 136. 'poets of the nineteenth century' (1857), illustrations by millais, ford madox brown, birket foster, w. harvey, j. gilbert, tenniel, clayton, t. dalziel, j. godwin, e. h. corbould, d. edwards, e. duncan, arthur hughes, w. b. leitch, e. a. goodall, t. d. hardy, f. r. pickersgill, h. weir, 106, 107. pollok's 'course of time' (1857), illustrations by b. foster, clayton, and tenniel, 104, 105. portch, j., 56, 115, 118. porter, j. l., 46. 'postman's bag' (1861), illustrations by j. pettie, 116. powell, f., 153. poynter, e. j., illustrations to: _once a week_, 31, 35. _london society_, 56, 58. _churchman's family magazine_, 63. jean ingelow's 'poems,' 130. 'nobility of life,' 136. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. pre-raphaelitism, w. m. rossetti on, 98, 99. ---influence of, 99, 150. ---somes layard on, 105. ---exposition of, 168, 169. pritchett, r. t., 33, 34, 35, 50, 65, 67, 72, 83. process-work, influence on illustration, 11, 108. proctor, j., illustrations to _judy_, 90. ---illustrations in _will o' the wisp_, 91, 129. 'prodigal son,' the, fred walker's illustrations to, 27. prinsep, val, 37. print-splitting, 7, 8. priolo, paulo, 64, 84, 123. 'proverbs of solomon' (1858), illustrations by j. gilbert, 107. 'proverbs with pictures' (1858), illustrations by c. h. bennett, 109. _punch_, 14, 17. ---spielmann's history of, 88. ---selected list of its illustrators, 88, 89. crane, walter, 88. du maurier, g., 88, 89. gray, paul, 88. griset, ernest, 88. keene, charles, 88, 89. lawless, m. j., 88. lawson, f. w., 88. millais, sir j., 88. pinwell, g. j., 88. sambourne, linley, 88. tenniel, sir j., 88. thomson, j. g., 88. walker, fred, 88. _punch and judy_, illustrations in graphotype, 91. 'puck on pegasus' (1862), illustrations by doyle, m. e. edwards, leech, millais, noel paton, 'phiz,' and portch, 118, 135. 'pupils of st. john the divine' (1867), illustrations by e. armitage, 135. quarles's 'emblems' (1861), illustrations by c. h. bennett, 113. _quarto, the_, 125. quilter, harry, on pinwell, 167. _quiver_, illustrations and illustrators of, 74, 75. barnes, r., 74, 75. boyd houghton, a., 74, 75. dunn, edith, 75. edwards, m. e., 74. fildes, s. l., 75. gray, paul, 74. herkomer, h., 75. lawson, j., 75. lawson, f. w., 75. leitch, r. p., 74. mahoney, j., 75. pasquier, j. a., 75. pinwell, g. j., 74, 75. ridley, m. w., 75. sandys, f., 74. small, w., 74, 75. staniland, c. j., 75. thomas, g. j., 74, 75. watson, j. d., 75. ---reprint of illustrations in 'idyllic pictures,' 1867 in volume, 74. ralston, j. m'l., 138. read, s., 92, 108, 115. reade, (c.), 'the cloister and the hearth' ('a good fight'), 20. ---'foul play,' 37. ---'put yourself in his place,' 42. redgrave, r., 101, 117. rethel's influence, 151. 'rhymes and roundelays' (1856), illustrations by birket foster, 103. rice, 60. rich, a., 146. 'ridicula rediviva' (1870), illustrations by j. e. rogers, 141. ridley, b., 61. ridley, m. w., 72, 75, 80, 85. rivière, briton, illustrations to: _good words_, 54. _good words for the young_, 78. robertson, h. r., 147. robinson, t., 80. rogers, w. h., 113. ---'spiritual conceits,' 116. rogers, j. e., illustrations to 'mores ridicula,' 'ridicula rediviva,' and miss mulock's 'fairy tales,' 141. 'romola,' 41. 'roses and holly' (1867), 134. rossiter, c., 153. rossetti, christina, _amor mundi_, sandys's illustration to, 65. ---'if,' sandys's illustrations, 74. ---'goblin market' (1862), illustrations by d. g. rossetti, 117, 162. ---'the prince's progress' (1865), illustrations by d. g. rossetti, 125. ---'sing song' (1872), illustrations by a. hughes, 171. rossetti, christina, 'speaking likenesses' (1874), illustrations by a. hughes, 171. rossetti, d. g., opinion on wood as an artistic medium, 47. ---designs to tennyson's 'poems,' 105, 158, 161. ---'goblin market,' 117, 161, 162. ---'the prince's progress,' 125, 161. ---biographical notice of, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162. ---his relations with a. hughes, 159, 160. ---prices received for his work, 158. ---frontispiece to 'early italian poets,' 160. ---frontispiece to 'the risen life,' 160. ---'the queen's page,' 160. ---burne-jones on, 161. ---'day and night songs,' 161. ---'flower pieces,' 160. ---'life and phantasy,' 160. ---number of book-illustrations and their importance, 160, 161, 162. rossetti, w. m., on pre-raphaelitism, 98, 99, 105. ---his biography of d. g. rossetti, 158, 159. 'round of days,' a (1865), 4; illustrations by a. w. bayes, boyd houghton, w. brooks, t. and e. dalziel, p. gray, j. w. north, t. morten, f. walker, and j. d. watson, 125. _routledge's christmas annuals_, 87. rowlandson, 18. ruskin, j., criticism of the engraving of the 'sixties,' 154. 'sacred poetry' (1862), illustrations by g. h. andrews, h. h. armstead, w. p. burton, j. gilbert, holman hunt, c. keene, h. s. marks, f. r. pickersgill, s. read, f. smallfield, j. sleigh, f. sandys, f. walker, j. d. watson, and h. weir, 115. _saint paul's magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 76, 77. fraser, f. a., 77. millais, j. e., 77. sala, g. a., 38. 'salamandrine,' the (1853), gilbert's illustrations to, 100, 101. sanderson, h., illustrations to: _london society_, 56, 57. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. _fun_, 89. sandys, frederick, quality of his work, 29; illustrations to: _once a week_, 29, 30, 33. _cornhill magazine_, 40, 42. _good words_, 46, 47, 49. _london society_, 62. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. _shilling magazine_, 65. _argosy_, 74. _quiver_, 74. _churchman's shilling magazine_, 129. supplement to the _british architect_, 174. _english illustrated magazine_, 173. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'idyllic pictures,' 131. hurst and blackett's 'standard library,' 140, 141. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 143, 144, 145, 172. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. _century guild hobby horse_, 173. 'the shaving of shagpat,' 174. ---complete list, 172, 173. ---portraits of arnold, green, and browning, 174. ---miss mulock's 'christian's mistake,' 174. ---critical and biographical summary of, 172, 173, 174, 175. ---mr. gray on, 131, 172. ---mr. pennell on, in _the quarto_, 172. ---prof. herkomer on, 172. ---mr. gosse on, 172. ---sandys's complaint of engravers, 174. sambourne, linley, illustrations to: _london society_, 61. _punch_, 88. sargent, waldo, 57. _saturday journal_, 66. _saturday magazine, the_, 14. 'savage club papers' (1867), illustrations by boyd houghton, du maurier, and j. d. watson, 135; (1868) 136. _savoy, the_, 125. scharf, g., illustrations to keats's 'poems,' 129. scott's 'poems' (1866), illustrations by k. halswelle, 127. ---'lady of the lake' (1856), illustrations by gilbert, 104. scott, david, illustrations to: 'pilgrim's progress,' 114. 'ancient mariner,' 114. scott, t., 36, 133. scott, w. b., 100; illustrations to: 'pilgrim's progress,' 114. landon's 'poetical works,' 140. 'scouring of the white horse,' the (1858), illustrations by doyle, 109. seccombe, colonel t. s., 58, 89, 92, 137. seguin, l., 'rural england' (1885), 148. selous, h. c., 64, 84, 100, 123, 128, 133, 135. 'settlers of long arrow,' fred walker's illustrations to, 27. severn, w., 153. 'shakespeare, his birthplace' (1861), illustrations by w. j. linton, 113. shakespeare's 'works' (1856-8), illustrations by gilbert, 104. shakespeare's 'works' (1865), illustrations by h. c. selous, 128. ---'merchant of venice' (1860), illustrations by g. h. thomas, b. foster, h. brandling, h. rogers, 110. _sharp's magazine_, 14. sharp (w.), monograph on d. g. rossetti, 160. sheil, e., 36. shields, f., illustrations to: defoe's 'history of the plague,' 118. 'touches of nature,' 131. _once a week_, 32, 35. _sunday magazine_, 68. _shilling magazine_, 7. ---illustrators and illustrations of, 65. ---sandys's designs to _amor mundi_, etc., 65. ---watson's, j. d., 65. ---gray, paul, 65. ---pritchett, r. t., 65. ---lamont, t. r., 65. ---lawson, j., 65. ---hughes, edward, 65. ---small, w., 65. 'sintram and his companions,' selous's illustrations to, 100. 'sir christopher,' millais's illustrations to, 25. 'sister anne's probation,' millais's illustrations to, 24. 'sixties,' the, first public appreciation of the art of, 3. ---contemporary appreciation of the artists of, 4. ---collection of the wood-engravings of, 6. ---interest in the art of, 11. ---comparison with the art of the present day, 10, 12. ---work of engraver in, 13. ---origin of the movement in _once a week_, 14. ---appreciation of, 15. ---summary of the work of the artists of, 148, 149. ---biographical notices of the artists of, 155-176. skelton, p., 33, 35, 64, 92, 108, 109, 110, 123, 133, 137, 141, 146. skill, f. j., 57, 133. sleigh, h., 110, 115. sleigh, j., 153. slinger, f. j., 33, 34, 68. small, w., 43; illustrations to: _once a week_, 33-36. _good words_, 51-55. ---quality of his work in, 51, 52. 'the woman's kingdom,' 53. _london society_, 59, 60, 62. _shilling magazine_, 65. _sunday magazine_, 67-69, 71. _cassell's family paper_, 71. _cassell's magazine_, 72, 73. _argosy_, 74. _quiver_, 74, 75. _good words for the young_, 79. _sunday at home_, 84. _graphic_, 93. 'words for the wise,' 124. 'pen and pencil pictures,' 127. 'children's hour,' 129. jean ingelow's 'poems,' 130. 'ballad stories of the affections,' 130. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'idyllic pictures,' 131. 'two centuries of song,' 132. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132, 133. heber's 'hymns,' 133. 'spirit of praise,' 133. 'washerwoman's foundling,' 133. 'north coast and other poems,' 134. 'goden thoughts from golden fountains,' 134. 'ode on the morning of christ's nativity,' 135. 'illustrated book of sacred poems,' 135. cassell's 'illustrated readings,' 135. 'standard poets,' 140. novello's 'national nursery rhymes,' 141. 'pictures from english literature,' 141. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. smallfield, f., 115, 153. 'small house at allington,' 40, 41. solomon, a., 110, 114. solomon, rebecca, 57, 64. solomon, simeon, illustrations to: _once a week_, 32. _good words_, 46, 47. _dark blue_, 81. _leisure hour_, 83. dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. 'art pictures from the old testament,' 147. 'songs and ballads of brittany' (1865), tenniel's illustrations to, 21. 'songs of many seasons' (1876), illustrations by w. crane, du maurier, and c. w. morgan, 147. 'songs and sonnets of shakespeare' (1861), illustrations by gilbert, 115. specker, otto, 114. 'spirit of praise, the' (1867), illustrations by boyd houghton, t. dalziel, p. gray, j. w. north, g. j. pinwell, and w. small, 133. 'spiritual conceits' (1861), illustrations by h. rogers, 116. stanfield, c., illustrations to tennyson's 'poems,' 105. staniland, c. j., 72, 75, 83, 132, 141. stanton, clark, 45. stanton, h., 61. steele, gourlay, 45. stenhouse, c., 101. stone, marcus, illustrations to: _cornhill magazine_, 43. _london society_, 57, 58. _sunday magazine_, 66, 67. 'touches of nature,' 131. 'stories from memel' (1868), illustrations by w. crane, 136. 'stories little breeches told' (1862), illustrations by c. h. bennett, 118. 'stories of old' (1862), illustrations by w. crane, 118. 'stories told to a child' (1866), illustrations by boyd houghton, 129. 'story of elizabeth,' 40. 'story without an end' (1867), illustrations by e. v. b., 135. strahan, a., 65, 66. _strand magazine_, 14. straszinski, l., 36. stretch, matt, 89. sulman, t., 36, 64, 78, 92. _sunday at home_, 34. ---illustrations and illustrators of, 84. barnes, r., 84. du maurier, g. (?), 84. fildes, s. l., 84. gilbert, sir j., 84. green, c., 84. lawson, f. w., 84. mahoney, j., 84. pinwell, c. j., 84. small, w., 84. _sunday magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 65-71. barnes, r., 66, 67, 68, 70. bayes, a. w., 68. boyd houghton, a., 66-71. dalziel, t., 67, 69. edwards, m. e., 66, 67. eltze, f., 67. fildes, s. l., 69. foster, birket, 67. fraser, f. a., 67, 69, 70. french, h., 70. gray, paul, 66, 67. green, c., 71. green, townley, 70. herkomer, hubert, 71. hughes, a., 70, 71. hughes, e., 68, 70. lamont, miles, 69. lawson, f. w., 66-69. lawson, j., 66, 67. leighton, john, 71. leitch, r. p., 67. macbeth, r., 71. m'connell, w., 67. m'whirter, j., 70. mahoney, j., 67, 69, 70, 71. morgan, c., 69. north, j. w., 66, 67, 68. pasquier, 69. pettie, j., 69, 70. pinwell, g. j., 66, 69, 70. pritchett, r. t., 67. shields, f. j., 68. slinger, f. j., 67. small, w., 67, 68, 69, 71. stone, marcus, 66, 67. thomson, j. gordon, 68, 69. walker, francis, 70. watson, j. d., 69. whymper, e., 67. wiegand, w. j., 70. wolf, j., 68, 69. swain, 12, 13, 179, 180. sweeting, t., 61. 'sybil and her snowball' (1866), illustrations by r. barnes, 129. symbolists, 18. tayler, f., 101. taylor, hughes, 45. tenniel, john, illustrations to: _once a week_, 21, 22, 35. _good words_, 46, 48, 49, 50. _punch_, 88. 'juvenile verse and picture book,' 100. pollok's 'course of time,' 104. 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. poe's 'works,' 107. 'home affections,' 108, 109. blair's 'grave,' 109. moore's 'lalla rookh,' 112. 'parables from nature,' 114. 'puck on pegasus,' 118. dalziels' 'arabian nights,' 122. 'ingoldsby legends,' 123. 'english sacred poetry,' 123. 'alice in wonderland,' 127. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. 'mirage of life,' 135. 'a noble life,' 140. 'passages from modern english poets,' 152. tennyson's 'poems,' (moxon edition), 4, 6, 99, 102. ---illustrations by rossetti, millais, holman hunt, mulready, creswick, horsley, stanfield, maclise, 105. ---rossetti's designs to, 13, 105. ---'loves of the wrens,' a. hughes's designs to, 54, 55. ---'criticism of the moxon poems,' 105, 106. ---'may queen' (1861), illustrations by e. v. b., 113. ---'enoch arden' (1866), illustrations by a. hughes, 127. tennyson's 'loves of the wrens' (1870). ---hughes's illustrations to, 171. ---'the princess,' illustrations by maclise, 112. thackeray (miss), 'story of elizabeth,' 40. ---'village on the cliff,' 42. ---'old kensington,' 43. thackeray (w. m.), quality of his drawings, 18. ---walker's illustration to, 18. ---'vanity fair,' 19. ---editor of _cornhill_, 38. ---'love the widower,' 38. ---'adventures of philip,' 40. ---'denis duval,' 41. ---portrait by armitage, 42. 'things for nests' (1867), 134. thomas, g. h., illustrations to: _cornhill magazine_, 41, 42. _london society_, 57, 58, 156. _churchman's family magazine_, 64. _cassell's magazine_, 72, 156. _quiver_, 74, 75, 156. _broadway_, 76. _illustrated london news_, 92, 156. 'uncle tom's cabin,' 101. gray's 'elegy,' 101. 'vicar of wakefield,' 101. longfellow's 'hiawatha,' 102, 156. 'pilgrim's progress,' 107. 'merrie days of england,' 109. 'hiawatha,' 110, 156. thomson's 'seasons,' 111. 'household song,' 114. 'early english poems,' 117. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. 'robinson crusoe,' 123. 'aunt gatty's life,' 129. 'idyllic pictures,' 132. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 131. ---biographical notice of, 155, 156. ---obtains the society of arts prize, 155. ---sets up as a wood engraver, 155. ---engraves bank notes, 155. ---the garibaldi illustrations, 156. ---is employed by the queen, 156. ---illustrations to 'armadale,' 156. thomas, w. cave, 57, 128, 141. thomas, w. l., 60, 61. thompson, alfred, 76. thompson, alice, 76. thomson, j. g., 59, 60, 68, 69, 85, 87, 88, 89, 138. thomson, w. e., 147. thomson's 'seasons' (1852), 101. ---(1854), 101. ---(1859), illustrations by b. foster, humphreys, pickersgill, thomas, and wolf, 111. thornbury's 'legendary ballads' (1876), 4. ---illustrations by boyd houghton, lawless, t. green, du maurier, f. eltze, j. lawson, a. fairfield, e. h. coebould, a. rich, t. r. macquoid, c. green, t. morten, j. tenniel, w. small, p. skelton, pinwell, sandys, whistler, and walker, 143, 144, 145, 146. thornbury's 'legends of cavaliers and roundheads' (1857), illustrations by h. s. marks, 107. ---'two centuries of song (1867), illustrations by g. leslie, h. s. marks, t. morten, and w. small, 132. _tinsley's magazine_, illustrations and illustrators of, 76. boyd houghton, a., 76. browne, h. k. ('phiz'), 76. brunton, w. d., 76. cooper, a. w., 76. friston, d. h., 76. thompson, alice, 76. watson, j. d., 76. tissot, illustrations to 'ballads and songs of brittany,' 127. _tomahawk_, illustrations to, by matt morgan, 80. 'toilers in art,' 180. 'touches of nature by eminent artists' (1866), illustrations by r. barnes, boyd houghton, h. h. armstead, du maurier, p. gray, c. keene, j. mahoney, j. e. millais, j. w. north, w. orchardson, g. j. pinwell, f. sandys, f. j. shields, marcus stone, j. pettie, w. small, g. tenniel, f. walker, and j. d. watson, 130, 131. townsend, h. j., 101. 'trilby,' 9. trollope, millais's illustrations to, 18, 39, 40. ---'framley parsonage,' 40. ---'small house at allington,' 40, 41. tupper's 'proverbial philosophy' (1854), illustrations by cope, corbould, birket foster, john gilbert, horsley, and pickersgill, 101. 'uncle tom's cabin,' illustrations to, by g. thomas, 101. 'undine' (1846), tenniel's illustrations to, 100. 'vagrants,' the, by fred walker, 27, 34. 'verner's pride,' keene's illustrations to, 26. 'vicar of wakefield,' mulready's illustrations to, 99. ---thomas's illustrations to, 101. 'victorian history of england,' the (1864), illustrations by boyd houghton, 124. 'vikram and the vampire' (1869), illustrations by e. griset, 137. vining, h. m., 64. 'voyage of the constance,' the (1859), illustrations by c. keene, 110, 111. walker, francis, 54, 62, 70, 72, 78, 79, 89, 136, 146. walker, fred, illustrations to thackeray's works, 18. _once a week_, 26, 27, 33, 37, 165. 'cornhill gallery,' 39. _cornhill_, 40, 41, 42, 165. 'adventures of philip,' 40. 'philip in church,' 40. 'story of elizabeth,' 40, 41. 'denis duval,' 41. 'village on the cliff,' 42. _good words_, 45, 48, 50, 165. _london society_, 56. _punch_, 88. 'sacred poetry,' 115, 123. 'a round of days,' 125. 'wayside poesies,' 130. 'touches of nature,' 131. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 144, 146. ---biographical account of, 165, 166. ---employed by mr. whymper, 165. ---anecdote of him, 165, 166. ---monograph on, by c. phillips, 165. ---menzel's influence on, 166. ---paper in _good words_ by j. swain, 179. waltges, f. s., 146. 'washerwoman's foundling' (1867), illustrations by w. small, 133. watson, j. d., illustrations to: _once a week_, 33. _good words_, 46, 48, 49. _london society_, 56-62. _churchman's family magazine_, 63, 64. _shilling magazine_, 65. _sunday magazine_, 69. _cassell's magazine_, 72. _quiver_, 75. _tinsley's magazine_, 76. _british workman_, 81. eliza cook's 'poems,' 102. 'pilgrim's progress,' 112, 113. 'sacred poetry,' 115. 'the gold thread,' 116. dalziels' 'arabian nights,' 122. 'english sacred poetry,' 123. 'our life,' 123. 'robinson crusoe,' 123. 'the golden harp,' 124. 'what men have said about women,' 124. 'a round of days,' 125. watts's 'divine and moral songs,' 128. 'legends and lyrics,' 128. 'ellen montgomery's bookshelf,' 129. 'ballad stories of the affections,' 130. 'touches of nature,' 131. foxe's 'book of martyrs,' 132. 'little songs for little folks,' 133. 'savage club papers,' 135. 'illustrated book of sacred poems,' 135. cassell's 'illustrated readings,' 135. 'nobility of life,' 136. 'choice series,' 137. 'barbara's history,' 140. leslie's 'musical annual,' 141. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 146. watts, g. f., illustrations to dalziels' 'bible gallery,' 146. 'wayside poesies' (1867), illustrations by j. w. north, g. j. pinwell, and f. walker, 4, 130. webster, t., 101. wehnert, e. h., 64, 85, 101. ---illustrations to poe's 'works,' 104. weigall, 100. weir, harrison, 81, 82, 102; illustrations to: 'poets of nineteenth century,' 107. 'gertrude of wyoming,' 108. 'home affections,' 108. 'comus,' 109. montgomery's 'poems,' 112. 'poetry of nature,' 113, 135. 'parables from nature,' 114. 'sacred poetry,' 115. moore's 'irish melodies,' 133. æsop's 'fables,' 133. 'choice series,' 137. 'episodes of fiction,' 141. wells, miss, 33. whaite, h. c., 153. 'what men have said about women' (1864), illustrations by j. d. watson, 124. 'what the moon saw' (1866), illustrations by a. w. bayes, 129. whistler, j. m'neill, illustrations to: _once a week_, 29. _good words_, 46, 47. thornbury's 'legendary ballads,' 145. 'passages from modern english poets,' 152. white, d. t., 80. white line engraving, 81. white, t., 33. whittingham, c., his care in choosing wood-engravings, 98. whymper, e., 67, 84. ---'scrambles among the alps' (1870), 141. ---'ancient mariner,' 104. wiegand, w. j., 70, 78, 79, 141. williams, s., 101. _will o' the wisp_, illustrations in, by j. proctor, 91. wimpress, e., 35, 36, 115, 136. wirgman, t. b., 72. 'wives and daughters,' 41, 42. wolf, j., 33, 35, 46, 50, 68, 69, 82, 102, 109, 112, 115, 118, 130, 134. 'woman i loved,' the, keene's illustrations to, 26. wood engravings _versus_ process, ix; collection of, 6. ---print-splitting, 7. ---factories for the spply of, 11. ---responsibility of artists in, 12. ---work of publisher in, 12. ---advantages of over etching, 39. ---rossetti's opinion of the material, 47. ---white line, 81. ---arguments in favour of, 97. ---whittingham's care in choosing, 98. ---influence of g. doré on, 122. ---critics of 1865-66 on, 129. wood, fane, 60. wood's 'natural history' (1862), illustrations by j. wolf and zwecker, 118. ---'bible animals' (1867), 135. woolner, t., 138. 'words for the wise' (1864), illustrations by w. small, 124. wordsworth's 'selected poems' (1859), illustrations by foster, gilbert, and wolf, 109. ---'white doe of rylstone' (1859), illustrations by foster and humphreys, 109. ---'poetry for the young' (1863), illustrations by j. m'whirter and j. pettie, 123. wyon, l. c., 81. _yellow book, the_, 125. zwecker, j. b., 46, 54, 57, 64, 78, 79, 118, 134, 135. printed by t. and a. constable, printers to his majesty, at the edinburgh university press footnotes: [1] engraved by dalziels about double the size of this page, the subject was issued afterwards in _the day of rest_ (strahan). [2] this is entitled _too soon_, in _pictures of society_, 1867. [3] 'j. b.' was mrs. blackburn, wife of hugh blackburn, professor of mathematics in the university of glasgow. landseer said that in the drawing of animals he had nothing to teach her. [4] possibly a. r. fairfield. [5] the british museum has no copy, and my own has been mislaid. [6] the first edition, 3 vols., 1841, was illustrated by cruikshank and leech only. [7] virtues issued another edition in 1845. [8] _in memoriam, george h. thomas_ (cassell, undated), a folio volume with about one hundred illustrations. [9] _dante gabriel rossetti: letters and memories_, by william michael rossetti. ellis and elvey, 1895, vol. i. p. 189. [10] a silver-print photograph only. [11] a catalogue of forty designs by a. boyd houghton, exhibited at _the sign of the dial_, 53 warwick street, w. [1896]. [12] _arthur boyd houghton_, by laurence housman, kegan paul & co., 1896. [13] _the portfolio_, june 1894: 'frederick walker,' by claude phillips. [14] preface to a catalogue of the _birmingham society of artists_, march 1895. [15] _century guild hobby horse_, vol. iii. p. 47 (1888). [16] march 1884. [17] no. 1, 1896. [18] 1876, i. 176. [19] a large broadsheet reproduced by some lithographic process. [20] owned by mr. fairfax murray. [21] _toilers in art_, edited by h. c. ewart (isbister and co.). * * * * * * transcribers' note: punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unpaired quotation marks were retained. ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. repeated inconsistent spellings, such as "mac donald" and "macdonald", have beeen retained. list of illustrations: the illustation "down stream, from the original drawing...." was not found in the printed book. page 61: "linley sambourne" was italicized, but most artists' names are not. page 64: "frederick sandys,del." was printed without a space after the comma in at least two editions. page 192: "1867, 4to" was printed that way. the connoisseur's library general editor: cyril davenport fine books [illustration: deucalion et pyrrha repeuplant la terre, suivant l'oracle de themis.] fine books by alfred w. pollard [illustration: the connoisseur's library] new york: g. p. putnam's sons london: methuen & co. ltd. 1912 to sir edward maunde thompson, g.c.b. director and principal librarian of the british museum 1888-1909 preface if the mere taking of trouble ensured good work, this contribution to the _connoisseur's library_ should be entitled to the modest praise of being "superior to the rest" of its author's book-makings, since it has been ten years on the stocks and much of it has been written two or three times over, either because the writer's own information had increased or to take account of the successful researches of others. yet in the end defeat in one main point has to be acknowledged. the book was begun with a confident determination to cover the whole ground, from the beginnings of printing and printed book-illustration down to our own day, and in the case of printing the survey has been carried through, however sketchily. but the corresponding survey of book-illustration ends, with rather obvious marks of compression and fatigue, about 1780, leaving the story of a hundred and thirty years of very interesting picture-work untold. pioneering is always so exciting that recognition of the impossibility of carrying out the full plan of the book within the limits either of the present volume or of the author's working life was not made without sincere regret. the subject, however, of the abandoned chapter was not only very large, but very miscellaneous, and the survey for it would have had to include at least three other countries (france, germany, and the united states) besides our own. to one section, moreover, that of illustrations in colour, a separate volume of this series has already been devoted. the author would, therefore, fain console himself with the hope that in one or more other volumes a competent account may be given by some other hand of the wood-engravings, etchings, steel-engravings, and lithographs, with which books have been decorated since 1780. the poorness of paper and print with which these modern illustrated books have too often been handicapped has caused collectors to take little interest in them--it even suggested the unworthy excuse for the failure to write the missing chapter that these are not really _fine books_, but only books with fine pictures in them, and so are outside our subject. but both students and collectors have their duties as well as their delights, and in view of the high artistic value of quite a large proportion of these modern illustrations, the preservation of clean and uncropped copies of the books in which they occur and the tribute of careful cataloguing and description are certainly their due. while the desired completeness has not been attained the ground here covered is still very wide, and for the book as a whole no more can be claimed than that it is a compilation from the best sources--a list of these will be found in the bibliography--controlled by some personal knowledge, the amount of which naturally varies very much from chapter to chapter. the obligations incurred in writing it have thus been great, and a sad number of these are to fellow-workers and friends--proctor, john macfarlane, w. h. allnutt, konrad burger, dr. lippmann, anatole claudin, and the prince d'essling--who have died while the book has been in progress. among those still happily alive acknowledgment must specially be made to sir sidney colvin for help received from his masterly introduction to the great monograph on _early engravers and engraving in england_ published by the trustees of the british museum; to mr. a. m. hind for use made of the list of engravers and their works in the same book; to mr. campbell dodgson for dippings into the wealth of information in his _catalogue of german and flemish woodcuts in the print room of the british museum_ (vols. i and ii); to mr. gordon duff for help derived from his three series of sandars lectures on english printing, and to mr. evans for information obtained from his _american bibliography_. among other obligations the chief is to the writers (notably mr. h. r. plomer) of numerous papers contributed to the _transactions_ of the bibliographical society and to _the library_, and these are acknowledged with special pleasure. a. w. p. contents page chapter i. collectors and collecting 1 " ii. block-books 19 " iii. the invention of printing--holland 32 " iv. the invention of printing--mainz 44 " v. other incunabula 59 " vi. the development of printing 83 " vii. early german and dutch illustrated books 100 " viii. early italian illustrated books 123 " ix. early french and spanish illustrated books 143 " x. later foreign books 165 " xi. foreign illustrated books of the 16th century 180 " xii. printing in england (1476-1580) 204 " xiii. english books printed elsewhere than at london 224 " xiv. english woodcut illustrations 250 " xv. engraved illustrations 267 " xvi. modern fine printing 297 bibliography 309 index 319 list of plates i. deucalion and pyrrha repeopling the world. from ovid's _metamorphoses_, paris, 1767 _frontispiece_ to face page ii. an author (caxton?) presenting a book to margaret of burgundy. fifteenth century engraving inserted in the chatsworth copy of the _recuyell of the historyes of troye_ 1 (from the plate made for the bibliographical society's edition of mr. seymour de ricci's _census of caxtons_.) iii. the "bona inspiratio angeli contra vanam gloriam." from a smaller version of the _ars moriendi_. block-book from the lower rhine, _c._ 1465 26 iv. leaf 3a of a fragment of the _doctrinale_ of alexander gallus. one of the so-called "costeriana" 32 v. beginning, with printed capital, of the _rationale diuinorum officiorum_ of gulielmus duranti. mainz, fust and schoeffer, 1459 44 vi. leaf 7b of the first book printed at cologne, cicero, _de officiis_, ulrich zel, not later than 1466 60 the space left in the sixth line from the foot stands for the words _ab ostentatione_, which the printer apparently could not read in his manuscript. the word _vacat_ at the end was inserted to show that the space in the last line was accidental and that nothing had been omitted. vii. leaf 41a of cicero's _rhetorica_, venice, nicolas jenson, 1470, showing spaces left for a chapter heading and capital 84 viii. part of leaf 4a, with woodcut, from the _geschicht von dem seligen kind symon_ of tuberinus. augsburg, günther zainer, about 1475 100 ix. woodcuts of saracens and syrians from breidenbach's _sanctae peregrinationis in montem syon atque in montem sinai descriptio_. mainz, erhard reuwich, 1486 114 x. woodcut on leaf 1b of the _egloga theoduli_. leipzig, conrad kachelofen, 1489 116 xi. page (sig. h 8 verso) from the _psalterium beatae mariae virginis_ of nitschewitz, showing the emperor frederick and his son maximilian. from a press at the cistercian monastery at zinna, _c._ 1493 118 xii. the harrowing of hell, with text, from leaf 4a of the _belial_ of jacobus de theramo. haarlem, bellaert, 1484. (size of the original, 7¼" × 5") 120 xiii. woodcut of the betrayal. from leaf 14b of the _meditatione sopra la passione del nostro signore_ attributed to s. bonaventura. venice, geronimo di sancti, 1487. (size of original, 6¾" × 5¼") 124 xiv. woodcut, de atheniensibus petentibus regem, illustrating fable xxii. in the _aesop_ printed at naples, by francesco tuppo, 1485 126 xv. woodcut of lorenzo giustiniano preceded by a crucifer, from his _della vita religiosa_. venice, 1494 130 xvi. page with woodcut of the procession to calvary, from the _meditatione sopra la passione del nostro signore_ attributed to s. bonaventura. florence, ant. miscomini, _c._ 1495 138 xvii. titlepage of _la festa di san giovanni_. florence, bart. di libri, _c._ 1495 140 xviii. leaf 5a, with woodcut of death seizing an archbishop and a chevalier, from the _danse macabre_. paris, gui marchant, 1491. (size of original 8¾" × 6¼") 144 xix. leaf 2a, with woodcut of adam and eve, from a _bible en francoys_. paris, antoine vérard, about 1505. (size of original, 9¾" × 7") 150 xx. page (sig. c 6 verso), with woodcut of the massacre of the innocents, from the _grandes heures_. paris, antoine vérard, about 1490. (size of original, 7(7/8)" × 5¼") 152 xxi. page (sig. u 7 verso) from the edition of _terence_, printed by j. trechsel at lyon, 1493 160 xxii. titlepage from the _improbratio alcorani_ of ricoldus. seville, stanislaus polonus, 1500 162 xxiii. hroswitha presenting her plays to the emperor otto i, leaf 4b of the _opera hrosvite_. nuremberg, sodalitas celtica, 1501 180 xxiv. titlepage of jornandes _de rebus gothorum_. augsburg, 1515 186 xxv. page (leaf 246b) of a _missale romanum_, printed at venice by gregorius de gregoriis, 1518 194 xxvi. title-cut from _les dix premiers livres de l'iliade d'homère, prince des poètes, traduictz en vers françois, par m. hugues salel_. paris, jehan loys for vincent sertenas, 1545 200 xxvii. page from the _fifteen oes_. westminster, caxton, about 1490 204 xxviii. first page of text from the first edition (left incomplete) of tyndale's _new testament_. cologne, 1525 224 xxix. part of sig. k 5 recto, with woodcut of christ raising the centurion's daughter, from the _speculum vitae christi_ of s. bonaventura. westminster, w. caxton, about 1488 250 xxx. titlepage of bishop fisher's funeral sermon on henry vii. london, w. de worde, 1509 254 xxxi. woodcut of the translator presenting his book to the duke of norfolk, from alexander barclay's version of sallust's _jugurtha_. london, r. pynson, about 1520 256 xxxii. portrait of the author, from john heywood's _the spider and the flie_. london, t. powell, 1556 260 xxxiii. woodcut of queen elizabeth hawking, from turberville's _the booke of faulconrie_, 1575 264 xxxiv. engraving of christ in a mandorla from bettini's _monte santo di dio_. florence, nicolaus laurentii, 477. (size of original, 10" × 7") 268 xxxv. last page of preface, giving the arms of the bishop of würzburg, from the würzburg _agenda_. würzburg, g. reyser, 1482 270 xxxvi. titlepage of the _dialogus_ of amadeus berrutus. rome, gabriel of bologna, 1517 274 xxxvii. engraved portrait of the author by theodore de bry after j. j. boissard, from the _emblemata_ of denis le bey. frankfort, de bry, 1596 280 xxxviii. page 22 from the _hieroglyphikes of the life of man_ by quarles, the engraving by w. marshall, london, 1638 286 xxxix. page, with engraving after eisen, from dorat's _les baisers_, la haye et se vend à paris, lambert, 1770 292 xl. engraving by w. w. rylands after samuel wale, from walton's _compleat angler_. london, t. hope, 1760 296 [illustration: _engraving of an author, possibly caxton, presenting a book to margaret, duchess of burgundy, prefixed to the chatsworth copy of the 'recuyell.'_] fine books chapter i collectors and collecting from the stray notes which have come down to us about the bibliophiles of the later roman empire it is evident that book-collecting in those days had at least some modern features. owing to the abundance of educated slave-labour books were very cheap, almost as cheap as they are now, and book-collectors could busy themselves about refinements not unlike those in which their successors are now interested. but in the middle ages books were by no means cheap, and until quite the close of the fourteenth century there were few libraries in which they could be read. princes and other very wealthy book-buyers took pleasure in possessing finely written and illuminated manuscripts, but the ruling ideals were mainly literary and scholastic, the aim (the quite right and excellent aim) being to have the best books in as many subjects as possible. after printing had been invented the same ideals continued in force, the only difference being that they could now be carried out on a larger scale. libraries like those formed in the sixteenth century by archbishop cranmer and lords arundel and lumley, or that gathered in france by the historian de thou, were essentially students' libraries, and the books themselves and the catalogues of them were often classified so as to show what books had been acquired in all the different departments of human knowledge. even in the sixteenth century, when these literary ideals were dominant, we find some examples of another kind. in jean grolier, for instance, we find the book-lover playing the part, too seldom assumed, of the discriminating patron of contemporary printing and bookbinding. instead of collecting more old books than he could find time to read, grolier bought the best of his own day, but of these sometimes as many as four or five copies of the same work that he might have no difficulty in finding one for a friend; and whatever book he bought he had bound and decorated with simple good taste in venice or at home in france. it would be an excellent thing if more of our modern collectors, instead of taking up antiquarian hobbies, were content to follow grolier's example. books always look best when clad in jackets of their own time, and this in the future will apply to the books of the twentieth century as much as to any others. moreover, there is more actual binding talent available in england just now than at any previous time, and it is much to be desired that modern groliers would give it scope, not in pulling about old books, but in binding beautifully those of our own day. grolier found a modest imitator in england in the person of thomas wotton, but with some at least of the elizabethan book-lovers the havoc wrought in the old libraries by the commissioners of henry viii and edward vi provoked an antiquarian reaction which led them to devote all their energies to collecting, from the unworthy hands into which they had fallen, such treasures of english literary and bookish art as still remained. putting aside john leland who worked (to what extent and with what success is not quite clear) for henry viii, matthew parker, archbishop of canterbury, was the earliest of these antiquaries, to the great benefit of the libraries of lambeth palace and of corpus christi college, cambridge, though as to how he came by his books perhaps the less said the better. parker was soon followed by sir robert cotton, whose success in gathering books and documents illustrating english history was so great that his library was sequestered and very nearly altogether taken from him, on the plea that it contained state papers which no subject had a right to possess. owing to the carelessness and brutality of the previous generation, cotton's opportunities were as great as his zeal in making use of them, and at the cost of his fortune he laid the foundations of a national library. humbler men imitated him without being able to secure the same permanence for their collections, more especially humphrey dyson, a notary, who seems to have acquired early printed books and proclamations, with the same zeal which cotton devoted to manuscripts. many of his treasures passed into the hands of richard smith, the secondary of the poultry compter, but at his sale they were scattered beyond recall, and the unity of one of the most interesting of english collections was thus unkindly destroyed. both these men, and some others of whom even less is known, worked with a public aim, and already sir thomas bodley had gone a step further by founding anew the university library at oxford on lines which at once gave it a national importance. this it preserved and developed for over a century and a half, and has never since lost, though no national help, unfortunately, has ever been given it, save the right already conceded by the stationers' company, of claiming a copy of any new english book offered for sale. bodley's munificent donation marked an epoch in the history of english book-collecting because its tendency was to make private book-collecting of the kind which was then admired incongruous and even absurd. when there were no public libraries open to scholars, for a great man to maintain a splendid library in his own house and allow students to read in it was worthy of aristotle's [greek: megalopsychos], the man who does everything on a scale that befits his dignity. but in proportion as public collections of books and facilities for obtaining access to them are increased, the preservation of a library on a large scale in a private house, where none of the inmates have any desire to use it, becomes an easy and justifiable object of satire. a man without literary instincts who inherits a fine library is indeed in a parlous state, for if he keeps it he is as a dog in the manger, and if he sells it he is held up to opprobrium. that considerations of this kind were beginning to have weight is shown by the rapidity with which during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries one private collection after another drifted into public ownership. in some cases there were intermediate stages. thus archbishop usher's books were not bequeathed to trinity college, dublin, but were purchased for it by the subscriptions of the soldiers of cromwell's army in ireland. the manuscripts of sir simeon d'ewes remained in the possession of his family for nearly a century, were then purchased by harley, and came to the british museum with harley's collection. stillingfleet's manuscripts were in the same temporary ownership; his printed books came to dublin through the public spirit of archbishop marsh. so again bishop moore's books were purchased for the university library at cambridge by george i. thus even when a collector was not inspired by, or could not afford to indulge, public motives, respect for his memory or desire to benefit an institution often brought his books to a safe haven. but more often the munificence was personal and direct. for some cause not quite easy to see the flow of benefactions to english libraries has dwindled sadly of late years,[1] so that journalists with short memories write of gifts and bequests to american libraries as if they were unprecedented. even of late years, however, the foundation of the john rylands library, chancellor christie's gifts and bequest to the victoria university, the sandars legacy to the university library, cambridge, and mr. alfred huth's bequest to the british museum of any fifty books it might choose to select from his fine collection, show that the stream is not quite dried up, while for nearly two centuries and a half from the foundation of the bodleian it ran with splendid freedom. thus archbishop williams gave noble gifts of books to s. john's college, cambridge, and to the chapter house library at westminster abbey; selden's books enriched the bodleian; laud was a generous benefactor alike to the bodleian, to s. john's college, oxford, and to the library of lambeth palace; sir kenelm digby gave both to bodley and to harvard; ralph sheldon benefited the heralds' college; pepys (through his nephew) bequeathed his collection to magdalene college, cambridge; archbishop marsh founded a library at dublin; richard rawlinson gave his manuscripts to the bodleian, and harley arranged that his should be offered to the nation. the example of the men who bought under the influence of an intention to bestow their books on some public institution naturally affected others, and was responsible for a good deal of rather haphazard collecting in the eighteenth century. the private modern library was often confused with the antiquarian collection, and the antiquarian collection itself was seldom dominated by any central idea. yet collectors who devoted themselves to one subject and knew thoroughly well what they were aiming at were already coming into existence, and these also, when their work was done, were inspired by an honourable ambition to preserve it intact, and so the libraries were once more enriched. thus garrick, guided by his professional interest, devoted himself to early plays, and bequeathed his collection to the british museum. malone bought the books which were useful to him as a student of elizabethan literature, more especially of shakespeare, and bequeathed them to the bodleian, while capell left his similar collection to trinity college, cambridge. the library of natural history books brought together by sir joseph banks and bequeathed by him to the british museum is another example of well-defined collecting, though of a different sort. among men who were not themselves specialists the vogue lay in the direction of first editions of the greek and latin classics and of a few italian and english authors of special merit, together with books illustrating the history of printing down to about the year 1480 or 1485. the early classics seem to have been the indispensable element in any collection of the first rank, and they appear with monotonous regularity in the libraries of george iii, of the rev. clayton mordaunt cracherode, and of thomas grenville, which all three passed to the british museum; in the spencer collection, now in the john rylands library, manchester; and in the sunderland library, sold at auction in 1881-3. when these prizes were secured the collector seems to have felt himself free to follow his individual taste in supplementary purchases, and the grenville library is a fine proof of the broader interests of its possessor. two notable collectors, heber, the last of the great book-gluttons, and william henry miller, founder of the famous christie-miller library at britwell, cut themselves free from the cult of the _editio princeps_, the latter (despite a taste for modern latin verse) devoting himself to english poetry, while heber added to this the literatures of france, italy, and spain. despite the exceptions we have mentioned, in almost all of the collections of the early years of the nineteenth century two different ideals were combined: the student's ideal of the best books in the best editions, and the antiquary's ideal of the books by which the history of printing and its kindred arts could be most vividly illustrated. the combination is still common, for one of à beckett's comic histories (though i am not prepared to assert that this is a "best book") still figures as the first entry in many sale catalogues which contain also incunabula assuredly not bought for their literary interest. it is more easy to defend such a medley on the ground of sentiment than of logic. whoever uses books has reason to be grateful to the men who invented or diffused the art of printing, and may be interested in learning something about them. yet it can hardly be denied that to collect various kinds of books from an antiquarian, æsthetic, or any other well-defined point of view, not directly literary, is an independent pursuit in its own right, just as to collect old or beautiful china or silver is an independent pursuit, whether or no the china or silver be used for eating or drinking from. it will be said, of course, that on this view books are no better than china (or postage stamps), and there are indeed some strange instances of men who have fallen below their possibilities and have collected books, and not without success, despite a most amazing indifference to their contents. this reduces the joy they can get from their hobby to the bare pleasure of collecting for the sake of collecting, an ignoble delight in indulging acquisitiveness, redeemed to some extent by the higher pleasure of overcoming difficulties and observing the rules of the game. but the ignorant book-collector, until he has educated himself, is like a rose-fancier who cannot distinguish one odour from another. by the time they attract the collector books have become, or are on the road to becoming, so precious that their primary usefulness has to be left dormant. to use them constantly for our daily reading would approach the fault which the greeks called [greek: hubris], the arrogance which makes a man esteem himself so highly that he thinks nothing too good for his own use. but even when this limitation is recognized, for those who can appreciate them they preserve all the associations of their primary use, and it is because these associations are so delightful and so various that the bookman claims that his form of collecting is the best of all. what then are the associations and qualities which give books value in the eyes of a collector? we may answer the question negatively in the first instance by reducing to their proper importance the two qualities which are popularly supposed to be the most attractive to the book-hunter--rarity and age. if a book is otherwise uninteresting, what is it the better for being rare? in passing it may be noted that unless a book is interesting for other reasons its rarity is necessarily an unknown quantity. sir sidney lee's census of the extant copies of the first folio shakespeare, a comparatively common book, but of supreme interest for its associations, is a striking example of the zeal with which every discoverable copy of a valuable book is now hunted down. those whose business it is to gather such information can tell in the case of dozens of books of much less importance exactly how many copies have been discovered and in whose possession they remain. but in the case of a book of little interest the most that can be said is that it is "undescribed," and it may be "undescribed" not in the least because it is really rare, but because no bibliographer has troubled himself to make a note of it. were some real point of interest discovered in it the chances are that the attention thus attracted would speedily bring to light other copies, as in the case of the school magazine to which mr. kipling was found to have contributed. of this the first set catalogued sold for over £100, with the result that so many others were unearthed that the price speedily sank to less than as many shillings. granted, however, that it could be proved that a dull book is not merely undescribed, but absolutely, what so few works are, unique, in what way does this make it of interest to the collector? a great library might buy it for a trifle out of compassion, or under the idea that its registration in a catalogue might help to piece out a genealogy, or that it might count as another unit in statistics (a poor reason), or justify its purchase in some other haphazard way. but considerations of this kind, such as they are, cannot affect private collectors. a really dull book is merely a nuisance, and whether only one copy of it, or many, can be proved to exist, nobody wants it. if this be so we are justified in saying that, although as soon as a book is found desirable for any other reason its rarity becomes of paramount importance in determining its price, rarity by itself is of no interest to collectors. the attractiveness bestowed by age cannot be treated quite so summarily, because although the same line of argument can be followed, it has to be helped out by an explanation arising from a particular case. no collector would value a dull sermon printed in 1800 any higher than a dull sermon printed in 1900, and if we go back two centuries instead of one, in the case of a book printed in london its value is none the greater for the extra hundred years. if, however, the sermon chanced to have been printed in 1700 in some provincial town, its age would distinctly be an element of value. down to 1693 printing was only permitted in london, oxford, cambridge, and (after the outbreak of the civil war[2]) at york. when the restraining act was dropped in 1693 printing made its way, not very rapidly, into one provincial town after another. hence a dull sermon with a provincial imprint may be dear to the heart of some local antiquary as the first-fruit of the press in his neighbourhood. if we go back another sixty years from 1700 we reach another typographic zone, as we may call it, within which some slight interest attaches to all examples of english printing, for the end of the year 1640 is the limit of the special catalogues of early books published by the british museum, the cambridge university library, and the john rylands library, manchester. the first and last of these have indexes of printers; in the second the primary arrangement is typographical. thus all books which are old enough to have been printed before the end of 1640 are thereby invested with some slight interest solely as products of english presses. when we get back to before 1600 we are in the period covered by the different editions of the _typographical antiquities_ of joseph ames. when we go back another hundred years we are within the fifteenth century; printing has been introduced into england for less than twenty-five years, and the smallest fragment of a book from one of the early presses at work at westminster, oxford, st. albans, or the city of london, is esteemed as of interest and importance. thus if we go far enough back age does add to the interest of a book, but only by bringing it under another influence, that the interest of an english fifteenth century book is due to its importance in the history of printing and not to its antiquity being easily demonstrated by the fact that a contemporary unadorned manuscript of the same work will probably have only a fraction of the value of the printed edition. there are, of course, other cases in which age may be said to have some secondary influence, as in the case of books dealing with social customs, ballads and the like. but here it is still more evident that the social or literary interest is the primary consideration, and that this cannot be created, though it is greatly enhanced, by age. having thus to the best of our ability abated the pride both of age and rarity, we come back to our original question as to what are the qualities and associations which give books value in the eyes of a collector. the only good qualities which a book can possess in its own right are those of strength and beauty of form. everything else about it is inherent in no single edition, though association of ideas may give greater dignity to one edition than to another. type, paper, ink, presswork, the arrangement of the page, and also (though not quite in the same way or to the same extent) the illustrations, are all part and parcel of the book itself, and may be combined, at least so bookmen believe, in a really beautiful unity. no doubt as to this students run some risk of losing their sense of proportion. i myself am conscious, for instance, that i have looked at so many fifteenth century woodcuts, as compared with other works of art, that i distinctly overrate them. mr. robert proctor, who knew more about fifteenth century books than any other man has ever known, or is ever likely to know, once said to me in all seriousness, that he did not think he had ever seen an ugly one. allowing, however, for this very human tendency to set up our own esoteric standard, there yet remains a more generally recognizable beauty of form which some books possess in a higher degree than others, and to collect such beautiful books independently of any other kind of attraction would be no unworthy pursuit. as a matter of fact, bookmen are more inclined to make beauty of form a secondary consideration to which, as to age and rarity, they pay attention, but without adopting it as the basis of their collection. as a secondary consideration the attention collectors pay to beauty can hardly be exaggerated in respect to the condition of copies, the ratio of an unusually good to an unusually bad copy of the same book, even if the bad copy have no leaves actually wanting, being often as ten to one. the unusually bad copy, indeed, would often have no selling value at all were it not that it may be useful to students and so win a purchaser at a small price. the collector should leave it severely alone, partly because such "working copies" are the rightful perquisite of poor scholars, partly because, as he presumably buys books for his pleasure, he defeats his own object if, except in the case of the very rarest, he buys copies at which he cannot look without regretting that their headlines are cut off or the paper rotten through bad cleaning. mr. frederick locker recorded in his catalogue that his copy of blake's _songs of innocence and of experience_ had been cut down by a previous owner to the dimensions of the old covers of a washing-book. i think it was his chivalry, his piety toward blake's memory, that induced him to rescue it from this dishonour. had he bought such a poor copy simply because it was cheap, he would have fallen far below his standard as a collector. putting on one side beauty of form, the interest of books in the eyes of a collector lies in their associations, historical, personal, or purely literary. for reasons touched on already but which we may now consider more fully, among historical associations those connected with the history of printing fill a very large place. as we have said before, the invention of an art by which books were so greatly cheapened and multiplied was an event of almost unique importance in the social history of europe, and everything which throws light on the first discovery, on the manner in which it was carried from one country and city to another, and on the methods and lives of the early printers, is of interest, and in its degree and measure, of importance. moreover, just as foxes are hunted because they show such good sport, so these early books are collected because the study of them combines in a singular degree the charms of scientific and historical discovery, with all sorts of literary, social, and human side-interests. the claim which henry bradshaw put forward that antiquarian bibliography must be studied scientifically has been perverted by the unwise into the assertion that bibliography is a science, or as they are sometimes pleased to put it, an exact science, till sensible people are wearied of the silly phrase. but the claim itself is absolutely true, and the gifts which enabled mr. proctor to classify, exactly or approximately, any fragment of early printing according to its country, place, printer, and date, if employed on any other field of scientific inquiry would easily have gained him a fellowship of the royal society, besides the european recognition which, in his own small field, was already his before he died. a large proportion of early printed books are without any indication whatever of their place of origin, printer, or date. the dates are obscured by the quickness or slowness of individual printers in adopting various improvements--sheet-numbering, leaf-numbering, printed capitals, titlepages, methods of imposition, etc.--which thus become uncertain and delusive landmarks. the place of origin is obscured by the existence of almost identical types in different cities and even in different countries. a fortiori the identity of the individual printer may baffle research from types being transferred or copied in all but one or two letters of the fount, which thus become the sole means of differentiating them. as helps the bibliographer has, in the first place, such a classification of the two or three thousand fifteenth century types as he is able to carry in his head. this, in proportion to its completeness, enables him to narrow down the field to be investigated. some small typographical peculiarity, the way in which the illuminator or rubricator has filled the blank spaces, the note which by good fortune he may have appended in this or some other known copy saying when he finished his work, similar notes by early purchasers which occasionally give the date of their bargain, these and other points may all help forward the happy moment of final identification. such a hunt as this may sound alarmingly difficult, as if it were all over five-barred gates and inconveniently hedged ditches. but facsimiles and other aids have been greatly multiplied of late years; many a book can be run down and the identification verified in a few minutes, and the possibility of hunting successfully in one's own library presupposes the purchase of many books giving full information as to their origin. these, while offering the means of identifying other books, will themselves raise no questions, so that the collector's life need not be unceasingly strenuous. the side-interests of these old books are very varied. many of them, at least to eyes trained to perceive it, are of great beauty. others, although the half century during which printing was in its infancy produced few masterpieces of literature, have real literary interest. more than any other single event the invention of printing hurried on the transition from the medieval world to the modern, but while many printers in italy nearly ruined themselves by the zeal with which they helped forward the classical renaissance, all over europe the medieval books which were still read were seized on for the press, so that in the books printed between 1470 and 1490 we are presented with a conspectus or summary of medieval literature. caxton printed the works of chaucer and gower and prose renderings of the old romances. the italian presses were busy with boccaccio, petrarch, and dante. the enormous size of the great speculum or encyclopædia of vincent de beauvais did not deter the printers of france and germany, and the ponderous tomes of medieval theology and law seem to have found a ready market. above all, the highest skill available in the best equipped workshops was employed almost ceaselessly in the production of beautiful and often magnificent editions of the service-books of the church for the use both of priests and laity, and it is hardly possible to dabble much in old books without acquiring an interest in liturgiology. owing to this fact, that the early presses were so largely occupied with printing the works of the previous three centuries, there is comparatively little human interest in incunabula on their literary side. instead of authors we have mostly to deal with editors, an assertive and depreciatory race, always vaunting their own accuracy and zeal and insisting on the incredible blunders by which previous editions had been deformed past recognition. we receive, however, no small compensation in the personal details which many of the early printers give us about themselves. titlepages, though they occur at haphazard in a few books of the early seventies (and there is one still earlier example), did not become common till about 1490, and even twenty years later we find many books still without them. the information which we now expect to find on a titlepage was given in a paragraph, mostly at the end of the book, to which bibliographers have agreed to give the name "colophon," from [greek: kolophôn], the greek for a "finishing stroke." as we have already noted, in many books no information of this kind is given, but when printers, or their proof readers or editors, took the trouble to write a colophon at all, they had no reason to confine themselves to the severe brevity and simplicity of statement which marks the modern titlepage. it was in colophons that editors cast stones at their predecessors, or demanded sympathy for the severity of their own labours, and it is in colophons that we find the expressions of the printer's piety and pride, his complaints of his troubles with his workmen and rivals, his pleas for encouragement, and occasionally, penned by another hand, the record of how he was struck down by death in the midst of his work. i have never heard of any one making a representative collection of books with interesting colophons, but collecting has taken many worse forms. to lend grace to their colophons, or sometimes as a substitute for them, the early printers and publishers often used a woodcut containing their mark, sign, or device. like the colophon itself, this was printed as a token of the master's pride in his work and his desire that it might be recognized as his, and many printers' marks are very decorative and even beautiful. comparatively neglected until recently, within the last few years the devices used in various countries have been almost exhaustively reproduced in facsimile, thus leaving few chances of fresh discovery. the mention of devices brings us to a very interesting section of early printed books, and one which has attracted only too much attention of recent years, those decorated with the primitive cuts on wood or metal with which fifteenth century printers endeavoured to imitate the glories of illuminated manuscripts, or to increase the popularity of their books with not too critical readers. occasionally, as in the metal cuts in the best editions of the french horae, in the florentine and venetian woodcuts of the last ten years of the century, and in the best work of other countries, these early pictures possess real beauty. often they are badly spoilt by the incompetence of the cutters, who were working without the aid of modern gravers or modern methods of preparing the wood. the early german wood-cutters, whilst their outlines are often less graceful than those of their french and italian competitors, had a special gift for characterization, and the quality of their work is much more uniform, perhaps because even before the invention of printing with movable types they were an organized craft. but in almost all fifteenth century cuts there is a certain naive simplicity which captivates those who allow themselves to study it, until they are apt, as the present writer has confessed is probably true of himself, to rate it too highly. as is the case with the more ambitious artists in oils of the same periods, wherever there was any demand for book-illustrators a local school with strongly marked characteristics at once appears. the work of the augsburg cutters can be told at a glance from that executed at strassburg, and the styles predominant at venice and florence, at milan and naples are all absolutely distinct. with one or two exceptions we know nothing, until after 1500, of the men who designed or cut these illustrations, and (except in the case of those of the low countries) hardly any attempt has been made, or seems possible, to subdivide the work done in any given locality so as to group it under individual masters. otherwise the problems of fifteenth century book-illustrations are much like the problems of the types with which they harmonize so well, and the collector can either devote himself to representing as fully as possible the work done in any single district, or range at large over the continent (as regards fifteenth century illustrations england may almost be left out of account) and collect a few good specimens of each school. it has been made a cause of complaint recently against bibliographers that they know more of the work done at any insignificant fifteenth century press than of the history of printing at any subsequent time. it is not easy to coerce men into taking up any sections of a subject beyond those in which they are interested, and the supposed culprits have at least this much justification for their neglect of the later work that very little of it repays examination. until 1465, save for some possible dutch experiments, germany enjoyed the monopoly of printing. from 1465 to about 1530 she shared the primacy in it with italy, though during most of this period italy was slightly ahead; from 1530 to about 1570 france was far in advance of the rest of europe; after 1570 there was a higher technical level in the low countries than elsewhere, and plantin and the elzevirs gained individual reputations. but there was very little good taste even in the low countries, and from a typographical standpoint the seventeenth century is a sahara with hardly any oases. from this wilderness the eighteenth century, under the guidance of france and england, timidly felt its way back to a kind of trim neatness, but the positive experiments of baskerville and the didots, and in italy of bodoni, were not very exciting, and at present are quite out of fashion. in the nineteenth century the work of the whittinghams in england deserves more attention from collectors than it has received, and throughout the whole period any one working on historical lines, with the desire to illustrate the vicissitudes of the art of printing and not merely its successes, has an ample field. but for positive excellence, after the period of "origins," the french books of the middle of the sixteenth century offer almost the only hunting ground in which the fastidious collector is likely to find an attractive quarry, and it is no use to try to tell any other tale. of the later book illustrations a somewhat better account may be given. owing to the steady deterioration of paper and presswork, which was the real cause of the typographical decline, woodcuts by the end of the sixteenth century had gone quite out of fashion, the old simple style having been lost and no printer being able to do justice to the finer work on which designers insisted. but copper engravings throve in germany and the low countries, and when the fashion of engraved frontispieces and titles took root in england in the last years of the century it was pursued with considerable success for a couple of generations, while in the eighteenth century the french _livres à vignettes_ attained an extraordinary brilliancy and elegance, and gravelot and other french engravers bestowed some of their skill on english books. the use of wood, now worked with the graver and no longer with the knife, was revived in england by bewick about 1784, and was pursued with varying success for over a century, great technical skill and, at least in the "sixties," very fine design being marred by the poverty and often the tawdriness of its typographical setting. despite these drawbacks, the collectors who are bestowing attention on all this wood-engraved work of the nineteenth century will probably reap their reward. when wood engraving was killed a few years ago by the extraordinary perfection attained, at a much smaller cost, by the process block, its fate was shared by the line-engraved illustrations which had appeared fitfully throughout the century, and had lingered on in the beautiful work of c. h. jeens, who died in 1879, and in the use of old plates. as the wood engraving was killed by the half-tone block, so the line engraving disappeared before the photogravure, and the colour processes now being rapidly perfected threaten to reduce all black and white illustrations to unimportance. in so far, however, as the new processes necessitate the use of heavily loaded papers as a condition of their being even tolerably well printed, the least antiquarian of collectors may be forgiven for neglecting the books illustrated by them. some of them can only be preserved by every plate being backed with sound paper, and a hundred years hence of all this illustrated work, much of it really beautiful, which is now being produced in such quantities, very little will remain. the modern groliers whom we tried to call forth at the beginning of this chapter will need to be experts both in paper and in leather if they are to leave behind them any permanent record of their good taste. but this is only a crowning proof of how urgently they are needed. it would be pleasant to glance briefly at some of the more literary considerations which bring books within the collector's scope. but the scheme of this series restricts the subject of the present volume to books which are prized either for their typographical beauty, their place in the history of printing, or the charm of their illustrations. this is in itself so large a field that no more pages must be wasted on introducing it. footnotes: [1] even mr. carnegie will only help to found new libraries, not to make old ones more efficient. [2] during the civil war itself presses were also set up temporarily at newcastle-on-tyne, at shrewsbury, and perhaps elsewhere. chapter ii block-books the collector of the time of george iii, whose heart was set on typographical antiquities, and who was ambitious enough to wish to begin at the beginning, must have hungered after a block-book. even in the days of bagford, at the very outset of the eighteenth century, interest had been aroused in the block-printed editions of the _speculum humanae saluationis_, so that bagford himself travelled from amsterdam to haarlem on purpose to see a copy of one of the dutch editions, and set an english wood-cutter to work, with very poor success, to manufacture a bogus specimen of it, wherewith "to oblige the curious." this, with a similar imitation of a page in the _biblia pauperum_, was intended to illustrate the history of printing which bagford had the temerity to plan, although such of his smaller dissertations as have been preserved show conclusively that he was quite incapable of carrying it out. the interest thus early shown in block-books sprang from an entirely reasonable, but probably incorrect, view of the part which they had played in the development of printing with movable type. it was known that woodcuts without letterpress were printed in germany quite early in the fifteenth century, the cut of s. christopher, formerly in the spencer collection, now in the john rylands library, bearing the date 1423.[3] on the other hand, printing with movable type was practised at mainz in the fifties, and about 1461 albrecht pfister published at bamberg several books with woodcut illustrations and printed letterpress. in the logical order of development nothing could be more reasonable than the sequence: i. woodcut pictures. ii. woodcut pictures and woodcut text. iii. woodcut pictures and text printed from movable type. facts, however, do not always arrange themselves with the neatness which commends itself to an a priori historian, and the most recent students of block-books are unable to discover sufficient justification for the early dates which their predecessors assigned to them. on the old theory, in order to put it in front of the invention of printing with movable types, the _biblia pauperum_, which appears to be the oldest of the block-books, was placed about 1430 or 1440, and the _ars moriendi_ and the other chief specimens of block-printing were all supposed to have been produced before 1460, the main period of block-printing thus coinciding with the interval between the s. christopher of 1423 and pfister's activity at bamberg about 1461. positive evidence in favour of this chronology there was none. it rested solely on the idea, at which bibliographers had jumped, that the block-books were necessary "steps towards the invention of printing," as they have often been called, and on what seemed the improbability that any one, when the art of printing with movable type had once been invented, would have troubled himself laboriously to cut letterpress on wood. so far from block-printing being unable to co-exist with printing from movable type, it was not till nearly a century after printing had been invented that block-books finally ceased to be produced. the example generally quoted as the latest[4] is the _opera nova contemplativa per ogni fedel christiano laquale tratta de le figure del testamento vecchio: le quale figure sonno verificate nel testamento nuovo_. as its title implies, this, curiously enough, is an adaptation of the _biblia pauperum_, which was thus the last, as it may have been the first, of the block-books. it is undated, but has the name of its publisher, giovanni andrea vavassore, who worked at venice about 1530. the _opera nova contemplativa_ was from one point of view a mere survival, but vavassore is not likely to have produced it solely to cause twentieth century antiquaries surprise. he must have had a business reason for having recourse to block-printing, nor is that reason very hard to find. from the frequency with which the early printers changed and recast their types, and the short intervals at which popular books printed with types were set up afresh, it is clear (1) that the type-metal[5] employed was much softer and less durable than that now in use, and that only small impressions[6] could be taken from the same setting up; (2) that only a small amount of type was cast at a time, and that type was quickly distributed and used again, never kept standing on the chance that another edition would be wanted. now when we come to the illustrations in printed books, we find the same woodblocks used for five or six successive editions, and then, in many cases, enjoying a second lease of life as job-blocks, used at haphazard by inferior printers. it is clear, therefore, that while it was a much more difficult and laborious business to cut the letterpress of a book on blocks of wood than to set it up with movable types, when the blocks were once made much more work could be got out of them. in a word, in the case of a small book for which there was a steady demand, a printer might be tempted to have it cut as a block-book for the same reasons as might cause a modern publisher to have it stereotyped. the labour of cutting the letterpress on wood was much greater than that now involved in stereotyping, and the result clumsier. hence it was only to short books intended for unexacting purchasers that the process was applied and with two or three exceptions it was used only for illustrated books with a small amount of text. but within this restricted field it had its own commercial possibilities, and there is thus nothing surprising in its coexistence with printing from movable type. when the theory that block-books were "steps towards the invention of printing" is thus opposed by the rival theory that they were forerunners of stereotyped plates, we are left free to consider, uncoerced by supposed necessities, such evidence as exists as to the dates of the specimens of block-printing still extant. putting aside the late italian block-book as a mere survival, we find two[7] broadly distinguished groups, one earlier, the dates of members of which can only be conjectured, the other later, several of which can only be definitely connected with the years 1470 to 1473. the characteristics of the earlier group are that they are printed (1) with a watery brown ink; (2) always on one side of the paper only; (3) without mechanical pressure;[8] (4) two consecutive pages at a time, so that they cannot be arranged in quires, but must be folded and stitched separately, and the book thus formed[9] begins and ends with a blank page and has a pair of blank pages between each pair of printed ones. this arrangement in some extant copies has been altered by modern binders, who have divided the sheets, mounted each leaf on a guard, and then gathered them, at their own will, into quires. the inconvenient intervention of the blank pages has also sometimes been wrestled with (at an early date) by gluing the leaves together, so that all the leaves, except the first and last, are double, and the printed pages follow each other without interruption. these expedients, however, are easily detected, and the original principle of arrangement is free from doubt. in the later block-books, on the other hand, we note one or more of the following characteristics: (1) the use of the thick black ink (really a kind of paint) employed in ordinary printing; (2) printing on both sides of the paper; (3) marks of pressure, showing that the paper has been passed through a printing-press; (4) the arrangement of the blocks in such a way as to permit the sheets to be gathered into quires. in the case of the more popular block-books which went through many issues and editions[10] we can trace the gradual substitution of later characteristics for earlier ones. at what intervals of time these changes were made we have bibliographically no adequate grounds even for guessing. analogies from books printed with movable types may be quoted on both sides. on the one hand, we find the blocks for book-illustrations enjoying an amazingly long life. thus blocks cut at venice and florence between 1490 and 1500 continued in use for fifteen or twenty years, were then laid aside, and reappear between 1550 and 1560, certainly the worse for wear, but yet capable by a lucky chance of yielding quite a fair impression. the fact that one issue of a block-book can be positively assigned to 1470 or 1473, thus does not of itself forbid an earlier issue being placed as far back in the fifteenth century as any one may please to propose. on the other hand, when a printed book was a popular success editions succeeded each other with great rapidity, and one centre of printing vied with another in producing copies of it. the chief reason for the current disinclination to assume a date earlier than 1450 or 1460 for any extant block-book is the total absence of any evidence demanding it. if such evidence were forthcoming, there would be no inherent impossibility to set against it. but in the absence of such evidence twenty years seems an ample time to allow for the vogue of the block-books, and (despite the neatness of the a priori theory of development mentioned at the beginning of this chapter) this fits in better with the history both of printing and of book-illustration than any longer period. the first attempt to describe the extant block-books was made by carl heinrich von heinecken in 1771, in his _idée générale d'une collection d'estampes_. this held the field until the publication in 1858 of samuel legh sotheby's _principia typographica: the block-books issued in holland, flanders and germany, during the fifteenth century_, a painstaking and well-illustrated work in three folio volumes. the most recent and probably the final treatment of the subject is that by dr. w. l. schreiber, in vol. iv of his _manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au xv^e siècle_, published in 1902 (facsimiles in vols. vii and viii, 1895-1900). dr. schreiber enumerates no fewer than thirty-three works as existing in the form of block-books, the number of extant issues and editions of them amounting to over one hundred. here it must suffice to offer brief notes on some of the more important. _biblia pauperum_ a series of forty composite pictures, the central compartment in each representing a scene from the life of christ, while on each side of it is an old testament type, and above and below are in each case two half-figures of prophets. the explanatory letterpress is given in the two upper corners and also on scrolls. schreiber distinguishes ten issues and editions, in addition to an earlier german one of a less elaborate design and with manuscript text, which belongs to a different tradition. the earlier of these ten editions appear to have been made in the netherlands. an edition with german text was published with the colophon, "friederich walther mauler zu nördlingen vnd hans hurning habent dis buch mitt einender gemacht," and a second issue of this (without the colophon) is dated 1470. in the following year another edition, with copied cuts, was printed with the device of hans spoerer. _ars moriendi_ twenty-four leaves, two containing a preface, and the remaining twenty-two eleven pictures and eleven pages of explanatory letterpress facing them, showing the temptations to which the dying are exposed, and the good inspirations by which they may be resisted, and, lastly, the final agony. the early editions are ascribed to the netherlands or district of the rhine; the later to germany. there are also editions with german text, one of them signed "hanns sporer," and dated 1473. a set of engravings on copper by the master e. s. (copied by the master of s. erasmus) may be either imitations or the originals of the earliest of these _ars moriendi_ designs. (see lionel cust's _the master e. s. and the ars moriendi_.) the designs were imitated in numerous printed editions in various countries. in addition to a copy of the edition usually regarded as the earliest extant, the british museum possesses one with the same characteristics, but of a much smaller size (the blocks measuring 137 by 100 mm. instead of 226 by 162), and from this, as much less known, a page is here given as an illustration. _cantica canticorum_ sixteen leaves, each containing two woodcuts, illustrating the song of songs as a parable of the blessed virgin. produced in the netherlands. _apocalypsis sancti johannis_ fifty leaves, or in some editions forty-eight, showing scenes from the life of s. john and illustrations of the apocalypse, mostly with two pictures on each leaf. the early editions are assigned to the netherlands, the later to germany. a copy of the edition regarded as the fourth, lately sold by herr ludwig rosenthal, bears a manuscript note, most probably as to the writer, just possibly as to the book, entering the household of the landgrave heinrich of hesse in 1463. [illustration: iii. ars moriendi, blockbook, c. 1465 inspiratio contra vanam gloriam] _speculum humanae saluationis_ scenes from bible history, arranged in pairs, within architectural borders, with explanatory text beneath. no complete xylographic, or block-printed, edition is known, but twenty leaves printed from blocks are found in conjunction with forty-four leaves printed from type, and have not unreasonably been held to prove the previous production of a complete block-printed edition now lost. in like manner, the fact that two different types are used in different parts of a dutch printed edition has encouraged dr. hessels to believe that this "mixed edition" should be regarded as proving the production of two complete editions, one in each type. on this theory we have (1) a hypothetical latin block-printed edition; (2-4) three dutch editions, each printed in a different type; (5) a latin edition, entirely printed from type; (6) a latin edition, printed partly from type, partly from some of the blocks of no. 1. the copy of this "mixed latin edition," as it is called, in the university library at munich, is dated in manuscript 1471, and the hypothetical complete block-printed edition may be as much earlier than this as any one pleases to imagine. but other bibliographers recognize only four editions and arrange them differently. _antichristus_ thirty-eight leaves, with two pictures on each leaf, illustrating the legends relating to the coming of antichrist, and the fifteen signs which were to precede the last judgment. the text is in german, and the block-book was executed in germany, probably about 1470. _franciscus de retza. defensorium inviolatae castitatis virginis mariae_ sixteen leaves, mostly with four pictures and four pieces of explanatory letterpress on each leaf, concerning marvels in the natural world which were supposed to be equally wonderful with that of the virgin birth, and therefore to render faith in this easier. unfortunately the marvels are so very marvellous that they do not inspire belief, e.g. one story relates how the sun one day drew up the moisture from the earth with such rapidity that an ox was drawn up with it and subsequently deposited out of a cloud in another field. one edition was issued by a certain f. w. in 1470, another at ratisbon by johann eysenhut the following year. _johann müller (johannes regiomontanus). kalender_ thirty-two leaves, containing lunar tables, tables of the eclipses for fifty-six years (1475-1530), other astronomical information, and a figure of the human body with notes of the signs of the zodiac by which it was influenced. composed by the famous astronomer, johann müller, and sold by hans briefftruck, probably hans spoerer, about 1474-5, at nuremberg and elsewhere. _johann hartlieb. die kunst chiromantia_ forty-four figures of hands, with a titlepage and page of text and a printed wrapper. early issues are printed on one side of the paper only, later on both. the printer appears to have been jorg schaff, of augsburg, and the date of issue about 1475. the date 1448 found in the book is that of composition, and it probably circulated in manuscript for many years before being printed. _mirabilia romae_ a german guide-book for visitors to rome. ninety-two leaves, printed with black ink on both sides of the leaf, with only a few illustrations. it was perhaps first published to meet the rush of german pilgrims to rome at the jubilee of pope sixtus iv, 1475. the blocks were probably cut in germany, and the printing done at rome. some of the ornaments are said to have been used in type-printed editions by stephan plannck. this suggests that the book may have been published by his predecessor, ulrich han. * * * * * in addition to these block-books of low country and german origin, mention must also be made of a very curious italian one, a _passio domini nostri jesu christi_, fully described by the prince d'essling. the copy of this at berlin contains eighteen leaves, and was probably executed at venice about the middle of the fifteenth century. some of the blocks were subsequently used (after a scroll at the foot had been cut off) for an edition of the _devote meditatione sopra la passione del nostro signore_ (attributed to s. bonaventura), published at venice in 1487 by jeronimo di sancti e cornelio suo compagno, and a page from this is reproduced as a frontispiece to our chapter on italian illustrated books. mention has already been made of the _opera nova contemplativa_, an adaptation of the _biblia pauperum_, printed as a block-book at venice about 1530. the only extant french block-book, if it can be called one, is that of the "nine worthies" (_les neuf preux_). this consists of three sheets, the first showing three heathen worthies--hector, alexander, and julius cæsar; the second, three from the old testament--joshua, david, and judas maccabæus; the third, three from medieval romance--arthur, charlemagne, and godfrey of boulogne. under each picture are six lines of verse. these three triple woodcuts, with the woodcut text, are assigned to about 1455. no english block-book has yet been discovered, nor is it in the least likely that one ever existed, though there are a few single woodcuts. * * * * * block-books possess two permanent attractions in addition to their supposed historical importance in the development of the invention of printing on which doubt is now cast--the attraction of popular literature and the attraction of the illustrated book. as we have seen, it would not have been worth any one's while to cause a block-book to be laboriously engraved, or cut, unless a large and speedy sale could be expected for it. the most famous block-books are nearly all of a religious character, and they prove a widespread desire for simple instruction as to the incidents of the life of christ and the events in the old testament history which were regarded as prefigurements of them, as to the dignity of the blessed virgin and the doctrine of the virgin birth, as to the end of the world and the coming of antichrist, and as to the spiritual dangers and temptations of the dying and the means by which they might be resisted. as early specimens of book-illustration the value of the block-books varies very greatly. the majority of them are more curious than beautiful, but the pictures of the _cantica canticorum_, the _speculum humanae saluationis_, and the _ars moriendi_ have all very great merit. the tall, slender figures in the song of songs have a charm as great as any dutch book-illustrations of the fifteenth century; the cuts of the _speculum_ are full of vigour, while the serene dignity of the scenes in the _ars moriendi_ illustrating the inspirations of the good angel is as impressive as the grotesque force used in depicting the diabolic suggestions. if we must grant, as the weight of authority now bids us, that these woodcuts are copies from the copper engravings of the master e. s., it can hardly be disputed that the wood-cutter was the better artist of the two. the block-books are a striking example of the difficulty of gleaning where the earlier collectors have reaped, a difficulty to which we shall often have to call attention. they vary greatly in positive rarity. of the _biblia pauperum_ and _ars moriendi_, which in their different issues and editions enjoyed the longest life and early attracted attention, dr. schreiber (if i have counted rightly) was able to enumerate in the one case as many as eighty-three copies--many of them, it is true, mere fragments--in the other sixty-one. of the _apocalypse_ fifty-seven copies were known to him, of the _speculum_ twenty-nine, of the _antichrist_ thirteen, of the _defensorium_ twelve, and of the _mirabilia romae_ six. but of these 261 copies and fragments no fewer than 223 are recorded as being locked up in public libraries and museums, the ownership of thirteen was doubtful, and only twenty-five are definitely registered as being in the hands of private collectors, viz. of the _apocalypse_, eight copies or fragments; of the _biblia pauperum_, six; of the _speculum_ and _ars moriendi_, four each; of the _defensorium_, two; and of the _cantica canticorum_, one. the chief owners known to dr. schreiber were the earl of pembroke, baron edmond de rothschild, and major holford, to whom must now be added mr. pierpont morgan and mr. perrins. no doubt the copies in public institutions are much more easily enumerated than those in private hands, and probably most of the untraced copies are owned by collectors. but when allowance has been made for this, it remains obvious that this is no field where an easy harvest can be reaped, and that the average collector may think himself lucky if he obtains one or two single leaves. the last great opportunity of acquiring such treasures was at the sale in 1872 of the wonderful collection formed by t. o. weigel,[11] at which the british museum bought a very fine copy of the first edition of the _ars moriendi_, the first edition, dated 1470, of the _biblia pauperum_, in german, a block-book illustrating the virtues of the hymn _salve regina_, and the compassion of the blessed virgin, printed at regensburg about 1470, besides fragments and woodcut single sheets. the foundation of the museum collection of block-books had been laid by george iii, added to by mr. grenville, and completed by a series of purchases from 1838 to this final haul of 1872, since when there have been few opportunities for new acquisitions. it is now quite adequate for purposes of study, though not so rich as that of the bibliothèque nationale at paris. footnotes: [3] the authenticity of a still earlier date, 1418, on a cut of the blessed virgin at brussels is disputed. [4] the _libro di m. giovanbattista palatino_, printed at rome in 1548, is spoken of by mr. campbell dodgson as a "belated specimen" of a block-book. but this was a writing-book, and hardly counts. [5] numerous references in colophons show that the metal mostly used was brass, e.g. "_primus in adriaca formis impressit aenis vrbe libros spira genitus de stirpe johannes_," and the use of chalcographi as a name for printers. but there are one or two references to printing "_stanneis typis_," with types of tin. [6] of the first book printed at venice only 100 copies were struck off, but the number was trebled in the case of its immediate successors. at rome sweynheym and pannartz mostly printed 275 copies, only in a few instances as many as 300. but at the end of the century pynson was printing at least 600 copies of large books and as many as 1000 of small ones. [7] a very small third group, earlier than either of these, consists of woodcuts with manuscript text. the most important of these is a german _biblia pauperum_ quite distinct from those started in the netherlands. [8] some early woodcuts were printed by pressing the block down on the paper by hand; for the early block-books, however, the usual method seems to have been to press the paper on to the face of the block by rubbing it on the back with a burnisher. the paper was thus quite as strongly indented as if passed through a press, but the impression is usually less even. the friction on the back of the paper often gives it a polished appearance. as long as this method continued in use it was, of course, impossible to print on both sides of the paper. [9] it is possible that the earliest specimens of block-printing were intended not to be bound in books but to be pasted on walls. in the case of the _biblia pauperum_, for instance, the space between the two woodcuts placed on each sheet is so small in some issues that the sheets cannot be bound without concealing part of the pictures. [10] different issues are distinguished by the signs of wear in the blocks, or occasionally by their being differently arranged, or with changes made in the blocks. in a different edition we have to deal with a new set of blocks. [11] since this was written the interesting collection formed by dr. schreiber himself has been dispersed. chapter iii the invention of printing--holland up to the year 1465 only one firm of printers evinced any appreciation of the uses of advertisement. in 1457 johann fust and peter schoeffer, of mainz, set their names at the end of the liturgical psalter which they were issuing from their press, and stated also the date of its completion, "in vigilia assumpcionis," on the vigil of the feast of the assumption, i.e. august 14th. save in the case of a few unimportant books this preference for publicity remained the settled practice of the firm until peter schoeffer's death early in the sixteenth century, and later still when it was in the hands of his son johann. with other printers at first the tendency was all the other way. albrecht pfister placed his name in one or two of the handful of popular illustrated books which he printed at bamberg about 1461. no other book before 1465 contains its printer's name, and both at strassburg and at basel the practice of publishing anonymously continued in fashion throughout the 'seventies--in strassburg, indeed, for the best part of another decade. [illustration: iv. early dutch press alexander galles, doctrinale (3^a)] while printing continued mainly anonymous chroniclers took no note of it, but in the ten years which began in 1465 the progress of the art was rapid and triumphant. printers, mostly germans, invaded the chief cities of europe, and boasted in their books of having been the first to practise it in this place or that. curiosity as to the beginnings of the invention was thus aroused, and from 1470 onwards we meet with numerous attempts, not always accurate, to satisfy it. the earliest of these attempts is in a letter from guillaume fichet, a professor at the sorbonne, who was mainly responsible for bringing the first printers to paris, to his friend robert gaguin. this is contained in one copy of the second paris book, the _orthographia_ of gasparinus barzizius, printed in 1470, fichet having a fondness for giving individuality to special copies by additions of this kind. in this letter he speaks of the great light which he thinks learning will receive from the new kind of bookmen whom germany, like another trojan horse, has poured forth. ferunt enim illic, haut procul a ciuitate maguncia, ioannem quendam fuisse cui cognomen bonemontano, qui primus omnium impressoriam artem excogitauerit, qua non calamo (ut prisci quidem illi) neque penna (ut nos fingimus) sed æreis litteris libri finguntur, et quidem expedite, polite et pulchre. dignus sane hic uir fuit quem omnes musæ, omnes artes, omnesque eorum linguæ qui libris delectantur, diuinis laudibus ornent, eoque magis dis deabusque anteponant, quo propius ac presentius litteris ipsis ac studiosis hominibus suffragium tulit. si quidem deificantur liber et alma ceres, ille quippe dona liei inuenit poculaque inuentis acheloia miscuit uuis, hæc chaoniam pingui glandem mutauit arista. atque (ut poeta utamur altero) prima ceres unco glebam dimouit aratro, prima dedit fruges alimenta mitia terris. at bonemontanus ille, longe gratiora diuinioraque inuenit, quippe qui litteras eiusmodi exculpsit, quibus quidquid dici, aut cogitari potest, propediem scribi ac transcribi & posteritatis mandari memoriæ possit. the good fichet is absurdly rhetorical, but here in 1470 is a quite clear statement that, according to report, there (i.e. in germany), not far from[12] the city of mainz, a certain john, surnamed gutenberg, first of all men thought out the printing art, by which books are fashioned not with a reed or pen, but with letters of brass, and thus deserved better of mankind than either bacchus or ceres, since by his invention whatever can be said or thought can forthwith be written and transcribed and handed down to posterity. four years later in his continuation of the _chronica summorum pontificum_, begun by riccobaldus, joannes philippi de lignamine, the physician of pope sixtus iv, who had set up a press of his own at rome, wrote as one of the events of the pontificate of pius ii (1458-64), how "jakob gutenberg, a native of strassburg, and a certain other whose name was fust, being skilled in printing letters on parchment with metal forms, are known each of them to be turning out three hundred sheets a day at mainz, a city of germany, and johann mentelin also, at strassburg, a city of the same province, being skilled in the same craft, is known to be printing daily the same number of sheets."[13] a little later de lignamine records the arrival at rome of sweynheym and pannartz, and also of ulrich han, and credits them also with printing three hundred sheets a day. other references follow in later books without adding to our knowledge, save by proving the widespread recognition in the fifteenth century that printing was invented at mainz; but there is nothing specially to detain us until the publication by johann koelhoff in 1499 of the cologne chronicle--_die cronica van der hilliger stat coellen_--in which occurs a famous passage about printing, which may be translated or paraphrased as follows:-"this right worthy art was invented first of all in germany, at mainz, on the rhine. and that is a great honour to the german nation that such ingenious men are found there. this happened in the year of our lord 1440, and from that time until 1450 the art and all that pertains to it was investigated, and in 1450, which was a golden year, men began to print, and the first book that was printed was the bible in latin, and this was printed with a letter as large as that now used in missals. "although this art was invented at mainz, as far as regards the manner in which it is now commonly used, yet the first prefiguration (vurbyldung) was invented in holland from the donatuses which were printed there before that time. and from and out of these the aforesaid art took its beginning, and was invented in a manner much more masterly and subtler than this, and the longer it lasted the more full of art it became. "a certain omnibonus wrote in the preface to a quintilian, and also in other books, that a walloon from france, called nicolaus jenson, was the first inventor of this masterly art--a notorious lie, for there are men still alive who bear witness that books were printed at venice before the aforesaid nicolaus jenson came there, and began to cut and make ready his letter. but the first inventor of printing was a burgher at mainz, and was born at strassburg, and called yunker johann gutenberg. "from mainz the art came first of all to cologne, after that to strassburg, and after that to venice. the beginning and progress of the art were told me by word of mouth by the worshipful master ulrich zell of hanau, printer at cologne in this present year 1499, through whom the art came to cologne."[14] zell, or his interviewer, ignores the books printed anonymously at strassburg by mentelin and eggestein, and also the handful printed by albrecht pfister at bamberg; he also is misled by gutenberg's long residence at strassburg into calling him a native of that city; in other respects, so far as we are able to check this account, it is quite accurate. it tells us emphatically that "this right worthy art was invented first of all in germany, at mainz, on the rhine"; and again, that "the first inventor of printing was a burgher at mainz named junker johann 'gudenburch'"; but between these two unqualified statements is sandwiched a reference to a prefiguration which took shape in holland in _donatuses_, printed there before the mainz presses were at work, and much less masterly and subtle than the books which they produced. he connects no name with this "vorbildung," and, unhappily, he gives no clue as to how it foreshadowed, and was yet distinct from, the real invention. sixty-nine years[15] after the appearance of this carefully balanced statement, the facts as to dutch "prefigurations" which had inspired it moved a dutch chronicler, hadrianus junius, in compiling his _batavia_ (not published till 1588), to write the well-known passage as to the invention of printing, which has been summarized as follows:- there lived, about 1440, at haarlem, in the market-place opposite the town hall, in a respectable house still in existence, a man named lourens janszoon coster, i.e. laurence, son of john coster. the family name was derived from the hereditary office of sacristan, or coster of the church--a post both honourable and lucrative. the town archives give evidence of this, his name appearing therein many times, and in the town hall are preserved his seal and signature to various documents. to this man belongs the honour of inventing printing, an honour of which he was unjustly robbed, and which afterwards was ascribed to another. the said laurence coster, one day after dinner, took a walk in the wood near haarlem. while there, to amuse himself, he began to cut letters out of some beech-bark. the idea struck him to ink some of these letters and use them as stamps. this he did to amuse his grandchildren, cutting them in reverse. he thus formed two or three sentences on paper. the idea germinated, and soon with the help of his son-in-law, and by using a thick ink, he began to print whole pages, and to add lines of print to the block-books, the text of which was the most difficult part to engrave. junius had seen such a book, called _spieghel onzer behoudenisse_. it should have been said that coster was descended from the noble house of brederode, and that his son-in-law was also of noble descent. coster's first efforts were of course very rude, and to hide the impression of the letters on the back, they pasted the leaves, which had one side not printed, together. his letters at first were made of lead, which he afterwards changed for tin. upon his death these letters were melted down and made into wine-pots, which at the time that junius wrote were still preserved in the house of gerrit thomaszoon, the grandson of coster. public curiosity was greatly excited by coster's discovery, and he gained much profit from his new process. his trade, indeed, so increased that he was obliged to employ several workmen, one of whom was named john. some say this was john faust, afterwards a partner with gutenberg, and others say he was gutenberg's brother. this man when he had learnt the art in all its branches, took the opportunity one christmas eve, when all good people are accustomed to attend church, to break into the rooms used for printing, and to pack up and steal all the tools and appliances which his master, with so much care and ingenuity, had made. he went off by amsterdam and cologne to mainz, where he at once opened a workshop and reaped rich fruit from this theft, producing several printed books. the accuracy of this story was attested by a respectable bookbinder, of great age but clear memory, named cornelis who had been a fellow-servant with the culprit in the house of coster, and indeed had occupied the same bed for several months, and who could never talk of such baseness without shedding tears and cursing the thief. written nearly a hundred and thirty years after the supposed events which it narrates, this story is damned by its circumstantiality. it is thus that legends grow, and it is not difficult to imagine haarlem bookmen picking up ideas out of colophons in old books and asking the "respectable bookbinder of great age" whether it was not thus and thus that things happened. many of the details of the story are demonstrably false; its one strong point is the bookbinder, cornelis, for a binder of this name is said to have been employed as early as 1474 and as late as 1514 to bind the account-books of haarlem cathedral, and in the two years named, and also in 1476, to have strengthened his bindings by pasting inside them fragments of _donatuses_ printed on vellum in the type of the _speculum humanae saluationis_. the fragment in the account-book for 1474 is rubricated, and must thus either have been sold or prepared for selling, i.e. it is not "printer's waste," but may have been bought by cornelis for lining his covers in the ordinary way of trade. but we have here a possible link between zell's story of early dutch _donatuses_ and the story of junius about coster and his servant cornelis, since we find fragments of a _donatus_ in the possession of this particular man. there were plenty of such _donatuses_ in existence in the netherlands about 1470. in 1887 dr. hessels, in his _haarlem the birthplace of printing, not mentz_, enumerated fragments of twenty different editions, printed in eight types, of which the type used in the _speculum humanae saluationis_ (see p. 26) is one, while the other seven are linked to it, or to each other, in such a way that we may either suppose them to have all belonged to the same printer, or distribute them among two or more anonymous firms. besides these twenty editions of _donatus_ on the eight parts of speech, dr. hessels enumerated eight editions of the _doctrinale_ of alexander gallus[16] (another school book popular in the fifteenth century), three of the distichs of dionysius cato (the work from which dame pertelote quoted to convince chantecleer of the futility of dreams), and one or two editions each of a few other works, the _facetiae morales_ of laurentius valla (twenty-four leaves), the _singularia juris_ of ludovicus pontanus, with a treatise of pope pius ii (sixty leaves), and the _de salute corporis_ of gulielmus de saliceto with other small works (twenty-four leaves). these latter books offer no very noticeable features; some of the _donatus_ fragments, on the other hand, have printing only on one side of the leaf (whence they are called by the barbarous term "anopisthographic," "not printed on the back") and have a very rude and primitive appearance. this may have been caused in part at least by their having been pasted down, and possibly scraped, by binders, for almost all of them have been found in bindings; but it counts for something. not one of the books or fragments of which we have been speaking makes any mention of its printer, or of the place or date at which it was produced. a copy of one of the later books, the _de salute corporis_ of gulielmus de saliceto, was purchased by conrad du moulin while abbot of the convent of s. james at lille, a dignity which he held from 1471 to 1474. the earliest haarlem account-book which contained _donatus_ fragments was for the year 1474. it is entirely a matter of opinion as to how much earlier than this any of the extant fragments can be dated. there is no reason why some of them should not be later. as to the place or places at which these books were printed, there is no evidence of any weight. but, as has been already said, the whole series can be closely or loosely connected with the types used in editions of the _speculum humanae saluationis_, and in 1481 jan veldener, a wandering printer, while working at utrecht, introduced into an edition of the epistles and gospels in dutch two woodcuts, each of which was a half of one of the double pictures in the _speculum_. two years later, when at kuilenburg, he printed a quarto edition of the _speculum_ itself (dutch version), in which he used a large number of the original _speculum_ blocks, all cut up into halves, so as to fit a small page. as veldener (as far as we know) used the _speculum_ blocks first at utrecht, it is supposed that it was at utrecht that he obtained them. if the blocks were for sale at utrecht, this may have been the place at which the earlier editions of the _speculum_ were issued, and thus, in the absence of any evidence which they were willing to recognize in favour of any other place, henry bradshaw and his disciples attributed the whole series of editions of the _speculum_, _donatus_, _doctrinale_, etc., to utrecht, about, or "not after," 1471-1474. bradshaw himself clearly indicated that this attribution was purely provisional. he felt "compelled to leave" the books at utrecht, so he phrased it, i.e. the presumption that veldener found the blocks of the _speculum_ there constituted a grain of evidence in favour of utrecht; and if a balance is sufficiently sensitive and both scales are empty, a grain thrown into one will suffice to weigh it down. it would have been better, in the present writer's opinion, if the grain had been disregarded, and no attempt made to assign these books and fragments to any particular place. as it is, bradshaw's attribution of them to utrecht has been repeated without any emphasis on its entirely provisional character, even without any mention of this at all, and perhaps with a certain humorous enjoyment of the chance of prejudicing the claims of haarlem by an unusually rigorous application of the rules as to bibliographical evidence. in the eyes of dr. hessels, on the other hand, the legend narrated by junius offers a sufficient reason for assigning all these books to haarlem, and to lourens janszoon coster as their printer. dr. hessels was even ill-advised enough to point out that, as there are twenty editions of _donatus_ in this group of types, we have only to allow an interval of a year and a half between each to take back the earliest very close to 1440, the traditional date of the invention of printing. this is perfectly true, but as no reason can be assigned for fixing on this particular interval the value of such a calculation is very slight. one result of all this controversy is that the whole series of books and fragments have been dubbed "costeriana," and the convenience of having a general name for them is so great that it has been generally adopted, even by those who have no belief in the theory which it implies. all that is known of lourens janszoon coster is that he resided at haarlem from 1436 to 1483, and that contemporary references show him to have been a chandler and innkeeper, without making any mention of his having added printing to his other occupations. it is difficult to claim more for the story told by junius than that it represents an unknown quantity of fact with various legendary additions. it is difficult to dismiss it as less than a legend which must have had some element of fact as its basis. in so far as it goes beyond the statements of the cologne chronicle, it is supported only by the evidence that coster and the venerable bookbinder cornelis existed, and that the latter bound the account-books of haarlem cathedral. but no indiscretion of hadrianus junius writing in 1568 can affect the credit of the statements made in the cologne chronicle in 1499 on the authority of ulrich zell, and we have now to mention an important piece of evidence in favour of zell's accuracy. this is the entry in the diaries of jean de robert, abbot of saint aubert, cambrai, of the purchase in 1446 and again in 1451 of a copy of the _doctrinale_ of alexander gallus, _jeté en moule_, a phrase which, while far from satisfactory as a description of a book printed from movable type, cannot possibly refer to editions printed from woodblocks, even if these existed. the _doctrinale_, which was in verse, was a less popular school-book than the _donatus_. it is significant that among the so-called "costeriana" there are eight editions of the one against twenty of the other. where the _doctrinale_ was used we may be sure that the _donatus_ would be used also, and in greater numbers, so that this mention of a "mould-casted" _doctrinale_ as purchased as early as 1446 is a real confirmation of zell's assertion. we have no sufficient ground for believing that any of the fragments, either of the one book or the other, now in existence were produced as early as this. it is of the nature of school-books to be destroyed, and every improvement in the process of production would help to drive the earlier experiments out of existence. but taking zell's statement and the entries in the abbot's diaries together, it seems impossible to deny that there is evidence of some kind of printing being practised in holland not long after 1440. an ingenious theory as to the form which these "prefigurements" may have taken has lately been suggested, viz. that the earliest types may have consisted simply of flat pieces of metal, without any shanks to them, and that they were "set up" by being glued upon wood or stiff paper in the order required. they would thus be movable, but with a very low degree of movability, so that we can easily understand why short books like the _donatus_ and _doctrinale_ were continually reprinted without any attempt being made to produce a large work such as the bible. it is curious, however, that in the description of a "ciripagus" by paulus paulirinus, of prag,[17] "we have a reference" to a bible having been printed at bamberg "super lamellas," a phrase which might very well refer to types of this kind, though the sentence is usually explained as referring to either the latin or german edition of the _biblia pauperum_ issued by albrecht pfister. i think it just possible myself that the reference is really to the latin bible known as the thirty-six line bible, which seems certainly to have been sold, if not printed, at bamberg a little before 1460, and that paulirinus, having seen books printed "super lamellas," supposed (wrongly) that this was printed in that way. but the statement that it was printed in four weeks is against this. whether the dutch "vorbildung" of the art of printing subsequently invented at mainz took the form of experiments with shankless types, or fell short of the fully developed art in some other way, does not greatly concern the collector. it is in the highest degree improbable that the claim put forward on behalf of the so-called "costeriana" will ever be decisively proved or disproved. they are likely to remain as perpetual pretenders, and as such will always retain a certain interest, and a specimen of them always be a desirable addition to any collection which aims at illustrating the history of the invention of printing. such a specimen will not be easy to procure, because many of the extant fragments have been found in public libraries, more especially the royal library at the hague, and have never left their first homes. on the other hand, the number of fragments known has been considerably increased by new finds. thus there is no reason to regard a specimen as unattainable. footnotes: [12] dr. hessels supposes that this phrase indicates the monastery of saint victor, outside mainz, with which gutenberg was connected, and that the "report," therefore, can be traced to gutenberg himself. if so, we have the very important fact that gutenberg himself claimed to be the inventor. [13] iacobus cognomento gutenbergo: patria argentinus, & quidam alter cui nomen fustus, imprimendarum litterarum in membranis cum metallicis formis periti, trecentas cartas quisque eorum per diem facere innotescunt apud maguntiam germanie ciuitatem. iohannes quoque mentelinus nuncupatus apud argentinam eiusdem prouincie ciuitatem: ac in eodem artificio peritus totidem cartas per diem imprimere agnoscitur.... conradus suueynem: ac arnoldus pannarcz vdalricus gallus parte ex alia teuthones librarii insignes romam uenientes primi imprimendorum librorum artem in italiam introduxere trecentas cartas per diem imprimentes. [14] item dese hoichwyrdige kunst vursz is vonden aller eyrst in duytschlant tzo mentz am rijne. ind dat is der duytschscher nacion eyn groisse eirlicheit dat sulche synrijche mynschen syn dae tzo vynden. ind dat is geschiet by den iairen vns heren, anno domini. mccccxl. ind van der zijt an bis men schreue. l. wart vndersoicht die kunst ind wat dair zo gehoirt. ind in den iairen vns heren do men schreyff. mccccl. do was eyn gulden iair, do began men tzo drucken ind was dat eyrste boich dat men druckde die bybel zo latijn, ind wart gedruckt mit eynre grouer schrifft. as is die schrifft dae men nu mysseboicher mit druckt. item wiewail die kunst is vonden tzo mentz, als vursz vp die wijse, als dan nu gemeynlich gebruicht wirt, so is doch die eyrste vurbyldung vonden in hollant vyss den donaten, die dae selffst vur der tzijt gedruckt syn. ind van ind vyss den is genommen dat begynne der vursz kunst. ind is vill meysterlicher ind subtilicher vonden dan die selue manier was, vnd ye langer ye mere kunstlicher wurden. item eynre genant omnebonum der schrijfft in eynre vurrede vp dat boich quintilianus genoempt. vnd ouch in anderen meir boicher, dat eyn wale vyss vranckrijch, genant nicolaus genson haue alre eyrst dese meysterliche kunst vonden, mer dat is offenbairlich gelogen. want sij syn noch jm leuen die dat getzuigen dat men boicher druckte tzo venedige ee der vursz nicolaus genson dar quame, dair he began schrifft zo snijden vnd bereyden. mer der eyrste vynder der druckerye is gewest eyn burger tzo mentz. ind was geboren van straiszburch. ind hiesch joncker johan gudenburch. item van mentz is die vursz kunst komen alre eyrst tzo coellen. dairnae tzo straisburch, ind dairnae tzo venedige. dat begynne ind vortganck der vursz kunst hait myr muntlich vertzelt d' eirsame man meyster vlrich tzell van hanauwe. boich drucker zo coellen noch zertzijt. anno. mccccxcix. durch den die kunst vursz is zo coellen komen. [15] the first trace of the legend is in a reference to coster as having "brought the first print into the world in 1446" in a manuscript pedigree of the coster family compiled about 1559. [16] a page from a fragment of one of these in the british museum forms the frontispiece to this chapter (plate iv). [17] et tempore mei pambergæ quidam scripsit integrum bibliam super lamellas, et in quatuor septimanis totam bibliam super pargameno subtili presignavit scriptura. chapter iv the invention of printing--mainz no contrast could be much greater than that between the so-called "costeriana" and the incunabula printed at mainz. annually as a small boy i used to be taken to the crystal palace, and there a recognized part of the programme in each visit was to spend half an hour in solemnly pedalling backwards and forwards on a semicircular track on a machine miscalled a velocipede. perhaps these clumsy toys really constituted a definite stage in the invention and perfection of the modern bicycle. on the other hand, whatever may be the historical facts, there is no reason in the nature of things why the modern bicycle should not have been invented quite independently of them. the relative positions of holland and germany as regards the invention of printing are very analogous to those of the old velocipede and the bicycle. even if it could be proved decisively that some dutch fragment of a _donatus_ was earlier than any experiment made at mainz or strassburg, it was at mainz that the possibility was first demonstrated of producing by print books as beautiful as any written by the scribes, and it was from germany, not from holland, that printers carried the art which they had proved to be practicable to all parts of europe, including holland itself. [illustration: v. mainz, fust and schoeffer, 1459 duranti, rationale divinorum officiorum (1^a)] in the development of the art of printing at mainz three men had a share, though the precise part which each of them played is matter of conjecture rather than knowledge. the first of the three was johann gutenberg, the johannes bonemontanus whom fichet, as early as 1470, acclaimed as the first of all men to think out the printing art, whom the popular verdict has recognized as the inventor, and whom patriotic german bibliographers delight to invest with every virtue that distinguishes themselves. gutenberg's real name was gänsfleisch, gutenberg being an addition to his mother's surname[18] which he assumed for reasons not known to us. he was born about 1400, and just when he attained manhood his family, which belonged to the patrician party at mainz, was banished and sought refuge at strassburg. at strassburg gutenberg remained till about 1446, and legal and municipal records, so far as we can trust to their authenticity, offer us some tantalizing glimpses of his career there. when the town clerk of strassburg came to mainz the exile caused him to be arrested for a debt due to his family, and the matter had to be arranged to avoid a quarrel between the two cities. on the other hand, gutenberg was himself called to account for unpaid duties on wine, and was sued for a breach of promise of marriage. in 1437 he was the defendant in a much more interesting trial. he had admitted two partners to work an invention with him, and on one of these partners dying his brother claimed, unsuccessfully, to take his place in the partnership. the use of the words "presse," "forme," and "trucken" in connection with this invention leaves it hardly open to doubt that it was concerned with some kind of printing, and loans which gutenberg negotiated in 1441 and 1442 were presumably raised for the development of this. about the middle of the decade he returned to mainz and there also borrowed money, presumably again for the same object. at this point we are confronted with five fragmentary pieces of printing, all but one of them only recently discovered. the latest of these, according to german bibliographers, is a fragment of an astronomical calendar in german verse for an unspecified year, which might be 1429, 1448, or 1467, but does not exactly fit any of them; the earliest is part of a leaf of a _sibyllenbuch_ (originally known as _das weltgericht_, because the text of this fragment deals with the last judgment). between these two are placed fragments of three editions of _donatus, de octo partibus orationis_, two found recently in copies of an edition of herolt's _sermones de tempore et sanctis_ printed at strassburg[19] by martin flach in 1488 and now at berlin, the third one of the minor treasures of the bibliothèque nationale at paris, where it has lain for over a century. granting that the calendar was printed for use in 1448 (it has been argued, on the other hand, that its mention of movable festivals was intended to be only approximate), and that the other four pieces can be proved by typographical evidence to have preceded it, we may suppose the _sibyllenbuch_ to have been printed by gutenberg shortly after his return to mainz, i.e. about 1445, or shortly before this at strassburg. soon after the supposed date of the calendar the second of the three protagonists in the development of printing at mainz comes on the scene. this was johann fust, a goldsmith, who in or about august, 1450, lent gutenberg eight hundred guilders to enable him to print books, himself, nominally or truly, borrowing the money from another capitalist, and thereby gaining the right to charge interest on it without breaking the canon law. by about december, 1452, the loan was exhausted, and fust made a fresh advance of the same amount. the inner history of the next four years is hid from us, and the undisputed facts which belong to them have consequently been interpreted in every variety of way that human ingenuity can devise. these facts are that-(i) printing was continued with the fount of type used for the calendar attributed to 1448, fragments of more than a dozen different editions of _donatus_ printed with it being still extant, also a prognostication, _manung widder die durken_, printed in december, 1454, a bull of pope calixtus "widder die turcken" of 1456, a medical calendar for 1456, and an undated _cisianus_, another work of an astronomical character. (ii) when the pardoners employed by the proctor-general of the king of cyprus came to mainz in the autumn of 1454 to raise money by means of a papal indulgence, valid till 30 april of the following year, they were able to substitute two typographically distinct editions for the manuscript copies which they had previously used, the text of each of these indulgences being printed in a separate fount of beautifully clear small type, while a larger type was used for a few words. in one of these indulgences the larger type belongs, with some differences, to the same fount as the books named in our last paragraph. this indulgence has thirty-one lines, and four issues of it have been distinguished, three of them dated 1454 (the earliest of these being the earliest dated piece of printing) and the fourth 1455. in the other indulgence there are only thirty lines, the large type is neater, and three issues have been distinguished, one dated 1454, the other two 1455. (iii) in november, 1455, an action brought by fust to recover the 1600 guilders which he had lent gutenberg, with the arrears of interest, reached its final stage. in this suit the third of the mainz protagonists, peter schoeffer, was a witness on the side of fust, and we hear also, as servants of gutenberg, of heinrich keffer and bertolf von hanau, who may apparently be identified with printers who worked subsequently at nuremberg and basel. the document which has come down to us and is now preserved at the university library at göttingen is that recording the oath taken by fust, as the successful plaintiff, in order to obtain judgment for the amount of his claim. (iv) in august, 1456, heinrich cremer, vicar of the collegiate church at mainz, recorded his completion of the rubrication and binding of a magnificent printed bible in two volumes, now preserved in the bibliothèque nationale at paris, the type of which used to be thought identical with the larger type of the thirty-line indulgence mentioned above, but is now considered to be only closely similar. for this last undoubted date of rubrication, august, 1456, german bibliographers have lately substituted a reference to a manuscript date, 1453, in another copy of this printed bible, now preserved in the buchgewerbe-museum at leipzig, formerly owned by a well-known german collector of the last century, herr klemm. while, however, this date appears to have been written at a period approximating to that of the production of the book, its relevance as evidence of the date of printing is highly disputable, more especially as there appear to be signs of erasure near it. its owner, herr klemm, preserved a discreet silence as to its existence, and it is certainly not obligatory at present to accept it as valid evidence. in a work which does not pretend to the dignity of a history of printing it is impossible to discuss, or even to enumerate, the different theories as to the events of the years 1453-6, which have been formulated to account for these facts. the edition of the bible of which heinrich cremer rubricated the copy now at paris is so fine a book and so great a landmark in typographical history, that the desire to regard it as the production of the man who is credited with the invention of printing, johann gutenberg, easily becomes irresistible. to refuse to call it the gutenberg bible may, indeed, appear almost pedantic, though its old name, the "mazarine bible," which it gained from the accident of the copy in the mazarine library at paris being the first to attract attention, still survives, and it is also known among bibliographers as the "forty-two line bible," a safe uncontroversial title based on the number of lines in most of its columns. whoever printed it appears to have been possessed of ample means and to have been a master of detail and an excellent organizer. under the minute examination to which it has been subjected the book has yielded up some of its secrets, and we know that it was printed simultaneously on six different presses, that the body of the type was twice reduced, forty-two lines finally occupying slightly less space than the forty which had at first formed a column, that after the printing had begun it was resolved to increase the size of the edition, and that there is some reason to think that eventually a hundred and fifty copies were printed on paper and thirty on vellum,[20] and that the paper was ordered in large quantities and not in small parcels as it could be paid for. to the present writer it appears that if gutenberg had possessed the financial means, the patience and the organizing power needed to push through this heavy piece of work in the way described, it is difficult to perceive any reason why the capitalist fust should have quarrelled with him, or to imagine how gutenberg exposed himself to such an action as that which fust successfully carried against him. on the supposition that the bible was completed in or soon after 1453 the difficulty becomes almost insuperable, for it is inconceivable that if gutenberg had produced the book within a few months of receiving his second loan from fust he should not, by the autumn of 1455, have paid his creditor a single guilder, either for principal or interest. after his quarrel with fust, gutenberg apparently had dealings with two other men, with albrecht pfister who is found in possession of a later casting of the heavier fount of type in which the astrological calendar attributed to 1448 had been printed, and with a dr. homery. he ended his days as a pensioner at the court of the archbishop of mainz, while fust, with the aid of peter schoeffer, whom he made his son-in-law, developed a great business. the inventor who lacks organizing power and whose invention never thrives till it has passed into other hands is no unfamiliar figure, and such a conception of gutenberg perhaps accords better with the known facts of his career than that of a living incarnation of heroism and business ability such as his german eulogists love to depict. according to a theory developed by the present writer in an article in _the library_ for january, 1907 (second series, vol. viii), though no originality is claimed for it, the key to the situation lies in the assertion[21] made on behalf of peter schoeffer that his skill in engraving had enabled him to attain results denied to the two johns, johann gutenberg and johann fust. according to this theory, it was schoeffer who engraved the two founts of small type used in the two sets of indulgences of 1454-5, and thus demonstrated that the new art could be applied to produce every kind of book and document which had previously circulated in manuscript. fust gave him his daughter christina in marriage, and johann schoeffer, the offspring of the alliance, distinctly tells us that this was in reward for his services. from the first, or almost the first, the firm adopted a policy of advertisement which other printers were slow to imitate, the partners giving their names in their earliest colophons and making no secret of the fact that they were using an "adinuentio artificiosa imprimendi ac caracterizandi" which enabled them to dispense with the pen. in 1460, in the _catholicon_ of that year, the work of an anonymous printer to which we shall have to recur (see p. 51 _sqq._), the invention is distinctly claimed for mainz, and from 1467 this claim was taken over by peter schoeffer, who in the colophons of his subsequent books again and again celebrated mainz as the city singled out by divine favour to give the art to the world. the fact that for nearly forty years (1460-99) these statements remained unchallenged, and passed into the contemporary history of the time, is the strongest evidence in favour of the substantial invention of the art at mainz that can be conceived. a single reference in 1499[22] to prefigurations of a humbler kind in _donatuses_ printed in holland and the presentation of a rival theory in 1568 cannot deprive of its due weight the evidence that during all the years when the facts were easily ascertainable judgment in favour of mainz was allowed to go by default. but the fust and schoeffer colophons tell us more than this, for while they make no mention of gutenberg they never claim the invention of printing as their own achievement. it is clear that fust could not claim this himself, and while he was alive his son-in-law did not think fit to put forward, or allow to be put forward, any claim on his own behalf. it was only in 1468, when both gutenberg and fust were dead, that schoeffer's "corrector," or reader, magister franciscus, was permitted to assert on his behalf, in the _justinian_ of that year, that though two johns had the better in the race he, like his namesake s. peter, had entered first into the sepulchre, i.e. the inner mysteries of printing. the claim, thus irreverently put forward, is deprived of much of its weight by the moment at which it was made; nevertheless it can hardly have been baseless. the desire to credit gutenberg with some really handsome and important piece of printing has caused his name to be connected with two other large folios, a latin bible, of thirty-six lines to a column, printed in a variety of the type used for the _sibyllenbuch_ and the _kalendar_ of "1448," and a latin dictionary known by the name _catholicon_, the work of a thirteenth century writer, joannes balbus, of genoa. the type of the thirty-six line bible passed into the hands of albrecht pfister, of bamberg, who printed a number of popular german books with it in 1461 and 1462. there is considerable evidence, moreover, that a large number of copies of the bible itself were sold at bamberg about 1460. the greater part of the text appears to have been set up from a copy of the forty-two line bible. where, when, and by whom it was printed we can only guess, but the place was more probably bamberg than mainz, and as the type is believed to have been originally gutenberg's, and there is evidence that pfister, when he began printing the popular books of 1461-2, was quite inexperienced, gutenberg has certainly a better claim to have printed this volume than any one else who can be suggested. the thirty-six line bible is a much rarer book than the forty-two line, but copies are known to exist at the british museum, john rylands library, bibliothèque nationale, and musée plantin, and at greifswald, jena, leipzig, stuttgart, vienna, and wolfenbüttel. a copy is also said to be in private hands in great britain, but has not been registered. none has been sold in recent times. besides the more complete copies mentioned above, various fragments have been preserved and some of these are on vellum. the vellum fragment of leaf 204 now in the british museum was at one time used as a book-cover. the _catholicon_ is printed in a small type, not very cleanly cut. it was issued without printer's name, but with a long colophon, which has been translated: by the help of the most high, at whose will the tongues of infants become eloquent, and who oft-times reveals to the lowly that which he hides from the wise, this noble book catholicon, in the year of the lord's incarnation 1460, in the bounteous city of mainz of the renowned german nation, which the clemency of god has deigned with so lofty a light of genius and free gift to prefer and render illustrious above all other nations of the earth, without help of reed, stilus, or pen, but by the wondrous agreement, proportion and harmony of punches and types has been printed and brought to an end. upon this follow four latin verses in honour of the holy trinity and the virgin mary and the words "deo gracias." we can imagine an inventor who, despite his invention, remained profoundly unsuccessful, writing the opening words of this colophon, and it is not easy to see their appropriateness to any one else. it is thus highly probable that gutenberg set up this book and refused to follow fust and schoeffer in their advertising ways. he may even have had a special reason for this, for among the forty-one copies registered (almost all in great libraries) two groups may be distinguished, one embracing the copies on vellum and the majority of the paper copies, the other the rest of the paper copies. the groups are distinguished by various differences, of which the most important is that in the one case the workmen used four and in the other two pins to keep the paper in its place while being printed. an attractive explanation of all this would be that while gutenberg set up the book and was allowed to print for himself a certain number of copies, there was a richer partner in the enterprise whose pressmen pulled the greater part of the edition. but dr. zedler, who has brought together all the available information about the book in his monograph _das mainzer catholicon_, has a different explanation. in the same type as the _catholicon_ are two small tracts of little interest, the _summa de articulis fidei_ of thomas aquinas, and the _dialogus_ of matthaeus de cracovia; also an indulgence of pope pius ii. in 1467 the type is found in the hands of heinrich bechtermünze at eltvil, who died while printing a vocabulary. this was completed by his brother nicholas, who also printed three later editions of it. during the years which precede 1457, johann fust and peter schoeffer, the one a goldsmith, the other a clerk in minor orders of the diocese of mainz, are involved in the obscurity and uncertainty which surround gutenberg's career. reasons have been offered for believing that it was schoeffer who designed the small neat types used in the mainz indulgences of 1454-5, and that he with his skill and fust with his money pushed the forty-two line bible to a successful completion. if they printed this, they no doubt printed also a liturgical psalter in the same type, of which a fragment is preserved at the bibliothèque nationale at paris. but we do not touch firm ground until we come to the famous psalter of 1457, the colophon of which leaves us in no doubt as to its typographical authorship. this runs: presens psalmorum[23] codex venustate capitalium decoratus rubricationibusque sufficienter distinctus adinuentione artificiosa imprimendi ac caracterizandi absque calami ulla exaracione sic effigiatus, et ad eusebiam dei industrie est consummatus, per iohannem fust ciuem maguntinum, et petrum schoffer de gernszheim anno domini millesimo .cccc.lvij. in vigilia assumpcionis. the present book of the psalms, decorated with beautiful capitals and sufficiently marked out with rubrics, has been thus fashioned by an ingenious invention of printing and stamping without any ploughing of a pen, and to the worship of god has been diligently brought to completion by johann fust, a citizen of mainz, and peter schoeffer of gernsheim, in the year of the lord, 1457, on the vigil of the assumption. thus in the psalter of 1457 we have the first example of a book informing us when and by whom it was manufactured; it also illustrates in a very remarkable way the determination of the new partners to produce a volume which should fully rival the best shop-made manuscripts. the effort to print rubrics had already been made in the forty-two line bible, but the red printing was abandoned in that instance as too troublesome. now it was revived with complete success, and with the printed rubrics came also printed capitals or initial letters in two colours, red and blue, and several different sizes. a good discussion of the manner in which these were printed will be found in the _catalogue of the manuscripts and printed books exhibited at the historical music loan exhibition_ (1886) by mr. w. h. j. weale. in an article in the first volume of _bibliographica_ mr. russell martineau showed that part of the edition was printed twice. when mr. martineau wrote nine copies were known, all on vellum, viz. (i) five of an issue of 143 leaves containing the psalms and canticles only, these being at the british museum, royal library windsor, john rylands library, bibliothèque nationale paris, and royal library darmstadt; (ii) four of an issue of 175 leaves, containing also the vigils of the dead, these being at the bibliothèque nationale paris, university library berlin, royal library dresden, and imperial library vienna. to these must now be added a copy of the larger issue, wanting five leaves, presented in 1465 by rené d'anjou to the franciscans of la baumette-les-angiers and now in the municipal library at angers. the distribution of the psalms in this 1457 edition is that of the general "roman use," but blank spaces were left for the insertion of the characteristic differences of the use of any particular diocese. two years later (29 august, 1459) fust and schoeffer produced another psalter, in the same types and with the same capitals, with twenty-three instead of twenty lines to a page. this was stated in the colophon to have been printed "ad laudem dei ac honorem sancti jacobi," and was thus apparently commissioned by the benedictine monastery of s. james at mainz. its arrangement is that generally in use at the time in german monasteries. thirteen copies of this edition are preserved, all on vellum, viz. four in england (british museum, bodleian, john rylands library, and the earl of leicester's library at holkham), two at paris, one at the hague, five in germany, and one in mr. morgan's collection at new york. this last was bought by mr. quaritch at the sale of the library of sir john thorold for £4950. between the production of these two psalters fust and schoeffer printed in the same types on twelve leaves of vellum the canon of the mass only, obviously that it might be bought by churches which owned missals otherwise in good condition, but with these much-fingered leaves badly worn. the unique copy of this edition of the canon was discovered at the bodleian library in a mainz missal of 1493 and identified by mr. gordon duff. it is described by mr. duff in his _early printed books_, and by dr. falk and herr wallau in part iii of the publications of the gutenberg gesellschaft, with facsimiles of ten pages. in october, 1459, fust and schoeffer took an important step forward by printing in small type the _rationale diuinorum officiorum_ of gulielmus duranti, a large work explaining the meaning of the various services of the church and the ceremonies used in them. the text is printed in double columns with sixty-three lines in each column, and the type measures 91 mm. to twenty lines. a copy at munich is printed partly on paper, partly on vellum. all the other forty-two copies described by mr. de ricci are entirely on vellum. the book has also one large and two smaller capitals printed in two colours, and the first of these has been reproduced as a frontispiece to this chapter, together with a piece of the neat small type which, by demonstrating the possibility of cheap printing, set up a real landmark. in 1460 fust and schoeffer gave another proof of their skill in their edition of the _constitutions_ of pope clement v with the commentary of joannes andreae. the text of the constitutions is printed in two columns in the centre of each page in a type measuring 118 mm. to twenty lines, with the commentary completely surrounding it in the 91 type used in the _duranti_. headings and colophon are printed in red, and the general effect is extremely rich and handsome. all the fourteen copies known to mr. de ricci are printed on vellum. in 1461 printing was put to a new use by the publication of a series of eight placards (one in two editions) relative to the struggle between the rival archbishops of mainz--a papal bull deposing diether von isenburg, the emperor's confirmation of this, papal briefs as to the election of adolf von nassau, a petition of diether's to the pope, and the manifestos of the two archbishops. all these, and also a bull of the same year as to a crusade against the turks, are printed in the neat 91 type, and though we may be struck by the difficulty of reading the long lines unrelieved by any headings, these publications must have been a great advertisement for the new art. in 1462 the archiepiscopal struggle led to mainz being sacked, but on 14 august there was completed there perhaps the finest of all the early bibles, printed throughout in the 118 type, with headings in red and numerous two-line capitals and chapter-numbers in red and blue, though spaces were left for others to be supplied by hand. three different colophons to this book have been described, and examples of all of these are in the british museum. of the sixty-one extant copies registered by mr. de ricci at least thirty-six are printed on vellum. the lamoignon copy bequeathed to the museum by mr. cracherode has good painted capitals added by hand and is a singularly fine book. the bible of 1462 marks the close of the great period of printing at mainz. whether six, seven, or nine years separate it from the forty-two line bible the time had been splendidly employed. the capacity of the new art had been demonstrated to the full, and taken as a group these early fust and schoeffer incunabula have never on their own lines been surpassed. the disaster of the sack of mainz and perhaps the financial strain involved in the production of the bible almost reduced their press to silence until 1465, and it was during these years that their workmen are said to have left them and begun carrying the art into other towns and countries.[24] when the partners resumed active work in 1465 they struck out a new line in their _de officiis_ and _paradoxa_ of cicero, but attained no special excellence in such small folios and quartos. fust died about this time, and schoeffer, left to himself, displayed no further originality. the bible of 1472, save for the absence of printed capitals, is a close copy of that of 1462. the clementine constitutions of 1460 were reprinted, and similar editions were issued of the institutes and codex of justinian, decretals of pope gregory ix, etc. for his miscellaneous books schoeffer seems rather to have followed the lead of other printers at strassburg and rome than to have set new fashions himself. in 1483 he printed a breslau missal, and this was followed by two reprints and editions for the use of cracow, meissen, gnesen, and mainz itself. he also printed the _hortus sanitatis_ in 1485, and in 1490 the first of several psalters in the style of the editions of 1457 and 1459. in 1503 he was succeeded by his son johann. about 1476-80 a few unimportant books were issued at mainz by an anonymous printer known as the "printer of the darmstadt prognostication," from the fact that the first copy of the prognostication in question to attract notice was that in the darmstadt library. the books of this press attained undeserved notoriety from the forged dates inserted in many of them about 1800, in order to connect them with gutenberg. the work of three other printers, johann neumeister, erhard reuwich, and jacob meidenbach is chiefly important in the history of book-illustration, and will be found mentioned in chapter vii. the only other mainz printer in the fifteenth century was peter von friedberg, who is chiefly notable as having printed a little series of works by johannes trithemius (tritheim or trittenheim), the erudite abbot of spanheim. after about 1472 mainz was easily surpassed as a centre of printing by strassburg, cologne, augsburg, and nuremberg. but if no book had been printed there after the sack of the city ten years earlier, its fame as long as civilization lasts would still be imperishable. footnotes: [18] her maiden name was elsa wyrich, but she lived at the hof zum gutenberg at mainz, and the name gutenberg thus came into the family. [19] it will be noted that this connection with strassburg offers just a grain of evidence in favour of the _donatuses_ having been printed there rather than at mainz. [20] according to the excellent _catalogue raisonné des premières impressions de mayence_ of mr. seymour de ricci, eleven copies on vellum and thirty on paper can now be located, but some of these have only one of the two volumes. the vellum copy belonging to mr. robert hoe sold in 1911 for $50,000. [21] in the verses by magister franciscus in the _justinian_ of 1468, subsequently twice reprinted. [22] in the cologne chronicle. see _supra_, p. 34. [23] misprinted _spalmorum_. [24] it seems reasonable to believe that ulrich zell, the first printer at cologne, who was a clerk of the diocese of mainz, and sweynheym and pannartz, who introduced printing into italy, owed their training to fust and schoeffer. chapter v other incunabula in august, 1462, the struggle between its rival archbishops led to mainz being sacked. very little more printing was done there until 1465, and we need not doubt the tradition that journeymen trained by gutenberg and fust and schoeffer, finding no work for them at mainz, carried such experience as they had gained to other towns and countries, where they appear, after a few years spent in manufacturing presses and types, in all the glory of "prototypographers." but even before 1462 two other cities possessed the art--bamberg and strassburg. at bamberg it was practised possibly by gutenberg, who may have printed there the thirty-six line bible about 1457, certainly by albrecht pfister, who is found in possession of the type of this bible, and may himself have had copies for sale. the books he himself printed at bamberg are nine in number,[25] and three or four bound volumes seem to have preserved all the remnants of them that we possess, and all of these have found their way to public libraries. the large and stately folios produced by the early strassburg printers have naturally resisted the ravages of time better than the bamberg popular books. certainly clumsier than the contemporary mainz books, they yet have a dignity and character of their own which command respect. the first strassburg printer, johann mentelin, was at work there in or before 1460, and was helped during his life and succeeded after his death (1477) by his son-in-law, adolf rusch, who never put his name to a book, and most of whose impressions pass under the name of "the r-printer," from the peculiar form of that letter found in one of his types. mentelin himself did not place his name at the end of a book till he had been at work more than a dozen years; heinrich eggestein, who began work about 1464, was equally reticent, and throughout the 'seventies and 'eighties a large proportion of the books printed at strassburg were anonymous. heinrich knoblochtzer, who started about 1476, combines some of the charm of the earlier printers with greater literary interest and the attraction of illustrations and ornamental capitals and borders. of him we shall have to speak in a later chapter. but after 1485 the bulk of strassburg printing was dull and commercial. in the fifteenth century basel was not yet, as it became in 1501, a member of the swiss confederacy, and typographically its relations with mainz, strassburg, nuremberg and other german towns were very close. in what year printing began there is not known. there is no dated book from a basel press until as late as 1474, but the date of purchase, 1468, in a book (s. gregory's _moralia in job_), printed by berthold ruppel, of hanau, takes us back six years, and it is possible that ruppel was at work even before this. he is identified with reasonable certainty with one of the servants of gutenberg mentioned in connection with the lawsuit ended in 1455, and he printed latin bibles and other large works such as appealed to the ambition of the german prototypographers. [illustration: vi. cologne, ulrich zell, 1465-66 cicero. de officiis (7^b)] the second and more interesting basel printer, michael wenssler, seems to have taken schoeffer as his model, and reprinted many of schoeffer's editions, following the wording of his colophons and investing them with the same glories of red ink. whereas, however, from about 1476 schoeffer's activity was much less conspicuous, wenssler for the next ten years poured out edition after edition of all the heaviest legal and theological works, until he must have overstocked the market. then he devoted himself almost exclusively to liturgical printing, but his affairs became hopelessly involved, and in 1491 he fled from his creditors at basel, and became a wandering printer, finding commissions at cluny and maçon, and then settling for a time at lyon. many of the early printers in italy made this mistake of flooding the market with a single class of book, but wenssler is almost the only notable example in germany of this lack of business instinct. travelling along the rhine from mainz in the opposite direction we come to cologne, and here ulrich zell, like berthold ruppel, a native of hanau, but who calls himself in his books a "clerk of the diocese of mainz," enrolled his name on the register of the university in june, 1464, doubtless for the sake of the business privileges which the senate had it in its power to confer. the first dated book from his press, s. john chrysostom, _super psalmo quinquagesimo_ (psalm li., according to our english reckoning), was issued in 1466, but before this appeared he had almost certainly produced an edition of the _de officiis_ (see the frontispiece to this chapter, plate vi), the most popular of cicero's works in germany, which fust and schoeffer had printed in 1465 and reprinted the next year. avoiding the great folios on which the early printers of mainz, strassburg, and basel staked their capital, zell's main work was the multiplication of minor theological treatises likely to be of practical use to priests. of these he issued countless editions in small quarto, along with a comparatively few small folios, in which, however, his skill as a printer is seen to better advantage. he continued in active work until 1494, gave, as we have seen (chapter iii.), his version of the origin of printing to the compiler of the cologne chronicle published in 1499, and was still alive as late as 1507. zell's earliest rival at cologne was arnold ther hoernen, who printed from 1470 to 1482. he may very likely have been self-taught, for his early work is very uneven, but he developed into an excellent craftsman. he is the first notable example of a printer getting into touch with a contemporary author, and regularly printing all his works, the author in this case being werner rolewinck, a carthusian of cologne, who wrote sermons and historical works, including the _fasciculus temporum_, an epitome of history, which found much favour all over europe. ther hoernen used to be credited with the honour of having printed the first book with a titlepage, the _sermo ad populum predicabilis in festo presentacionis beatissime marie semper virginis_ of 1470. schoeffer, however, had preceded him by some seven years by devoting a separate page to the title of each of his editions of a bull of pius ii (see p. 93), and as neither printer continued the practice these isolated instances must be taken as accidental. in the same book, ther hoernen for the first time placed printed numbers on the leaves, but this improvement also was not followed up. the third cologne typographer, johann koelhoff the elder, was the first (in 1472) to place printed "signatures" on the quires of a book, so as to show the binder the order in which they were to be arranged. hitherto the quires had been marked by hand, and this improvement was not suffered to drop for a time like the others, but quickly spread all over europe. at augsburg günther zainer completed his first book, an edition of the latin meditations on the life of christ taken from the works of s. bonaventura, on the 13th march, 1468. though he followed this with three heavy books which had found favour at mainz and strassburg, zainer had the wisdom to strike out a line for himself. augsburg had long been the chief centre of the craftsmen who cut and printed the woodcuts of saints, for which there seems to have been a large sale in germany, and also the pictures used for playing-cards. the cutters were at first inclined to regard the idea of book-illustrations with suspicion, as likely to interfere with their existing business. it was decided, however, by the local abbot of ss. ulrich and afra, an ecclesiastic with typographical tastes, that illustrated books might be printed so long as members of the wood-cutters' guild were employed in making the blocks. with this as a working agreement, illustrated books greatly prospered at augsburg, not only günther zainer, but johann bämler and anton sorg (a very prolific printer), turning them out with much success throughout the 'seventies. at nuremberg printing was introduced in 1470 by johan sensenschmidt, who for a short time had as his partner heinrich kefer, of mainz, another of gutenberg's servants. much more important, however, was the firm of anton koberger, who began work the next year, and speedily developed the largest business of any printer in germany. koberger was able to deal successfully in all the heavy books, which after 1480 other firms found it wiser to leave alone, and seems to have employed adolf rusch at strassburg and perhaps other printers elsewhere, to print for him. he also printed towards the end of the century some very notable illustrated books. next to koberger, friedrich creussner, who started in 1473, had the largest business in nuremberg, and georg stuchs made himself a reputation as a missal printer, a special department from which koberger held aloof. at speier, after two anonymous firms had worked in 1471 and 1472 without much success, peter drach (1477) developed an important business. at ulm johann zainer, a kinsman of günther zainer, of augsburg, began in 1473 by printing illustrated books, which were subsequently taken up in the 'eighties by leonhard holle, conrad dinckmut, and johann reger, while zainer himself became a miscellaneous printer. at lübeck lucas brandis produced a universal history called the _rudimentum nouitiorum_ in 1475 and a fine _josephus_, important liturgical work being subsequently done by bartholomaeus ghotan, matthaeus brandiss and stephan arndes, similar work being also produced at magdeburg partly by some of these lübeck printers. fine liturgical work was also done at würzburg by georg reyser, who may previously have printed anonymously at speier, and who started his kinsman michel in a similar business at eichstätt. at leipzig, where marcus brandis printed one or two books in 1481, and the following years, a sudden development took place about 1490, and a flood of small educational works was poured out by some half a dozen printers, of whom conrad kachelofen and martin landsberg were the most prolific. presses were also set up in numerous other places, so that by the end of the century at least fifty german cities, towns and villages had seen a printer at work. in many of these the art took no root, and in some the printer was only employed for a short time to print one or more books for a particular purpose. but the total output of incunabula in germany was very large, and leaving out of count the fugitive single sheets, the scanty remnants of which can bear no relation to the thousands which must have been produced, out of about 25,000 different books and editions printed in the fifteenth century registered as extant at the time of writing probably nearly a third were produced in germany. if, as is likely, a large proportion of the eleven thousand undescribed incunabula (among which, however, there must be many duplicates and triplicates) reported to have been discovered by the agents of the german royal commission for a general catalogue of incunabula are german, this rough estimate must be largely increased, and it may be proved that germany was as prolific as italy itself. considerable as was this output of german printing at home, it was probably nearly equalled by the work done by german printers in the other countries of europe to which they hastened to carry the new art. turning first to italian incunabula we find that the first book printed in italy has perished utterly. the cruel little latin grammar which passed under the name of _donatus_ had, as we have seen, been frequently printed in holland and by the first mainz printers, and there are several later instances of an edition of it being produced as soon as a press was set up, merely to show the printer's types. this was done by conrad sweynheym and arnold pannartz, the two germans who began printing at the monastery of saint scholastica at subiaco, some forty miles from rome, in 1465, or perhaps in the previous year. being a school-book, the _donatus_ was thumbed to pieces, so that no copy now survives, and it is only known from the printer's allusion to it as the book "_unde imprimendi initium sumpsimus_" in a list of their publications drawn up in 1472. of the three other books printed by them at subiaco, cicero's _de oratore_ has no printed date, but a copy described by signor fumagalli bears a manuscript note dated pridie kal. octobres m.cccclxv., i.e. 30 september, 1465, the authenticity of which has, however, been challenged, though probably without good reason. the two others both bear printed dates, the works of _lactantius_, that of 29 october, 1465, and s. augustine's _de ciuitate dei_, 12 june, 1467. probably even before this last book was completed the printers were already moving some of their material to rome, where they found shelter in the palace of pietro de' massimi, for their edition of the _epistulae familiares_ of cicero was completed there in the same year, probably in or before november. even so it is not certain that this was the first book printed at rome, for ulrich han, a native of vienna and citizen of ingolstadt, whose later work, like that of michael wenssler at basel, shows a tendency to imitate schoeffer, completed an edition of the _meditationes de vita christi_ of cardinal turrecremata on the last day of the same year, and mr. proctor (after the publication of his _index_) assigned to han's press and to an even earlier date than the _meditationes_ a bulky edition of the epistles of s. jerome, which must certainly have taken a year to print. the career of sweynheym and pannartz in partnership at rome lasted but little over six years, their latest book bearing the date 31 december, 1473. already in march, 1472, they were in difficulties, and printed a letter to pope sixtus iv begging for some pecuniary aid. they had printed, they said, no fewer than 11,475 volumes, and gave a list of the different books and of the numbers printed of each. four of these editions were of 300 copies, the rest of 275, and we can see from the list that there had been three editions of the _lactantius_ and _de ciuitate dei_ and two each of cicero's _epistulae familiares_, _de oratore_, and _opera philosophica_, and also of virgil, so that clearly some of their books had shown a profit. but the list is entirely made up of latin classics, "profane" and theological, and by march, 1472, printing had been introduced into at least ten other italian cities (venice, foligno, trevi, ferrara, milan, florence, treviso, bologna, naples, and savigliano), and in most, if not all of these, the one idea of the first printers was to produce as many latin classics as possible, as though no other firm in italy were doing the same thing. unable to obtain help from the pope, sweynheym and pannartz dissolved partnership, the former devoting himself to engraving maps for an edition of ptolemy's _geographia_, which he did not live to see (it was printed by arnold bucking in 1478), while pannartz resumed business on a somewhat smaller scale on his own account, and died in 1476. at venice, the first printer, johann of speier, seems to have had some foreboding of what might happen, and thoughtfully protected himself against competition by procuring from the senate an exclusive privilege for printing at venice during the space of five years. this might seriously have retarded the development of the press at venice. johann, however, after printing two editions of cicero's _epistulae ad familiares_ and pliny's _historia naturalis_ in 1469, was carried off by death while working on his fourth book, s. augustine's _de ciuitate dei_, in 1470, and his brother wendelin, or vindelinus, who took over the business, had no privilege to protect him from competition. in 1470, the way thus being left clear, a frenchman, nicolas jenson, set up the second press in venice, and by the beauty of his fine roman type speedily attained a reputation which has lasted to this day. another fine printer, christopher valdarfer, produced his first book in the same year. in 1471 three other firms (an italian priest, clemente of padua, and two germans, adam of ammergau and franz renner of heilbronn) began publishing, and in 1472 yet seven more (three germans and four italians). but the pace was impossible, and by this time men were rapidly falling out. as we have seen, sweynheym and pannartz, after their ineffectual attempt to obtain a subsidy from the pope, dissolved their partnership at rome after 1473, and ulrich han in 1471 had taken a moneyed partner, with whose aid he weathered the storm. at venice wendelin, after producing thirty-one books in the previous two years, reduced his output to six in 1473, and soon after seems to have ceased to work for himself. jenson's numbers sank from twenty-eight in 1471-2 to six in 1473-4. valdarfer gave up after 1471, and is subsequently found at milan. other venetian printers also dropped out, and only two new firms began work in 1473. at florence after the first printer bernardo cennini and his sons had produced a virgil in 1471, and johann petri of mainz boccaccio's _philocolo_ and petrarch's _trionfi_ in 1472, printing ceased for some years. presses started at foligno, trevi, and savigliano came to a speedy end. at treviso, where gerardus lisa had published four books in 1471, there was, according to mr. proctor, a gap from december in that year till the same month in 1474, though dr. copinger quotes one book each for the intervening years. only one book was published at ferrara in 1473. what happened at naples is hard to say, since sixtus riessinger, the first printer there, issued many books without dates. at bologna trade seems to have been stationary. at milan, where both antonius larotus in 1471 and philippus de lavagna in 1472 had begun with extreme caution, there was healthy progress, and these two firms continued issuing editions of the classics, and with the great falling off of competition may have found it profitable to do so. but of the reality of the crisis in the italian book trade in 1472-3, although little is said of it in histories of printing, there can be no doubt. when it was over there were symptoms of a similar over-production of some of the great legal commentaries. but this danger was avoided. there was a steady increase in the range of the literature published, and the bourgeois book-buyer was remembered as well as the aristocratic student. soon there came a great extension, not only of the home but of the foreign market, and italy settled down to supply the world with books, a task for which venice, both from its geographical position and its well-established commercial relations, was peculiarly fitted. but it is the books printed before 1474 that form the real italian incunabula. in the subsequent work within the limits of the fifteenth century rome took no very important part. ulrich han continued to print till 1478. joannes philippi de lignamine, papal physician and native of sicily, produced some exceptionally interesting books between 1470 and 1476, and again in 1481-4, and georg lauer, who worked from 1470 to 1481, and completed an edition of s. jerome's letters, left unfinished by pannartz at the time of his death, showed himself a good craftsman. the later printers, especially stephan plannck and eucharius silber, had some good types, but produced few notable books, the bulk of the roman output after 1480 being editions in small quarto of official documents and speeches at the papal court. to devise any summary description of fifteenth century printing at venice is wellnigh impossible. some 150 firms were at work there; at a low estimate some four thousand extant books and editions must be credited to them, and these embraced almost every kind of literature for which readers could be found in the fifteenth century, and many varieties of craftsmanship. from a decorative point of view, the firm of erhard ratdolt did exceptionally good work, and it is also remarkable for specializing mainly on astronomy, mathematics, and history. liturgical printing began somewhat late (there seems to have been a prejudice against printed service books in italy, and i can remember none printed at rome); in the fifteenth century johann hammann or herzog and johann emerich were its chief exponents. franz renner produced chiefly latin theology, a department much less predominant at venice than in germany. several firms, e.g. jacques le rouge, baptista de tortis, andreas torresanus (father-in-law of aldus and a very fine printer), and georgius arrivabene devoted themselves like jenson first mainly to latin classics and then to law; others, such as filippo di pietro mingled latin and italian classics. filippo's kinsman, gabriele di pietro, was one of the earliest vernacular printers. many firms, such as that of bonetus locatellus, who seems to have had a university connection, and printed all kinds of learned latin books, despised the vernacular altogether. the brothers giovanni and gregorio dei gregorii were perhaps the most prolific and miscellaneous printers in both latin and italian. johannes tacuinus, a learned printer towards the end of the century, is notable for adorning his books with pictorial capitals, mostly of boys at play. aldus manutius will be spoken of in a later chapter. while all this activity was displayed at venice other cities were not idle. at milan upwards of eight hundred incunabula were produced, mostly by its earliest printer, antonius zarotus, and two germans, leonhard pachel and ulrich scinzenzeler. ferrara seems to have been able to support only one press at a time, and at florence it was some years before printing flourished, but in the last quarter of the century many interesting books were printed there, both learned and vernacular, as to the illustrations in which much will have to be said later on. some of the early treviso books from the press of gerard lisa are distinctly pretty. bologna produced about three hundred incunabula. naples probably not so many, but of much better quality. altogether well over ten thousand italian incunabula must still be extant, and these were produced at no fewer than seventy different places, though many of these were of no typographical importance, and only find their way into histories of printing from having sheltered a wandering printer for a few weeks as he was on his way from one large town to another. in france also the earliest books were addressed to students of the classics, though they were produced on a much more limited scale. there the first printers, three germans, had been invited to set up their presses at paris in the sorbonne by two of its professors, guillaume fichet and jean heynlin, of stein, better known in his own day as johannes de lapide. between the summer of 1470 and the autumn of 1472 eighteen works were printed at the sorbonne, mostly of the kind which would be of use to its students. among them was sallust, three works of cicero, virgil's bucolics and georgics, the satires of juvenal and persius, terence, some text books, the _speculum humanae vitae_ of bishop roderic of zamora, and the orations of fichet's patron, cardinal bessarion. in august, 1472, the cardinal arrived in france on a fruitless mission to rouse the king to a crusade against the turks. he was rebuffed and ordered to leave france. fichet accompanied him, and never returned to paris. as early as the previous march heynlin seems to have been called away, and now the imported german printers, michael freiburger, ulrich gering, and martin crantz, were left wholly to their own devices. thus abandoned they printed four books of a less special character, for which they sought princely instead of scholarly patronage, and then in april, 1473, moved from the sorbonne and set up for themselves at the sign of the soleil d'or in the rue s. jacques. here they printed still in latin, but a much more popular class of books, and soon had to contend with two rival firms, that of pieter de keysere and johann stol, and the printers at the sign of the "soufflet vert" or green bellows. the finest of the subsequent printers was jean dupré, who used excellent capitals and issued many illustrated books, but three prolific printers, antoine caillaut, gui marchand, and pierre levet, along with many dull books issued some very interesting ones. towards the end of the century an enterprising publisher, antoine vérard, kept many of the paris printers busy, and paris became noted typographically for its fine illustrated editions of the hours of the blessed virgin, issued by vérard, dupré, pigouchet (and his publisher, simon vostre), and thielman kerver. but these with the publications of vérard belong to another chapter. at lyon printing was introduced by the enterprise of one of its citizens, barthélemi buyer, who engaged guillaume leroy (a native of liège) to print for him, and subsequently employed other printers as well. the first lyon book was a little volume of popular religious treatises, containing among other things the _de miseria humanae conditionis_ of pope innocent iii. it was completed 17 september, 1473. until nearly 1490 the books printed at lyon were mainly popular in character with a considerable proportion of french books, many of them illustrated. from 1490 onwards learned latin books occur more frequently, and printing rapidly became as general or miscellaneous as at paris itself, although only a single attempt was made, unsuccessfully, to rival the paris _horae_. the two cities between them probably produced more than three-fourths of the three thousand incunabula, which at a rough guess may be attributed to french presses, the share of paris being about twice as great as that of lyon. according to the stereotyped phrase, printing was introduced into no fewer than thirty-seven other french towns during the fifteenth century, but as a rule the printers were but birds of passage, and it was only at poitiers (1479) and rouen (1487) that it took root and flourished continuously, though on but a small scale. in other towns the struggle to maintain a press continued for several years, as at toulouse, or was abandoned after the fulfilment of a single commission. in holland the first books which bear the name of their printer and date and place of imprint are those produced at utrecht by nicolaus ketelaer and gerardus leempt, who began work in 1473. it is tolerably certain, however, that some of the so-called "costeriana" (see chap. ii) preceded this date, and they are at least as likely to have been printed at haarlem as at utrecht, there being no decisive evidence in favour of either place. no namable printer appears at haarlem until the end of 1483, when jacob bellaert set up a short-lived press there. for some seven years (1477-84) excellent work was done at gouda by gerard leeu, who then moved to antwerp. at delft, where a fine bible was printed by jacob jacobszoen and mauricius yemantszoen in 1477, printing was kept up continuously by jacobszoen, christian snellaert, and hendrik eckert till the end of the century, though there seems to have been only work enough for one firm at a time. at zwolle, pieter van os, who began work in 1479, was able to maintain himself, with a brief interval about 1482, till past the magic date 1500. lastly, at deventer, where richardus pafraet started in the same year, an output was speedily attained greater than in any other dutch town, and for the latter years of the century a rival firm, that of jacobus de breda, shared pafraet's prosperity. the great majority of the deventer books, however, belong to the minor literature of ecclesiasticism and education, and are far from exciting. the beginnings of printing are much more interesting in the southern netherlands, which correspond roughly to what we now call belgium. here also the first positive date is 1473, the year in which johann of paderborn in westphalia, best known to english collectors as john of westphalia, printed three books at alost. a fourth followed in may, 1474, but by the following december john had removed to louvain, a university town, where he remained doing excellent and abundant work till nearly the end of the century. at louvain he had found another printer, jan veldener, already in the field, and seems to have hustled him away not very honourably. veldener, however, was not ruined, but is subsequently found at utrecht and kuilenburg, and again for a short time at louvain. at bruges the first printers were colard mansion and william caxton, names well known to english book-lovers, though not all the labours of mr. william blades and mr. gordon duff have made it quite clear which of the two was the leader. only two english books were printed, the _recuyell of the histories of troy_ and _the game and play of the chess_, when caxton returned to england and set up his presses in the almonry at westminster. whether he had any pecuniary interest in the french _recueil_ and the _quatre dernières choses_, and whether printings at bruges began with the _recuyell_, or, as mr. proctor contended, with the french boccaccio _de la ruine des nobles hommes et femmes_ of 1476, are points of controversy. from 1477 till his flight from bruges to avoid arrest for debt in 1484, mansion worked steadily by himself, and the total output of his press amounts to twenty-five french works and two in latin. at brussels the brothers of the common life, who worked also as printers in other places, published numerous popular latin works between 1476 and 1487, about which time their press seems to have stopped. but the removal of gerard leeu's business from gouda to antwerp in 1484 soon gave that town a typographical importance which (except for a few years at the end of the century) it long maintained. the true incunabula of the netherlands are, of course, the "costeriana." whatever view we may take of their date and birthplace, they were undoubtedly home products, with a strongly marked individuality. ketelaer and leempt, however, at utrecht, veldener at louvain and elsewhere, caxton and mansion at bruges, were real pioneers. in a sense this is true also of john of westphalia and gerard leeu, notably of the former, who had learnt his art in italy and by the type which he had brought thence raised the standard of printing in his new home. it is, indeed, almost exclusively at deventer that we get the dull commercial work which has nothing primitive or individual about it, and thus, perhaps because their grand total is so much smaller than in the case of germany, italy, or even france, the special interest of incunabula attaches to rather a high proportion of the early books of the netherlands. if this be true of the netherlands, it is even truer of the two countries with which we have still to deal in this rapid survey, spain and england. of spanish incunabula about seven hundred are now registered; of english, three hundred is a fairly liberal estimate of the grand total still extant. within the limits of the fifteenth century neither country reached the purely mechanical stage of book production to which so many german and italian books belong after about 1485. in england, indeed, this stage was hardly reached until the general downfall of good printing towards the end of the sixteenth century. the first book printed in spain was a thin volume of poems in honour of the blessed virgin, written by bernardo fenollar and others on the occasion of a congress held at valentia in march, 1474. it offers no information itself on any bibliographical point, but it was presumably printed not long after the congress, at valentia where the congress was held, and by lambertus palmart (or palmaert), who on 18 august, 1477, completed there the third part of the _summa_ of s. thomas aquinas and duly described it as "impressa valentie per magistrum lambertum palmart alemanum, anno m.cccc.lxxvii, die vero xviii. mensis augusti." palmart is supposed to have been a fleming (a nationality to which the description _alemannus_ is often applied), but nothing is known of him. he printed a work called _comprehensorium_ and the _bellum jugurthinum_ of sallust in february and july, 1475, without putting his name to them, and these with the fenollar and other anonymous books now attributed to him are in roman type. in 1478 he completed a catalan bible in conjunction with a native spaniard, alonzo fernandez de cordoba, and thereafter worked by himself until 1490, using gothic types in these later books. seven other firms worked at valentia during the fifteenth century, but none of these attained much importance. another fleming, of the name of matthew or matthaeus, printed the _manipulus curatorum_ of guido de monte rotherii at saragossa in october, 1475, and five other presses were established there before 1500, that of paul hurus being the most prolific. at tortosa a single book (the _rudimenta grammaticae_ of perottus) was printed by nicolaus spindeler and pedro brun early in 1477, and in august of the same year antonio martinez, alonso del puerto, and bartolome segura completed the first fully dated book (the _sacramental_ of sanchez de vercial) at seville, where printing subsequently throve as much as anywhere in spain. the following year spindeler and brun, having moved from tortosa, introduced printing into barcelona, a date mcccclxviii in a treatise by bartholomaeus mates, _pro condendis orationibus_, being obviously a misprint, though to what it should be corrected cannot positively be shown.[26] at salamanca printing was introduced as early as 1481, and continued more actively after 1492, mainly for the production of educational works. at burgos friedrich biel, who had been trained under michael wenssler at basel, began printing in 1485, and a native of the place, juan de burgos, brought out his first book in 1490, both of these firms doing excellent work. altogether, twenty-four towns and places in spain possessed presses during the fifteenth century, but in many cases only for a short time. the outline of the story of printing in england during the fifteenth century may be very quickly sketched, fuller treatment being reserved for a later chapter. at michaelmas, 1476, caxton rented premises in the almonry from the abbot of westminster, and here he stayed till his death in 1491, printing, as far as we know, about a hundred books and documents. in 1478 a press was set up at oxford, presumably by theodoric rood of cologne, whose name, however, does not appear in any book until 1481. by 1485 rood had been joined by an english stationer, thomas hunte, but in 1486 or the following year the press was closed after printing, as far as we know, only seventeen books. the few books printed at oxford were all more or less scholastic in character, and six out of eight works printed by caxton's second rival (apparently a friendly one), the schoolmaster-printer at st. albans, belonged to the same class, his two more popular books being caxton's _chronicles of england,_ with a new appendix, and the famous _book of st. albans_. of these eight works, the earliest bearing a date was issued in 1480, the latest in 1486. a more formidable competitor to caxton than either the oxford or the st. albans printer began work in the city of london in 1480. this was john lettou, i.e. john the lithuanian, who, as mr. gordon duff notes, used type identical save in a single letter with a fount used at rome in 1478 by johann bulle of bremen. lettou appears to have been financed in the first instance by a londoner, william wilcock. in 1482 he was joined by william machlinia (presumably a native of malines), and after five law books had been printed in partnership, lettou dropped out, and machlinia continued working by himself, possibly until as late as 1490 or 1491, when his stock seems to have been taken over by richard pynson, a norman, from rouen. on caxton's death in 1491 his business passed into the hands of his foreman, wynkyn de worde, a native of lorraine. the only other press started in the fifteenth century was that of julyan notary, who worked at first with two partners, i.b. and i.h. of these i.b. was certainly jean barbier, and i.h. probably jean huvin of rouen. we have no information as to the nationality of notary, but if, as seems probable, he was a frenchman, printing in england for some twenty years after caxton's death was wholly in the hands of foreigners. * * * * * meagre and bare of details as is this sketch of the beginnings of printing in the chief countries of europe, it should yet suffice to prove that the purely arbitrary date 1500 and the slang word _incunabula_, used to invest all fifteenth century impressions with a mystic value, are misleading nuisances. by the time that printing reached england it was beginning to pass into its commercial stage in germany and italy. in both of these countries, and in a less degree in france, scores and hundreds of books were printed during the last fifteen years of the century which have little more connection with the invention of printing, or the story of its diffusion, than english or spanish books a century later. from the point of view of the history of literature and thought there is much to be gained from the collection in large libraries of all books printed before 1501. from the point of view of the history of printing every decade of book-production has its interest, and the decade 1490 to 1500 among the rest. incidentally it may be noted that in respect of book-illustration this particular decade in italy is one of exceptional interest. but books of the third generation of german or italian printers, men like flach, for instance, at strassburg, or plannck at rome, should not be collected under the idea that they are in any true sense of the word incunabula. what constitutes a true incunable cannot be defined in a sentence. we must consider the country or city as well as the book, the individual man as well as the art of which he was perhaps a belated exponent. the same piece of printing may have much more value and interest if we can prove that it was produced in one place rather than another. after the publication of his _index_, mr. proctor satisfied himself that some anonymous books in roman type which he had classed as the work of an unidentified press at naples were really among the earliest specimens of palmart's typography in spain, and one does not need to be a spaniard to appreciate the distinction thus added to them. if sentiment is to count for anything we must admit the interest of the first books printed in any country which possesses an important history and literature--if only because we may legitimately be curious to know on what books a printer, with all the extant literature to choose from, ventured his capital as likely in that particular country and time to bring him the quickest and most profitable return. that the first large book in germany was a bible, the first books in italy latin classics, the first produced for the english market one that we must call an historical romance, cannot be regarded as merely insignificant. nor are the differences in the types and appearance of the page unimportant, for these also help to illustrate national characteristics. if this is true of the early books printed in any country, it is also true in only slightly less degree of those which first appeared in any great city which afterwards became a centre of printing. strassburg, cologne, and nuremberg, rome, venice, and florence, paris and lyon, antwerp and london (if we may be permitted for once to ignore the separate existence of westminster), each has its own individuality, and in each case it is interesting to see with what wares, and in what form, the first printers endeavoured to open its purse-strings. but when we come to towns and townlets some distinction seems needed. i may be misled by secret sympathy with that often scholarly, too often impecunious figure, the local antiquary. to him the first book printed in his native townlet, though by a printer merely stopping on his way between one great city and another, must needs be of interest, and it is hard that its price should be forced beyond his reach by the competition between dealers keen to do business with a rich collector to whom the book will have none of the fragrance it would possess for him. typographical itinerancy, this printing by the roadside, as we may almost call it, must needs be illustrated in great collections, like any other habit of the early printers. but the ordinary private collector can surely dispense with buying books because they have been printed in places which have no associations for him, of which perhaps he has never heard. as for the individual man, if we would keep any oases green in what may easily become a sandy desert, we must surely treasure every trace of his personality. one large element in the charm of incunabula is the human interest of difficulties overcome, and wherever a craftsman began work by cutting a distinctive type to suit the calligraphic fashion of the neighbourhood, at whatever date he started, his books will still have some interest. when he becomes articulate and tells us of his difficulties, or boasts of how they have been overcome, we may value his work still higher. as the first book printed at florence, the commentary of servius on virgil needs no added attraction, and yet how much its charm is enhanced by its printers' addresses to the reader. here is the second of them roughly englished: to the reader. bernardino cennini, by universal allowance a most excellent goldsmith, and domenico his son, a youth of very good ability, have been the printers. pietro, son of the aforesaid bernardo, has acted as corrector, and has made a collation with many very ancient copies. his first anxiety was that nothing by another hand should be ascribed to servius, that nothing which very old copies showed to be the work of honoratus should be cut down or omitted. since it pleases many readers to insert greek words with their own hand, and in their own fashion, and these in ancient codices are very few, and the accents are very difficult to mark in printing he determined that spaces should be left for the purpose. but since nothing of man's making is perfect, it must needs be accounted enough if these books (as we earnestly hope) are found exceptionally correct. the work was finished at florence on october 5, 1472. it is impossible to read a colophon such as this without feeling ourselves in the very atmosphere of the printing house, with the various members of the printer's family at work around us. blank spaces are found in many early books where greek quotations occurred in the manuscripts from which they were printed. but it was not every printer who took so much trouble as cennini to justify the omission. as many as twenty-one years later, when printing in the great towns was becoming merely mechanical, we find the same personal note in a little grammar-book printed at acqui. here the colophon tells us: the doctrinale of alexander of villedieu (god be praised!) comes to a happy end. it has been printed amid enough inconveniences, since of several things belonging to this art the printer, in making a beginning with it, could obtain no proper supply, owing to the plague raging at genoa, asti and elsewhere. now this same work has been corrected by the prior venturinus, a distinguished grammarian, and that so diligently that whereas previously the doctrinale in many places seemed by the fault of booksellers too little corrected, now by the application of his care and diligence it will reach men's hands in the most correct form possible. after this date books will be printed in type of another kind, and elegantly, i trow; for both artificers and a sufficiency of other things of which hitherto the putter forth has been in need he now possesses by the gift of god, who disposes all things according to the judgement of his will. late as he appeared and small as was the town at which he produced his one book--his hopes and promises as to others seem to have come to naught--this man had the true pioneer spirit, and deserves to be remembered for it. of a different kind, but no less, is the interest in what is perhaps my own favourite colophon, that recording the death of gerard leeu at antwerp, while engaged in printing an edition of _the chronicles of england_ for the english market. here ben endyd the cronycles of the reame of englond, with their apperteignaunces. enprentyd in the duchy of braband in the towne of andewarpe in the yere of our lord m.cccc.xciij. by maistir gerard de leew a man of grete wysedom in all maner of kunnyng: whych nowe is come from lyfe unto the deth, which is grete harme for many [a] poure man. on whos sowle god almyghty for hys hygh grace haue mercy. amen. leeu had been killed accidentally by one of his workmen in the course of a dispute, and this testimonial to him in the colophon, which reads as if the compositor had slipped it in of his own accord, is very gracious and touching in its simplicity. just as the possession of a personal colophon brings a book within a circle of interest to which it otherwise would not have approached, so we may justly value a piece of printing all the more if it chances, through any accident, to throw light on the printer's methods. i have felt a peculiar affection for an edition of valerius maximus, printed by schoeffer in 1471, ever since i discovered that a change in the form of the punctuation at certain points of the book makes it possible to work out the number of presses on which it was being printed, the order in which the sheets were being set up, and how quickly the type of the worked pages was distributed. the slowness of the presswork in the simple form of press at first used obliged the printers to keep several presses, sometimes as many as six, occupied with different sections of the same book, and the trouble they were given to make the end of one section join neatly to the beginning of the next has left many traces. any book which thus lets us into the secrets of the early printing offices possesses in a very high degree the charm which should attach to an incunable, if that hardly used word is to retain, as it should, any reference to the infancy of printing. but more will be said as to this aspect of early books in our next chapter. footnotes: [25] two editions of boner's _edelstein_, both illustrated with over a hundred woodcuts, one dated 14th february, 1461 (copy at wolfenbüttel), the other undated (royal library, berlin); _die historij von joseph, danielis, judith, hester,_ dated in rhyming verse 1462 "nat lang nach sand walpurgentag" (rylands library and bibliothèque nationale); the _belial seu consolatio peccatorum_ of jacobus de theramo (rylands and germanisches museum, nuremberg); two issues of a german _biblia pauperum_ with thirty-four woodcuts (both at the bibliothèque nationale, the first also at rylands and wolfenbüttel); the same work in latin (rylands); lastly two editions of a poem called _rechtstreit des menschen mit dem tode_ (both at wolfenbüttel, the second also at the bibliothèque nationale). [26] in its colophon the book is said to have been "a docto viro bertolommeo mates conditus et per p. johannem matoses christi ministrum presbiterumque castigatus et emendatus sub impensis guillermi ros et mira arte impressa per johannem gherlinc alamanum." gherlinc is only heard of again in 1494, and then not at barcelona. chapter vi the development of printing one great cause of changes of fashion in book-collecting is that after any particular class of book has been hotly competed for by one generation of book-lovers, all the best prizes gradually get locked up in great public or private collections, and come so seldom into the market that new collectors prefer to take up some other department rather than one in which it is impossible for them to attain any striking success. the first-fruits of printing, if reckoned strictly chronologically, are probably as nearly exhausted as any class of book which can be named. no matter how rich a man may be, the chances of his ever obtaining a copy of the thirty-six line bible, the 1457 psalter, or the first book printed at venice, are infinitesimally small. other incunabula, if not hopelessly out of reach even of the very rich, are only likely to be acquired after many years of waiting and a heavy expenditure when the moment of possible acquisition arrives. many of the books hitherto here mentioned belong to this class. and yet, from what may be called the logical as opposed to the chronological standpoint, incunabula little, if at all, less interesting are still to be obtained at quite small prices by any one who knows for what to look. any collector who sets himself to illustrate the evolution of the printed book from its manuscript predecessors, and the ways of the early printers, will find that he has undertaken no impossible task, though one which will need considerable pursuit and good taste and judgment in the selection of appropriate specimens. [illustration: vii. venice, jenson, 1470 cicero. rhetorica (41^a)] roughly speaking, it took about a century for printed books to shake off the influence of manuscript and establish their own traditions. the earliest books had no titlepage, no head-title, no running title, no pagination, and no printed chapter-headings, also no printed initials or illustrations, blank spaces being left often for the one and occasionally for the other to be supplied by hand. at the time when printing was invented the book trade in many large cities had attained a high degree of organization, so that the work of the calligrapher or scribe was clearly distinguished from that of the luminer or illuminator, and even from that of the rubricator (rubrisher). take, for instance, this bury st. edmunds bill of 1467 for a psalter, preserved among the paston letters: for viij hole vynets, prise the vynet xij^d viij^s item for xxj demi-vynets ... prise the demi-vynett iiij^d vij^s item for psalmes letters xv^c and di' ... the prise of c. iiij^d vj^s ij^d item for p'ms letters lxiij^c ... prise of c. j^d v^s iij^d item for wrytynge of a quare and demi ... prise the quayr xx^d ij^s vj^d item for wrytenge of a calender xij^d item for iij quayres of velym, prise the quayr xx^d v^s item for notynge of v quayres and ij leves, prise of the quayr viij^d iii^s vij^d item for capital drawynge iij^c and di', the prise iij^d item for floryshynge of capytallis, v^c v^d item for byndynge of the boke xij^s ----------- li^s ij^d -----------it is possible that the work in this case was all done by one man, though it is equally possible that several were engaged on it, under the direction of a master-scrivener, but in either case the fact that vignettes and demi-vignettes, psalter letters (i.e. the small red letters at the beginning of each verse of a psalm, sometimes called versals), the mysterious "p'ms letters" (possibly the dabs of colour bestowed on small initials), the writing of the text, the writing of the calendar, the musical notation, and the drawing and flourishing the capitals, were all charged separately, at so much a piece or so much a hundred, shows how distinct each operation was kept. partly, no doubt, from policy, so as not to rouse the wrath of more than one industry at a time, partly to save themselves trouble and expense, the earliest printers, with few exceptions, set themselves to supplant only the calligrapher, and sold their books with all the blanks and spaces, which the most modest or perfunctory scribe could have left to be filled by his kindred craftsmen. no better starting-point for a typographical collection could be desired than fine copies of two well-printed books in which the printer has confined himself severely to reproducing the text, leaving all headings, capitals, and ornaments to be supplied by hand. in one (as in the page from a book of jenson's, which forms the illustration to this chapter, plate vii) the blanks should remain blanks (as more especially in early books printed in italy they often did remain), in the other they should have been filled in with red ink or colours by a rubricator. the owner of two such volumes is really as much at the fountain-head as the possessor of the mainz indulgences of 1454, or any still earlier document that may yet be found.[27] this is the logical beginning, and the logic of history is quite as interesting as the chronology. from the starting-point of the book of which the printer printed nothing but the text the collector can advance in many different directions. there was no regular and unbroken progress in the development of the modern form of book, nor does it matter greatly that the examples of any particular improvement should be either absolutely or nearly the earliest. the main thing is that they should be good illustrations of the special feature for which they are acquired. the problem how to dispense with the aid of a rubricator had to be faced by countless printers in many different towns, for rubricating by hand must have added very considerably to the cost of a book. the obvious thing to do was to print in red all the headings, chapter-numbers, etc., which the rubricator used to add in that colour. but this was both expensive and troublesome, as it involved two printings and the placing of the paper in exactly the same position in the press in each. caxton and one or two other early printers tried to avoid this double printing and difficulty of registration by putting on both red and black ink at the same time--very probably, where they came close together, they were rubbed on with a finger--but this so often resulted in smudges and lines half of one colour, half of another, that it was soon abandoned. double printing was mostly soon abandoned also, except by the most expert men. it was tried and abandoned by the printer of the forty-two line bible, though subsequently fust and schoeffer completely mastered it. between 1472 and 1474 it was tried and abandoned by almost every printer in strassburg. the difficulty was generally[28] overcome by substituting, for red ink used with type of the same size or face as the text, type of a larger size or heavier face, which could be printed in black ink with the text and yet stand out sufficiently clearly from it to catch the eye. the need for this differentiation accelerated the tendency to reduce the size of types, which was doubtless in the first place dictated by a desire for economy. the earlier german text-types for ordinary books very commonly measure about 6 mm. a line. to enable small differences to be shown they are quoted in the british museum catalogue of incunabula by the measurements of twenty lines, and many of the early mainz and strassburg types range closely round the number 120. these large text-types are often the only ones used in a book, notes or other accompaniments of the text being clumsily indicated by brackets or spaces. the better printers, however, gradually imitated fust and schoeffer, and along with their 120 text-types used smaller commentary types measuring about 4 to 4½ mm. a line, or from 80 to 90 mm. for twenty lines. in the great folio commentaries on the canon and civil law a very fine effect is produced by two short columns of text in large type being placed two-thirds way up the page and then completely surrounded by the commentary in smaller type, also in double columns. but the economy of using the smaller type for the text of books without commentary was quickly perceived, and along with 4 to 4½ mm. small text-types, heavy and often rather fantastic types of just twice this size (8 to 9 mm. a line, 160 to 180 mm. to twenty lines) came into use for headings, and the opening words of books and chapters. the same course was followed with respect to headlines, when it was desired to add these to a book without the aid of a scribe. eggestein printed one book with headlines in red, but the same heavy type which was used for chapter headings was soon used for headlines, and also, with very ugly effect, for numbering the leaves. in considering what specimens of printing to collect englishmen who have been accustomed for more than two centuries to nothing but roman types may well be bewildered, as they look through any volume of facsimiles, by the extraordinary variety of the founts. the main reasons for this variety may be sought (1) in the dependence of the first printers on the styles of writing which they found in vogue at the time, and in the countries and towns where they made their ventures; and (2) in the different styles considered appropriate to different classes of books--latin and vernacular, liturgical and secular, etc. even now, when bookhands can hardly be said to exist, the varieties of handwriting are endless, and there are strongly marked differences between those of one country and another. in the fifteenth century, when there was less intercommunication between distant countries, the differences were even greater. as to this, however, it is possible to make some distinctions. the unifying effect of the church is seen in the smaller range of variations in the books for liturgical use, and the fellowship of scholars exercised at least some influence in the same direction. in italy, the home of ancient learning, the aristocratic bookhand was the fine round minuscules which had been evolved, by a conscious antiquarian revival, from the bookhand of the twelfth century, itself a revival of the carlovingian bookhand of the eighth and ninth. sweynheym and pannartz, being germans, failed in the first instance to realize the hopelessness of seeking scholarly favour with any other kind of character, and their subiaco books are printed in a light and pleasing gothic much admired by william morris, and used by mr. st. john hornby for his splendid ashendene dante. when they started afresh at rome in 1467 they gave up their gothic fount and used instead a fine roman character noticeable for its use of the long _[s]_ at the end of words, a peculiarity often found in italian manuscripts of this period. the early printers at venice made no false start, but all used roman characters from the outset, venetian gothic type making its first appearance in 1472. that gothic type was used at all in italy was due partly to the difficulty found in cutting very small roman type, so that gothic was used for economy, partly to the advantages of the heavy gothic face when a contrast was needed between text and commentary. in germany roman types were tried by adolf rusch (the r-printer) at strassburg about 1464, and by both günther zainer at augsburg and johann zainer at ulm, but met with no favour until in the last years of the century they were reintroduced for the books written or edited by brant, locher, wimpheling, peter schott, and the other harbingers of the new learning. in the netherlands john of westphalia started with a round but rather thin roman type brought from italy. in france the scholarly ideals of the patrons of the first paris press were reflected in the use for the books printed at the sorbonne of a beautiful roman type, only injured by the excessive prominence of the serifs. in spain also the first books, those printed at valentia by lambert palmart, were in roman; but in both countries gothic types long commanded the favour of the general reader, while in england their supremacy was unchallenged for a third of a century, no book entirely in roman type appearing until 1508. as regards the æsthetic value of the different roman types in use during the fifteenth century, the superiority of the italian is so marked that, with the exception of the first french type, the rest, from this point of view, may be neglected. almost all the roman types used in italy until late in the 'seventies are either beautiful or at least interesting, and it is remarkable that some of the most beautiful are found in small places like cagli, mondovi, viterbo, and aquila, or in the hands of obscure printers, such as the self-taught priest clemente of padua, who worked at venice in 1471. the pre-eminence of jenson's fount is indisputable, though he often did it injustice by his poor presswork. but those used by john and wendelin of speier, and at a later date by antonio miscomini, were also good, as also were several of the founts used at rome and milan. at naples and bologna, on the other hand, some quite early roman founts are curiously hard and heavy. after about 1480 roman types in italy enter on a second stage. they no longer have the appearance of being founded directly on handwriting. doubtless the typecutters were so used to their work that they no longer needed models, but designed new types according to their own ideas. naturally the letters are more uniform and regular than in the earlier founts, but naturally also they have less charm, and the ordinary close-set venetian type of the end of the century is singularly dull. even the large roman type used by aldus to print the _hypnerotomachia poliphili_ is no real exception, as the letters are narrow for their height. a far finer fount is the large text type used by the silbers at rome, on both sides of 1500. this is well proportioned and beautifully round, and it is surprising that it has not yet been imitated by any modern typecutter. when we pass from roman to gothic types there is a bewildering field from which to choose. here again dull commercialism gained the upper hand about 1480, and towards the end of the century an ugly upright text-type of 80 mm. to twenty lines, with a fantastic headline type of twice its size, or a little more, found its way all over germany. but types with a twenty-line measurement ranging round 120 mm., such as those of peter schoeffer or the printer of henricus ariminensis, are often extraordinarily handsome. both of schoeffer's earlier small types and the small type of ulrich zell at cologne are engagingly neat, and at the opposite end there is the magnificently round gothic used by ulrich han at rome. most of the finest gothic types were used for latin books of law and theology, the peculiar appropriateness of roman type being considered to be confined to works appealing to classical scholars. in germany, for some time, not much distinction was observed, but there was a tendency in classical books to use an f and long [s] starting from the level of the line, whereas in most vernacular books the tails of these letters came below the line, giving a strangely different appearance to the type. in the 'nineties a distinctively cursive type called schwabacher, usually measuring 93 mm. to twenty lines, makes its appearance all over germany. in italy, both at naples and by ulrich han at rome, a very small text type, which is certainly cursive in its affinities, was used at the very outset, but found no favour. the typical vernacular french types are also very often on a slope. the small cursive type cut for aldus in 1501 by francesco da bologna was thus not quite so great a revolution as is sometimes represented. its clearness in proportion to its size, its extreme compactness, and the handiness of the small octavos with which it was at first specially connected, gained for it a great success, and it gradually, though only gradually, usurped the name of italic, the upright italian bookhand being distinguished from it as roman. few treatises on printing or the development of books give any idea of the immense popularity of italics during the sixteenth century. about 1570 they seemed to have established themselves as the fashionable vernacular type both in italy and france, and even in england whole books were printed in them. in switzerland also and germany they gained some hold; but gradually the tide turned, the upright bookhand regained its predominance, and italics now survive chiefly for emphasis and quotations--in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they were often used for proper names--giving to the page on which they occur an unpleasantly spotty appearance. their occasional use in prefaces and dedicatory letters is much more appropriate. the completion of books at first by a colophon, afterwards by a titlepage, may be illustrated in the same way as that by which we have traced the evolution of the text from incompleteness to completeness and the development of different classes of types. at least one printer, johann mentelin of strassburg, seems to have considered the addition of colophons as the proper business of the rubricator. while printed colophons in his books are exceptionally rare, several copies have come down to us in which full colophons have been added by hand, e.g. in a vellum copy of the _speculum morale_ in the bibliothèque nationale, after praise of the book, we read: impressumque in inclyta vrbe argentinensium ac nitide terse emendateque resertum per honorandum dominum dominum iohannem mentelin artis impressorie magistrum famosissimum. anno a partu virginis salutifero millesimo quadringentesimo septuagesimo sexto. die mensis nouembris sexta. despite a few instances of this kind, however, it is certain that the majority of printers who omitted to print colophons to their books did so, not in the expectation that they would be supplied by hand, but in imitation of the manuscript books to which they were accustomed, in which it is distinctly exceptional to find any mention of the name of the scribe. but the men who took a pride in their new art, and who thought that their work was good enough to bring more custom to their press if their name were associated with it, took the opposite course, and so colophons from 1457 onwards are common in the best books, and may perhaps be found in about 40 per cent of the incunables that have come down to us. by the men who were skilful in using red ink they were often thus printed, and whether in red or in black, they frequently had appended to them the printer's mark or device, which gave a very decorative finish to the book. nowadays, when we have been accustomed all our lives to the luxury of titlepages, it may well seem to us merely perverse to hide the title of a book, the name of the author, and information as to where, when, and by whom it was printed in a closely set paragraph at the end of the book. but if we think for a moment of how the manuscript books to which the early printers were accustomed had been produced we shall see that it was the most natural thing in the world. a scribe would take his quire of paper or vellum, and if he were a high-class scribe, mindful of the need of keeping his text clean, he would leave his first leaf blank and begin at the top of his second. but here he would begin to write straight away, sometimes with the first words of his text, sometimes with a preliminary paragraph, which may be called the _incipit_, from the important word in it. in this paragraph he would give either the name of his book or, almost as commonly, the name of the first section of it, introducing the title only incidentally. incipit racionale diuinorum officiorum. incipiunt constitutiones clementis pape v una cum apparatu ioannis andree. marci tullii ciceronis arpinatis consulisque romani ac oratorum maximi ad m. tullium ciceronem filium suum officiorum liber incipit. incipit epistola sancti hieronimi ad paulinum presbiterum de omnibus diuine historie libris. that it did not occur to him to devote his blank page to a displayed title of the book he was copying was due to the fact that every medieval manuscript was the direct descendant, through many or few stages, of the author's own original draft, and that this was the most pretentious way and least natural in which any author could begin to write a book. so the scribes imitated the author in his normal beginning, and the early printers imitated the scribes, and because an author was more inclined to relieve his feelings at the end of a book than to express them volubly at the beginning, it was only when books multiplied so greatly that purchasers wanted to see at a glance what was the name of the book at which they were looking that titlepages superseded colophons. the proof of this explanation being the true one is that titlepages become common just about the time (1480 to 1490) that book-production was beginning to be divided up between publishers and printers, and that the publisher very quickly claimed them for his own. the earliest titlepages, those of the mainz _bul zu deutsch des bapst pius ii_ (1463), rolewinck's sermon for the feast of the presentation (cologne: arnold ther hoernen, 1470), the _flores sancti augustini_ (cologne, 1473), and the _kalendarium_ of joannes de monteregio and its italian translation (venice: ratdolt and partners, 1476), were all more or less of the nature of "sports." when titlepages came to stay, a year or two later than the last of these precursors, they everywhere took the form of labels, a single sentence containing the short title of the book, printed sometimes in large, sometimes in small type, but with no other information. the label title, being usually printed high up on the page, left two-thirds, or thereabouts, blank beneath it, and this space was soon filled, sometimes by a pictorial woodcut, sometimes by a mark or device, which at first might be either that of the printer or publisher, but gradually came to be much more often the publisher's. the short title and device taken together filled the page sufficiently for decorative purposes, but they left room for a further paragraph of type to be added if desired, and the advantage of filling this with the name and address of the firm from whom the book might be obtained was so obvious that the "imprint," as it is rather loosely called, soon made its appearance and gradually became recognized as an essential part of the titlepage. when printers and publishers lost pride in their work and ceased to care to decorate their titlepages with pictures or devices, the title was displayed in a series of single lines and made to straggle down the page till it came nearly low enough to meet the imprint. if we go back to the habits of the scribes it is easy to understand another point in the early history of books, their make-up into quires and the marking of these quires by signatures and catchwords. the word _quaire_ or _quire_ is a shortened form of the latin _quaternio_, the name devised for four sheets of paper folded down the middle so as to form eight leaves. a gathering of five sheets making ten leaves was called a _quinternion_, and this, though it has yielded no modern word, was for generations such a popular form that _quinterniones_ was sometimes used as a general expression for manuscripts. gatherings of three sheets, making six leaves, were called _terniones_; gatherings of two sheets, making four leaves, _duerniones_. a few, but only a few, books exist--nearly all of those which i have seen are either block-books or thin folios of poetry of the reign of charles ii--which are made up in single sheets not placed one within the other, but following consecutively. but the system of gathering from two to five or more sheets together into quires was practically universal both before and after the invention of printing, and this for the excellent reason that it reduced the quantity of sewing necessary in binding a book, and reduced also the risk of the sewing cutting through the paper or vellum, as it would be very likely to do if there were only a single thickness to resist it. when the scribe had arranged his quire or gathering he wrote first page by page on all the leaves on the left hand until he came to the middle of the quire, when he proceeded to write page by page on all the leaves on the right hand. thus in a quire of four sheets the left half of the first sheet would be leaf 1, pages 1 and 2, and the right half would be leaf 8, pages 15 and 16, so that the same sheet formed the beginning and end of the quire. in the earliest printed books the quires were printed page by page exactly as the quires of a manuscript had been written. but early in the 'seventies (peter schoeffer can be proved to have adopted the practice between 1471 and september, 1474) the advantage was perceived of printing both the pages on the upper or lower side of a sheet at the same time, i.e. in a quaternion, page 16 together with page 1. as soon as a printer had learnt to print two folio pages together, it became easy to print four quarto pages, or eight octavo pages, or sixteen sextodecimo pages. in each case the amount of type to be printed at a pull would be approximately the same. it thus ceased to be disadvantageous to print small books, whereas so long as each page had to be pulled separately it was obviously wasteful to make that page a very small one. even when the printers had learnt how to print two folio pages at the same time the presswork remained very laborious. the earliest presses were worked with only a single screw, and when the pressman had pulled the lever one way to bring the platen down on the type, he had to push the lever back again in order to raise the platen and release the paper. thus in order to print a large book quickly four or six sets of pressmen had to work on it at once, each at a different press. to avoid mistakes, therefore, the practice was to allot one section of the book to each press. thus if a book were calculated to run to 288 leaves, six presses might begin simultaneously at leaves 1, 49, 97, 145, 193, and 241. what more often happened was that either to follow the natural sections of the book, or because some of the printers were engaged on other tasks and not ready to begin at once, the sections were of much less regular lengths, and we can sometimes prove that the first press was far advanced in its section before the fifth and sixth had begun. now in all these cases, unless they were reprinting an earlier book, page for page, it is obvious that some nice calculations would be needed to make each section end with the end of a quire so as to be able to join on with the beginning of the quire containing the next section without any gap or crowding. hence the striking irregularities in the make-up of many early books. instead of a book being printed in a succession of quinternions or a succession of quaternions we have many a make-up which can only be expressed by a cruelly mathematical formula, such as this, which represents the quiring of the forty-two line bible. a-i^10; k^10+1 lm^10 n^6+1; o-z^10 [inverted 2]^10 [@]^10+1; a-f^10 g^4: aa-nn^10; oo pp^10 qq^10+1; rr-zz aa-cc^10; dd^12 ee^10+1; ff gg^10 hh^4+1 ii^10. in this the index-letter shows the number of leaves in the quire, a-i^10 being a short way of stating that each of the nine quires a b c d e f g h i has ten leaves in it. in the tenth quire (k) there is an extra leaf, and again in the thirteenth (n) the printer found that he had too much copy for six leaves and not enough for eight, and was therefore obliged to put in an odd one, because another press had already printed off the beginning of the next quire (o). not infrequently it would happen that the odd amount of copy for a section was very difficult to fit exactly into a leaf even when the printer had compressed it by using as many contractions as possible, or eked it out by using no contractions at all. this accounts for the occurrence of a blank space, large or small, at the end of some sections without any break in the text, as the printer was sometimes careful to explain by the printed notice "hic nihil deficit," or as in our page from ulrich zell, "vacat." as has been already noted, in a moment of enthusiasm mr. proctor once said to the present writer that it was impossible to find a fifteenth century book that was really ugly. this was certainly putting the case for his beloved incunables a peg too high, for there were plenty of bad printers before 1500, and even such a master as jenson was by no means uniformly careful as to the quality of his presswork. but one of the legacies which the early printers received from the scribes was the art of putting their text handsomely on the page, and the difference which this makes in the appearance of a book is very marked, little as many modern printers and publishers attend to it. but in the books of the best printers of our own day, as well as in those of the best of the fifteenth century, from 65 per cent to 72 per cent of the height of the page is devoted to the text, from 28 per cent to 35 per cent being reserved for the upper and lower margins, of which at least two-thirds is for the lower and not more than one-third for the upper. as compared with the height of a page of type the breadth is usually in the proportion of about 45 to 70 (a trifle more in a quarto), and here again the outer margin is at least twice as great as the inner. thus in a book with a page measuring 10 by 7¼ inches, the type-page should measure about 7 by 4¾ inches, with a lower margin of about 2 inches, an upper of 1 inch, an outer of 1¾ inches, and an inner of ¾ inch. it will be greatly to the advantage of book-buyers to bear these proportions in mind, in order to measure how much a book offered to them has been cut down, and also to be able to instruct their binders as to how to reduce the absurd margins of some modern "large paper" copies to more artistic dimensions. whether it is legitimate further to reduce the margins of an old book which has already been mangled by a binder in order to get the proportions better balanced is a nice question of taste. if a two-inch lower margin has been halved and a one-inch upper margin left intact, if the upper margin is reduced, the book will become a pleasant "working copy" instead of an obviously mangled large one, and the collector must settle in his own conscience whether this be a sufficient justification for snipping off a centimetre of old paper. exactly why the proportions here laid down, with their limits of variation, are right for books cannot easily be set forth. it is easiest to see in the case of the relation between the inner and outer margins. as william morris was never tired of insisting, the unit in a book is, not a single page, but the two pages which can be seen at the same time. the two inner margins separate the two type-pages by a single band of white, which, if each inner margin were as large as the outer, would become insufferably conspicuous. as for the proportions between the lower and upper margins, the explanation may lie in the angle at which we habitually read books, or by the need for leaving room for the reader to hold the book in his hands. but whether it be a matter of inherent rightness or merely of long-established convention, the pleasure of handling a book with correct margins is very great, and a collector who secures an uncut copy of even a poorly printed book of the period when margins were understood, will find that it presents quite a pleasing and dignified appearance. and so in regard to other points, any book which illustrates the relations of the early printers to the scribes, the difficulties which they experienced in their work and the expedients by which they were surmounted deserves, whatever its date or present price, to be reckoned as a real incunable, and the collector who gets together a few dozen books of this kind will have far better sport for his outlay than he who is tied down too rigorously by chronology. footnotes: [27] it will be so much the better if the collector can add to them a copy of one of the early books printed at rome (the german ones are too rare) in which there still survives the text of the rubrics, printed not in their appropriate places, but on a separate leaf or quire for the guidance of the rubricator. [28] by jenson and many early printers in italy, and by husner and a few others in germany, the majuscules of the founts used in the text were massed together in headings with admirable effect. but for a time the heavy heading types carried all before them. chapter vii early german and dutch illustrated books [illustration: viii. augsburg, g. zainer, c. 1475 tuberinus. geschicht von dem seligen kind symon] the natural method of illustrating a book printed with type is by means of designs cut in relief, which can be locked up in the forme with the type, so that text and illustrations are printed together by a single impression[29] without any special preparation of the paper. so long as the design to be printed stands out clearly on the block it matters nothing whether it be cut on wood or on soft metal. even as between the design cut by hand and the process line-block which has as its basis a photograph taken direct from a pen drawing, the difference can hardly be said to be one of better and worse. we lose the individuality of the wood-cutter or wood-engraver, but we are brought into closer touch with the individuality of the artist, and whether we gain or lose depends on the ability of the artist to dispense with a skilled interpreter. the one requisite for success is that either the artist, or an interpreter for him, should recognize the limits within which his work can be effective. the reproductions of the artist's designs will be looked at, not in isolation, but as part of an _ensemble_ made up of two pages printed in a type which, perhaps with a little trouble, can be ascertained beforehand, and they will be printed not as proofs on a special press by a special workman on paper chosen solely to suit them, but with average skill and care in an ordinary press and on paper the choice of which will be dictated by several considerations. whenever relief blocks have been used for any length of time as a method of book-illustration the rivalry of artists has tended to cause these restrictions to be forgotten. in our own day line-blocks have been almost driven out of the field by "half-tones," which cannot be printed without the aid of paper specially coated, or at least rolled or "calendared." shortly before the process line-block was perfected the extreme fineness of the american school of wood-engraving had induced a nearly similar result. the successors of bewick worked with equal disregard of the need for clearly defined lines, and when we travel back to the first half of the sixteenth century we find the holbeins, burgkmair, weiditz, and other artists producing designs far too delicate for the conditions under which they were to be reproduced. thus the charm of the woodcuts in books of the fifteenth century is by no means confined to that "quaintness" which is usually the first thing on which the casual observer comments. the "quaintness" is usually there, but along with it is a harmony between print, paper, and woodcut which has very rarely since been attained. the claim made in the last paragraph must be understood as applying only to books honestly illustrated with blocks specially made for them. books decorated with a job lot of cuts, as was often the case, especially after about 1495, may accidentally be delightful and often possess some of the charm of a scrapbook. it is good sport, for instance, to take one of vérard's later books and trace the origin of the cuts with which that cheaply liberal publisher made his wares attractive. but the incongruity is mostly manifest, and collectors might well be more fastidious than they show themselves and refuse to waste the price of a good book with homogeneous illustrations in buying half a dozen dull little volumes with an old horae cut at the beginning and the end of each. a second exception must be recognized in the books illustrated by untrained wood-cutters. in germany and the low countries few, if any, quite untrained wood-cutters were employed, and this is true also of paris and florence. but at lyon and other provincial towns in france (the abbeville cutters, who probably came from paris, are strikingly good), in a few books printed at rome and venice, here and there in spain, and in one or two of caxton's and several of wynkyn de worde's books in england, the cutting is so bad that, though it is possible sometimes to see that excellent designs underlie it, the effect is either ludicrous or repellent. only fanatics could admire such pictures as we find in the early lyonnese _quatre fils d'aymon_ (_s.n._, but about 1480), in the _opuscula_ of philippus de barberiis printed by joannes de lignamine (rome, 1481), in a large number of the cuts of the malermi bible of 1490 (venice, g. ragazzo for l. a. giunta, 1490), in _los doze trabajos de ercules_ (zamora, 1483), in caxton's _aesop_ or in wynkyn de worde's _morte d'arthur_ (1527). books such as these (the malermi bible is on a different footing from the rest owing to the wonderful excellence of the good cuts) may be bought as curiosities, or for the light they throw on the state of the book trade when such work could be put on the market, but no artistic merit can be claimed for them. in germany good work began early, because, to supply the demand for playing-cards and pictures of saints, schools of wood-cutters had grown up, more especially at augsburg and at ulm. block-books also had come into existence in the district of the lower rhine, and these, which in their earliest forms can hardly be later than 1460, must be divided between the low countries and germany and prove the existence of competent workmen. the earliest type-printed books which possess illustrations are the little handful printed by albrecht pfister at bamberg in and about 1461, described in chapter v, but it was at augsburg in the early seventies that book-illustration first flourished. as has been mentioned in chapter v, trade difficulties at first stood in the way, but by the arbitration of melchior stanheim, abbot of the local monastery of ss. ulrich and afra, these were settled on the sensible basis that printers might have as many illustrations in their books as they chose to provide, but that they must be designed and cut by augsburg craftsmen. the series seems to have begun with some tolerably good column-cuts to an edition of the lives of the saints in german, of which the first part was issued in october, 1471, and the second in april, 1472. in _das guldin spiel_ of a dominican writer, ingold, finished on 1 august of the latter year, we find for the first time real power of characterization. lovers of woodcuts owe some gratitude to the medieval trick of attaching edifying discourses to matters of everyday interest and amusement, for whereas the edifying discourses themselves could hardly carry illustrations, hunting, chess, or, as here, seven games which could be likened to the seven deadly sins, gave opportunities for showing pictures by which the natural man would be attracted. another important book of this year, only known to me in bämler's plagiarism of it, was the first edition of the _belial_, the amazing book which tells the story of christ being summoned for the trespass committed in harrowing hell. in 1473 the heavy gothic type which zainer used in these illustrated books was put at the disposal of the abbot of ss. ulrich and afra and used to print a _speculum humanae saluationis_, to which was added a summary in verse by frater johannes, an inmate of his monastery. this book was illustrated by 176 different cuts of biblical subjects, of varying degrees of merit. in the same year, and again in 1474, zainer printed an illustrated _plenarium_, i.e. the epistles and gospels for the round of the church's year. in or shortly after 1475 he printed and illustrated a narrative of great contemporary interest, the story, written by one tuberinus, of a child named simon, who was supposed to have been slain by the jews out of hatred of the christian faith and desire to taste christian flesh. the tale appears to contain internal evidence of its untruth, and the unhappy jews who were cruelly executed had much better claims to be regarded as martyrs than "das susses kind" simon. but some of the pictures are quite animated, especially one (see plate viii) of the hired kidnapper beguiling the child through the streets and then deftly hurrying him into the house of doom with a touch of his knee. in 1475 or 1476, and again with the date 1477, zainer produced editions of the german bible in large folio, illustrated with great pictorial capitals at the beginning of each book. but his greatest achievement was in an undated book of this period, the _speculum humanae vitae_ of rodericus bishop of zamora, in the german translation of heinrich steinhowel. if this mirror of man's life had been written by a man with his eyes open instead of by a vapid rhetorician it should have been one of the most valuable documents for the social life of the fifteenth century, since it professes to contrast the advantages and evils of every rank and occupation of life, from the pope and the emperor down to craftsmen and labourers. there is but little joy to be gained from its text, but the augsburg artist has atoned for many literary shortcomings by his vivid and charming pictures of scenes from the social life of his day, though it is not to be supposed that german judges took bribes quite so openly as he is pleased to represent. in addition to fifty-four woodcuts of this kind, there is a large genealogical tree of the house of hapsburg, which is a triumph of decorative arrangement. two other early augsburg printers devoted themselves to illustrated work, johann bämler and anton sorg. the former at first contented himself with prefixing a full-page frontispiece to his books, as in the _summa_ of johannes friburgensis and _die vier und zwanzig goldenen harfen_, both of 1472, and again in the picture of s. gregory and peter the deacon in the dialogues of the former printed for the monastery of ss. ulrich and afra, and that of the dying empress in the _historie von den sieben weisen meistern_ of the following year. in the _belial_ of 1473 and _plenarium_ of 1474 bämler was content for most of the cuts to borrow or copy from the editions of zainer, but in the _alexander der grosse_ of the former year and _melusine_ and _sieben todsünden_ of the latter he himself led the way with some excellent sets of woodcuts, which were copied by others. again, in _das buch der natur_ of 1475 we find a dozen specially designed full-page cuts, one to each book, illustrating man, the spheres, beasts, birds, mermaids, serpents, insects, etc.; in the _chronica von allen kaisern and königen_ of 1476 there are four large cuts, showing christ in glory, the dream of the emperor sigismund, the vision of s. gregory at mass, and s. veronica holding before her the cloth with the imprint of christ's face. it was perhaps in this same year that bämler issued, without dating it, jacob sprenger's _die rosenkranz bruderschaft_, with two very striking cuts, one of the offering of garlands to our lady, the other of christ's scourgers looking back mockingly as they leave him. a dated edition appeared in 1477. another book of 1476 with a good set of cuts was the romance of apollonius, king of tyre. in 1477 bämler issued a _buch der kunst_, which, like the _buch der natur_, went through several editions; it must be noted, however, that there is no such contrast between art and nature as the short title of this book might suggest, the full title being _buch der kunst geistlich zu werden_. the illustrations for the most part represent a soul in different situations, but there are also many of biblical subjects. the last book of bämler's which need be mentioned is the _turken-kreuzzüge_ of rupertus de sancto remigio, which has an effective frontispiece of the pope preaching to the crusaders and some vigorous smaller cuts. anton sorg began printing in 1475 and issued his first illustrated book the next year. he was a prolific printer, and issued many close imitations of books originated by günther zainer and others. the most famous work specially connected with his name is ulrich von reichenthal's _das conciliumbuch geschehen zu costencz_ (1483), illustrated with forty-four larger cuts, all in the first ninety leaves, and 1158 coats of arms of the various dignitaries present at the council. the larger cuts show the knighting of the burgermeister of constance, processions, a tournament, and the martyrdom of huss (despite his safe conduct) and the scattering of his ashes over a field. the later augsburg illustrated books, issued by the elder schoensperger, johann schobsser, peter berger, and hans schauer, though they maintain a respectable level of craftsmanship, have less interest and individuality than these earlier ones. one augsburg printer, erhard ratdolt, who had made himself a reputation by ten years' work at venice (1476-86), shortly after his return issued a notable illustrated book, the _chronica hungarorum_ of thwrocz. his main business was the production of missals and other service books, in some of which he made experiments in colour-printing. at the neighbouring city of ulm, where also the wood-cutters had long been at work, illustrated books began to be issued in 1473 by johann zainer, no doubt a kinsman of günther zainer of augsburg. his chief books are (1) latin and german editions of boccaccio's _de claris mulieribus_ (1473), with a fine borderpiece of adam and eve and numerous spirited little pictures which, though primitive both in conception and execution, are full of life, and (2) an _aesop_ which was reprinted at augsburg and copied elsewhere in germany, and also in france, the netherlands, and england. from 1478 onwards he seems to have been in continual financial trouble. he was apparently able, however, to find funds to issue two rather notable books about 1490, the _prognosticatio_ of lichtenberger, and a totentanz. the blocks of both of these passed to meidenbach at mainz. most of the forty books of a later printer, conrad dinckmut (1482-96), have illustrations. his _seelenwurzgarten_ (1483) appears at first sight to be a most liberally decorated book, crowded with full-page cuts, but of its 133 illustrations only seventeen are different, one, representing the tortures of the damned, being used as many as thirty-seven times, a deplorable waste of good paper, which the printer had the good sense to reduce in a later edition. dinckmut's most famous book is a german edition of the _eunuchus_ of terence "ain maisterliche vnd wolgesetzte comedia zelesen vnd zehören lüstig und kurtzwylig, die der hochgelert vnd gross maister und poet therencius gar subtill mit grosser kunnst und hochem flyss gesetzt hat." this has twenty-eight nearly full-page cuts in which the characters are well drawn, the setting for the most part showing the streets of a medieval town. a _chronik_, by thomas lirer, issued about the same time, was begun to be illustrated on a generous scale with eighteen full-page cuts in the first twenty-eight leaves, but was hastily finished off with only three more cuts in the remaining thirty-six. they are less carefully executed than those of the _eunuchus_, but show more variety, and are on the whole very pleasing. another ulm printer, who began work in 1482, leonhard holl, printed in that year a magnificent edition of ptolemy's _cosmographia_, with woodcut maps (one signed "insculptum est per iohann[=e] schnitzer de armszheim") and fine capitals. the first of these, a pictorial n, shows the editor, nicolaus germanus, presenting his book to the pope. of later ulm books by far the most important are two by gulielmus caoursin, published by johann reger in 1496, and both concerned with the knights of st. john of jerusalem at rhodes. one volume gives their _stabilimenta_ or constitution, the other _obsidionis urbis rhodiae descriptio_, an illustrated history of their defence of their island against the turks and their subsequent dealings with the infidel, who at one time were so complaisant as to present them with no less valuable a relic than the arm of their patron, which was duly honoured with processions and sermons. altogether the two books contain fifty-six full-page pictures, rather roughly cut, but full of vigour and bringing the course of the siege and the character of the wild turkish horsemen very vividly before the reader. william morris was even tempted to conjecture that the designs may have been made by erhard reuwich, the illustrator of the mainz _breidenbach_, of which we shall soon have to speak. at nuremberg book-illustration begins with the _ars et modus contemplatiuae vitae_, six leaves of which partake of the nature of a block-book. in or about 1474 johann müller of königsberg (whose variant names, johannes regiomontanus, johannes de monteregio, have trapped more bibliographers into inconsistencies than those of any other fifteenth century author) issued calendars and other works with astronomical diagrams, and prefixed to his edition of the _philalethes_ of maffeus vegius a woodcut (for which dr. schreiber suspects an italian origin) showing philalethes in rags and truth with no other clothing than a pair of very small wings. in june, 1475, sensenschmidt and frisner illustrated their folio edition of justinian's _codex_, with ten charming little column-cuts; the following month sensenschmidt produced a _heiligenleben_, with more than 250 illustrations, which, according to dr. schreiber, are very noteworthy as they stand, and would have been more so had not the wood-cutter been hurried into omitting the backgrounds in the later cuts, those to the "pars aestiualis." sensenschmidt also printed an undated german bible with pictorial capitals. in 1477 creussner issued the travels of marco polo with a woodcut of the traveller, and about the same time latin and german editions of the tract of tuberinus on the supposed fate suffered by "das kind simon" at the hand of the jews. in 1481 anton koberger published his first illustrated book, _postilla super bibliam_ of nicolaus de lyra, with forty-three woodcuts, which were imitated not only at cologne, but at venice, though their interest is not very great. in his german bible of 1483 he himself was content to acquire blocks previously used at cologne. the next year he prefixed to his edition of the _reformation der stadt nuremberg_ a notable woodcut of s. sebald and s. laurence in the style of michael wolgemut. the 252 cuts in his _heiligenleben_ of 1488 are mainly improved rehandlings of previous versions; of his _schatzbehalter_ and schedel's chronicle we speak later on. at basel martin flach was the first printer of illustrated books, ornamenting his 1473 edition of the ackermann von böhmen with a woodcut of death, the labourer, and the dead woman, his _cato_ with the usual picture of a master and scholar, his _rosenkranz_ with a cut of a traveller beseeching the virgin's protection from robbers, and another of a scene in heaven, and his _streit der seele mit dem korper_ (these and the two preceding are undated) with eight illustrations of various moments in the dispute. more important than these are three profusely illustrated books from the press of bernhard richel. the first of these, his 1476 _spiegel menschlicher behaltnis_, has 278 woodcuts, the work of two different hands, the earlier of the two showing less technical skill, but much more vigour and originality.[30] the other two books are undated editions of the romance of _melusina_, with sixty-seven cuts, in which suggestions from the first augsburg edition have been improved on by an abler workman, and a _mandeville_ with 147 cuts, most of which passed into the hands of m. hupfuff at strassburg, who used them in 1501. after this richel turned his attention to liturgies, and is credited by dr. schreiber with being the first printer to insert in his missals the woodcut of the crucifixion, which thenceforth is so frequently found facing the first page of the canon. after the publication of these works illustration seems to have languished for some years at basel, but was taken up again about 1489 by johann von amerbach, lienhart ysenhut, and michael furter, the work of the two latter being mainly imitative. johann froben, who began work about this time, was too learned a publisher to concern himself with woodcuts, catering chiefly for students of the university. one of the professors, however, at the university was far from sharing this indifference to pictures. born at strassburg, sebastian brant was educated at basel, and it was while holding there the professorship of laws that he ensured the popularity of his _narrenschiff_ (1494) by equipping it with 115 admirable illustrations. the original edition from the press of johann bergmann von olpe was published in february, and before the end of the year peter wagner at nuremberg, greyff at reutlingen, schoensperger at augsburg had all pirated it with copies of the basel cuts. when the latin translation by brant's friend, jakob locher, was published by bergmann in 1497, the success of the book became european, and probably no other illustrated work of the fifteenth century is so well known. probably in the same year as the _narrenschiff_ was first issued, bergmann printed for brant his _in laudem gloriosae virginis mariae_, with sixteen woodcuts by the same hand. in 1495 brant supplied him with two works in honour of the emperor maximilian, one celebrating the alliance with pope alexander vi, illustrated with coats of arms, the other the _origo bonorum regum_, with two woodcuts, in which the emperor is shown receiving a sword from heaven. brant was now in high favour with maximilian, and his appointment as a syndic and imperial chancellor at strassburg led to his return and a consequent notable quickening of book-illustration in his native city. at strassburg johann mentelin had used woodcuts for diagrams in an undated edition of the _etymologiae_ of s. isidore, printed about 1473, but the first producer of books pictorially illustrated was heinrich knoblochtzer, who worked from 1476 to 1484, and issued over thirty books with woodcuts. most of these were copies from other men's work, e.g. his _belial_ and _melusina_ from bämler's, his _philalethes_ from the nuremberg edition of johann müller, his _aesop_ and _historie der sigismunda_ from johann zainer's, his _leben der heiligen drei königen_ probably from an anonymous edition by johann prüss. early in his career in 1477 he issued two books on the great subject of the hour, the death of charles the bold, _peter hagenbach und der burgundische krieg_ and the _burgunderkrieg_ of erhard tusch, in both of which he used eight woodcuts, most of them devoted to incidents of the duke's ill-fated campaign. an anonymous edition of the _euryalus und lucretia_ of aeneas sylvius (pope pius ii) has nineteen cuts, which were apparently commissioned by knoblochtzer, but he did not secure the services of a sufficiently skilled wood-cutter. it should be said, however, that his "historiated" or pictorial capitals are apparently original and mostly good. to johann prüss at strassburg are now assigned editions in high and low german of the lives of the fathers and of antichrist, which mr. proctor, though he had a shrewd suspicion of their origin, left floating about among the german "adespota." the cuts to the former reach the average of early work; those to the _antichrist_ vary greatly, that of antichrist preaching before a queen being extraordinarily successful as a presentation of a type of coarse spiritual effrontery. the acknowledged work of prüss includes editions of the travels of _mandeville_, of the _directorium humanae vitae_, and of the _flores musicae_ of hugo reutlingensis, with a rather famous cut showing how musical notes are produced by the wind, by a water wheel, by tapping stones, and hammering on an anvil. prüss also printed several illustrated editions of the _hortus sanitatis_. far more prolific than either of the foregoing strassburg printers was johann reinhard of grüningen, usually called grüninger after his birthplace. setting up his press in 1483, he began book-illustration two years later with a german bible with woodcuts copied from those in the low german bibles printed at cologne and used in 1483 at nuremberg by koberger. some minor books followed, and in 1491 he issued the _antidotarius animae_ of nicolaus de saliceto, with rather rude borders to each page and a woodcut of the assumption. this, however, like some of his earlier illustrated books, appears to have been a commission, and in a reprint of 1493 the decorations disappear. it was not until 1496, under the influence of sebastian brant, that he undertook any important original illustrated work on his own account. in that year he produced his first illustrated classic, the comedies of terence (_terentius cum directorio_), with a large woodcut of a theatre and eighty-seven narrow cuts of the dramatis personae, or of scenery, used five at a time in 150 different combinations. critically examined, the cuts are rather unpleasing, and were regarded at the time as likely to provoke mirth otherwise than by expressing the humorous intent of the playwright, but another edition and a german translation similarly decorated appeared in 1499, and grüninger issued on the same plan a _horace_ (edited by locher) in 1498, and the _de consolatione philosophiae_ of boethius in 1501. his full strength was reserved for the _virgil_ of the following year, which was superintended by brant, and is crowded with wonderful pictures, in which on the very eve of the renaissance virgil is thoroughly medievalized. besides these classics, grüninger printed many other illustrated editions, minor works by brant, medical treatises by brunschwig, an _evangelienbuch_, a _legenda s. katherinae_ in latin and also in german, editions of the _hortulus animae_, the romance of hug schapler, etc., in the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth a sufficient number of illustrated books to bring his total up to about 150 editions. these may be said to form a school by themselves, distinguished by a certain richness of effect partly due to heavy cutting, but with less power of characterization and fewer gleams of beauty than are to be found in the best work of other towns, the figures being often unpleasing and notably lean in the legs. martin scott, hupfuff, and kistler were other strassburg printers of the fifteenth century who also used illustrations. at cologne book-illustration began in 1474 with editions of the _fasciculus temporum_ of werner rolewinck, from the presses of ther hoernen and nicolaus götz. but with the notable exception of two great bibles issued by heinrich quentell, illustrated books before 1490 are neither important nor numerous. even in 1490 the edition of the _historia septem sapientum_ of johannes de hauteselve, issued by the elder koelhoff, was adorned with cuts obtained from gerard leeu at antwerp. quentell issued a few stock cuts in one book after another, and johann landen, martin von werden (if he be rightly identified with the printer "retro minores"), and cornelis von zierickzee all used a few cuts, some of the latter's having a curiously italian appearance. but the only important illustrated book, other than the bibles, is the cologne chronicle, issued (not to his profit, since he was imprisoned for it) by the younger koelhoff in 1499, with armorial cuts and a few pictures of kings and queens somewhat too frequently repeated. quentell's bibles in high and low german are in curious contrast to all this work. they are illustrated with 125 large oblong pictures, firmly if rather coarsely cut, and full of story-telling power, several successive incidents being sometimes brought into the same picture in true medieval fashion. the book was imitated at nuremberg and elsewhere, and the illustrators of the venetian malermi bible of 1490, and even hans holbein himself, did not disdain to take ideas from it. at lübeck a finely decorated edition of the _rudimentum noviciorum_, a universal history, was issued by lucas brandis as early as 1475, with some good pictorial capitals, and pictures beginning with the creation and coming down to the life of christ. in 1484 we come to a _levend s. jeronimi_, printed by bartholomaeus ghotan and illustrated by an anonymous artist whose work can be traced during the next ten years in other books of ghotan's, in several very interesting editions by the unidentified "poppy-printer" (so called from his mark), including a _dodendantz_ (1489 and 1496), _imitatio christi_, _bergitten openbaringe_ (1496), _reynke de vos_ (1498), _schakspil_, etc., and in the splendid low german bible printed in 1494 by stephan arndes, with cuts which improve on those in the cologne editions. [illustration: ix. mainz, erhard reuwich, 1486 breidenbach. peregrinatio in montem syon saracens and syrians] at mainz, which led the way so energetically in typography, book-illustration is not represented at all until 1479, and then almost accidentally in the _meditationes_ of cardinal turrecremata, printed by johann neumeister "ciuem moguntinensem," with thirty-four curious metal-cuts imitating on a smaller scale the woodcuts in the editions printed at rome by ulrich han. two years later these metal-cuts were used by neumeister at albi, and they are subsequently found at lyon. that this book was printed at mainz was made practically certain by the type appearing subsequently in the possession of peter von friedberg, but that the cuts were executed at mainz seemed to me improbable until the publication of dr. schreibers work on german illustrated books acquainted me with the existence of an _agenda moguntinensis_ of 29 june, 1480, also attributed to neumeister's press, with a metal-cut of s. martin and the beggar, and the arms not only of archbishop diether and the province of mainz, but of canon bernhard von breidenbach, of whom we shall soon hear again. the _agenda_ and its metal-cuts are thus firmly fixed as executed at mainz, and the metal-cuts of the _meditationes_ must therefore be regarded as mainz work also. in 1486 mainz atoned for her long delay in taking up illustrated work, with the _peregrinationes in montem syon_ of the aforesaid canon bernhard von breidenbach, printed with type of schoeffer's, under the superintendence of erhard reuwich of utrecht, the illustrator. the text of breidenbach's book is full of interest, for he gives a vivid account of the voyage and of the hardships and extortions to which pilgrims were exposed. in his preface he states that reuwich was expressly taken on the expedition to illustrate the narrative, and he certainly had ample skill to justify the engagement. unfortunately, far too much of his labour was spent on great maps or views of venice, parenzo, rhodes and other places passed on the way. these are certainly interesting, as they mark all the chief buildings and are very decoratively drawn. but in the text of the book there are just a few sketches from the life, jewish moneylenders and groups of saracens, syrians (see plate ix), indians, etc., and these are so vivid and vigorous that we may well regret that the labour bestowed on the great maps left time for very few of them. they are interesting, moreover, not only as designs, but also for their cutting, as they introduce cross-hatching for the first time, and that very effectively, and are handled with equal firmness and freedom. at the end of the book is a jest, a full-page woodcut subscribed "hec sunt animalia veraciter depicta sicut vidimus in terra sancta," among the animals thus certified as having been seen personally in the holy land being a unicorn and a creature (name unknown--_non constat de nomine_) with a great mane of hair and long tail, which might well serve for the missing link between a man and a gorilla. the frontispiece of the book, on the other hand, is a striking design of a woman (symbolizing the city of mainz?) standing on a pedestal surrounded with the arms of breidenbach and the two friends who went with him, decoratively treated, while above her is a canopy of trelliswork amid which children are joyously climbing. with the mainz _breidenbach_ we feel that we have passed away from the naive craftsmanship of the earliest illustrated books into a region of conscious art. naturally craftsmanship was not extinguished by the arrival of a single artist. we find it at work again in the charming and little known cut to a leipzig edition of the eclogues of theodulus, printed in 1491, which the delight of recent discovery tempts me to show here (see plate x), and at mainz itself in the simple cuts to the _hortus sanitatis_, printed by meidenbach, also in 1491, though here again there is an advance, as instead of plants and animals drawn out of the illustrator's head merely for decorative effect we find in many of the cuts fairly careful copies made from the life. in conrad botho's _cronecken der sassen_, printed by schoeffer the following year, most of the armorial illustrations and pictures of the foundation of towns are merely decoratively treated, but in one cut in which a rather wild-looking charlemagne with lean legs is shown seated in a chair of state surmounted by an eagle, an idol crushed under his feet, the designer has given free play to his imagination. [illustration: x. leipzig, conrad kachelofen, 1489 theodulus. egloga (i^b)] the transition to different ideals of illustration thus begun at mainz was carried on at nuremberg, where michael wolgemut illustrated two important works, the _schatzbehalter_ in 1491 and the famous _nuremberg chronicle_ in 1493, this latter with the help of his stepson, wilhelm pleydenwurff, and no doubt also of several inferior designers. the _schatzbehalter_, of which the text is ascribed to stephanus fridelinus, a nuremberg franciscan, is one of several examples of a too ambitious scheme of decoration perforce abandoned for lack either of time or of money. in the first half there are ninety-two different full-page woodcuts, mostly illustrating scripture history, but in some cases allegorical; in the second half the number is no more than two. the pictures executed before the scheme was thus cut down vary greatly in quality, from the fine design of christ kneeling before the throne of the father and pointing to the emblems of the passion, which prepares us for the work which dürer, who was then being trained in wolgemut's studio, was soon to execute, down to the amusing but uninspired craftsmanship of the picture of solomon and a selection of his wives banqueting. for the _liber chronicarum_ of hartman schedel plans had been much more carefully worked out than for the _schatzbehalter_, and by studying economy a seemingly profuse system of illustration was maintained to the end. the industry of mr. sydney cockerell has evolved for us the exact figures as to the illustration of this book. real liberality is shown in the large, double-page topographical cuts of twenty-six different cities, for many of which sketches must have been specially obtained, and not one of these is used a second time; but twenty-two other large cuts of cities and countries were made to serve for sixty-nine different subjects, and when we come to figures of emperors, kings, and popes we find ninety-six blocks used 598 times, or on an average half a dozen times apiece. mr. cockerell's grand totals are 1809 pictures printed from 645 different blocks, so that the repetitions number no fewer than 1164. both in the designs and their execution there is great inequality, but no single picture can compare with that of christ kneeling before the father in the _schatzbehalter_, and both books, fine as their best work is, must be regarded rather as the crown of german medieval craftsmanship in book-building than as belonging to the period of self-conscious artistic aim which is heralded by the mainz _breidenbach_ but really begins with dürer. with this nuremberg work we may perhaps class that in the one book printed at the cistercian monastery at zinna, near magdeburg, the _psalterium beatae mariae virginis_, of hermann nitschewitz, the most richly decorated german book of the fifteenth century, executed in honour of the emperor frederick and his son maximilian, who in the page here shown (plate xi) are both represented. primitive dutch and flemish book-illustrations when compared with german ones exhibit just the general likeness and specific differences which we might expect in the work of such near neighbours. the low country wood-cutters are on the whole more decorative than the germans, they were more influenced by the work of the engravers on copper, and they were attracted by different types of the human figure, the faces and bodies of the men and women they drew being often long and thin, and often also showing a slightly fantastic touch rarely found in german work. unfortunately, these low country illustrated books are even rarer than the german ones, far fewer of them have found their way to england, and no attempt has been made to reproduce a really representative selection of them in facsimile. in 1884 sir w. m. conway, as the result of prolonged studies on the continent, wrote an excellent account of these illustrations and the makers of them under the title, _the woodcutters of the netherlands in the fifteenth century_, which was unhappily allowed to appear without any facsimiles to elucidate the text. thus the study of these low country illustrated books is still difficult. [illustration: xi. zinna. monasterium cisterciense, c. 1493 nitschewitz. psalterium beatae mariae virginis frederick and maximilian] in the production of the early block-books (see chapter ii) the low countries had played a principal part, and we meet again with traces of them in later illustrated books, cuts from the _biblia pauperum_ being used by peter van os at zwolle in his _episteln ende evangelien_ of 5 january, 1487, and one from the _canticum canticorum_ in his edition of mauberne's _rosetum exercitiorum spiritualium_ in 1494. two cut-up pieces from the block-book _speculum humanae saluationis_ were used by veldener in his _episteln ende evangelien_ completed at utrecht 19 april, 1481, and all the old blocks, each divided in two, in a new edition of the _speculum_ printed at kuilenburg 27 september, 1483, with twelve new cuts added to them. sir w. m. conway has also shown that a set of sixty-four cuts used in a _boec van der houte_ or legend of the holy cross, issued by veldener at kuilenburg earlier in 1483 (on 6 march), must have been obtained by dividing in a similar manner the double cuts of a block-book now entirely lost. the first printer in the low countries who commissioned a woodcut for a book printed with movable type was johann of paderborn (john of westphalia) at louvain, the cut being a curious little representation of his own head, shown in white on a black oval. this he used in his _institutiones_ of justinian of 21 november, 1475, and a few other books, and a similar but even better likeness of his kinsman, conrad, appeared the next year in the _formulae epistularum_ of maneken (1 december, 1476). although johann of paderborn thus led the way in the use of cuts, he only resorted to them subsequently for a few diagrams, and towards the end of his career for some half-dozen miscellaneous blocks for devotional books. the portrait of johann of paderborn being used only as a device, book-illustration begins, though on a very small scale, with veldener's edition of the _fasciculus temporum_ (29 december, 1475), with its handful of poor little cuts modelled on those of the cologne editions. five years later veldener reprinted the _fasciculus_ with a few new cuts, the originals of which have been found in the lübeck _rudimentum noviciorum_. the only picture which seems to have been specially designed for him was a folio cut in his _passionael_ (utrecht, 12 september, 1480), where in delicate simple outline a variety of martyrdoms are shown as taking place in the hollows of a series of hills. mention has already been made of his two kuilenburg reprints of block-books. in the same place he issued dutch and latin herbals with cuts copied from schoeffer's mainz _herbarius_, and this completes the story of his illustrated ventures. [illustration: xii. haarlem, bellaert, 1484 jacobus de theramo. belial (4^a) the harrowing of hell] we come now to gerard leeu, who on 3 june, 1480, issued at gouda the first completely illustrated book from a dutch press, the _dialogus creaturarum moralisatus_, a glorified version of the old bestiaries, full of wonderful stories of animals. this was illustrated with 121 specially designed cuts (mostly about four inches by two), and leeu's liberality was rewarded by the book passing through nine editions, six in latin and three in dutch, in eleven years. the first page is decorated with a picture of the sun and moon, a large capital, and an ornamental border of foliage, but the merit of the book lies in the simple skill with which the craftsman, working entirely in outline, has reproduced the humour of the text. to the same hand are attributed ten cuts for leeu's vernacular _gesta romanorum_ (30 april, 1481), four for an undated _historia septem sapientum_, and four others, of the four last things, which, to our puzzlement, appear first in a french edition printed by arend de keysere at audenarde, and then (23 august, 1482) in a dutch one of leeu's. in the previous month he had brought out a _liden ende passie ons heeren_ with thirty-two quarto cuts, part of a set of sixty-eight made for editions of the _devote ghetiden_ or dutch version of the _horae_, the first of which (unless a gouda one has perished) appeared after his removal to antwerp. during the following nine years he made good use of his old blocks. for his dutch _aesop_ of october, 1485, and latin edition of september, 1486, he used cuts copied from the original ulm and augsburg set. these he bought from knoblochtzer of strassburg and sold to koelhoff of cologne. in 1487 he issued an illustrated _reynard the fox_, of which only a fragment survives, and the pleasant romance of _paris and vienne_, with twenty-five fairly successful cuts, with the help of which five editions were sold, the first in french, the next three in dutch, and the last (23 june, 1492) in english. according to sir w. m. conway these _paris and vienne_ cuts were the work of a haarlem craftsman, who from 1483 to 1486 had worked for jacob bellaert, whose press was intimately connected with leeu's, type and cuts passing freely from one to the other. bellaert had begun by using some of leeu's passion cuts for a _liden ons heeren_, but seems soon to have discovered his haarlem wood-cutter, with whose aid he produced (15 february, 1484) _der sonderen troest_, the sinners' trust, a dutch version of that remarkable work the _belial_ or _consolatio peccatorum_ of jacobus de theramo, of which the augsburg edition has already been mentioned. this begins with a full folio-page cut combining in one panorama the fall of angels and of adam and eve, the flood, the egyptians overtaken in the red sea, and the baptism of christ. six of the other cuts fill half-pages and show the harrowing of hell (here reproduced, plate xii), devils in consultation, satan kneeling before the lord, the last judgment, ascension and descent of the holy spirit. the remaining half-page pictures are all composite, made up of different combinations of eight centre-pieces and seventeen sidepieces. the centre-pieces for the most part represent the different judges before whom the trials are heard, the side-pieces the messengers and parties to the suit. the combinations are occasionally a little clumsy, but far less so than in the strassburg books printed by grüninger in which the same labour-saving device was adopted, and in excellence of design and delicacy of cutting this dutch _belial_ ranks high among illustrated incunabula. later in 1484 (25 october) bellaert issued a _boeck des golden throens_ with four-column cuts, often repeated, of an elder instructing a maiden; in may, 1485, le fèvre's _jason_, and a little earlier than this an undated edition of the same author's _recueil des histoires de troie_, both in dutch and both profusely illustrated; on christmas eve in the same year a dutch _de proprietatibus rerum_, and in 1486 versions of pierre michault's _doctrinal_, in which a dreamer is shown the schools of virtue and of vice, and of guillaume de deguilleville's _pélérinage de la vie humaine_, the medieval prototype of bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_. the _de proprietatibus_ is the only one of these books of 1485-6 that i have seen, and its full-page cuts are notable both for their own sake and as having been widely copied, although they illustrate only eleven of the nineteen books. no other low country printer showed anything like the enterprise of leeu and bellaert in commissioning long sets of original woodcuts from competent craftsmen, but several fine illustrated books were produced by other firms. beginning in 1484 peter van os printed numerous illustrated books at zwolle, few of which attain excellence. yet one of the earliest of them, the sermons of s. bernard, has a frontispiece of the virgin and child and the saint gazing at them which is unequalled by any other single cut in the low country book in its large pictorial effect. at gouda, in 1486, gottfried van os issued the _chevalier délibéré_ of olivier de la marche, with sixteen large cuts, in which the author's minute instructions for each picture are faithfully carried out with extraordinary freedom and spirit, though the ambitious designs are more suitable to frescoes than to book-illustrations. about the end of the century the book was reprinted at schiedam with the same cuts, from which facsimiles were made in 1898 by dr. lippmann and published by the bibliographical society. at louvain in 1487 egidius van der heerstraten issued the _de praeclaris mulieribus_ of boccaccio with copies of the cuts of the ulm edition of great interest for the differences in handling revealed when the two are compared. a little later than this another louvain printer, ludovicus de ravescot, published the _de anno die et feria dominicae passionis_ of petrus de rivo, with a title-cut of the author kneeling before the virgin and child, and three large cuts of the last supper, crucifixion, and resurrection, somewhat in the temper of the illustrations in the cologne bibles, but with characteristic low country touches. lastly, mention must be made of the clumsy outline cuts in the bruges edition of ovid's _metamorphoses_, issued in 1484 by caxton's partner colard mansion. mansion certainly, and possibly caxton also, were among the early experimenters with copperplate illustration, but the story of these will be told in chapter xv. footnotes: [29] dr. schreiber, in the introduction to tome v of his _manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois au xv^e siècle_, dealing with german book-illustrations, shows that some little difficulty was found at first in effecting this. in boner's _edelstein_ (bamberg, 1461), probably the first illustrated book printed in germany, the cuts were printed after the text. in zainer's _heiligenleben_, the first illustrated book printed at augsburg, the cuts must have been printed first, as part of the text is sometimes printed over them. [30] a set of proofs of cuts to this book, previously in the possession of the marquis of blandford and mr. perkins, was among the favourite possessions of william morris, and is now owned by mr. morgan. an illustrated _plenarium_, assigned by dr. copinger to richel, appears to be a "ghost," due to some confusion with this _spiegel_. chapter viii early italian illustrated books as a frontispiece to this chapter (plate xiii) we give a page from the 1487 edition of the _devote meditatione sopra la passione del nostro signore_, printed at venice by "jeronimo di sancti e cornelio suo compagno," the woodcuts in which, as already mentioned, are cut down from those in a block-book of some twenty or five-and-twenty years earlier, and must thus rank as the earliest italian illustrations. the illustration of books printed in movable type began in italy as early as 1468, ulrich han issuing that year at rome an edition of cardinal turrecremata's _meditationes_, decorated with thirty-one rude cuts chiefly from the life of christ. a few of these have a coarse vigour, but in the greater number any merit in the original designs (professedly taken from the frescoes with which the cardinal had decorated the cloisters of the church of santa maria sopra minerva) is lost in bad cutting. notwithstanding this the work went through at least three editions (three new pictures being added to the second and one omitted), and served as a model for the metal-cuts of neumeister's editions at mainz and elsewhere, and for the small neat woodcuts of one by plannck. but though han's venture was thus successful beyond its deserts, it took italy nearly twenty years to make up its mind to welcome printed illustrations. during this time nothing approaching a style of book-illustration emerges, though individual books of importance appeared at several towns. thus at verona the _de re militari_ of robertus valturius (written not later than 1468) was printed in 1472 by a certain joannes of that city, with over eighty woodcuts of weapons and implements of war, including a galley which looks more picturesque than seaworthy, chariots, and mangonels, all well drawn and well cut, but a little spoilt by paper and presswork much less good than was usual at this time. eleven years later latin and italian editions with practically the same cuts were printed, also at verona, by boninus de boninis. the only other early veronese book with illustrations is an italian version of one of the medieval collections of fables which sought shelter under the name of aesop. this, which has some spirited cuts, was printed by giovanni alvise in 1479. [illustration: xiii. venice, geronimo di sancti, 1487 bonaventura. meditatione (14^b reduced) the betrayal] at naples, sixtus riessinger printed boccaccio's _libro di florio et di bianzefiore chiamato filicolo_ in 1478, and also (without date) an italian version of ovid's _heroides_, both with numerous cuts, some of them by no means devoid of charm. in 1485 an illustrated _aesop_ was produced at the expense of a book-loving jurist, francesco tuppo, probably from the press of certain "fidelissimi germani." the cuts in this, which are hard and heavy but of considerable merit (see plate xiv), may possibly be due to a mixture of italian and german influences, but are more probably the work of a spanish wood-cutter. a picture of an astronomer engaged on his calculations found in the _arte di astrologia_ of granollachs, probably also printed in 1485, may be from the same hand. in the _aesop_ each picture is placed in an architectural frame, in the upper sections of which there are representations sometimes of hercules and a lion, sometimes of his wrestle with antaeus, sometimes of a battle of mounted pygmies. the first page of text also has a fine decorative border, the design being in white on a black ground. at florence an ornamental capital in a _psalter_ printed in 1489 is the earliest woodcut in any extant dated book. but engravings on copper had been employed as early as 1477 for three pictures in bettini's _monte santo di dio,_ and in 1481 for nineteen in a _divina commedia_; as to these something will be said in chapter xv. two books printed at milan in 1479 contain illustrations, the _summula di pacifica conscientia_ of fra pacifico di novara, being ornamented with three engravings; two of the degrees of consanguinity and the third of a crown bearing the names of the virtues of the madonna, while the _breuiarium totius juris canonici_ of paolo attavanti printed by pachel and scinzenzeler has a little woodcut, which purports to be a portrait of the author. in venice book-illustration appears to have begun in the office not of a printer, but of an illuminator. quite a number of books printed by various firms during the years 1470 to 1472 have a woodcut groundwork to their illuminated borders, and in the spencer copy of the italian bible (malermi's translation), printed in 1471 by adam of ammergau, the six miniatures of the creation, with which the blanks left on leaves 11 and 12 are filled, have in the same way rough woodcuts beneath their colouring.[31] the workshop in which these decorated borders and miniatures were supplied seems to have closed or given up the practice in 1473, and until erhard ratdolt and his partners löslein and maler began publishing in 1476, no more woodcuts were produced at venice. the work of the new firm was decorative rather than pictorial, consisting mainly of the fine borders and capital letters with which they ornamented their calendars (1476, 1477, and 1482), their _appian, gesta petri mocenici_ of coriolanus cepio and _de situ orbis_ of dionysius periegetes, all in 1477, _arte di ben morire_ of the following year, and _euclid_ of 1482. with the exception of the earlier calendars, where the borders to the titlepage (the first so decorated) are of flower-vases, these consist of highly conventionalized foliage (jasmine? vine, oak, etc.) or strapwork, some of them unequalled in their own kind until william morris combined the same skill with a much bolder and richer treatment of his material. illustration properly so called begins with georg walch's edition (1479) of the _fasciculus temporum_, a chronological epitome by werner rolewinck of cologne. this has a quaint little view of the piazza of san marco and other pictures, which ratdolt, not at all handsomely, proceeded to copy the next year. in 1481 ratdolt adorned the _tractatus de actionibus_ oi baptista de sancto blasio with rather a graceful little figure of a woman holding the stem of a tree. in 1482 he produced an edition of the _poeticon astronomicon_ of hyginus with some figures of the planets which, rude as they were, served as models for many subsequent editions. in the same year the _oratoriae artis epitomata_ of jacobus publicius was ornamented with some figures including a chessboard, cut in white on black, designed to assist the memory. [illustration: xiv. naples, francesco tuppo, 1485 aesop. fabula xxii., de atheniensibus petentibus regem] in the later years of his stay at venice, ratdolt seems to have lost interest in book-decoration, but the popularity of woodcuts steadily increased throughout the 'eighties, and by the end of the decade was in full tide. in 1484 bernardinus benalius gave some rough illustrations to the _fioretti_ of saint francis; in 1486 pietro cremonese bestowed a formal but quite interesting decorated titlepage on the _doctrinale_ of alexander gallus, with the title inscribed in a cartouche, above which rise an urn and lamps. in the same year we have in the _supplementum chronicarum_ printed by bernardinus benalius a few cuts of some size "translated" into an italian style from those on the same subject in quentell's cologne bible (c. 1480), also a little view of venice copied in reverse from the _fasciculus temporum_. the _supplementum chronicarum_ was re-issued several times (the author, jacobus philippus bergomensis, bringing the statement of his age up to date in each edition which he revised), and changes were constantly made in the cuts. in 1486 also came an edition of the _libro de la divina lege_ of marco del monte s. maria, with cuts of mount sinai and its desert, notable as having been copied by a much more skilful wood-cutter at florence eight years later; 1487 produced the first of the venetian illustrated _aesops_, the cuts having borders of white scroll-work on a black ground and being influenced by the naples edition of 1485. with this must be mentioned a _fior di virtu_, with a title cut of a friar plucking blossoms from a tree, which was thought good enough to be copied at milan, but was replaced at venice three years later by a delightful picture of a walled garden. it was in 1487 also that there appeared the edition of the _devote meditatione sopra la passione_, with cuts taken from the old block-book (see p. 123). in subsequent editions (of 1489, etc.) these were replaced by new woodcuts of varying merit. a later edition still (1500) has a fine picture of the entry into jerusalem which prince d'essling connects with the _hypnerotomachia_ of 1499. in 1488 we come to the first illustrated edition of the _trionfi_ of petrarch, printed by bernardino de novara. this has six large cuts, showing respectively the triumphs of love, of chastity, death, fame, time, and the divinity. all are well designed, but spoilt by weak cutting. in the same year appeared two other illustrated books, a _sphaera mundi_, with a few cuts not in themselves of great importance, and the _de essent et essenta_ of s. thomas aquinas, with a striking little picture of a child lighting a fire by means of a burning-glass. by studying these books in conjunction prince d'essling has shown that they were designed by one of their printers, johann santritter, and executed by the other, hieronymus de sanctis, and that to the latter may thus be attributed the illustrations (one at least of them of unusual beauty) in an _officium beatae virginis_ which issued from his press 26 april, 1494. the information on the last two pages is all epitomized from the prince d'essling's great work _les livres à figures vénitiens_ (1907, etc.), and is quoted here in some detail as showing that from the time of erhard ratdolt onwards book-illustrations are found with some frequency at venice, a fact for which, until the prince published the results of his unwearying researches, there was very little evidence available. the event of 1490 was the publication by lucantonio giunta of an edition of niccolo malermi's italian version of the bible, illustrated with 384 cuts, many of them charming, measuring about three inches by two. the success of this set a fashion, and several important folio books in double columns similarly illustrated appeared during the next few years, a _vite di sancti padre_ in 1491, boccaccio's _decamerone_, masuccio's _novellino_, and a _legendario_ translated from the latin of jacobus de voragine in 1492, a rival italian bible and an italian livy in 1493, a _morgante maggiore_ in 1494, and an italian _terence_ in 1497, while in quarto we have a _miracoli de la madonna_ (1491), _vita de la vergine_ and _trabisonda istoriata_ (1492), _guerrino meschino_ (1493), and several others. in some of these books cuts are found signed with f, in others with n, in others with i or ia; in the malermi bible and some other books we sometimes find the signature b or .b. such signatures, which at one time aroused keen controversy, are now believed to have belonged not to the designer, but to the workshop of the wood-cutters by whom the blocks were cut. in the case of the malermi bible of 1490 workmen of very varying skill were employed, some of the illustrations to the gospels being emptied of all delight by the rudeness of their cutting. where the designer and the cutter are both at their best the result is nearly perfect of its kind, and it is curious to think that some of these dainty little blocks were imitated from the large, heavy woodcuts in the cologne bibles printed by quentell some ten years earlier. in the rival bible of 1493 the best cuts are not so good, nor the worst so bad as in the original edition of 1490. in the other books (i have not seen the masuccio) the cutting is again more even, but the designs, though often charming and sometimes amusing, are seldom as good as the best in the bible. most of these books have one or more larger cuts used at the beginning of the text or of sections of it, and these are always good. two editions of dante's _divina commedia_, both published in 1491, one by bernardinus benalius and matheo codeca in march, the other by pietro cremonese in november, must be grouped with the books just mentioned, as they are also illustrated with small cuts (though those in the november edition are a good deal larger than the usual column-cuts), and these are signed in some cases with the letter .b. which appears in the malermi bible of 1490. neither designer has triumphed over the monotonous effect produced by the continual reappearance of the figures of dante and his guide, and the little cuts in the march edition are far from impressive. on the other hand it has a good frontispiece, in which, after the medieval habit, the successive incidents of the first canto of the _inferno_ are all crowded into the same picture. popular as were the little vignettes, they were far from exhausting the energies of the venetian illustrators of this decade. at the opposite pole from them are the four full-page pictures in the 1493 and later editions of the _fascicolo de medicina_ of joannes ketham. these represent a physician lecturing, a consultation, a dissection, and a visit of a doctor to an infectious patient, whom he views by the light of two flambeaux held by pages, while he smells his pouncet-box. this picture (in the foreground of which sits a cat, afterwards cut out to reduce the size of the block) is perhaps the finest of the four, but that of the dissection has the interest of being printed in several colours. erhard ratdolt had made some experiments in colour-printing in the astronomical books which he printed at venice, and at augsburg completed the crucifixion cut in some of his missals partly by printed colours, partly by hand. in 1490 a venetian printer, johann herzog, had illustrated the _de heredibus_ of johannes crispus de montibus with a genealogical tree growing out of a recumbent human figure, and had printed this in brown, green, and red. but the dissection in the _fascicolo di medicina_ was the most elaborate of the venetian experiments in colour-printing and apparently also the last. with the illustrations to the ketham may be mentioned for its large pictorial effect, though it comes in a quarto, the fine cut of the author in the _doctrina della vita monastica_ of san lorenzo giustiniano, first patriarch of venice. the figure of san lorenzo as he walks with a book under his arm and a hand held up in benediction is imitated from that in a picture by gentile bellini, but he is here shown (plate xv) preceded by a charming little crucifer, whose childish face enhances by contrast the austerer benignity of the saint. [illustration: xv. venice, anonymous press, 1494 lorenzo giustiniano. della vita religiosa portrait of the author] however good the large illustrations in venetian books, the merits of them are rather those of single prints than of really appropriate bookwork. the little column-cuts, on the other hand, are almost playful in their minuteness, and even when most successful produce the effect of a delightful border or tailpiece without quite attaining to the full possibilities of book-illustration. the feverish production of these column-cuts began to slacken, though it did not cease, in 1493, and about that date a few charming full-page pictures are found at the beginning and end of various small quartos. from the treatment of the man's hair and beard it is clear that the delightful frontispiece to the _fioretti della biblia_ of 1493 (prince d'essling, i, 161) was the work of the illustrator of the second malermi bible from which the small cuts in the text are taken. the three cuts to the _fioretti_ of s. francis, completed 11 june in the same year, that of the _chome l'angelo amaestra l'anima_ of pietro damiani, dated in the following november, of an undated _monte de la oratione,_ and again of the _de la confessione_ of s. bernardino of siena, all in the same style, form a group of singular beauty (see prince d'essling, i, 284 _sqq._; ii, 191, 194, 195). those of s. catherine's _dialogo de la divina providentia_, 17 may, 1494 (d'essling, ii, 199 _sqq._), were probably no less happily designed, but have lost more in their cutting, and with these must be grouped the picture of a venetian school in the _regulae sypontinae_ of nicolaus perottus, 29 march, 1492 (d'essling, ii, 86), used also in the _de structura compositionis_ of nicolaus ferettus, printed three years later at forlì. the style is continued in the _specchio della fede_ of robertus caracciolus, 11 april, 1495 (d'essling, ii, 260), in the headpiece of the _commentaria in libros aristotelis_ of s. thomas aquinas, 28 sept., 1496, and in the two admirable pictures of terence lecturing to his commentators, and of a theatre as seen from the back of the stage, found in the _terentius cum tribus commentariis_ of july, 1497 (d'essling, ii, 295, and 277 _sqq._). still in the same style, but carelessly designed and poorly cut, are the illustrations to the well-known ovid of april, 1497 (d'essling, iii, 220 _sqq._), and this leads us on to the still more famous _hypnerotomachia poliphili_ of francesco colonna, printed by aldus for leonardo crassus, a jurisconsult, in december, 1499, and finally to the cut of christ entering jerusalem in the _devote meditatione_ of the following april (d'essling, i, 372), where the hand of the artist of the _hypnerotomachia_ is clearly visible, though he has surrounded his picture with a frame in the florentine manner, which was then beginning to make its influence felt at venice. the primacy usually given to the _hypnerotomachia_ among all these books is probably in part due to considerations which have little to do with its artistic merit. the story is a kind of archaeological romance which appealed greatly to the dilettante, for whose benefit leonardo crassus commissioned aldus to print it, but which was far from exciting the popular interest which shows its appreciation for a book by thumbing it out of existence. the _hypnerotomachia_ is probably almost as common a book as the _nuremberg chronicle_ or the first folio shakespeare, and thus its merits have become known to all lovers of old books. it is impressive, moreover, from its size and the profusion of its 168 illustrations of various sizes, while the extraordinary variety of these and the excellence of their cutting are further points in its favour. the initial letters of the successive chapters form the sentence poliam frater franciscus colvmna peramavit, and this with the colophon assigning the completion of the book to may-day, 1467, at treviso, reveals the author as francesco colonna, a dominican, who had taught rhetoric at treviso and padua, and in 1499, when his book was printed, was still alive and an inmate of the convent of ss. giovanni and paolo at venice. the polia whom he so greatly loved has been identified with lucretia lelio, daughter of a jurisconsult at treviso. the story of the _hypnerotomachia_, or "strife of love in a dream," as its english translator called it, is greatly influenced by the renaissance interest in antique architecture and art which is evident in so many of its illustrations. polifilo's dreams are full, as the preface-writer says, of "molte cose antiquarie digne di memoria, & tutto quello lui dice hauere visto di puncto in puncto & per proprii uocabuli ello descriue cum elegante stilo, pyramidi, obelisce, ruine maxime di edificii, la differentia di columne, la sua mensura, gli capitelli, base, epistyli," etc. etc. but he is brought also to the palace of queen eleuterylida, and while there witnesses the triumphs or festivals of europa, leda, danae, bacchus, vertumnus, and pomona, which provide several attractive subjects for the illustrator. the second part of the book is somewhat less purely antiquarian. lucrezia lelio had entered a convent after being attacked by the plague which visited treviso from 1464 to 1466, and so here also polia is made to take refuge in the temple of diana, whence, however, she is driven on account of the visits of polifilo, with whom, by the aid of venus, she is ultimately united. one other point to be mentioned is that many of the full-page venetian illustrations, both in quartos and folios, have quasi-architectural borders to them, the footpiece being sometimes filled with children riding griffins or other grotesques, while school-books were often made more attractive to young readers by a border in which a master is flogging a boy duly horsed for the purpose on the back of a schoolfellow. in two of the most graceful of venetian borders, those to the _herodotus_ of 1494 (and also in the 1497 edition of s. jerome's epistles) and johann müller's epitome of ptolemy's _almagest_ (of 1496), the design is picked out in white on a black ground. a few florentine woodcut illustrations have borders of the kind just mentioned in which the design stands out in white on a black ground. in one of these borders there are rather ugly candelabra at the sides, at the top two lovers facing each other in a circle supported by cupids, at the foot a shield supported by boys standing on the backs of couchant stags. another has mermen at the top, a shield within a wreath supported by eagles at the foot, and floral ornaments and armour at the sides. in a third on either side of the shield in the footpiece boys are tilting at each other mounted on boars. in a fourth are shown saints and some of the emblems of the passion, supported by angels. but as a rule, while nearly all florentine woodcuts have borders these are only from an eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch in depth, and the pattern on them is a leaf or flower or some conventional design of the simplest possible kind. a very few cuts have only a rule round them, one of the largest a triple rule. a rude cut of the crucifixion is found in francesco di dino's 1490 edition of cavalca's _specchio di croce_ surrounded by a rope-work border two-fifths of an inch deep, and this border, partly broken away, also surrounds a really beautiful pietà (christ standing in a tomb, his cross behind him, his hands upheld by angels) in miscomini's 1492 edition of savonarola's _trattato dell' umiltà_. when the same publisher used dino's crucifixion cut, also in 1492, for savonarola's _tractato dell' amore di gesù_, he left it without either border or rule round it, the only instance of a florentine cut so treated in the fifteenth century. dr. paul kristeller, whose richly illustrated monograph on _early florentine woodcuts_ (kegan paul, 1897) is the standard work on the subject, suggests with much plausibility that these two cuts, of the crucifixion and the pietà, were originally made for earlier books now lost, and belong to an older school of wood-cutting, more akin to that which produced the few extant florentine single prints. the earliest work of the new school of illustration is the magnificent cut of the virgin in a mandorla appearing to s. jacopone da todi as he kneels in prayer. this, surrounded by the triple rule already mentioned, is prefixed to an edition of jacopone's _laude_ printed by francesco buonacorsi and dated 28 september, 1490. apparently the earliest dated cut with a typical florentine border is that to the _lunare_ of granollachs printed by lor. morgiani and giovanni da magonza in september, 1491. it measures more than 6 inches by 4, and is copied, and transfigured in the process, from the heavy cut in a naples edition of 1485. two months later the same firm issued the _soliloqui_i of s. augustine with an extraordinarily fine title-cut of the saint (the same picture did duty in 1493 for s. antonino) writing at a desk in his cell. this has a border, but with a white ground instead of a black. on 1 january, 1491-2, still from the same firm, we have surely the prettiest arithmetic ever printed, that of filippo calandri, with delightful little pictures and border pieces, cut in simple outline, in the venetian rather than the florentine manner. on 20 march, morgiani and his partner produced a new edition of bettini's _monte santo di dio_ with the three copperplates of 1481 (see chapter xv) skilfully translated into duly bordered woodcuts, the first two filling a folio page, the third somewhat shorter. a _mandeville_ with a single cut followed in june, and in december the _trattati_ of ugo pantiera, also with a single cut, perhaps by the designer of the calandri, since it employs the same trick of representing a master on a much larger scale than a disciple as is found in the picture of pythagoras in the earlier book.[32] one of the earliest (and also most delightful) of the title-cuts of another prolific publisher, the picture of a lecturer and his pupils in antonio miscomini's 1492 edition of landini's _formulario_,[33] measures about 6 inches by 4. but after this the period of experiment was at an end, and with very few exceptions the woodcuts in florentine books for the rest of the century all measure either a little over or a little under 3 inches by 4, and are all surrounded by a narrow border with some simple design in white upon a black ground. some pains have been taken to make clear both the experiments as to style, size, and borders in the florentine book-illustrations of 1490-2, and the external uniformity in size and borders in the great bulk of the work of the next few years, because in the first number of the _burlington magazine_ and subsequently in his fine book on florentine drawings, mr. bernhard berenson put forward with considerable confidence the theory that nine-tenths of the florentine book-illustrations of this period were made from designs supplied by a single artist whom he identifies with a certain bartolommeo di giovanni. this bartolommeo contracted in july, 1488, with the prior of the innocents to paint before the end of october seven predelle (innocenti museum, nos. 63-70) for an altarpiece of the adoration of the magi, the commission for which had been given to domenico ghirlandajo. mr. berenson believes that in addition to these predelle (the only works with which bartolommeo is connected by any evidence other than that of style) he painted the massacre of the innocents, as an episode in ghirlandajo's altarpiece at the innocenti, that he must have been one of the more famous painter's apprentices in the years 1481-5, and subsequently helped him with altarpieces at lucca and at the accademia at florence, and painted a fresco for the church of s. frediano at lucca and numerous fronts to the cassonì or ornamental chests, which were at this period the most decorative articles of florentine furniture. as a minor painter bartolommeo di giovanni[34] is pronounced by mr. berenson to have been "incapable of producing on the scale of life a figure that can support inspection": in predelle and cassone-fronts he is "feeble, if vivacious, and scarcely more than pleasant," yet with no authenticated work to build on except the predelle in the innocenti, mr. berenson does not hesitate to assert that "in florence between 1490 and 1500 few apparently, if any, illustrated books were published without woodcuts for which alunno di domenico[34] furnished the designs," and on the strength of this assumption bestows on him the praise, amply deserved by the florentine school as a whole, that he was "a book-illustrator, charming as few in vision and interpretation, with scarcely a rival for daintiness and refinement of arrangement, spacing and distribution of black and white." mr. berenson's theories oblige him to credit bartolommeo with having copied at least from filippo lippi, botticelli, and piero di cosimo, as well as from ghirlandajo, and push the licence accorded to "connoisseurship" to its extreme limit. as i have already acknowledged elsewhere,[35] if any one man is to be credited with the whole, or nearly the whole of the florentine book-illustrations of this decade, a minor artist used to painting predelle and cassone-fronts would be the right kind of man for the task, but on the very scanty evidence at present available i am personally more inclined to attribute such unity as can be traced in these florentine cuts to their having all come from one large wood-cutter's shop, without attempting to trace them back to a single designer. in the year 1492, when the form of the florentine woodcuts had become fairly fixed, savonarola was called to the death-bed of lorenzo the magnificent, only to refuse him absolution. his _amore di gesù_ and _trattato dell' umiltà_ were printed in june of that year by miscomini, each decorated with a single cut. during the six years ending with his execution in may, 1498, some twenty-three different tracts from his pen, illustrated with one or more woodcuts, were printed at florence, most of them in several different editions. in the _de simplicitate christianae vitae_ (1496) a friar is shown writing in his cell; in other cuts we see a friar preaching, or visiting the convent of the "murate" or recluses of florence, or talking with seven florentines under a tree, but in no case has any attempt been made at portraiture. this is true also of the _compendio di revelatione_ (1495), in which there are some charming cuts showing savonarola escorted by four holy women representing simplicity, prayer, patience, and faith, on an embassy to the blessed virgin. in the first of these they meet the devil attired as a hermit; in the second they arrive at the gate of the celestial city of which the wall is crowded with saints and angels; in the third they are ushered forth by s. peter. a tract by domenico benivieni in defence of savonarola, besides a cut of the usual size representing benivieni arguing with his opponents, has a full-page one of the river of blood flowing from christ's wounds and sinners cleansing themselves in it and marking their foreheads with the sign of the cross. one of the finest cuts in the savonarola series represents a citizen of florence in prayer before a crucifix. but almost all of them are good. besides the savonarola tracts the miscellaneous religious treatises illustrated with one or more woodcuts are very numerous. in some cases outside models were still sought. one of the most important of these books is the _meditatione sopra la passione_ attributed to s. bonaventura, of which two undated editions were issued, one with eight cuts, the other with twelve, three of the additional cuts in the second edition--the entry into jerusalem, christ before pilate, and procession to calvary (see plate xvi)--being exceptionally fine. the earlier designer probably had the venetian edition of 1489 before him, but used it quite freely. two of the three cuts in the 1494 florentine edition of the _libro delli commandamenti di dio_ of marco del monte s. maria are improved copies of those in the venetian edition of 1486. the third cut, which appears also in the same author's _tabula della salute_ (also of 1494), representing the monte della pietà, is copied on a reduced scale from a large copper engraving attributed to baccio baldini, of which an example is in the print room of the british museum. of the thirty-four cuts in cardinal capranica's _arte del benmorire_, eleven are imitated from the well-known series in the german block-books. [illustration: xvi. florence, miscomini, c. 1495 bonaventura. meditatione. the procession to calvary] for the _rappresentazioni_ or miracle-plays in honour of various saints originality was more imperative, and numerous cuts were designed, only a few of which have come down to us in editions of the fifteenth century, most being known as they survive in reprints of the second half of the sixteenth. our example (plate xvii) is from an undated edition of _la festa di san giovanni_, in which, as on many other titlepages, an angel is shown above the title-cut as the speaker of the prologue. purely secular literature in the shape of _novelle_ was no doubt plentiful, despite the influence of savonarola, but most of it has perished, thumbed to pieces by too eager readers. a volume of _novelle_ at the university library, erlangen, is illustrated with delightful cuts, and others survive here and there in different libraries. of more pretentious quartos angelo politiano's _la giostra di giuliano di medici_ (first edition undated, second 1513) is very finely illustrated, and petrarch's _trionfi_ (1499) has good versions of the usual six subjects. many of the best of the quartos and all the illustrated folios were financed by a publisher, ser piero pacini of pescia, who was succeeded early in the sixteenth century by his son bernardo. pacini in 1495 began his career with a very ambitious venture, a folio edition of the _epistole et evangelii et lectioni_ as they were read in the mass throughout the year. this has a decorative frontispiece, in the centre of which stand ss. peter and paul, while small cuts of the four evangelists are placed in the corners. the text is illustrated with 144 different woodcuts, besides numerous fancy portraits of evangelists, prophets, etc. a few of the cuts are taken from the _meditationes_ of s. bonaventura, and one or two, perhaps, from other books already published; but the enormous majority are new, and from the consistency of the portrait-types of christ, s. peter, s. john, etc., appear all to have been designed by the same man. some are less successful than others, but the average is exceptionally high, and the best cuts are full of movement and life. an _aesop_ followed in 1496, pulci's _morgante maggiore_ in 1500, and the _quatriregio_, a dull poem in imitation of dante by bishop frezzi, in 1508. it has been conjectured, however, that an earlier edition of the _quatriregio_ may have been printed in the fifteenth century with the same illustrations, and there is considerable reason to doubt whether any fresh cuts in the old style were made at florence after the temporary cessation of publishing brought about by the political troubles of 1501. on the other hand, the old cuts went on being used, sometimes in the originals, sometimes in copies, throughout the greater part of the sixteenth century, and it is only in these reprints that many of them are known to survive. at no other italian town was there any outburst of book-illustration at all comparable to those at venice and florence in the last decade of the fifteenth century. at ferrara, after a fine cut of s. george and a much ruder one of s. maurelius in a _legenda_ of the latter saint printed in 1489,[36] no illustration appeared until 1493, when the _compilatio_ of alfraganus was adorned with a picture of the astronomer instructing a diminutive hermit. after this, in 1496 we have a fine cut of the virgin and child in the _de ingenuis adolescentium moribus_, and in 1497 two important folio books, both from the press of lorenzo rossi, the _de claris mulieribus_ of jacobus philippus bergomensis (29 april) and the epistles of s. jerome (12 october). the former of these is distinctly native work, with the exception of an architectural border, decorated chiefly with _putti_ and griffins, etc., which is thoroughly venetian in style, and was used again in the s. jerome. there are two large illustrations, one showing the author presenting his book to the queen of hungary and bohemia, the other containing eight scenes from the life of the blessed virgin. fifty-six cuts in the text are made to serve as portraits of 172 different women, and under the strain of such repetition individuality perforce disappears. but at the end of the book are seven cuts of italian ladies of the fifteenth century: bona of lombardy, bianca maria of milan, catherine countess of fréjus and imola, leonora duchess of ferrara, bianca mirandula, genebria sforza, and damisella trivulzia, and these, some of them fair, some rather forbidding, appear all to be genuine portraits. the cutting is mostly rather stiff and heavy (damisella trivulzia is exceptionally tenderly treated), and much use is made of black grounds. [illustration: xvii. florence, bart. di libri, c. 1495 la festa di san giovanni. (title)] in contrast to those in the _de claris mulieribus_, the cuts in the _epistulae_ of s. jerome are distinctly venetian in style. as one of the two architectural borders is dated 1493, it is possible that the book was at first intended to be issued at venice, but was transferred to ferrara when venetian interest in small column-cuts was found to be on the wane. it possesses in all over 160 of these, those illustrating conventual life in the second part of the book being much the most interesting. at milan the _theorica musicae_ of franchino gafori, printed in 1492 by philippus mantegatius, has a title-cut of a man playing the organ, and four coarsely cut pictures, together occupying a page, showing primitive musical experiments. four years later the same author's _practica musicae_ was issued by another printer, guillaume le signerre, with a title-cut illustrating the different measures and the muses and signs of the zodiac to which they belong, and with two fine woodcut borders surrounding the opening pages of books i and iii, and ii and iv. in 1498 le signerre produced two much more profusely illustrated books, the _specchio dell' anima_ of ludovicus besalii and an _aesop_, some of the cuts of the former being used again in 1499 in the _tesoro spirituale_ of johannes petrus de ferrariis. after this he migrated to saluzzo, and in 1503 produced there a fine edition of the _de veritate contritionis_ of vivaldus, with a frontispiece of s. jerome in the desert. at modena in 1490 dominicus rocociola printed a _legenda sanctorum trium regum_, with a rather pleasing cut of their adoration of the holy child; and two years later, at the same place, the _prognosticatio_ of johann lichtenberger, printed by pierre maufer, was illustrated with three full-page quarto cuts and forty-two half-page ones, careful directions for each picture being supplied in the text, but the cuts being modelled on those in the german editions at ulm and mainz. at aquila in 1493 an _aesop_ was produced, copied from the naples edition of 1485. at pavia in 1505 the _sanctuarium_ of jacobus gualla was illustrated with seventy woodcuts and some excellent initials. at saluzzo in 1508 another work by vivaldus, printed by jacobus de circis and sixtus de somachis, was decorated with three large woodcuts of very exceptional merit: a portrait of the marquis ludovico ii (almost too striking for a book-illustration), a picture of s. thomas aquinas in his cell, and another of s. louis of france. the treatise of paulus de middelburgo on the date of easter, printed by petruzzi at fossombrone in 1513, contains some very fine borders, and the _decachordum christianum_ of marcus vigerius, printed at fano in 1507 by hieronymus soncinus, has ten cuts by florio vavassore, surrounded with good arabesque borders. to multiply isolated examples such as these would turn our text into a catalogue. here and there special care was taken over the decoration of a book, and worthy results produced. but throughout italy the best period of illustration had come to an end when the sixteenth century was only a few years old. footnotes: [31] in the masterly work of the prince d'essling on _les livres à figures vénitiens_, the discovery of this interesting fact is inadvertently ascribed to mr. guppy, the present librarian of the john rylands library. it was made by his predecessor, mr. gordon duff, a note by whom on the subject was quoted in my _italian book-illustrations_ (p. 18), published in 1894. [32] the same trick is used in the _rudimenta astronomica_ of alfraganus, printed at ferrara by andreas bellfortis in 1493. [33] also used in an undated edition of the _flores poetarum_. [34] mr. berenson prefers to call him "alunno di domenico," ghirlandajo's pupil. [35] introduction to the roxburghe club edition (presented by mr. dyson perrins) of the _epistole et evangelii_ of 1495. [36] there were two issues or editions of this book in 1489, one of which is said to have only the cut of s. maurelius. chapter ix early french and spanish illustrated books although interrupted by the death of its veteran author, claudin's magnificent _histoire de l'imprimerie en france_, in the three volumes which he lived to complete, made it for the first time possible for students to trace the early history of book-illustration at paris and lyon, the two great centres of printing in france. no illustrated books were printed at the sorbonne, nor by its german printers when they set up in the rue s. jacques, nor by their rivals there, keysere and stoll, and the french printers at the sign of the soufflet vert. in january, 1476-7, in the first french book printed at paris, the _chroniques de france_ or de _s. denis_, pasquier bonhomme so far recognized the possibility of illustration as to leave a space for a miniature on the first page of text,[37] but he used no woodcuts himself, and his son jean suffered himself to be anticipated in introducing them by jean du pré. although he worked on rather narrow lines, du pré was the finest of the early parisian printers, and possessed far better taste than the prolific publisher, antoine vérard, of whom so much more has been written. his first book, a paris missal issued in partnership with didier huym, 22 september, 1481, has a large picture of the père éternel and the crucifixion. although this is fairly well cut, it is baldly handled, and was far surpassed two months later (28 november) in a similar missal for the diocese of verdun, by a really fine metal-cut of a priest and other worshippers at prayer at an altar. from the priest's uplifted hands a little figure of a man is rising up to a vision of the père éternel, seen with his angels against the background of a sky full of stars. the little figure is the priest's soul, and the cut (often confused with pictures of the mass of s. gregory, in which the host is seen as a figure of christ) illustrates the opening words of the introit: "ad te levavi animam meam." in the same missal are a number of smaller cuts which look as if they had been prepared for a horae, and may indeed have been used for one now entirely lost. the "ad te levavi" cut reappears in many of the later missals of du pré, and subsequently of wolfgang hopyl. du pré's first secular book to be illustrated was an edition of boccaccio's _de la ruine des nobles hommes_, completed 26 february, 1483-4, and of peculiar interest to english bookmen because the woodcuts were acquired by richard pynson, and used in his edition of lydgate's _falles of princes_, an english verse-rendering of the same work. they are well designed and clearly cut, if rather hard, and till their french origin was discovered were justly praised as "some of the very best" english woodcuts of the fifteenth century. only a few weeks later jean bonhomme (12 may, 1484) issued maistre jacques millet's _l'histoire de la destruction de troye la grant_, illustrated with a number of cuts rather neater and firmer, but of much the same kind, and possibly from the same workshop. they passed almost at once into the possession of vérard, and cuts from the series illustrating battles, landings, councils, audiences, and other romantic commonplaces are found in his _végèce_ of 1488 and _les commentaires iules césar_ of about the same date (see macfarlane's _antoine vérard_, cuts vi-ix). a new edition of millet's book was printed by jean driard for vérard 8 may, 1498. two of the best of the cuts are those of the lamentation over the dead body of hector and the sacrifice of polyxena on the tomb of achilles. the only other illustrated book published by jean bonhomme was his edition of the _livre des ruraulx prouffitz du labeur des champs_, a french version of crescentius, with a frontispiece of the translator presenting his book to charles vii (15 october, 1486). meanwhile, a new publisher of illustrated books had arisen, guyot marchant, who in september, 1485, issued a _danse macabre_ which went through several editions. its grim fantastic pictures (executed with unusual skill and delicacy, see plate xviii) of death as a grinning skeleton claiming his prey from every class of society seem to have become quickly popular, and additional cuts were made for later editions, including one in latin (15 october, 1490), in which the dance is called _chorea ab eximio macabro versibus alemanicis edita_. a _danse macabre des femmes_ followed (2 may, 1491), but the figures in this are mostly less good, as are those of a third part (the debate between soul and body, and other pieces), despite the vivacity with which they represent the tortures of the damned. akin to the _danse macabre_ is the _compost et kalendrier des bergers_ (also of 1491), a medley of weather-lore, rules for health, and moral and religious instruction, liberally illustrated with cuts of shepherds, of moses, christ and the apostles, and of the tortures of the damned. this in its turn was followed, in 1496, by a similar book for the shepherdesses, of which a new edition appeared in 1499, with added pastoral cuts, some of which have unusual charm. besides guyot marchant, pierre levet began book-illustration in 1485, but most of his work was done for vérard. his earliest venture, an _exposition de la salutation angélique_, has a cut of the annunciation, the shading in which suggests that he may have imported a cutter from lyon. [illustration: xviii. paris, marchand, 1491 danse macabre (5^a). death and the archbishop. (reduced)] in 1486 jean du pré was very busy. at paris he completed in june a _vie des anciens saintz pères_, with a large cut of s. jerome writing in a stall and the holy fathers passing before him, also numerous very neat column-cuts and capital letters. meanwhile, at abbeville du pré was helping pierre gérard to produce one of the finest french books of the fifteenth century, the magnificent edition of s. augustine's _cité de dieu_. early in 1486 gérard had already printed there an edition of _la somme rurale_, but this had only a single woodcut, and it was probably mainly in connection with the illustrations that he now enlisted the help of du pré. in the first volume of the _cité de dieu_ (finished 24 november, 1486) there are eleven woodcuts, in the second (finished 12 april, 1486-7) twelve, i.e. a woodcut at the beginning of each of the twenty-two books and a frontispiece of s. augustine writing, and the translator, raoul de preules, presenting his book to the king of france. the subjects and general design of the cuts correspond with greater or less closeness to those in royal ms. 14 d. 1 at the british museum (books i-xi only), so that the same original was probably followed by both. one of the most effective pictures is that to book xiv, which shows a man seated in a tree, offered a crown by an angel and a money-chest by a devil, while death is sawing the tree asunder, and two dragons wait at its foot. another shows s. augustine writing, while five devils play with his books, and an angel protects his mitre. the cutting throughout is excellent, and the pictures, though sometimes fantastic, are very effectively drawn. there can be little doubt that they were the work of paris craftsmen. as for pierre gérard, in 1487 he printed by himself, still at abbeville, an edition of _le triomphe des neuf preux_, with rather childishly conventional cuts of the legendary heroes, but for bertrand du guesclin a portrait which at least faithfully reproduces his bullet head. we find du pré forming a similar alliance two years later with jean le bourgeois of rouen, for whom he completed at paris the second volume of a _roman des chevaliers de la table ronde_, 16 september, 1488, while le bourgeois was still struggling at rouen with vol. i, which ultimately got finished 24 november. this has some large cuts of the feast at the round table, etc. in 1489 du pré produced a _legende dorée_, a companion volume to his _vie des saintz pères_ of 1486. but by this time he was already producing horae, which will be spoken of later on, and horae and missals were his main occupations for the rest of his career, though he produced a fine edition of the allegorical romance _le chevalier délibéré_ by olivier de la marche, bonnor's _arbre des batailles_ (in which he used some of the same cuts), 1493, _les vigilles du roi charles vii_ and some other secular books. the great paris publisher antoine vérard started on his busy career in 1485, and the history of book-illustration at paris is soon immensely complicated by his doings. many of the printers at paris printed for him; illustrations originally made for other men gravitated into his possession and were used occasionally for new editions of the book for which they had been made, much more often as stock cuts in books with which they had nothing to do; while if another firm brought out a successful picture-book, vérard imitated the cuts in it with unscrupulous and unblushing closeness. the monograph of my late friend and colleague john macfarlane[38] describes some 280 books published by vérard between 1485 and 1512, and like most bibliographical work done at first hand by personal examination of the books themselves gets at the root of the matter, although the absence of information as to vérard's predecessors and contemporaries, such as has since been supplied by m. claudin, prevented the author from pressing home some of his points. thus in his estimate that sets of blocks had been "expressly cut to adorn some thirty editions," macfarlane did not make sufficient allowance for the cases in which these apparent sets were themselves not original, having been acquired by vérard from earlier owners. nevertheless, he had no difficulty in finding support for his contention that "the illustrations in vérard's books, when closely examined, hardly bear out their reputation." thus he showed that "besides being repeatedly used in book after book, it not uncommonly happens that the same cut is used again and again in the same book," and gave as an extreme instance of this the repetition no fewer than twenty times of the same cut in the _merlin_ of 1498.[39] he pointed out, moreover, that some far-fetched plea is nearly always needed to justify the presence of a cut in any but the work it was designed for. "for instance, in the _josephus_ of 1492 the spoliation of a country is represented by the burial of a woman, the death of samson by a picture of the temple, and the sacrifice of isaac helps the reader to conceive the execution of a malefactor, while a mention of the sea brings out a cut of noah's ark." however crowded a book may be with cuts, if the cuts are mostly irrelevant it cannot truly be said to be illustrated, and the number of vérard's books which a rigorous application of this principle would condemn is very large. an explanation of at least some of these incongruities may be found in vérard's early training as an illuminator, and his habit of preparing special copies on vellum for charles viii of france, henry vii of england, the comte d'angoulême, and other royal and noble patrons. a woodcut in itself quite inappropriate to the text might save an illuminator some trouble by suggesting the grouping of the figures in a picture, and a cut of saturn devouring his children was actually used in this way in one of the henry vii books in the british museum as a ground plan for an illumination of a holy family. if king henry ever held that illumination up to the light he would have had no difficulty in seeing the scythe of chronos and the limbs of a child protruding from saturn's mouth, but i have never seen a paper copy of this book, and can only wonder whether the same cut was allowed to appear in it. vérard's earliest book was the translation of boccaccio's _decamerone_ by laurent du premierfait, completed 22 november, 1485, and illustrated with a single cut of the author writing in an alcove looking out on a garden where the storytellers are seen seated. an edition of _les dits moraux des philosophes_ of guillaume de tignonville (caxton's _dicts and sayings of the philosophers_) followed in april, 1486, and the _livre des ruraulx prouffitz_, translated from crescentius, with a few small cuts, not so good as those in the edition just issued by jean bonhomme, in the following july. his first important illustrated book was the _cent nouvelles nouvelles_, of christmas eve, 1486, with two large cuts, very alike in style, of an author presenting his book to a king, and forty column-cuts, most of them used several times, occasionally with mutilations intended to erase features unsuitable to the later stories. the next important book was a _chevalier délibéré_ of 8 august, 1488, with some excellent cuts which reappear frequently in later books. passing over many inferior books, we come in 1492 to a really fine one, containing four separate treatises: (1) _art de bien mourir_, illustrated with copies of the old german block-book; (2) _traité des peines d'enfer_ (otherwise known as _l'aiguillon de crainte divine_), with grotesque but striking cuts of the tortures of the damned; (3) _advenement de antichrist_ and fifteen tokens of judgment, very poorly illustrated compared with the other parts of the book; and (4) _l'art de bien vivre_, copiously decorated with scenes from bible history, an oblong set, illustrating the adoration of the virgin and child, the lord's prayer, commandments, apostles, etc.; (5) a very fine set of cuts illustrating the sacraments. in june, 1493, vérard published in three large folio volumes, printed for him by jean morand, _les croniques de france_, with pictures of a coronation, royal entry into a town, a king sitting in judgment, etc. etc., the cutting being only of average delicacy, but good enough to do justice to the vigour of some of the designs. from this point onwards his interest seems more and more to have centred in his illuminated copies, and almost all the later vérard illustrations in m. claudin's great work are taken from these. along, however, with many old cuts in his undated _bible historiée_ there are two very fine ones specially made for the work, one of adam and eve in eden, a round cut placed, below the roots of a tree, in a square of black, from which it stands out with extraordinary vividness (see plate xix), and a picture of the trinity and the four evangelists. in an undated _terence en francois_, printed about 1500, vérard availed himself of an idea already exploited by grüninger and some of the low country illustrators, the use of blocks made up of five or six pieces used in different combinations, so as to give an effect of great variety at very small expense. many of the individual blocks, though the figures are not at all terentian, are very charming, and a few of them were freely copied for the english market, where they may be traced for over a century. about the same time as this vérard published a _livre des ordonnances de la prevosté des marchans et eschevinage de la ville de paris_, with numerous small illustrations of different crafts and a most interesting picture of the court of the prevosté with its judges and officials. after the first few years of the sixteenth century vérard seems to have relied more than ever on his stock of old cuts, and does not seem to have produced any notable new books. [illustration: xix. paris, vérard, 1505 bible en francoys (2^a). adam and eve. (reduced)] a few books printed or published by less prolific firms remain to be noticed before we speak of the horae which form so important a section among paris illustrated books as to require separate treatment. one of vérard's printers was pierre le rouge, a member of a family which worked also at chablis and at troyes. in july, 1488, and february, 1488-9, le rouge printed "pour vincent commin marchand libraire" _la mer des histoires_ in two great folios with large cuts of the kind vérard subsequently used in his _chroniques de france_, and on the titlepage a particularly fine capital l. philippe pigouchet, mainly a printer of horae, produced in 1499 for his usual publisher, simon vostre, a charmingly illustrated edition of a dull poem, _le chasteau de labeur_, attributed to the playwright of victor hugo's _notre dame de paris_, pierre gringore. wolfgang hopyl printed some fine missals, mostly after 1500; le petit laurens, besides working for vérard, printed for g. marnef _la nef des folles_, with a few cuts by one of the most skilled of paris craftsmen, and these were rivalled by jean treperel in an undated _paris et vienne_; gillet couteau and jean ménard printed a _danse macabre_ in 1492 (not so good as gui marchant's) and a new version of the _biblia pauperum_ entitled _les figures du vieil testament et du nouveau;_ jean lambert, in 1497, produced _la nef des folz du monde_, with cuts imitating those in the basel editions. it would be easy to mention other books, but not without turning our pages into a catalogue. we must turn now to the paris horae. as already noted, among the pictures in jean du pré's verdun missal of november, 1481, there are a set of cuts which seem to have been designed for a horae, though if they were even put to this use no copy of the edition in which they appeared has been recorded. the earliest illustrated horae of which copies exist are three editions published by vérard, in february 1485-6, august 1486, and july 1487, all of them small and with insignificant cuts, and all known only from single copies, of which that of the earliest edition (in private hands) is imperfect, while the woodcuts in the other two, both at the bibliothèque nationale, are heavily coloured. vérard's horae of 1486 and 1487 are said to have been printed for him by jean du pré, and in the next group of editions du pré on his own account seems to have played the chief part, with levet and caillaut as subordinate actors. it is probable that the group may have been started by a psalter printed by levet 23 september, 1486, and reprinted 19 february, 1488-9, the cuts of these appearing in an undated _horae ad usum romanum_, printed by du pré, now in the british museum. this measures about 4(5/8) × 3¼ inches, and of the same size, but with different woodcuts, are another undated horae by du pré in the bodleian, and a third, with caillaut's mark at the end, in the bibliothèque nationale. the cuts in all three are delightfully simple and naive, and those in the bodleian du pré edition show really delicate work. the group, which comprised other editions only known from fragments, seems to be continued by two dated respectively 10 may, 1488, and 4 february, 1488-9, each measuring about 5(5/8) × 3(5/8) inches, the illustrations in which are distinctly stated to have been cut on copper (_les vignettes de ces presentes heures imprimees en cuyvre_). the illustrations especially referred to are the borderpieces, which are of great importance as containing the earliest examples of a series of small horae cuts continued from page to page, in this case depicting incidents in the life of christ and their prefigurements, on the plan of the old block-book _biblia pauperum_. lastly, in 1490, we have a du pré horae, with very fine cuts and with some of the miscellaneous borderpieces of the editions just mentioned, which is of exceptional interest in the history of french book-illustration and printing, since the cuts and borders in it are printed in different colours, faint red, blue and green, two colours (laid on the same block and printed at the same time) usually appearing together. the british museum possesses one of two known copies of this horae, and the late prince d'essling bought the other. [illustration: xx. paris, vérard, 1490 grandes heures (sig. c 6 verso). massacre of the innocents] in the horae of the group we have been describing the subjects of the larger cuts became fairly well settled, in accordance with the normal contents of the prayer book. for the kalendar there is the figure of a man with an indication of the parts of his body presided over by the different planets: for the sequence of the gospels of the passion, sometimes a crucifixion, sometimes a picture of s. john; for the hours of the blessed virgin, the annunciation, visitation, nativity, shepherds, magi, circumcision, massacre of the innocents or flight into egypt, and assumption of the blessed virgin; for the hours of the cross, a crucifixion; for the hours of the holy spirit, his descent at pentecost; for the penitential psalms, david's fall (bathsheba bathing or the death of uriah) or repentance; for the office of the dead, either a funeral, dives and lazarus, or the three gallants and three skeletons (_les trois vifs et trois morts_); for the suffrages, small pictures of various saints. any edition might have one or more additional cuts with less usual subjects, but those named occur in almost all. passing on, we come now to vérard's countermove to du pré's group, horae measuring 6 inches or a little under by about 3½. editions of these were issued in april, 1488-9, and in january, february, and april of the following year. the last of these, completed 10 april, 1489-90, i wrongly described, in an article in vol. iii of _bibliographica_, as having a titlepage bearing the words _les figures de la bible_. it has such a titlepage in the copy in the british museum, but i have now woke up to the fact that it is a modern fabrication, added either by an artful bookseller or an artless owner. in these horae the borders are made up of four pieces, one of which extends along most of the outer and lower margins, and shows children wrestling with each other, or playing with hobbies or go-carts. on 10 july, 1493, these are found in a horae issued by laurens philippe. vérard could the better afford to part with them, since in august, 1490, perhaps earlier, he had substituted much larger borders, the subjects in which seem imitated from those of du pré's metal-cuts, the printed page now measuring about 8 × 5 inches, and thus winning for them the title grandes heures, by which they are generally known (see plate xx). the large cuts, of which, though not all appear in every edition, there seems to have been seventeen, illustrate the following subjects:- 1. prayer to the virgin; 2. anatomical man; 3. a chalice the circumference of which represents the measurement of christ's wound; 4. fall of angels; 5. creation of eve and fall; 6. controversy in heaven between mercy, justice, peace, and reason, and annunciation; 7. reconciliation of joseph and mary, and visitation; 8. nativity and adoration by the shepherds; 9. angels and shepherds, shepherds dancing; 10. magi; 11. circumcision; 12. massacre of innocents; 13. coronation of the virgin; 14. david's choice of punishments; 15. hearse in a chancel; 16. invention of the cross; 17. pentecost. the cutting is good and the pictures are both quaint and decorative, their larger size enabling them to avoid the overcrowding which had damaged the effect of the earlier sets. these cuts continued in use till 1498, successive editions in may, july, and october of that year, from the press of jean poitevin, showing their gradual replacement by copies of philippe pigouchet's second set. this famous printer-illustrator was certainly printing as early as 1488, though mr. proctor in his "index" makes the horae for the use of paris, finished 1 december, 1491, his earliest book. although not his earliest book, i still believe that this was pigouchet's earliest book of hours, and regret that m. claudin, while rejecting supposed editions of 1486 and 1487, should have accepted as authentic one of 16 september, 1488, said to have very rude and archaic cuts, while owning that he could not trace a copy. until the book can be produced i shall continue to believe that this edition of 16 september, 1488, is a ghost begotten of a double crime, a bookseller's manipulation of the date of one of pigouchet's best-known editions, that of "le xvi iour de septembre lan mil cccc.iiii.xx et xviii," by omitting the x in xviii, and a bibliographer's endeavour to make this imaginary edition of 16 september, 1488, more credible by assuming--and asserting--that its cuts were rude and archaic because over three years earlier than any authenticated horae from pigouchet's press. his edition of 1 december, 1491, was printed partly for sale by himself, partly for de marnef, who subsequently owned the blocks. besides the usual illustrations for the hours, it has pictures of s. john writing and of the betrayal for the gospels of the passion, of david's choice of punishments for the penitential psalms, and of les trois vifs et trois morts, and dives and lazarus for the office for the dead; also a small cut, with a criblé background of the vision of s. gregory, and numerous small cuts of saints. the sidepieces, which are marked with letters to indicate their sequence, illustrate the creation, the prophecies of the sibyls, and the subjects of the _biblia pauperum._ during the years 1491 and 1495 at least eight or ten horae for various uses were printed by pigouchet, mostly for simon vostre. of most of these a good many copies have survived printed on vellum and often illuminated for wealthy purchasers. the paper copies, which presumably formed the bulk of each edition, are now far rarer, and to students of book-illustration much preferable to the coloured vellum copies. good vellum copies with the pictures and borders uncoloured, but with their pages brightened by illuminated capitals and coloured paragraph marks, are the pleasantest to possess. at the end of 1495 or early in 1496 pigouchet began replacing the woodcuts of this series of editions with a new set much more graceful and less stiff, a few changes being made in the subjects. at the same time he substituted new borderpieces for the old, among the new blocks being a fine series of the dance of death, which were brought into use as they were completed, so that we can trace the increase of them from month to month, so frequent now were the editions. in 1497 and 1498 further additions were made to the large pictures by the addition of new metal cuts with criblé backgrounds for the anatomical man, chalice, stem of jesse, adoration by the shepherds, descent from the cross, death of uriah, and the church militant and triumphant. by the end of 1499 new criblé borderpieces had been added, illustrating the life of joseph, history of the prodigal son, history of susanna, fifteen tokens of judgment, christ seated in judgment, the cardinal virtues, and woodland and hunting scenes. from august, 1498, to the end of 1502 pigouchet's editions were at their finest. meanwhile the cuts of his second set were slavishly copied in editions printed for vérard. from 1497, moreover, he had to face serious competition from thielman kerver, who issued closely similar editions with pictures and borders by cutters little, if at all, inferior either in technical skill or charm. on 5 april, 1503, jean pychore and remy de laistre completed an edition, in which pigouchet probably had a hand, with three very large cuts of the annunciation, nativity, and adoration by the magi, and eight smaller ones surrounded by architectural framework, representing s. john before the latin gate, the crucifixion, the emperor octavian and the sibyl, the massacre of the innocents, descent of the holy spirit, death of the virgin, and raising of lazarus, some of them showing strong traces of the influence of dürer. from this point onwards the renaissance spirit became increasingly powerful in these prayer books, and while in almost all their advances to meet it the work of pigouchet himself, and of thielman kerver, continues interesting (though the mixture of old and new styles in their editions is often confusing), in the numerous editions poured forth by germain and gillet hardouyn, many of them printed for them by guillaume anabat, and again in those printed by nicolas higman for guillaume eustace, the cuts are very inferior, so that they look best when most heavily illuminated. in a few editions published by the hardouyns spaces appear to have been left for the illuminator to work unaided. in most of these late editions only the pages with cuts have borders, and these of the nature of picture frames, as contrasted with the old historiated borders. in 1525 geoffroi tory, a native of bourges (born about 1480), who at this period of his life was at once a skilled designer, a scholar, and a printer, completed a horae which, though somewhat thin and unsatisfying compared with the richer and more pictorial work of pigouchet at his best, far surpassed any edition produced at paris for the previous twenty years. part of the edition was taken up by the great publisher of the day, simon colines, and while the body of the book was only printed once, differences in the titlepages and colophons and in the arrangement of the almanac and privilege constitute altogether three different issues. whereas the best earlier editions had been printed in gothic letter this is in roman, and both the borders and the twelve illustrations aim at the lightness and grace necessary to match the lighter type. the vase-like designs of the borders are meaningless, but the pictures, despite the long faces and somewhat angular figures, have a peculiar charm. they were used again, with some additions, in a horae completed 20 october, 1531. an edition of 1 october, 1527, described by tory's chief biographer, auguste bernard, as printed, "chez simon de colines en caractères romains avec des vignettes de même genre, mais beaucoup plus petites," i have never seen. three weeks later tory printed in gothic letter a paris horae with borders of birds and fruits and flowers rather in the style of some of the flemish manuscripts. in february, 1529, he produced a much smaller horae in roman type without borders, but with some very delicate little cuts, used again by olivier mallard, who married his widow, in 1542. tory appears to have died in 1533, and attributions of later work to him on the ground of its being marked with a "cross of lorraine" (i.e. a cross with two transverse strokes) should be received with caution, unless the cuts are found in books by tory's widow or her second husband. it is not quite clear that the cross is not the mark of a wood-cutter rather than a designer, and if it really marks the designer we must believe that it was used by others beside tory, so various is the work on which it is found. illustrated books were published at lyon somewhat earlier than at paris, and in point of numbers, if the comparison be confined to secular books with sets of cuts especially appropriated to them, the provincial city probably equalled, if it did not surpass, the metropolis. but if it must be reckoned to the credit of lyon that it had no antoine vérard, reckless in his use of unsuitable stock cuts, it must be noted, on the other hand, that strikingly good illustrations are rare and bad ones numerous. inasmuch as lyon, before it welcomed the art of printing, had established some reputation for the manufacture of playing-cards, the number of rude and badly cut illustrations is indeed surprisingly large. the first lyonnese printer to use pictorial woodcuts in a dated book was martin huss, who issued a _miroir de la rédemption_, 27 august, 1478, with the aid of blocks previously used (1476) by bernard richel at basel; cuts of surgical instruments appeared in the following march, 1478-9, in the _chirurgia_ of guido de cauliaco printed for barth. buyer by nicolaus philippi and marcus reinhart, and the same printers' undated _legende dorée_ with very rude pictures is probably contemporaneous with this. the earliest woodcut of any artistic interest and of lyonnese origin is a picture, occupying a folio-page, of the blessed virgin, with the holy child in her arms, standing in front of a curtain. this is found in the _histoire du chevalier oben qui vouloist acuplir le voiage de s. patrix_, printed by leroy about 1480, of which the only known copy is at the british museum. after 1480 all the firms we have named continued to issue illustrated books of varying merit. on 30 september, 1483, leroy completed a _livre des eneydes_ with cuts which are often grotesque, though sometimes neat and sometimes giving evidence of a vigour of design too great for the wood-cutter's skill. in 1485 he found a lyonnese cutter able to copy for him the paris cuts of jean bonhomme's edition of the _destruction de troye la grant_ quite competently, though in a much heavier style. in may, 1486, he printed a _livre des sainctz anges_ with a figure of christ in a mandorla (perhaps suggested by the engraving of the same subject in bettini's _monte santo di dio_), and this, despite a certain clumsiness in the face, is quite good. in the same year, in an edition of _fierabras_, leroy went back to cuts of incredible rudeness, while about 1490 in _les mysteres de la saincte messe_, we find him employing for a cut of the annunciation a skilled craftsman, signing himself i. d. (jean dalles?), whose work, though lacking in charm, is neatness itself. some shaded cuts in his romance of bertrand du guesclin (undated, but _c._ 1487) are among the best work in any book by leroy. among his other undated illustrated books are editions of _pierre de provence_, _melusine_, and the _roman de la rose_. nicolaus philippi and marcus reinhart in 1482 illustrated a _mirouer de la vie humaine_ (from the latin of rodericus zamorensis) with augsburg cuts purchased from the stock of günther zainer[40], and copied a paris edition in their _vie des saintz pères hermites_ and german originals in their _mandeville_ and _aesop_. their edition of the _postilla guillermi_ (_c._ 1482) has rather a fine crucifixion and some primitive but vigorous illustrations of the gospels. martin huss issued an undated _exposition de la bible_ with rude cuts and a french _belial_ (version of pierre ferget), first printed in november, 1481, and at least five times subsequently. after his death in 1482 his business was carried on by a kinsman, mathieu huss, who became a prolific publisher of illustrated books, with cuts of very varying merit. two of his earliest ventures were the _proprietaire des choses_ (2 november, 1482), a french version of the _de proprietatibus rerum_ of bartholomaeus anglicus, and a _fasciculus temporum_ (1483), both with very rude cuts. during a partnership with johann schabeler he issued (about 1484) a french version of boccaccio's _de casibus illustrium virorum_, the pictures in which are hard, stiff, and a little grotesque, but not without character. of his later books several are illustrated with cuts borrowed or copied from other editions; but beyond a _legende dorée_ with shaded column-cuts, frequently reprinted, he does not seem to have commissioned any important illustrated book. while the pictorial work of the lyonnese presses was thus largely imitative, at least two very important books were first illustrated there. the earlier of these was the _roman de la rose_, of which the first printed edition, decorated with eighty-six cuts mostly small and rudely executed, but which at least have the merit of intelligently following the text, is now attributed to the press of ortuin and schenck at lyon about 1481.[41] these primitive pictures were quickly copied by a cutter of somewhat greater skill but much less intelligence, who "improved" the original designs without troubling to understand them. this new set of cuts was used twice at lyon, by jean syber (about 1485) and by leroy (about 1487), and was then acquired (less one of the two larger cuts) by jean du pré of paris, who issued an edition about 1494. about 1497, and again a few years later, new editions were issued in which most of the same cuts reappear, jean petit having a share in both editions and vérard in the first, despite the fact that he had issued a rival edition about 1495.[42] [illustration: xxi. lyon, trechsel, 1493 terence (sig. a 7 verso)] the other famous lyonnese illustrated book was an annotated edition of _terence_ "with pictures prefixed to every scene" printed in 1493 by johann trechsel. this has a curious full-page picture at the beginning, giving the artist's idea of a roman theatre, with a box for the aediles at the side and a ground floor labelled "fornices." the text is illustrated by 150 half-page cuts, a little hard, but with abundance of life (see plate xxi). these certainly influenced the strassburg edition of grüninger (1496), and through grüninger's that published at paris by vérard about 1500, and to an even greater extent the illustrated editions issued at venice. how eagerly lyonnese publishers looked out for books to imitate may be seen from the rival lyonnese renderings of breidenbach's _peregrinationes_ and brant's _narrenschiff_. of the breidenbach, michel topie and jac. de herrnberg issued in november, 1480, an adaptation by nicolas le huen with copies on copperplate of the maps and on wood of the smaller pictures, both very well executed. rather over a year later, in february, 1490, a translation by "frere iehan de hersin" was published by jacques maillet with the original mainz blocks. as for the ship of fools, jacques sacon, the leading publisher at the end of the century, issued an edition of locher's latin version with close copies of the basel cuts in june, 1498, and in the following august a french edition was published by guillaume balsarin with cuts so hastily executed that in many cases all the background has been omitted. a few illustrated incunabula were issued at chambéry, and isolated books elsewhere, but with the exception of lyon and abbeville no french provincial town produced any notable work. in spain the fine gothic types and frequent use of woodcut capitals give a very decorative appearance to most of the incunabula, but pictorial illustrations are rare, and of the few sets of cuts known to us several are borrowed or copied from french or german editions. the earliest spanish illustrated book known to me is a _fasciculus temporum_, printed by bart. segura and alfonsus de portu at seville in 1480, with a dozen metal-cuts of the usual stock subjects; the earliest with original illustrations, the marquis of villena's _trabajos de hercules_, printed by antonio de centenera at zamora, 15 january, 1483, with eleven extraordinarily rude cuts of the hero's adventures. in 1484 and 1485 an unidentified printer at huete produced editions of the _copilacion de leyes_ of diaz de montalvo, with some striking metal-cut pictorial capitals, illustrating the subjects of the successive books. in one copy of the 1484 edition i have seen a very fine full-page cut, but could not satisfy myself as to whether this belonged to the book, or was an insertion. an edition of martorell's romance, entitled _tirant lo blanch_, printed at valentia in 1490 by nic. spindeler, has a decorative metal-cut border to the first page of text, and during the following decade illustrated books become fairly numerous. at saragossa paul hurus issued in 1491 a spanish version of the _speculum humanae vitae_ of rodericus zamorensis, with cuts copied from the augsburg edition, another in 1494 of boccaccio's _de claris mulieribus_, with seventy-two cuts, copied from the editions printed by johann zainer at ulm, and four from some other source, another in 1498 of breidenbach's _peregrinatio_, and other books, not known to me personally, but which from their titles almost certainly contain copies of foreign cuts. in 1500, when his press had been taken over by three partners, coci, hutz, and appentegger, there issued from it an _officia quotidiana_, ornamented with some fifty pictures and many hundreds of fine capitals. [illustration: xxii. seville, stanislaus polonus, 1500 ricoldus. improbatio alcorani. (title)] at barcelona several illustrated books were printed by juan rosenbach, one of the earliest of them, the _carcel d'amor_ of diego de san pedro (1493), having sixteen original cuts, characteristically spanish in tone and showing good craftsmanship. in or about the same year friedrich biel of basel (usually quoted as fadrique de basilea, or fadrique aleman) headed an edition of the _passion de christo_ with a striking metal-cut of christ standing upright in the tomb, watched by the b. virgin and s. john. for his spanish _aesop_ of 1496 he presumably copied the german cuts, and he certainly did so for his _exemplario contra engaños_ of 1498, the 116 cuts of which are all careless copies of those in prüss's edition of the _directorium humanae vitae._ even when in (or about) the next year he was issuing the first edition of the _celestina_ or _tragicomedia de calisto y melibea_, he could not do so without german models, and based his sixteen little pictures on some of those in grüninger's _terence_, while for his _stultiferae naues_ of badius ascensius he went, of course, to the charming french cuts of de marnef. as a rule, these spanish versions of foreign cuts have the interest which always attaches to a free rehandling by a craftsman with a characteristic touch and style of his own. none the less it is refreshing to turn to more original work, and at least a little of this (though some one with wider knowledge than myself may further minimize the statement) is to be found at seville. here in 1494 ungut and stanislaus polonus issued a _regimiento de los principes_, translated from the latin of aegidius columna, with a fine title-cut of a young prince (his hair is long) seated in a chair of state, holding a sword and royal orb. the same partners were responsible for another striking titlepage in 1495, that of the _lilio de medicina_, bernardus de gordonio, where two angels are seen upholding seven lilies in a pot; they also issued in the same year the _contemplaciones sobre el rosario de nuestra señora_, a fine and typically spanish book, printed in red and black, with good capitals, two large cuts and fifteen smaller ones, enclosed in borders of white tracery on a black ground. in the last year of the century they issued an _improbatio alcorani_ with a swart picture of a disputation on the titlepage, not easily forgotten (see plate xxii). it was at seville also that in 1498 pedro brun printed in quarto the romance of the emperor vespasian, illustrated with fourteen excellent cuts, some of them full of life and movement; but for these a foreign model is quite likely some day to be discovered. on the other hand, at valentia also there was at least a little work indisputably of native origin, as in the case of the title-cut to the _de regimine domus_ of s. bernard, printed by nic. spindeler about 1498, and (less certainly) another to the _obra allaors de s. christofol_, issued by peter trincher in the same year. pictorial title-cuts are not so common in spanish books as in those of other countries, because of the spanish fondness for filling the titlepage with an elaborate coat of arms. but nearly all their early bookwork is strong and effective, and the printer who placed a cut on a titlepage nearly always secured a good one. is it too much to hope that dr. conrad haebler, who has already done such admirable work in recording spanish incunabula and printing facsimiles of their types, will some day complete his task by publishing a similar volume of facsimiles of spanish cuts? footnotes: [37] similar spaces were left in the typographically anonymous french version of valerius maximus, printed about the same date. [38] _antoine vérard._ by john macfarlane. illustrated monographs published by the bibliographical society. no. vii. printed at the chiswick press, september, 1900. [39] so in the _lucain suetonne et saluste_ of 1490, five cuts of battle-scenes, all borrowed from the _mer des histoires_, printed by lerouge in 1488, are made to do duty sixty-four times. [40] in 1491 these are found at saragossa in an edition printed by hurus. [41] it has also been attributed to jean croquet at geneva, but there is only a typographical argument for this ascription, whereas on the side of lyon, in addition to (rather weaker) typographical arguments, we have to reckon with lyonnese paper, the similarity of the illustrations to those of a cutter employed by martin huss, and the fact that the book was copied in two editions undoubtedly lyonnese. see f. w. bourdillon's _the early editions of the roman de la rose_ (1906). [42] only a few of the cuts in this were specially designed for it, all the later ones being taken from stock in vérard's most haphazard fashion. chapter x later foreign books one of the chief charms of the books of the fifteenth century is that they are so unlike those of our own day. in the first year of its successor a great step was taken towards their modernization by the production of the first of the aldine octavos, and the process went on very rapidly. in the early days of printing all the standard works of the previous three centuries that could by any possibility be considered alive were put on the press. by 1500 men were thinking of new things. new editions of many of the old religious and didactic treatises, the old poems and romances, continued to be printed, though mostly in a form which suggests that they were now intended for a lower class of readers, but the new publishers would have little to do with them. scholarship, which till now had been almost confined to italy, spread rapidly to all the chief countries of europe, and amid the devastation which constant war soon brought upon italy, was lucky in being able to find new homes. with the new literary ideals came new forms for books, and new methods of housing them. before 1500 several publishers had found it worth their while to print editions in five huge volumes of the _speculum_ of vincent de beauvais, each volume measuring eighteen inches by thirteen and weighing perhaps a dozen pounds, though paper in those days was not yet made of clay. these great volumes had been cased in thick wooden boards, covered with stout leather and protected with bosses or centre-pieces and corner-pieces of metal. they were not intended to stand on shelves like modern books, but were laid on their sides, singly, on shelves and desks, and from pictures which have come down to us we can see that the library furniture of the day included a variety of reading-stands with the most wonderful of screws. the men for whom aldus catered wanted books which they could put in their pockets and their saddlebags, and it was not long before the publishers of paris and lyon outdid aldus in the smallness and neatness of their editions. of course large books continued to be issued. the _complutensian polyglott_ will not easily be got either into a pocket or a saddlebag, but it is a good deal smaller than the _speculum_ of vincent de beauvais, and, speaking generally, small folios took the place of large folios, and octavos the place of quartos, and in a little time the octavos themselves were threatened by the still smaller sextodecimos. there is, indeed, no stop till in the seventeenth century we come to the tiny elzevirs, which remained the last word in book-production until the diamond editions of didot and pickering. aldus manutius, who led the revolution, has often been wrongly praised. he can hardly be called a great printer. he burdened greek scholarship for three centuries with a thoroughly bad style in greek types, and the cursive substitute which he provided for the fine roman founts for which italy had been famous almost drove them from the field. both the greek type and the italics were the outcome of confused thinking. they were based upon styles of handwriting which aldus and his scholarly friends doubtless found more expeditious than the formal book-hands which had previously been in use. quickness in writing is an excellent thing. but a sloping type takes just as long to set up as an upright one, and absolutely nothing is gained by the substitution of an imitation of a quicker hand for the imitation of a slower one. aldus had begun publishing at venice early in 1495[43] with an edition of the greek grammar of lascaris, an earlier edition of which, issued at milan in 1476, had been the first book wholly in greek to obtain the honour of print. the idylls of theocritus and the poem of hesiod called _works and days_ had been printed at the same place in 1479 and a greek psalter in 1487. at florence the famous first edition of homer was printed (by bartolommeo libri) in 1488, and was followed in the years 1494-6 (i.e. about the time that aldus began work) by five books printed entirely in majuscules on the model of the letters used in inscriptions. among these books were the greek anthology, four plays of euripides, and an apollonius rhodius. the printing of the greek classics had thus made a start, although a slow one. aldus now greatly quickened the pace, producing his great aristotle in four (or, as it is sometimes reckoned, five) volumes, between the years 1495 and 1498, and following it up with nine comedies of aristophanes in 1498, thucydides, sophocles, and herodotus in 1502, xenophon's _hellenics_, and the plays of euripides in 1503 and demosthenes in 1504. the service which he thus rendered to greek scholarship was incalculable, but it was accompanied by a very serious drawback, the evil effects of which lasted for nearly three centuries. the greek quotations in many books printed in italy before this time had been printed in types imitating the writing in fairly old greek manuscripts, handsome in appearance and fairly free from contractions; aldus is said to have taken as his model the handwriting of his friend marcus musurus, with all its crabbed and often fantastic ligatures, and the simplicity of the greek alphabet was thus intolerably complicated. as we have seen, the introduction of the aldine italics, though in themselves a better fount than the greek type, was almost as mischievous in its effects. on the other hand, the service which aldus rendered to scholarship by his cheap and handy series of the latin and italian classics was very great. the first book which he printed in his new type was a virgil, and this was quickly followed by works by petrarch and dante and a whole series of similar editions. aldus had powerful supporters in these ventures, among them being jean grolier, the famous bibliophile, who for many years was resident in italy as treasurer of the duchy of milan. despite this encouragement he did not find printing very profitable, partly, no doubt, on account of the wars in which venice was at this time engaged. on the death of aldus in 1515 his business was for some time carried on by his father-in-law, andrea de torresani, an excellent printer, but with little of aldus's scholarship. in 1533, at the age of twenty-one, paulus manutius, the youngest son of aldus, took over the management of the firm, and proved himself an even finer scholar than his father. financially he was no more successful, and when he was made printer to the pope the anxiety of carrying on business at rome as well as at venice only added to his difficulties. on his death in 1574 his son, aldus manutius the younger, succeeded him and worked till 1597, but without adding anything to the reputation of the firm, perhaps because he had been pushed on prematurely in his boyhood, as is witnessed by his compilation of a volume of elegant extracts at the age of nine. the family of printers and publishers which came nearest to rivalling the fame of the aldi in italy during the sixteenth century was that of the giunta. springing originally from florence, members of it worked for some time simultaneously at florence and venice, and lucantonio giunta, the earliest member of it to rise into note, was already one of the foremost publishers at venice in the closing years of the fifteenth century, and subsequently printed for himself instead of always employing other men to print for him. the speciality of this venetian firm was at first illustrated books of all kinds, afterwards the production of large and magnificent missals and other service books of the roman church, and these they continued to publish until nearly the end of the sixteenth century. at florence, filippo giunta competed with aldus of venice in printing pretty little editions of the classics, his competition sometimes taking the form of unscrupulous imitation. at rome, eucharius silber and his successor marcellus were the chief printers from 1500 to 1516. a little later the bladi took their place, and under the auspices of the council of the propaganda of the faith a press was set up for printing in syriac, armenian, and other oriental languages. the output also of the presses in other italian cities was still considerable. nevertheless, from the same causes which produced her political decay italy rapidly ceased to be the head-quarters of european printing, yielding this honour to france about the end of the first quarter of the century, and by some thirty or forty years later becoming quite uninfluential. to the german printing trade, also, the sixteenth century brought a notable decline of reputation. in its first two decades johann schoeffer (son of peter) produced some fine books at mainz; at strassburg grüninger poured forth illustrated books, and johann knoblouch and matthias schürer were both prolific. the importance of cologne diminished, though the sons of heinrich quentell had a good business. augsburg, on the other hand, came to the front, the elder and younger schoensperger, johann and silvanus otmar, erhard oglin, johann miller, and the firm of sigismund grim and marcus wirsung all doing important work. at nuremberg the chief printing houses were those of hieronymus hölzel, johann weissenburger, and friedrich peypus. leipzig and hagenau both greatly increased their output, and with the advent of luther, wittenberg soon became an important publishing centre. luther's activity alone would have sufficed to make the fortunes of any publisher had it not been for the fact that as each pamphlet from his pen was produced at wittenberg by hans lufft, or some other authorized printer, it was promptly pirated in other cities, often with the retention of the original imprint. many of these luther tracts had ornamental borders, and, as will be narrated in another chapter, the german book-illustrations of this period were often very finely designed, but the paper used, even in important books, was poor compared to that found in german incunabula, and the presswork too often careless. these defects are found intensified in almost all the german books published after this date, and german printing soon lost all its technical excellence, though the output of its presses continued to be large, and the great annual fair at frankfort during the course of the sixteenth century became the most important event in the book-trade of northern europe. a little before germany gave herself up to theological strife, the conjunction at basel of the great printer johann froben and the great scholar erasmus temporarily raised that city to importance as an intellectual centre. froben had begun printing at basel in 1491, but until he formed his friendship with erasmus in 1513 published only a few editions of the bible, some of the papal decretals, the works of s. ambrose, and a few other books of no special interest. from 1513 onwards his output increased rapidly both in quantity and importance, so that by the time of his death in 1527 he had printed over three hundred books, including almost all the works of erasmus and many books in greek. during this period, also, border-pieces and initials were designed for him by the two holbeins (hans and ambrosius) and other skilful artists, and he was entitled to rank as the greatest printer-publisher in europe in succession to aldus. after his death in 1527 the supremacy of european printing rested for the next generation indisputably with france. during the fifteenth century printing in france had developed almost entirely on its own lines. vernacular books of every description had poured from the presses of paris and lyon, and many of them had been charmingly illustrated in a style worthy of the great french school of illustrators of manuscripts. in the first half of the sixteenth century the publication of these popular books--romances, poetry, and works of devotion--still continued, though with some loss of quality, the print and paper being less good and the illustrations often consisting of a medley of old blocks, or where new ones were made being executed in a coarser and heavier style. but to the vernacular literature there was now added a learned and scholarly literature which soon rose to great importance. as early as 1492 johann trechsel, a printer of lyon, had possessed himself of sufficient greek type to print quotations in that language, and in the following year he issued the profusely illustrated edition of _terence_, the cuts in which were imitated by grüninger at strassburg. trechsel's press corrector and general editor was a young scholar named josse bade, of asch, near ghent, better known by the latin form of his name as jodocus badius ascensius, or ascensianus. in 1503, after trechsel's death, ascensius started business for himself in paris, and his editions of the classics, well known from the device of a printing-press found on many of their titlepages, obtained a considerable reputation. almost simultaneously, in 1502, henri estienne, the first of a famous family of scholar-printers, had started in business by an expedient of which we hear a great deal in the annals of english printing, that of marrying a printer's widow. of henri estienne's three sons the eldest, françois, became a bookseller, robert a scholar-printer, and charles, in the first instance, a physician. in the technical side of his business henri had been helped by simon de colines, who, on his employer's death, in 1520, became his widow's third husband, and carried on the business until 1526, when he handed it over to robert estienne, and started on his own account in another house in the same street. thus, just as the co-operation of erasmus with froben, which began shortly before the death of aldus, brought the basel press into prominence, so this duplication, just before the death of froben, of the business of henri estienne with the two firms of robert estienne and simon de colines materially aided the rivalry of paris. greek printing, which by this time had become essential to a printer's reputation for scholarship, had at last begun there with the publication of a greek grammar in 1507, and had increased somewhat, though not very rapidly. in 1539 françois i appointed robert estienne royal printer for latin and hebrew, and conrad neobar, a german from the diocese of cologne, his printer for greek. it was soon after this that plans were formed for the printing of greek texts from manuscripts in the royal library, and the preparation for this purpose of a special fount of greek type. neobar died from overwork the following year, and the office of royal printer in greek was added to robert estienne's other honours, and with it the supervision of the new greek type. for this angelus vergetius, a celebrated greek calligrapher, had probably already made the drawings, and the cutting of the punches was entrusted to claude garamond. by 1544 a fount of great primer had been completed and a book printed in it, the _praeparatio euangelica_ of eusebius. a smaller type, of the size known as pica, was next put in hand, and a pocket greek testament in sextodecimo printed with it in 1546. lastly, a third fount, larger than either of the others, was produced and used for the text of a folio greek testament in 1550, the other two founts appearing in the prefatory matter and notes. these royal greek types became very famous and served as a model to all designers of greek characters for nearly two centuries. technically, indeed, they are as good as they could be, showing a great advance in clearness and dignity upon those of aldus, from which nevertheless they inherited the fatal defect of being based on the handwriting of contemporary greek scholars, instead of on the book-hand of a nobler period of greek writing. while the name of robert estienne is thus connected with these royal greek types he was himself distinctly a latinist, and his own personal contribution to scholarship was a latin dictionary (_thesaurus linguae latinae_) published in 1532, which remained a standard work for two centuries. he published, too, as did also simon de colines, many very pretty little editions of latin classics in sextodecimo, some in italics, others in roman type, thus carrying a step further the triumphant march of the small book, which aldus had only taken as far as octavos. simon de colines, while sharing in work of this kind, did not neglect other classes of literature, and, as has already been noted, joined with geoffroi tory, another scholar-printer, who was also a scholar-artist, in producing some remarkable editions of the hours of the blessed virgin. this scholar-artist, geoffroi tory, was a native of bourges, who had been a professor at several of the paris colleges and was at one time proof-reader to henri estienne. his career as a printer began in 1522 and ended with his death in 1533, after which his business was carried on by olivier mallard, who married his widow. tory printed a few scholarly books and wrote and published a curious work, to which he gave the name _champfleury_, on the right forms and proportions of the letters of the alphabet. it is, however, by his books of hours that he is now chiefly remembered. while all this good work was going on in paris the printers at lyon were no less busy. at the beginning of the century aldus had been justly annoyed at the clever counterfeits of his italic octavos which were put on the market at lyon. but in sebastian gryphius (a german, born in 1491 at reutlingen) lyon became possessed of a printer who had no need to imitate even aldus. after printing one or two works in the four preceding years his press got into full swing in 1528 and, by the time of his death in 1556 he had issued very nearly a thousand different editions, mostly in latin, and many of them in the dainty format in sextodecimo which estienne and de colines were using in paris. in 1534 the luckless etienne dolet, soon to be burnt as a heretic, arrived at lyon, and with some friendly help from gryphius printed between 1538 and 1544 some seventy editions. in 1546 jean de tournes, who had been a journeyman in the office of gryphius, started business for himself, and soon proved a worthy rival to his master. meanwhile excellent popular work was being done by other printers, such as françois juste, claude nourry, macé bonhomme, and guillaume roville. from the old lyonnese firm of trechsel proceeded in 1538 two books illustrated by holbein (the _dance of death_ and _historiarum veteris testamenti icones_, see p. 192), and numerous other lyonnese books were charmingly illustrated and also, it may be added, charmingly bound, a very pretty style of trade bindings being just then in vogue. against the pretty bindings and vignettes and the popular books to which they were applied little or no opposition was raised, and they continued to be issued till the taste for them died out about 1580. but against all the scholarly work of the french presses the leaders of the church took up an attitude of unrelenting hostility. foremost in this opposition, regretful that their predecessors had introduced printing into france, were the theologians of the sorbonne, who forbade the study of hebrew as dangerous and likely to lead to heresy, and looked with eyes almost as unfriendly on that of greek. in 1546 (just after the iniquitous campaign against the vaudois) etienne dolet was hanged on a charge of atheism, and his body cut down and burnt amid a pile of his books. in 1550, despite his position as a royal printer, robert estienne, who had just completed his fine folio edition of the greek testament, was obliged to seek safety by flying to geneva, and a generation later jean de tournes the younger, of lyon, was obliged to follow his example. the kings of france and their advisers at this period were determined to be rid of both huguenots and freethinkers at all costs, and french scholarship and french printing were both the recipients of blows from which it took them some generations to recover. when robert estienne fled to geneva, his brother, the physician, charles, was allowed to succeed to his office at paris, and he in turn was followed by a younger robert, who died in 1571. meanwhile robert i had taken with him a set of matrices of the royal greek types, and with these and other founts printed at geneva until his death in 1559. his son, henri estienne ii, then took over the business, but was of too restless and roving a disposition to conduct it with success. as a scholar he was even greater than his father, excelling in greek as robert had in latin, and producing in 1572 a greek dictionary (_thesaurus graecae linguae_) which became as famous as the latin one which robert had published forty years earlier. henri estienne the younger died in 1598, but the estienne tradition was kept up by his son paul (1566-1627) and grandson antoine (1592-1674), the latter bringing back into the family the office of royal printer at paris, and printing an edition of the septuagint. under the discouraging conditions of the middle of the sixteenth century french printers gradually ceased to be scholars and enthusiasts, but christopher plantin, a frenchman, born in the neighbourhood of tours in 1514, built up by his energy and industry a great business at antwerp, the memory of which is preserved in the famous plantin museum. he had started at antwerp in 1549 as a binder, but about six years later turned his attention to printing, in consequence (it is said) of an accident which disabled him for binding-work. the most famous of his books is the great antwerp polyglott edition of the bible in eight volumes, published between the years 1569 and 1573. over this he came so near to ruining himself that the spanish government granted him special privileges for the production of service-books by way of compensation. the sack of antwerp by the spaniards in 1576 was another heavy financial blow, and for a time plantin removed to leyden, and also for a time kept a branch business at paris. but he ultimately returned to antwerp, and his premises remained in the possession of the descendants of one of his sons-in-law, joannes moretus, until they were purchased in 1877 for £48,000 as the musée plantin. after plantin's death the branch business which he had left at leyden was carried on by another of his sons-in-law, franciscus raphelengius, who printed some pretty little editions of the classics and other good books. plantin's own work as a printer was costly and pretentious rather than beautiful, and the bad style of his ornaments and initials exercised a powerful influence for evil on the printers of the ensuing century. the mention of plantin's antwerp polyglott may remind us that the first polyglott edition of the bible had been printed between 1514 and 1518 at alcalà, in spain, under the auspices of cardinal ximenes. the latin name of alcalà being complutum, this edition is generally quoted as the complutensian polyglott. among the notable features in it is the use of a singularly fine greek type in the new testament. absolutely different from the aldine and all the other greek types imitating the rapid handwriting of the greek scholars of the sixteenth century, this was based on the book-hand used in some early manuscript, possibly the one which the pope had lent from the vatican to aid cardinal ximenes in forming his text. it was on this greek type that mr. robert proctor, shortly before his death, based his own fount of greek, supplying the majuscules which (with a single exception) are wanting in the original and making other improvements, but keeping closely to his model and thus producing by far the finest greek type ever cast. this has been used to print notable editions of the _oresteia_ and _odyssey_, the former at the chiswick, the latter at the clarendon press. save for the complutensian polyglott there is nothing striking to record of the spanish printing of the sixteenth century, which retained its massive and archaic character for some decades, and then became as dull and undistinguished as the printing of all the rest of europe tended to be towards the end of the century. the enthusiasm with which the new art had at first been received had died out. printers were no longer lodged in palaces, monasteries, and colleges; church and state, which had at first fostered and protected them, were now jealous and suspicious, even actively hostile. thriving members of other occupations and professions had at one time taken to the craft. a little later great scholars had been willing to give their help and advice, and at least a few printers had themselves been men of learning. all this had passed or was passing. printing had sunk to the level of a mere craft, and a craft in which the hours appear to have been cruelly long and work uncertain and badly paid. in the eighteenth century the dutch journeymen were certainly better paid than our own, and it may be that it was through better pay that they did better work in the seventeenth century also. it seems certain, moreover, that the improvements in the construction of printing presses which were introduced in that century originated in holland. the primacy of the dutch is proved by the large amount of dutch type imported into england, and indeed the dutch books of the seventeenth century are neater and in better taste than those of other countries. it was in holland also that there worked the only firm of printers of this period who made themselves any abiding reputation. the founder of this firm, louis elzevir, was a bookseller and bookbinder at leyden, where, in 1583, he began printing on his own account, and issued between that year and his death in 1617 over a hundred different books of no very special note. no fewer than five of his seven sons carried on his business, and the different combinations of these and of their successors in different towns are not a little bewildering. bonaventura elzevir with his nephew abraham issued pretty little editions of the classics in very small type in 12mo and 16mo, of which the most famous are the greek testament of 1624 and 1633, the virgil, terence, livy, tacitus, pliny, and caesar of 1634-6, and a similar series of french historical and political works and french and italian classics. after the deaths of abraham and bonaventura in 1652 the business was carried on by their respective sons jean and daniel, who issued famous editions of the _imitatio christi_ and the psalter. meanwhile louis elzevir (another grandson of the founder) had been working at amsterdam, and in 1654 was joined there by daniel, the new partnership producing some fine folio editions. other members of the family went on working at utrecht and leyden until as late as 1712, so that its whole typographical career extended over a hundred and thirty years. but it is only the little classical editions, and a french cookery book called _le pastissier françois_, that are at all famous, and the fame of these (the little classics being troublesome to read and having more than a fair share of misprints, though edited by david heinsius) probably rests on a misconception. these small classical editions were the last word for two centuries in that development of the small book which we have already traced in the aldine editions at venice, those of de colines and robert estienne of paris, of sebastian gryphius at lyons, and of the successors of plantin at antwerp. now the small books of the elzevirs were produced at a very important period in the history of bookbinding, and when we hear of large sums having been paid for an elzevir it will mostly turn out that the excellence of its binding has had a good deal to do with the price. the cookery book is an exception, the value of this, though often enhanced by a fine binding, being yet considerable, even in a shabby jacket. but the interest in this case is due to the antiquarian instincts of book-loving gourmets, and not in any way to the printing. the little classics, even when of the right date and with all the right little headpieces and all the right misprints, have never been worth on their own merits more than a few pounds, while shabby, cropped copies have no selling value whatever. footnote: [43] he was born at bassiano in the papal states in 1450. chapter xi foreign illustrated books of the sixteenth century [illustration: xxiii. nuremberg, sodalitas celtica. 1501 hroswitha. opera (4^b). hroswitha and the emperor otho (attributed to dürer)] as we have already said, the charm of the woodcut pictures in incunabula lies in their simplicity, in their rude story-telling power, often very forcible and direct, in the valiant effort, sometimes curiously successful in cuts otherwise contemptibly poor, to give character and expression to the human face, and as regards form in the harmony between the woodcuts and the paper and type of the books in which they appear. in the book-illustrations of the sixteenth century the artist is more learned, more self-conscious, and his design is interpreted with far greater skill by the better trained wood-cutters of his day. more pains are taken with accessories, and often perhaps for this reason the cut does not tell its story so quickly as of old. it is now a work of art which demands study, no longer a signpost explaining itself however rapidly the leaf is turned. lastly, the artist seems seldom to have thought of the form of the book in which his work was to appear, of the type with which the text was to be printed, or even of how the wood-cutter was to interpret his design. book-illustration, which had offered to the humble makers of playing-cards and pictures of saints new scope for their skill, became to the artists of the sixteenth century a lightly valued method of earning a little money from the booksellers, their better work being reserved for single designs, or in some cases for the copperplates which at first they executed, as well as drew, themselves. thus the book-collector is conscious, on the one hand, that less pains have been taken to please him, and on the other that he is separating by his hobby one section of an artist's work from the rest, in connection with which it ought to be studied. he may even be in some doubt as to where his province ends, since many of the illustrated books of the sixteenth century, although they possess a titlepage and are made up in quires, are essentially not books at all, the letterpress being confined to explanations of the woodcuts printed either below them or facing them on the opposite pages. the bibliographer himself, it may be added, feels somewhat of an intruder in this field, which properly belongs to the student of art, although in so far as art is enshrined in books and thus brought within the province of the book-collector, bibliography cannot refuse to deal with it. although we have taken off our caps in passing to erhard reuwich and michael wolgemut for their admirable work, the one in the mainz _breidenbach_, the other in the _schatzbehalter_ and _nuremberg chronicle_, it is albrecht dürer who must be regarded as the inaugurator of the second period of german book-illustrations. during his wanderjahre dürer had produced at basel for an edition of s. jerome's epistles, printed by nicolaus kesler in 1492 (reprinted 1497), a rude woodcut of the saint extracting a thorn from his lion's foot. dürer's important bookwork begins in 1498, when his fifteen magnificent woodcuts illustrating the apocalypse (which influenced all later treatments of this theme) were issued twice over at nuremberg, in one edition with german title and text, in the other with latin. stated in their colophons to have been "printed by albrecht dürer, painter," neither edition bears the name of a professional printer. the types used in each case were those of anton koberger, dürer's godfather, and the effect of the artist's personal superintendence, which the colophons attest, is seen in the excellence of the presswork. the following year koberger published an illustrated edition of the _reuelationes sanctae birgittae_ (german reprint in 1502), and dürer has been supposed to have helped in this, but the theory is now discredited. in 1501 he probably contributed two woodcuts to an edition of the comedies of hroswitha, a tenth century nun of the benedictine abbey at gandersheim. conrad celtes had unearthed these comedies some years previously in a ratisbon library, and they were now printed under his editorship for the _sodalitas celtica_ at nuremberg. the illustrations to the comedies themselves, which vie in heaviness with their subjects, are attributed by mr. campbell dodgson to wolfgang traut.[44] one of the cuts assigned to dürer represents celtes offering the book to frederick iii, elector of saxony; the other shows hroswitha herself presenting her plays to the emperor otto i (see plate xxiii). in 1502 dürer designed another cut of a presentation and an illustration of philosophy (both very feebly rendered by the cutter) for the _quatuor libri amorum_ of celtes. in 1511 the latin apocalypse was reprinted, and three other sets of woodcuts by dürer appeared in book form, in each case with latin text by benedictus chelidonius. one of these commemorated in twenty designs the life of the blessed virgin (_epitome in diuae parthenices marie historiam ab alberto durero norico per figuras digestam cum versibus annexis chelidonii_), the other two the passion of christ, the great passion (_passio domini nostri jesu ex hieronymo paduano, dominico mancino, sedulio et baptista mantuano per fratrem chelidonium collecta cum figuris alberti dureri norici pictoris_, in folio) in twelve large woodcuts, the little passion (_passio christi ab alberto durer norembergensi effigiata c[=u] varij generis carminibus fratris benedicti chelidonij musophili_, in quarto) in thirty-seven smaller ones. after this dürer was caught up by the emperor maximilian and set to work on some of the various ambitious projects for illustrating his reign, as to which more will be said later. his later bookwork includes a crucifixion and s. willibald for an eichstätt missal (nuremberg, h. hölzel, 1517), some large designs for the _etliche vnderricht zu befestigung der stett schloss vnd flecken_ (nuremberg, 1527), and his own book on the proportion of the human body, which was issued both in german and in a latin translation by camerarius. several borders and illustrations formerly ascribed to dürer are now attributed to one of his pupils, hans springinklee, who lived in dürer's house at nuremberg, where he worked from about 1513 to 1522. most of springinklee's bookwork was done for anton koberger, who published some of it at nuremberg, while some was sent to the lyon printers, clein, sacon, and marion, who were in koberger's employment. a border of his design bearing the arms of bilibaldus pirckheimer is found in several works which pirckheimer edited (1513-17). in a _hortulus animae_, printed by j. clein for koberger at lyon, 1516, fifty cuts are by springinklee. the _hortulus animae_ was as popular in germany as the illustrated _horae_ in france and england. in 1517 another edition appeared with erhard schön as its chief illustrator, and only a few of springinklee's cuts. the next year springinklee produced a new set of cuts, and schön's work was less used. springinklee and schön were also associated in bible illustrations printed for koberger by sacon at lyon, and to springinklee are now assigned two full-page woodcuts in an eichstätt missal (h. hölzel, nuremberg, 1517), and a border to the _reuelationes birgittae_ (f. peypus, nuremberg, 1517), formerly ascribed to dürer. a woodcut of johann tritheim presenting his _polygraphia_ to maximilian, formerly attributed to holbein as having been printed at basel (adam petri, 1518), is now also placed to the credit of springinklee, who, moreover, worked for the _weisskunig_ and probably for other of the artistic commemorations of himself which maximilian commissioned. hans sebald beham is best known as a book-illustrator from his work for christian egenolph at frankfurt am main, which began in 1533. but he belonged to the nuremberg school, had worked for ten or twelve years for merckel, peypus, petreius and other nuremberg firms, and has had the honour of having some of his single cuts attributed to dürer. his most important books for egenolph were the _biblische historien_, a series of small illustrations to the bible, first printed in 1533, which went through many editions in german and latin, and another series illustrating the apocalypse, of which the first edition appeared in 1539, the texts of the latin _historiae_ and also to the apocalypse cuts being supplied by georgius aemilius. a set of medallion portraits of roman emperors by him also appeared in several german and latin chronicles published by egenolph. between the nuremberg book-illustrators and those of augsburg, to whom we must now turn, a connecting link may be found in the person of hans leonhard schäufelein, born about 1480, soon after his father, a nördlingen wool merchant, had settled at nuremberg. he worked under dürer, and his earliest book-illustrations were made for dr. ulrich pinder, the owner of a private press at nuremberg. several unsigned cuts in _der beschlossen gart des rosenkrantz marie_ (pinder, 1505), and thirty out of thirty-four large cuts in a _speculum passionis_ (pinder, 1507), are ascribed to schäufelein, his associate in each book being hans baldung. about 1510 schäufelein removed to augsburg, and, despite his return to his paternal home at nördlingen where he took up his citizenship in 1515, he worked for the chief augsburg publishers for the rest of his life, though between 1523 and 1531 nothing is known as to what he was doing. among the earlier augsburg books with illustrations attributed to schäufelein are tengler's _der neu layenspiegel_ (1511), henricus suso's _der seusse (1512), heiligenleben_ (1513), geiler's _schiff der penitentz_ (1514), and the _hystori und wunderbarlich legend katharine von senis_ (1515), all published by j. otmar. in 1514 he had illustrated for adam petri of basel a _plenarium_ or _evangelienbuch_, which went through several editions. another _evangelienbuch_, printed by thomas anshelm at hagenau in 1516, contains several cuts with schäufelein's signature, but in a different style, probably partly due to a different wood-cutter; these were used again in other books. in the _theuerdank_ of 1517 about twenty cuts are assigned to schäufelein, some of them bearing his signature. the following year he illustrated leonrodt's _himmelwagen_ for otmar with twenty cuts, mostly signed, some of which were used afterwards on the titlepages of early luther tracts. after an interval schäufelein is found in 1533 working for heinrich steyner of augsburg, who employed him to illustrate his german editions of the classics, thucydides (1533), plutarch (1534), cicero (1534), apuleius (1538), etc. the blocks for some of his cuts subsequently passed into the possession of christian egenolph of frankfort. the first native augsburg artist whom we have to notice is hans burgkmair, who was born in 1473, and began bookwork in 1499 by illustrating missals for erhard ratdolt with pictures of patron saints and of the crucifixion. the chief augsburg publisher for whom he worked in his early days was johann otmar, for whom he illustrated several books by the popular preacher, johann geiler von kaisersberg (_predigen teutsch_, 1508 and 1510, _das buch granatapfel_, 1510, _nauicula poenitentiae_, 1511), and other devotional and moral works. in 1515 hans schoensperger the younger employed him to supply a dedication cut and seven designs of the passion for a _leiden christi_, and to the _theuerdank_ published by schoensperger the elder at nuremberg in 1517 he contributed thirteen illustrations (only one signed). he had already been employed (1510) on a few of the cuts in the genealogy of the emperor maximilian, which a wholesome fear lest its accuracy should be doubted caused that self-celebrating monarch to withhold from publication, and much more largely (1514-16) on the _weisskunig_, which was first printed, from the original blocks, at vienna in 1775; and he was the chief worker (1516-18) on the woodcuts for the triumphal procession of maximilian printed by order of the archduke ferdinand in 1526. while these imperial commissions were in progress burgkmair designed a few title-cuts for johann miller, notably the very fine one (see plate xxiv) to the _de rebus gothorum_ of jornandes (1515), showing kings alewinus and athanaricus in conversation, and subsequently worked for grimm and wirsung and for h. steiner, although not nearly to the extent which was at one time supposed, as most of the illustrations supplied to these firms with which he used to be credited are now assigned to hans weiditz. jörg breu, who was born and died (1537) some half-dozen years later than burgkmair, like him illustrated missals for ratdolt and contributed passion-cuts to mann's _leiden christi_. his most important piece of bookwork was the redrawing of the cuts in anton sorg's edition of reichenthal's _conciliumbuch_ for a reprint by steiner in 1536. illustrations by him also occur in a _melusina_ (1538), and german versions of boccaccio's _de claris mulieribus_ and _de casibus illustrium virorum_ issued after his death by the same firm. leonhard beck contributed largely to the illustration of maximilian's literary ventures, especially the _theuerdank_, _weisskunig_, and saints of the house of austria (published at some date between 1522 and 1551). [illustration: xxiv. augsburg, j. miller, 1515 jornandes. de rebus gothorum. (title). attributed to burgkmair] we come now to hans weiditz, the immense extension of whose work by the attributions of recent years can only be compared to mr. proctor's raising of bartolommeo de' libri from one of the smallest to one of the most prolific of florentine printers. only two or three augsburg woodcuts bearing his initials are known, while scores and even hundreds are now assigned to him, most of which had previously been credited to burgkmair. weiditz began bookwork in or before 1518, in which year he contributed a title-cut to the _nemo_ of ulrich von hutten, while in 1519 he made twelve illustrations to the same author's account of maximilian's quarrel with the venetians. in 1518 he had begun working for the firm of grimm and wirsung, and this, with a few commissions from other augsburg publishers, kept him busy till about 1523, when he himself moved to strassburg, whence his family had come, while in the same year grimm and wirsung gave up business and sold their blocks to steiner. these included not only many title-borders by weiditz, twenty illustrations to two comedies of plautus and a set of cuts to the _deuotissime meditationes de vita et passione christi_, and another to a german _celestina_, all published in 1520, but a series of some 260 masterly illustrations to a german version of petrarch's _de remediis utriusque fortunae_. steiner used some of these cuts in a cicero _de officiis_ of 1531, which has in addition sixty-seven important cuts by weiditz, presumably of the same period, and also in a _justinus_ of the same year, but the work for which they were specially designed did not appear until a year later. needless to say, selections from both the petrarch and the cicero sets appear in later work. after removing to strassburg, weiditz copied some wittenberg bible cuts and also holbein's apocalypse set for knoblauch in 1524. in 1530 he illustrated for j. schott the _herbarium_ of brunfels, which went through several editions both in latin and german, and for this comparatively humble work was praised by name in both editions, so that until 1904 it was only as the illustrator of the herbal that he was known. many of his augsburg woodcuts subsequently passed to that persistent purchaser of old blocks, christian egenolph of frankfort. before passing away from the nuremberg and augsburg book-illustrators, it seems necessary to describe briefly, but in a more connected form, the literary and artistic enterprises of the emperor maximilian, to which so many incidental allusions have been made. the emperor's first attempt to glorify himself and his lineage took the form of a genealogy for which several antiquaries--mennel, sunthaim, tritheim, and stabius--made researches. burgkmair made designs of some ninety ancestors and their heraldic coats in 1509-11, and the wood-blocks were cut. it was apparently intended to print them in 1512, but the whole project was abandoned, and the work is now only known from a few sets of proofs, no one of which is quite complete. after this failure maximilian planned a triumphal arch and procession, the programme for the arch being drawn up by stabius, that of the procession by treitzsaurwein. the plan of the arch was largely worked out by dürer, with help from springinklee, traut, and altdorfer, whose designs were carried out in 192 woodblocks cut by hieronymus andrea and his assistants. when the impressions from these are put together they make a design measuring nearly twelve feet by ten. in the centre is the gate of honour, to the left and right the gates of praise and nobility. above the main gate rises a tower on which are displayed the emperor's ancestors and their arms, above the other gates a series of incidents of maximilian's life, surmounted by busts of his imperial predecessors and of contemporary princes. this was printed in 1517-18 at nuremberg, and in 1526-8 and 1559 at vienna. on the procession or triumph, dürer, springinklee, schäufelein, burgkmair, and beck were all engaged. the 138 blocks composing it were cut by andrea and jost de negker in 1516-18, and it was printed by order of the archduke ferdinand in 1526. a triumphal car designed by dürer in 1518, in connection with the same project, was published in eight sheets in 1522. a series of representations of saints of the house of hapsburg had been planned soon after the abandonment of the genealogy, and assumed shape in 1514. from drawings now attributed to leonhard beck, 123 woodblocks were made, and an edition in book form was printed some time after 1522. the romance of _theuerdank_ was written by melchior pfintzing, under maximilian's direction, to celebrate his wooing of mary of burgundy and other exploits. the bulk (seventy-seven) of the illustrations in it are now ascribed to beck, seventeen to schäufelein, thirteen to burgkmair, and three, two, and one respectively to schön, traut, and breu. it was published as a sumptuous folio, several copies being struck on vellum by the elder schoensperger at nuremberg in 1517, and reprinted two years later. the _weisskunig_, or white king, an account of maximilian's parentage, education, and exploits, was dictated by him in fragments to treitzsaurwein, but never fully edited. of the 249 illustrations about half are by burgkmair, most of the others by beck. with the exception of thirteen the blocks were preserved at vienna, and the book was printed there for the first time in 1775. lastly, the _freydal_, which was to have given an account of maximilian's tourneys and "mummereien," is known to us by the preservation of the original miniatures from which the illustrations were to have been made, but only five blocks out of 256 were actually cut. the patronage of the emperor maximilian gives special importance to the work done during his lifetime at nuremberg and augsburg, but there was no lack of book-illustrations elsewhere. at tübingen some of the mathematical works of johann stöffler were curiously decorated, and the second edition of his _ephemerides_ (1533) has a fine portrait of the author in his seventy-ninth year. at ratisbon, albrecht altdorfer was the most important worker for the wood-cutters, and to him are now attributed thirty-eight cuts illustrating the fall and redemption of man, published at hamburg in 1604, under the name of dürer, as "nunc primùm è tenebris in lucem editæ." their minute and rather niggling style renders the bad printing which they have mostly received peculiarly destructive to them. another ratisbon artist, michael ostendorfer, illustrated a few books published at ratisbon itself, and others printed at ingolstadt. at wittenberg, from a little before 1520, the influence of martin luther made itself as much felt as that of maximilian at augsburg and nuremberg. hither, in 1505, had come a franconian artist, lucas cranach, who had already illustrated some missals for winterburger of vienna. numerous pictures of saints, which he drew for the wittenberg _heiligthumsbuch_ of 1509, are subsequently found dispersed in other works, such as the _hortulus animae_. a few title-cuts on tracts by luther and others are assigned to him, but a great mass of bookwork, including numerous fine borders, found in wittenberg books of the luther period, while showing abundant traces of the elder cranach's influence, is yet clearly not by him. it has recently been assigned, with some probability, to his eldest son, hans. his younger son, lucas cranach ii, also supplied a few borders and illustrations to the wittenberg booksellers. georg lemberger also produced borders for titlepages and some bible cuts, and two other wittenberg bible-illustrators of this school were erhard altdorfer, brother of albrecht, whose best bookwork is found in a fine danish bible printed at copenhagen in 1550, and hans brosamer, bibles, or parts of the bible, with whose cuts appeared both at wittenberg and at frankfort. at strassburg, hans baldung grien, whose work shows the influence of dürer, illustrated the _granatapfel_ (1510) and other works by geiler of kaisersberg, the _hortulus animae_ printed by flach (1510), etc. johann wächtlin, who had contributed a resurrection to a set of passion cuts published by knoblauch in 1506, illustrated a _leben christi_ for the same printer in 1508. we find his work again in the _feldbuch der wundarznei_ of hans von gersdorff, printed by schott in 1517. the work of hans weiditz for strassburg publishers has already been mentioned. it was here also that urs graf worked for some little time for knoblauch, to whose passion set of 1507 he contributed, and other publishers. in 1509 he is found at basel, where two years later he became a citizen, supplying ninety-five little woodcuts to an edition of the _postilla_ of guillermus, and also designing title borders. as a centre of printing basel was now rapidly increasing in importance, and when erasmus allied himself with the foremost basel printer, johann froben, for a time the city succeeded, in point of quality though not of quantity, to the typographical supremacy which venice was fast losing. scholarly works such as approved themselves to erasmus and froben offered, of course, very little scope for book-illustration properly so called, but the desire for beauty found vent, not only with them, but with the other basel printers of the day, valentin curio, johann bebel, adam petri, andreas cratander, etc., in elaborate borders to titlepages, headpieces and tailpieces, ornamental capitals and trade devices. the arrival of hans holbein (born at augsburg in 1497) at basel in 1516 on his wanderjahre supplied a decorator of a skill altogether outshining that shown in the rather tasteless architectural work, varied with groups of children, produced by urs graf, though holbein himself was content to begin in this style. in his most characteristic work the footpiece of the border illustrates some classical scene, mutius scaevola and porsenna, the death of cleopatra, or quintus curtius leaping into the abyss; less commonly a scriptural one, such as the death of john the baptist. the most elaborate of his titlepages was that to the _tabula_ of cebes (1521), in which little children crowd through the gate of life to meet all the varied fortunes which life brings. delightful humour is shown in an often used headpiece and tailpiece, showing villagers chasing a fox and returning home dancing. during 1517 and the following year, when hans holbein was absent from basel, his brother ambrosius worked there on the same lines, and decorated, among other books, more's _utopia_. after his return to basel in 1519, hans holbein remained at work there until 1526, and it was during this period that his book-illustrations, properly so called, were executed, including those to the apocalypse and his two most famous pieces of bookwork, his _dance of death_ and _historiarum veteris testamenti icones_, both of which were first published in 1538 at lyon by melchior and gaspar trechsel. these (with perhaps some exceptions) and many of his other designs[45] were cut in wood by hans lutzelburger who signed a holbein titlepage to a german new testament printed by thomas wolff in 1523, and who, if rightly identified with the hans formschneider with whose widow the trechsels were in correspondence in 1526 and 1527, must have died about the time that holbein left basel. pen copies, moreover, of some of the cuts of the _dance of death_ are preserved at the berlin museum, and one of these is dated 1527, so that there can be no question that the originals belong to this period of holbein's life, and the british museum possesses a set of proofs of forty out of the original series of forty-one, printed on four sheets, ten on a sheet. it has been conjectured that the occupations of some of the great personages whom death is depicted as seizing may have been considered as coming under the offence of _scandalum magnatum_ and so have caused the long delay before the blocks were used, but as this explanation does not apply to the illustrations to the old testament it seems inadequate. as published in 1538 by the trechsels the cuts are accompanied by french quatrains from the pen of gilles corrozet and other appropriate matter, and have prefixed to them a titlepage reading: _les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, autant elegamm[=e]t pourtraictes que artificiellement imaginees. a lyon, soubz lescu de coloigne, m.d.xxxviii._ a second edition with latin instead of french verses was published by jean and françois frellon, and others followed, in one of which, that of 1545, one, and in another, that of 1547, eleven additional cuts were printed, while in 1562, when the book was still in frellon's hands, five woodcuts of children make their appearance, though they have no connection with the original series. that holbein's old testament designs also belong to his basel period is shown by copies of them appearing in a bible printed by froschouer in 1531, though the original cuts were not published till seven years later. as printed by the trechsels they are eighty-six in number, and while the cutting of the best is worthy of lutzelburger, their execution is too unequal for it to be certain that the whole series was executed by him. the cuts were also used by the trechsels in a bible of the same year, and both the bible and the cuts under their own title _historiarum veteris testamenti icones_ were republished by the frellons. considerations of space forbid more than a bare mention of the _bambergische halssgericht_ (1508), with its all too vivid representations of the cruel punishments then in use, and the illustrated classics published at later dates by johann schoeffer at mainz, or of the work of jakob köbel at oppenheim with its rather clumsy imitations of ratdolt's italian ornaments, or of the illustrated books printed by johann weissenburger at landshut, or of those from the press of hieronymus rodlich at siemen, the _thurnierbuch_ of 1530, _kunst des messens_ of the following year, and _fierabras_ of 1533. after about 1535 little original book-illustration of any importance was produced in other german cities, but in nuremberg and frankfurt it continued plentiful, virgil solis and jobst amman working assiduously for the booksellers in both places. in no other country did the first thirty years of the sixteenth century produce so much interesting work as in germany. interesting, moreover, as this german work is in itself, it is made yet more so by the fact that a sufficient proportion of it is signed to enable connoisseurs to pursue their pleasant task of distributing the unsigned cuts among the available artists. less intrinsically good, and with very few facilities for playing this fascinating game, the book-illustrations of other countries have been comparatively little studied. in italy the new century brought some evil days to the book trade. printing itself ceased for a time at brescia; at florence publishers for many years relied chiefly on their old stock of cuts; at milan, at ferrara and pavia a little new work was done. at venice the thin delicate outline cuts of the last decade of the fifteenth century ceased to be produced any longer, though the old blocks sometimes reappear. more often the old designs were either simply copied or imitated in the more heavily shaded style which was now coming into vogue. the interest of some of this shaded work is increased by the occasional appearance on it of a signature. thus in the _missale romanum_ of 30 july, 1506, published by stagninus, some of the cuts in this shaded style bear the same signature, "ia," as appears on the outline work in the ovid of 1497. work done by "ia" is also sometimes found copied by another cutter calling himself vgo, whose name is also found on some copies of french horae cuts in a venice horae of 1513. [illustration: xxv. venice. greg. de gregoriis, 1518 missale romanum (246^b). the ascension] signatures which occur with some frequency between 1515 and 1529 are the z.a., z.a., and i.a. used by zoan andrea, i.e. johannes andreas vavassore. this zoan andrea was an assiduous copyist. early in his career (1515-16) we find him imitating dürers large illustrations to the apocalypse; in 1517 his title-cut for the _de modo regendi_ of antonio cornazano imitates that of burgkmair on the 1515 _de rebus gothorum_ of jornandes. in 1520 he prefixed to a livy printed by giunta an excellent portrait modelled, as the prince d'essling has shown, on a sculpture set up at padua to the memory either of the historian himself or of one of his descendants; in 1521 he copied marcantonio raimondi's engraving of horatius cocles, and in the same year another by raimondi of quintus curtius. this was for an edition of boiardo, and for a later edition of 1524 zoan andrea copied yet another engraving, that of scipio africanus. in 1525 he imitated holbein's elaborate border to the _tabula cebetis_, applying it to a _dictionarium graecum_. about this time also he produced the well-known block-book (at least three editions known) _opera noua contemplatiua_, imitating dürer's little passion in some of the cuts. because of the rarity of signed woodcuts in italian books zoan andrea has attracted more attention than the quality of his work deserves. it seems probable that he was the head of a workshop, and the craftsmanship of the cuts bearing his signature is very unequal. turning to the general course of book-illustration in venice as it may be studied in the great work of the prince d'essling, unhappily left without the promised introduction at the time of his lamented death, we find several different influences at work. as has been already noted, the shaded work which had begun to make its appearance before 1500, as in the frontispiece to the _epitome almagesti_ of regiomontanus (1496), rapidly became the predominant style. we find it combined with some of the charm of the earlier outline vignettes in the small pictures of a virgil of 1507, and in some of those of another edition in 1508, though the larger ones in this are heavy and coarse. the extreme of coarseness is found in an edition of the _legendario di sancti_ of 1518, the woodcuts being more suited to a broadside for a cottage wall than to venetian bookwork. the style is seen at its best in the illustrations of a well-known horae printed by bernardinus stagninus in 1507, and, generally speaking, it is in the missals, breviaries, and horae published by l. a. giunta, stagninus and the de gregoriis (see plate xxv) that the most satisfactory bookwork of this period is found. another style which may be traced in many books of the early years of the century is a rather coarse development of the characteristic florentine manner of the fifteenth century. the cuts are as a rule considerably larger than the florentine ones, and the ornamental borders which surround them are much deeper. as in many of the florentine cuts, more use is made of black spaces than was usual at venice, but the cutting as a rule is coarse, and there is none of the charm of the best florentine work. woodcuts in this style are found most frequently on the titlepages of popular books in small quarto, published by the sessas, who apparently did not see their way to commissioning more than a single illustration to each book. but the influence of the style affected the pictures in a few works of larger size--for instance, the 1503 edition of the _chronica chronicarum_ of bergomensis, and the well-known picture of a choir in the _practica musices_ of gafori (1512). despite his connection with the _hypnerotomachia_, which, however, was printed on commission, aldus concerned himself little with book-illustrations, and if the miserable cuts which he put into his edition of _hero and leander_ of musaeus are fair specimens of what he thought sufficiently good when left to himself, he was well advised in holding aloof from them. nevertheless, the popularity which he gained for the small octavos which he introduced in 1501 was an important factor in the development of book-illustration in the sixteenth century. although aldus did not illustrate them himself, it was impossible that the lightly printed handy books which he introduced should remain permanently unillustrated, and when italic type was ousting roman and small books taking the place of large, the introduction of smaller illustrations, depending for their effect on the delicacy of their cutting, became inevitable. if we take any popular book of the century, such as the _sonetti_ of petrarch, and note the illustrations in successive editions, we shall find them getting smaller and smaller and more and more lightly cut and lightly printed, in order to match better with the thin italic types. the new style is seen at its best in the books of 1540-60, the petrarch of 1544 printed by gabriel giolito, boccaccio's _decamerone_ printed by valgrisi in 1552, ovid's _metamorphoses_ by giolito in 1553. finally, book-illustration peters out at venice in pictorial capitals, which take as their subjects any heroes of greek and roman history and mythology whose names begin with the required letter, on the principle of the nursery alphabet in which "a was an archer who shot at a frog, b was a butcher who had a great dog." to an age which, not otherwise to its loss, neglects the study of lemprière's classical dictionary, many of these puzzle initials are bafflingly obscure, relieved only by a recurring q, which in almost all alphabets depicts quintus curtius leaping into the chasm at rome. some similar sets of old testament subjects are much easier. books decorated with capitals of this kind are found as late as the end of the seventeenth century. isolated initials designed on this plan are found also in other countries, but outside italy it is only seldom that we come across anything approaching a set. as to french book-illustrations of the sixteenth century, a competent historian should have much to say, but the present writer has made no detailed study of them, and in the absence of any monograph to steal from must be content with recording general impressions, only here and there made precise by references to books which he has examined. far more than those of germany or venice, french publishers of the sixteenth century relied on the great stock of woodcuts which had come into existence during the decades 1481-1500. that they did so may be regarded as some compensation for the exceptional rarity of most of the more interesting french incunabula. we have spoken disrespectfully of the little devotional books printed about 1500 with an old horae cut on the back of the titlepage or at the end, but in the popular books printed by the lenoirs and other publishers as late as 1530, and even later, cuts will be found from millet's _destruction de troie_ and other incunabula now quite unobtainable, and it is even possible at times from salvage of this kind to deduce the former existence of fifteenth century editions of which no copy can now be found. after about 1503 the french horae decline rapidly in beauty and interest, but many fine missals were issued by wolfgang hopyl and other firms, some with one or more striking pictures, almost all with admirable capitals. among non-liturgical books it is difficult to find any class for which new illustrations were made at all freely. several books of chronicles by monstrelet, robert gaguin, and others have one or more cuts at the beginning which may have been made for them, e.g. a folio cut of s. denis and s. rémy, with shields of arms found in the _compendium super francorum gestis_ by robert gaguin (this, however, dates back to 1500), a double cut of s. louis blessed by the pope and confronting the turks (found in gaguin's _sommaire historial de france, c._ 1523, and elsewhere), another double cut of clovis baptized and in battle (gaguin's _mer des chronicques_, 1536, but much earlier), a spirited battle scene (_victoire du roy contre les vénitiens_, 1510), etc. but wherever we find illustrations in the text, there we are sure to light on a medley of old cuts (e.g. in _les grands chronicques de france_, 1514, gaguin's _chronicques_, 1516, and the _rozier historial_, 1523), and it will be odds that millet's _destruction de troie_ will be found contributing its woodcuts of the trojan war as illustrations of french history. when an original cut of this period can be found, it seldom has the charm of the best work of the last five years of the fifteenth century, but is usually quite good; there is, for instance, a quite successful metal-cut with criblé background of justinian in council in an edition of his laws printed by bocard for petit in 1516, and some of the liturgical cuts are admirable. there is thus no reason to impute the falling off in new cuts to lack of artists. it seems clear that the demand for illustrations had for the moment shifted to an uncritical audience who liked (small blame to them) the fifteenth century cuts which had delighted more educated people a generation earlier, and were not at all particular as to their appropriateness. meanwhile the educated book-buyers were learning greek and preparing themselves to appreciate the severe, unillustrated elegance of the books of the estiennes, and new cuts were not needed. the inception of a new style must certainly be connected with the name of geoffroi tory, whose best work is to be found in his books of hours, which have already been described in an earlier chapter. its predominant note is a rather thin elegance of outline, in which the height of the figures is usually somewhat exaggerated. tory is supposed to have brought home this style after his visit to italy, but its application to bookwork appears to have been his own idea. there is, indeed, a striking resemblance between the little cuts of tory's third horae set, dated 8 february, 1529, and those in an aldine horae of october of the same year, but to the best of my belief tory reckoned his year from 1 january, not in the old french style from easter, and if so it was tory who supplied the aldine artist with a model, which indeed is a logical continuation of his editions of 1525 and 1527. it is greatly to be regretted that his own _champfleury_ of 1527 is so slightly illustrated. the little picture of hercules gallicus which comes in it is quite delightful. if any guide were in existence to the illustrated french books of the thirties in the sixteenth century it would probably be possible to trace the spread of tory's influence. in 1530 simon colines illustrated jean ruel's _veterinaria medicina_ with a good enough cut in the old french style slightly modified. for the same author's _de natura stirpium_ of 1536 he provided a woodcut, of an alcove scene in a garden, the tone of which is quite new. it is evident that french publishers were waking up to new possibilities and sending their artists to foreign models, as a _perceforest_ printed for gilles gourmont in 1531 and a _meliadus de leonnoys_ for denis janot in 1532, have both of them elaborate title borders in the style which the holbeins had made popular at basel. the latter is signed .f., a signature found in several later books in the new style. in 1534 we find wechel issuing a _valturius_ with neat adaptations of the old verona illustrations. doubtless there were many other interesting books, with cuts original or copied of this decade, but the only one of which i have a note is the _l'amant mal traicte de sa mye_ (translated from the spanish of diego de san pedro), printed by denis janot for v. sertenas in 1539, in which the title is enclosed in a delicately cut border, the footpiece of which shows the lovers in a garden. not long after this janot printed (without putting his name or a date) _la touche naifue pour esprouver lamy and le flateur_ of antoine du saix, in which the rules enclosing the title cut into a pretty oval design of flowers and ribbons. in 1540 we find the new style fully established in the _hecatongraphie cest à dire les descriptions de cent figures & hystoires_, a book of emblems, by gilles corrozet, printed by denis janot, which i only know in the third edition, that of 1543. here we find little vignettes, much smaller than those in the malermi bible, with a headline over them and a quatrain in italics beneath, the whole enclosed in an ornamental frame. the little cuts have the faults inevitable in emblems, and some of them are poorly cut, but the best of them are not only wonderfully delicate, but show a sense of movement and a skill in the manipulation of drapery never reached in the fifteenth century. [illustration: xxvi. paris, j. loys for v. sertenas, 1545 homer. l'iliade en vers francois. (title-cut)] in 1543 appeared, again from the press of denis janot, "imprimeur du roy en langue françoise," another emblem book, _le tableau de cebes de thebes, ancien philosophe & disciple de socrate: auquel est paincte de ses couleurs, la uraye image de la vie humaine, & quelle uoye l'homme doit élire, pour peruenir à vertu & perfaicte science. premierem[=e]t escript en grec & maintenant expose en ryme francoyse_. the french rhymester was again the author of the _hecatongraphie_, and the imprint, "a paris on les uend en la grand [_sic_] salle du palais en la boutique de gilles corrozet," shows that he not only wrote the verses and perhaps inspired the illustrations, but sold the books as well. in 1545 we find this same style of design and cutting on a larger scale in _les dix premiers livres de l'iliade d'homère, prince des poetes, traduictz en vers françois, par m. hugues salel_, and printed by iehan loys for vincent sertenas. the cuts are in two sizes, the smaller being surrounded with toryesque borders. it is difficult to pass any judgment other than one of praise on such delicate work. nevertheless, just as the _fanfare_ style of binding used by nicolas eve, with its profuse repetition of small tools, is much more effective on a small book cover than on a large, so here we may well feel that some bolder and clearer design would be better suited to the illustration of a folio. in the title-cut here shown (plate xxvi) a rather larger style is attempted with good results. the year after the homer there appeared at paris from the press of jacques kerver a french translation of the _hypnerotomachia_ by jean martin. this is one of the most interesting cases of the rehandling of woodcuts, the arrangement of the original designs being closely followed, while the tone is completely changed by the substitution of the tall rather thin figures which had become fashionable in french woodcuts for the short and rather plump ones of the venetian edition, and by similar changes in the treatment of landscape. in the second half of the century at paris excellent woodcut portraits, mostly in an oval frame, are sometimes found on titlepages, and in other cases decoration is supplied by a neatly cut device. where illustrations are needed for the explanation of works on hunting or any other subjects they are mostly well drawn and cut. but the use of woodcuts in books of imaginative literature became more and more rare. at lyon, as at paris, at the beginning of the century the store of fifteenth century cuts was freely drawn on for popular editions. considerable influence, however, was exercised at first by italian models, afterwards by germany, so that while in the early sixteenth century latin bibles the cuts are mostly copied from giunta's malermi bible, these were gradually superseded by german cuts, which anton koberger supplied to the lyonnese printers who worked for him. while in italy the small octavos popularized by aldus continued to hold their own, in france, from about 1530, editions in 32° came rapidly into fashion, and about the middle of the century these were especially the vogue at lyon, the publishers often casing them in very gay little trade bindings sometimes stamped in gold, but often with painted interlacements. the publication by the trechsels in 1538 of the two holbein books, the _dance of death_ and illustrations to the old testament, must have given an impetus to picture-making at lyon, but this was at first chiefly visible in illustrated bibles and new testaments. gilles corrozet, who had written the verses for both the holbein books, continued his career, as we have seen, at paris. the most typical lyonnese illustrated books were the rival editions of ovid's _metamorphoses_ in french, one printed by macé bonhomme in 1556, with borders to every page and little cuts measuring about 1½ in. by 2, and a similar edition (reissued in dutch and italian) of the next year from the press of jean de tournes, the borders and little pictures in which are attributed to bernard salomon. in 1557 de tournes issued also the _devises héroiques_ of claude paradin, and he was also the publisher of a _calendrier historial_, a memorandum book charmingly decorated with cuts of the seasons. partly owing to religious troubles the book trade at lyon soon after this rapidly declined, but the french style was carried on for a while at antwerp by christopher plantin, who printed paradin's _devises héroiques_ in 1562 and in 1564, and the two following years three books of emblems, those of sambucus, hadrianus junius, and alciatus himself. his earlier horae are also illustrated with woodcuts, and in at least one edition we find the unusual combination of woodcut borders and copperplate pictures. but although plantin never wholly gave up the use of woodcuts, for his more sumptuous editions he developed a marked preference for copperplates, and by his example helped to complete the downfall of the woodcut, which by the end of the sixteenth century had gone almost completely out of fashion. footnotes: [44] mr. dodgson also ascribes to traut the illustrations in the _legend des heyligen vatters francisci_ (nuremberg, 1512), and some of the cuts in the _theuerdank_ (1517). [45] including perhaps the four sets of decorative capitals attributed to holbein, one ornamental, the others representing a dance of peasants, children, and a dance of death. chapter xii printing in england (1476-1580)[46] something has already been written about the earliest english books on the scale to which they are entitled in a rapid survey of european incunabula. we may now consider them more in detail as befits a book written in english. [illustration: xxvii. westminster, caxton, c. 1490 the fifteen oes.] william caxton, a kentishman, born about 1420, had been brought up as a mercer in the city of london, and the relations between the english wooltraders and the clothmakers of flanders being very intimate, he had, as he tells us himself, passed thirty years of his life (in round numbers the years from twenty years of age to fifty) "for the most part in brabant, flanders, holland, and zealand." during the last few years of this time he had held the important position of governor of the english merchants at bruges, but about 1469 he surrendered this in order to become secretary to edward iv's sister, margaret, wife of charles the bold, duke of burgundy. some years before this, raoul lefèvre, chaplain to the duke's predecessor, had compiled an epitome of the histories of troy, _le recueil des histoires de troye_, and in march, 1469, caxton amused himself by beginning to translate this into english. dissatisfied with the result he laid it on one side, but was bidden by his patroness, the duchess, to continue his work. this he finished on 19 september, 1471, while staying at cologne. according to a distinct statement by wynkyn de worde, whom (at least as early as 1480) he employed as his foreman, caxton printed at cologne "himself to avaunce" the first latin edition of the _de proprietatibus rerum_, a kind of encyclopaedia "on the properties of things," by an english friar of the thirteenth century named bartholomew. now the first edition of this work is undoubtedly one printed at cologne about 1471 or 1472 at an anonymous press which bradshaw called that of the printer of the 1473 edition of the _dialogi decem auctorum_, and mr. proctor, less happily, that of the printer of the _flores sancti augustini_, an undated book in the same type. the _de proprietatibus rerum_ is certainly slightly earlier than either of these, and there are some typographical differences which suggest that between the completion of the one book and the beginning of the other two the press may have changed masters. the _de proprietatibus_ is by far the largest book of the whole group, and being by, or credited to, an english author, it is highly probable that the well-to-do ex-governor of the english merchants became temporarily a member of the firm for its production and shared in the venture. this is the natural meaning of wynkyn de worde's statement that caxton was the "first prynter of this boke," and is quite as likely to be true as the supposition that he took part in printing it as a kind of amateur journeyman to advance himself in the art. it may be noted, moreover, that the books of this anonymous press belong to the less advanced school of printing at cologne, a school technically several years behind that of ulrich zell, and this takes the force out of the objection raised by william blades, that if caxton had learnt printing at cologne, he must have printed better when he made his start. caxton does not seem to have followed up this beginning at all quickly, and it was not till printing had been brought much nearer to bruges by the starting of presses at alost in 1473 and at louvain in 1474 that he was stirred to action. the first printer at louvain was jan veldener, who worked there from 1474 to 1477, and mr. gordon duff conjectures that caxton may have received some help from him. there is no doubt, however, that his partner at bruges was colard mansion, a skilled calligrapher, who continued printing there till 1484, when he fled from the town, leaving his rent unpaid. caxton's own account in the _recuyell of the histories of troye_ of how he came to start is that for as moche as in the wrytyng of the same my penne is worn, myn hande wery and not stedfast, myn eyen dimmed with ouer-moche lokyng on the whit paper ... and also because i haue promysid to dyuerce gentilmen and to my frendes to adresse to hem as hastily as i myght this sayd book. therfore i haue practysed & lerned at my grete charge and dispence to ordeyne this saide book in prynte after the maner & forme as ye may here see. there is nothing here to encourage the idea which mr. proctor seems to have entertained that colard mansion had already begun work on his own account, and that caxton obtained his help for his english books. it seems more likely that it was caxton who made the start, and that the first two books printed at bruges were both in english, the first being the _recuyell_, and the second _the game and pleye of the chesse_, a translation of a moral treatise in which the functions of the chessmen were used as texts for sermonizing, written in latin by jacobus de cessolis. after this a new type was cut and another didactic book, _les quatre derennières choses_, a treatise of the four last things (death, judgment, hell, and heaven) printed in it in french. these three books probably appeared in 1475 and the early months of 1476. by this time charles the bold was picking a quarrel with the swiss, and his disastrous defeat at morat on 21 june, 1476, must have powerfully quickened the desire with which we may reasonably credit caxton, of being the first printer in his native land. he made arrangements to rent a shop in the sanctuary at westminster from the following michaelmas and departed for england, taking with him the newer of the two types and leaving the older one to colard mansion, who printed with it the original french of lefèvre's _recueil des histoires de troye_, and the same author's _les fais et prouesses du noble et vaillant cheualier jason_, and then abandoned it, having already cut a larger type for his own use. the first dated book produced by caxton in england was _the dictes or sayengis of the philosophers_, a translation by earl rivers (the brother of edward iv's queen) from a french version of an anonymous latin book of the fourteenth century. caxton was entrusted by the earl with the oversight of the translation, and contributed to it an amusing epilogue, in which he gives some unfavourable remarks about women attributed to socrates, with his own comments. the epilogue is dated 1477, and in one copy more minutely, 18 november. though this is the first dated english book, it cannot be said that it was the first book printed in england, as it was probably preceded both by caxton's english version of lefèvre's _jason_, and also by some of the thin quartos in the same type. among the earlier books printed by caxton after he set up his press at westminster was chaucer's _canterbury tales_, of which later on he printed a second edition which he imagined to be from a better text, and ornamented with clumsy pictures of the pilgrims. he printed also in separate volumes most of chaucer's other works, including his translation of boethius, _de consolatione philosophiae;_ also gower's _confessio amantis_, some of the shorter poems of lydgate, malory's _morte d'arthur_, and several translations of french romances (_charles the great_, _paris and vienne_, the _four sons of aymon_, etc.), translations of _aesop_ and of _reynard the fox_, higden's _polychronicon_, and the _chronicles of england_, the _golden legend_ (the name given to the great collection of lives of the saints by jacobus de voragine), several editions of the hours of the blessed virgin, a latin psalter, a decorative edition of the prayers called the _fifteen oes_ with a border to every page (see plate xxvii), numerous moral treatises and books of devotion, and several indulgences. in all just one hundred books and documents issued from his press, printed in eight different types (including that left behind at bruges). more than twenty of these books he had translated himself, and to others he contributed interesting prologues or epilogues. while many printers on the continent easily surpassed him in typographical skill, few published more books which can still be read with pleasure, and his prefaces and epilogues show a real love of good literature (especially of chaucer) and abundant good sense, kindliness, and humour. caxton died in 1491 while engaged on translating into english the latin lives of the fathers, and the account-books of the churchwardens of s. margaret's, westminster, show that he was buried in its churchyard, four torches being supplied at a cost of two shillings and sixpence, and another sixpence being charged for the bell. during caxton's lifetime only one other englishman set up a press, an anonymous schoolmaster at st. albans, who began work in 1480 (possibly in 1479) and printed till 1486, producing first six scholastic books and then two english ones. he appears to have borrowed some type from caxton, so that it was presumably with the latter's goodwill that he reprinted his version of the _chronicles of england_, adding thereto an appendix entitled _fructus temporum_, or fruits of time. it is from wynkyn de worde's reprint of this edition in 1497 that we obtain our only knowledge of the printer, for we are there told that it was "compiled in a booke and also enprynted by one sometyme scolemayster of saynt albons, on whose soule god haue mercy." his other popular book was that famous trio of treatises _of haukyng and huntyng and also of cootarmuris_, commonly known as the _book of st. albans_. the second treatise, which is in metre, ends with the words "explicit dam julyan barnes in her boke of huntyng," and this is the only basis for the popular attribution of all three treatises to a hypothetical juliana bernes or berners, who is supposed to have been the daughter of sir james berners (executed in 1388), and prioress of the nunnery of sopwell, a dependency of st. albans, of which the list of prioresses has conveniently perished.[47] between 1478 and 1486 or '87, some seventeen books were printed at oxford by theodoric rood of cologne, who towards the end of his career was in partnership with an english bookseller named thomas hunte. the earliest of his books,[48] all of which are in latin, was an exposition on the apostles' creed wrongly attributed to s. jerome. by the accidental omission of an x this is dated mcccclxviii, i.e. 1468, but such misprints are common in early books, and no one now maintains that it was printed until ten years later. among the other books printed at oxford we may note an edition of cicero's _pro milone_, the spurious letters of phalaris, and a very large folio, lyndewode's _provincial constitutions_ of the english church. that the oxford press came to an end so soon and that none was started at cambridge during the fifteenth century may be attributed to a statute of richard iii's permitting the free importation of books into england. although this measure was amply justified by the interests of learning, it made it practically impossible for any scholastic press to maintain itself in the limited english market against the competition of the fine editions which could be imported from italy. caxton's press was at westminster, which in the fifteenth century was much more sharply distinguished for business purposes from the city of london than it is now. the first press set up within the city itself was that of john lettou, whose surname shows him to have been a native of lithuania, which in caxton's time, as in chaucer's, was known in england as lettowe. mr. gordon duff thinks that john lettou must have learnt to print at rome and brought his punches with him to england, as the type with which he started to print here is indistinguishable from one used by a small printer at rome, who bore the curiously english name john bulle, though he came from bremen. lettou printed an indulgence in 1480, and also a commentary on the metaphysics of aristotle, a curiously learned work for a city press, but which he was commissioned to print by a certain william wilcocks, for whom the next year he printed also a commentary on the psalms. after 1482 lettou was joined by william of mechlin, or malines, in belgium, usually known by the latin name of his birthplace, machlinia. lettou and machlinia printed five law books together, and then lettou disappears and machlinia in 1483 started working by himself, at first at a house near the bridge over the fleet, where he printed eight books, and then in holborn, where he printed fourteen. when working by himself he printed in addition to law books some works of a more popular character, a book of hours, the _revelation to a monk of evesham_,[49] _speculum christiani_ (a devotional work interspersed with english verse), the _chronicles of england_, and several editions of "a little treatise against the pestilence" by a certain bishop canutus of aarhus. one of these editions was the first english book which has a titlepage. it is printed in two lines, and reads:- "a passing gode lityll boke necessarye & behouefull agenst the pestilens." the exact date at which machlinia died, or gave up work, is not known. he was printing in 1486, but his books after that are undated. we may take 1490 or a little earlier as the year of his disappearance, and it is practically certain that his stock of books was taken over by richard pynson from normandy, who probably began printing in 1491 or 1492 (his first dated book was finished in november of the latter year), and while he was getting his workshop ready commissioned guillaume le talleur of rouen to print two law books for him for sale in england. up to the death of caxton the only native english printer besides himself was the unidentified schoolmaster-printer at st. albans, thomas hunte, who joined theodoricus rood at oxford, being only a stationer. after his death, for over twenty years there was no native englishman at work as a master printer[50] at all. two of the three presses at work were in the hands of wynkyn de worde of lorraine and richard pynson of normandy, and the third was worked for some time with two french partners by julyan notary, who was probably a frenchman himself, since in 1498 he spells his name as notaire. by far the most prolific of these three firms was that of wynkyn de worde, who was born, as his name implies, at worth, now in alsace, but formerly part of the duchy of lorraine. he probably came to england with caxton in 1476, since we hear of him as early as 1480 in a legal document about a house. after caxton's death de worde made a cautious start, only issuing five books in the first two years and not putting his own name in an imprint until 1494. by the end of the century, however, he had printed 110 books of which copies or fragments survive, and by the time of his death in 1534 the number had risen to 800, an extraordinarily high total, more especially when it is remembered that the small quarto editions of romances and popular works of devotion, of which he printed a great many, were peculiarly likely to be thumbed to pieces, so that his actual output was probably much greater. as far as his choice of books was concerned he showed himself a mere tradesman, seldom printing an expensive book unless caxton's experience had shown it to be saleable. for two apparent exceptions to this lack of enterprise there were special reasons. the first, a translation of the _lives of the fathers_, he was almost bound in honour to take up, since caxton had completed it on his death-bed. the second book, a really fine edition (issued about 1495) of trevisa's version of the _de proprietatibus rerum_, was also, as we have seen, connected with caxton, who, de worde tells us, had acted as "the fyrst prynter of this boke in latin tongue at coleyn himself to avaunce." de worde's edition is itself notable as being the first book printed on english paper, the manufacturer being john tate of hertford. in 1500 de worde moved from caxton's house at westminster to the sign of the sun in fleet street, perhaps for the greater protection offered by the city against attacks by anti-alien mobs. in 1508 he was appointed printer to the countess of richmond and derby, mother of henry vii, a very old lady, who died the following year. de worde himself must have been a very old man at his death towards the end of 1534 or early in january, 1535, as he had by that time been at work in england for between fifty and sixty years. towards the end of his life he seems to have had some of his books printed for him by john skot, and robert copland was also employed in his business. the output of richard pynson was only about half that of wynkyn de worde, and his taxable property amounted to only £60 against over _£_200 at which de worde was assessed. nevertheless the fact that for the last twenty-two years of his life (1508-30) he was the king's printer helped to procure him a few important books, and also kept his workmanship at a considerably higher standard. as already mentioned, he probably came to england about 1490 and took over machlinia's stock, employing guillaume le talleur of rouen to print two law books for him while his own type was being made. he probably began work with a fine edition of chaucer's _canterbury tales_, but his first dated book is an ugly little edition of the _doctrinale_ of alexander gallus, issued in november, 1492. a copy of this was unearthed a few years ago in the library of appleby grammar school, and to secure the first dated book printed by pynson the british museum had to pay over £300 for it. in 1494 pynson brought out lydgate's poem on the _falles of princes_, translated from the latin of boccaccio, illustrating it with woodcuts borrowed from jean du pré's french edition of the same book.[51] in 1495 he printed a _terence_. up to the close of the fifteenth century he had printed about eighty-eight books known to mr. gordon duff, against the 110 printed by wynkyn de worde. in 1500 he moved from the parish of s. clement dane's, outside temple bar, to the sign of s. george, at the corner of chancery lane and fleet street, the change bringing him inside the city walls. among the best of the books printed by him after this are alexander barclay's _ship of fools_ (1509), a translation of sebastian brant's _narrenschiff_; fabyan's _chronicle_ (1516), barclay's translation of sallust (about 1520), henry viii's _assertio septem sacramentorum_ (1521), and lord berners' translation of froissart's _chronicles_ (1522-5). he also printed some fine service-books, notably a sarum missal, called after cardinal morton who favoured it the morton missal (1500). mr. duff conjectures that in the latin books he printed from 1518 onwards pynson was aided by thomas berthelet.[52] julian notary's business was on a far smaller scale than those of wynkyn de worde and pynson, for less than fifty books are known to have been printed by him. he began work in london about 1496 in partnership with jean barbier and another printer or bookseller whose initials were i. h., probably jean huvin of rouen. in 1498 i. h. had left the firm and notary and barbier were at westminster. in 1500, like de worde and pynson, he changed houses, moving to just outside temple bar, possibly to pynson's old house, giving his new premises the sign of the three kings. at a later date he had also a bookstall in s. paul's churchyard, and ultimately moved his printing office into the city. notary's books were of much the same kind as de worde's--the golden legend, the chronicles of england, the shepherds' calendar, sermons, lives of the saints, etc. he has the distinction of having printed the smallest english incunable of which any trace has come down to us, an edition of the hours of the blessed virgin, finished in april, 1500, measuring only an inch by an inch and a half. he seems to have ceased printing about 1520, but was alive in 1523. summing up the work of these printers who were active before 1500, we may note that caxton printed 100 books and editions that have come down to us; de worde 110 before 1500, about 800 altogether; pynson 88 before 1500, nearly 400 altogether; notary about 8 before 1500, and 48 altogether; lettou and machlinia about 30, oxford 17, st. albans 8. thus the total number of english incunabula at present known is about 360, but pynson and wynkyn de worde were both large printers in the sixteenth century. as we have seen, pynson became king's printer in 1508. he had been preceded in that office by william faques, who like himself was a norman, and was the first to hold the title. he was worthy of the distinction, for though he only printed eight books and documents that have come down to us, his work was very good. his dated books belong to the year 1504, when he printed a proclamation against clipped money, with a fine initial h and some neat woodcuts of coins; also a beautiful little latin psalter. his business was in the heart of the city, in abchurch lane. after his death it passed to richard faques, who made his name more english by spelling it first fakes, then fawkes. richard worked in s. paul's churchyard, and among his publications were the _salus corporis salus anime_ of gulielmus de saliceto, a sarum horæ, skelton's _goodly ballad of the scottish king_ (1509), and _garland of laurell_ (1523), and lastly, _the myrroure of our lady_ (1530). with robert copland we come to the first native english printer after caxton and the schoolmaster of st. albans. copland is rather an interesting person, who made translations and wrote prefaces and addresses to the reader in verse, besides printing books. his name occurs in the imprints of only twelve books, spread over twenty-two years, 1514-35, the explanation being that he was probably working for de worde during this time, and only occasionally indulged in a private venture. after a long interval he printed two books for andrew borde in 1547-8, and appears to have died while the second was in progress. he was succeeded by william copland, probably his son, who printed numerous romances and other entertaining books, and died in 1568 or 1569. at intervals during the years 1516-28, john rastell, an oxford graduate, barrister of lincoln's inn and brother-in-law of sir thomas more, issued nine dated law books. in 1526 he printed two jest books, in 1529 he became involved in religious controversy on the protestant side, and died in poverty and prison in 1536. altogether some forty books are attributed to him, including some plays, which may perhaps rather have been printed by his son william. william rastell was also a lawyer, and not sharing his father's protestantism, became a judge of the queen's bench under mary, on whose death he fled to louvain. as a printer he worked only from 1530 to 1534, printing over thirty books, including several works by his uncle, sir thomas more, and five plays by john heywood. between 1518 and 1524 henry pepwell printed a few popular books at the sign of the trinity in s. paul's churchyard; for the rest of his life he appears to have been only a stationer. john skot, who printed at four different addresses in the city of london between 1521 and 1537, worked partly for de worde, partly on his own account, printing upwards of thirty books for himself, a few of them legal, the rest popular english books. two printers began to issue books in 1523. robert bankes, who turned out a few popular books in his first six years, was then silent for a time, and reappears in the religious controversies of 1539-42, and robert redman, who seems to have followed in pynson's footsteps both in s. clement's without temple bar and at the sign of the george. in his office of royal printer pynson was succeeded by thomas berthelet, or bartlet, who had probably worked with him for upwards of ten years before starting on his own account in fleet street at the sign of lucrece in 1528. we know of altogether about 400 pieces of printing from his press, but a large proportion of these consists of editions of the statutes and proclamations. for the proclamations some of berthelet's bills survive, and we learn that he charged a penny a piece for them, and imported his paper from genoa. with his official printing must be reckoned his editions of the _necessary doctrine of a christian man_, issued with the royal sanction on 29 may, 1543. in order to produce sufficient copies of this he printed it simultaneously eight times over, all eight editions bearing the same date. of the books which he printed on his own account the place of honour must be given to his handsome edition of gower's _confessio amantis_ in an excellent black-letter type in 1532, and the various works of sir john eliot, all of which came from his press. on the accession of edward vi berthelet ceased to be royal printer, the post being given to grafton. berthelet died in september, 1555, leaving considerable property. he was buried as an esquire with pennon and coat armour and four dozen scutcheons, and all the craft of printers, stationers, and booksellers followed him to his grave. richard grafton, who succeeded berthelet as royal printer, had a very chequered career. he was originally a member of the grocers' company, and, in conjunction with edward whitchurch and anthony marler of the haberdashers' company, superintended the printing of the english bible of 1537, probably at antwerp, and that of 1539 by françois regnault at paris. when bible-printing was permitted in england grafton and whitchurch shared between them the printing of the six editions of the great bible during 1540 and 1541. but when cromwell, earl of essex, the chief promoter of bible-printing, was beheaded, grafton was himself imprisoned. in 1544, on the other hand, he and whitchurch obtained an exclusive patent for printing primers, and before henry viii's death grafton was appointed printer to the prince of wales. thus when edward became king grafton displaced berthelet as royal printer, and henceforth had time for little save official work. five editions of the homilies and seven of injunctions, all dated 31 july, 1547, were issued from his presses; in 1548 he published halle's _union of lancaster and york_ and several editions of the order of communion and statutes; in 1549 came two bibles and five editions of the first prayer book of edward vi; in 1550 a reprint of halle and an edition of marbeck's book of common prayer noted; in 1551 wilson's _rule of reason_; in 1552 six editions of the second prayer book of edward vi, and more statutes. proclamation-work, of course, went on steadily throughout the reign, and on edward's death grafton printed the enormously long document by which the adherents of lady jane grey tried to justify her claim to the crown. he did his work very handsomely, but on the triumph of mary, though he impartially printed a proclamation for her nine days after "queen jane's," he naturally lost his post and might easily have lost his head also. for the rest of his life he was mainly occupied in writing his chronicle. but he printed a book of common prayer in 1559, and (according to herbert) a bible in 1566. he died in 1573. while grafton was the king's printer for english books, the post of royal printer in latin, greek, and hebrew had been conferred in 1547 on reginald or reyner wolfe. wolfe, who had come to england from gelderland, was at first a bookseller, and was employed by various distinguished persons as a letter-carrier between england and germany. when he set up as a printer in 1542, with type which he seems to have obtained from a relative at frankfort, he was employed by the great antiquary, john leland, and by john cheke, professor of greek at cambridge, for whom he printed in 1543 two homilies of s. chrysostom in greek and latin, this being the first greek work printed in england. during edward vi's reign he does not seem to have been given much to do in latin, greek, or hebrew, but printed cranmer's _defence of the sacrament_ and _answer unto a crafty cavillation_. after keeping quiet during mary's reign he enjoyed the patronage of elizabeth and archbishop parker, and lived, like grafton, till 1573. though he never worked on a large scale, wolfe certainly raised the standard of printing in england. in john day it is pleasant to come to a native englishman who did equally good work, and that in a larger way of business. day was a suffolk man, born in 1522 at dunwich, a town over which the sea now rolls. he began printing in partnership with william seres as early as 1546, but, save some fairly good editions of the bible, produced nothing of importance during this period. his first fine book, published in 1559, is _the cosmographicall glasse_, a work on surveying, by william cunningham. this has a woodcut allegorical border to the titlepage, a fine portrait of cunningham, a map of norwich, and some good heraldic and pictorial capitals. its text is printed throughout in large italics. the book thus broke away entirely from the old black-letter traditions of english printing, and could compare favourably with the best foreign work. day printed other folios in this style, and in some of them instead of a device placed a large and striking portrait of himself. in 1563 he printed the first edition of _acts and monumentes of these latter and perillous days touching matters of the church_, better known as _foxe's book of martyrs_. this is a book of over two thousand pages, and is plentifully illustrated with woodcuts of varying degrees of merit. day by this time had attracted the patronage of archbishop parker, and in 1566 printed for him a book called _a testimony of antiquitie, showing the auncient fayth of the church of england touching the sacrament of the body and bloude of the lord here publikely preached and also receaved in the saxons tyme, above 600 yeares agoe_. for this sermon, attributed to archbishop aelfric, some anglo-saxon type, the first used in england, was specially cut. later on day printed at lambeth palace parker's _de antiquitate britannicae ecclesiae_. he also printed ascham's _scholemaster_ and other important works. he appears, moreover, to have possessed a bookbinding business, or at least to have had binders in his employment who invented a very striking and dignified style of binding. altogether, day is a man of whom english bookmen may well be proud. he died in 1584. richard tottell was another printer of some importance. the son of an exeter man, he began printing about 1553, and early in his career received a patent which gave him a monopoly of the publication of law books. these, to do him justice, he printed very well, and he also published a number of works of literary interest. chief among these, and always associated with his name, is the famous _songs and sonnets_ of wyatt and surrey and other tudor poets, edited by nicholas grimald, but often quoted, for no very good reason, as _tottell's miscellany_. to his credit must also be placed editions of lydgate's _falles of princes_, hawes's _pastime of pleasure_, tusser's _five hundreth points of good husbandry_, the works of sir thomas more in 1458 folio pages, gerard legh's _accedens of armoury_, numerous editions of guevara's _diall of princes_, as translated by sir thomas north, and a version of cicero's _de officiis_, by nicholas grimald. in 1573 tottell petitioned unsuccessfully for a monopoly of paper-making in england for thirty years, in order to encourage him to start a paper-mill. he lived till 1593. henry denham (1564-89), henry bynneman (1566-83), and thomas vautrollier (1566-88), and the latter's successor, richard field, were the best printers of the rest of the century. denham was an old apprentice of tottell's, who gave him some important books to print for him. herbert remarks of him: "he was an exceeding neat printer, and the first who used the semicolon with propriety." among his more notable books were grafton's _chronicle_ (for tottell and toy, 1569), editions of the olynthiac orations of demosthenes in english (1570) and latin (1571), _an alvearie or quadruple dictionarie containing foure sundrie tongues, namelie, english, latine, greeke, and french_, with a pleasing titlepage showing the royal arms and a beehive (1580), thomas bentley's _the monument of matrons: containing seuen seuerall lamps of virginitie_, a work in praise of piety and queen elizabeth (1582), hunnis's _seuen sobs of a sorrowfull soule for sinne_, a metrical version of the penitential psalms (1585), and the second edition of holinshed's _chronicles_ (1587). henry bynneman, though not so high in archbishop parker's favour as john day, was yet recommended by him to burghley in 1569, and deserved his patronage by much good work. he printed an english version of epictetus, dr. caius's _de antiquitate cantabrigiensis academiæ_ (1568), a handsome book with the text in italics, according to the fashion of the day, van der noodt's _theatre of voluptuous worldlings_ (1569), a latin text of virgil believed to be the first printed in england (1570), the _historia brevis_ of thomas walsingham (1574), a handsome folio, several books by gascoigne and turberville, the first edition of holinshed's _chronicles_ (1577, published by john harrison), and a few books in greek. thomas vautrollier, a french refugee, set up a press at blackfriars, at which he printed several editions of the prayer book in latin (_liber precum publicarum in ecclesia anglicana_), and of the new testament in beza's latin version, for which latter he was granted a ten years' privilege in 1574. in 1579 he printed two very notable works, fenton's translation of the history of guicciardini and sir thomas north's _plutarch_, the latter being one of the handsomest of elizabethan books. in 1580 and again in 1584 he went to edinburgh, printing several books there in 1584 and 1585. his second visit is said to have been due to trouble which came upon him for printing the _spaccio della bestia triomphante_ of giordano bruno. his press at blackfriars continued to work during his absence. his daughter jakin married richard field, who succeeded to his house and business in 1588, and continued his excellent traditions. a company of stationers had existed in london since 1403, and in 1557 this was reconstituted and granted a royal charter. the object of the crown was to secure greater control over printing, so that no inconvenient criticisms on matters of church or state might be allowed to appear. the object of the leading printers and booksellers, who formed the court of the company, was to diminish competition, both illegitimate and legitimate. both objects were to a very considerable degree attained. the quarter of a century which followed the grant of a charter witnessed a great improvement in the english standard of book production. up to this time it seems probable that few english printers, who had not the royal patronage, had found their craft profitable. caxton no doubt did very well for himself--as he richly deserved. he enjoyed the favour of successive kings, and received good support from other quarters. we may guess, moreover, that both as translator and publisher he kept his finger on the pulse of well-to-do book-buyers to an extent to which there is no parallel for the next two centuries. no one else in england possessed this skill, and certainly no one else enjoyed caxton's success. the act of richard iii permitting unrestricted importation of books quickly killed the presses at oxford and st. albans, which could not compete with the publications of the learned printers of italy, france, and switzerland. until more than half-way through the reign of elizabeth the united output of books from oxford and cambridge amounted to less than a couple of score. for more than twenty years after caxton's death there was no undoubted englishman as a master printer. mr. gordon duff has lately published[53] the assessments of some of the chief stationers and printers from the lay subsidy rolls of 1523-4. by far the highest of them is the £307 at which was assessed john taverner, a stationer who is only otherwise known as having bound some books for the royal chapel, and who was wise enough not to meddle with printing. wynkyn de worde, most commercial of printers, was assessed at £201 11s. 1d.; a practically unknown stationer named neale at £100; pynson, who was royal printer and did really good work, at £60; three other stationers, one of whom printed (henry pepwell), at £40 apiece; julyan notary at £36 6s. 8d.; other printers at £10 (robert redman), £6 13s. 4d. (john rastell), and £4 (robert wyer). it is tolerably clear that there was absolutely no inducement to an english stationer to take up printing. in 1534 henry viii repealed the act of 1484, on the plea that native printing was now so good that there was less need to import books from abroad, the king's real reason, no doubt, being to make it easier to check the importation of heretical works. mr. duff has written of the king's action: "the fifty years of freedom from 1484 to 1534 not only brought us the finest specimens of printing we possess, but compelled the native workman in self-protection to learn, and when competition was done away with his ambition rapidly died also. once our english printing was protected, it sank to a level of badness which has lasted, with the exception of a few brilliant experiments, almost down to our own day."[54] as a rule, whatever mr. duff writes about english printing is incontrovertible, but this particular pronouncement seems curiously unfounded. whether we consider what they printed or how they printed it, the work of the english presses from 1535-57 is better, not worse, than the work of the corresponding period, 1512-34. there is nothing in the earlier period to compare with the great bibles, and the books of berthelet and reyner wolfe are fairly equal to those of pynson. if we take 1557 as a fresh point of departure, the books issued from then to about 1580 present a still more remarkable advance. while the work of the rest of europe deteriorated, that of england, in the hands of such men as day, denham, and bynneman, improved, and alike for their typography, their illustrations and decorations and their scholarship, they surpass those of any previous period since the days of caxton, and deserve far more attention from collectors than they have yet received. footnotes: [46] for english provincial printing after 1500 see chapter xiii. [47] a fourth treatise, that on fishing with an angle, is often included in the attribution with even less reason. this was first printed by wynkyn de worde in 1496, with the following curious explanation of its being tacked on to the _book of st. albans_: "and for by cause this present treatyse sholde not come to the hondys of eche ydle persone whyche wolde desire it yf it were enprynted allone by it self & put in a lytyll paunflet, therfore i haue compyled it in a greter volume of dyuerse bokys concernynge to gentyll & noble men, to the entent that the forsayd ydle persones whyche sholde haue but lytyll mesure in the sayd dysporte of fyshynge sholde not by this meane utterly destroye it." [48] two points may be noted about rood: (i) he does not put his name in his earliest books, and as there is a change of type in his signed work, it is possible, though unlikely, that the books in type 1 are from another press; (ii) he is not to be identified, as was once proposed, with a certain theodoricus of cologne, lately proved by dr. voullième to be theodoricus molner, a stepson of ther hoernen. [49] the place-name here is an early misreading for "eynsham." [50] this statement should perhaps be modified to admit of the possibility that julian notary was english rather than french, as is generally assumed. [51] this and the _dives and pauper_ of 1493 (which, until the discovery of the _doctrinale_, was reckoned pynson's first dated book) and several other of his earliest editions were published partly at the expense of a merchant named john rushe, who took six hundred copies of the _dives_ and the _boccaccio_ at 4s. apiece. see _two lawsuits of richard pynson_, by h. r. plomer, in _the library_, second series, vol. x. [52] see _the library_, second series, vol. viii, pp. 298 _sqq._ [53] in _the library_, second series, vol. ix, pp. 257-81. [54] "the printers, stationers, and bookbinders of westminster and london, 1476-1535" (last paragraph). chapter xiii english books printed elsewhere than at london [illustration: xxviii. cologne, printer uncertain, 1525 tyndale's new testament, first page of text] during the fifteenth century presses were set up in more than fifty places in germany, in more than seventy in italy, in nearly forty in france, in more than twenty in the netherlands, in twenty-four in spain, in only three (counting london and westminster as one) in england. in london and westminster over 330 books are known to have been printed; in oxford and st. albans only twenty-five. the reason for this paucity of provincial printing in england must be found by the social historian. the beginning of the sixteenth century brought no change in the facts. for thirty years from march, 1487, there was no printing-press at oxford. in december, 1517, a latin commentary on the posterior analytics of aristotle appeared with the imprint "academia oxonie," and in four subsequent books, printed in 1518, the printer of this gave his name as johannes scolar. a fragment of a sixth book has lately been found at the british museum. in 1519 scolar's place was taken by carolus kyrforth, who printed a _compotus_, or small arithmetic book. a prognostication by jaspar laet may have been printed apparently either by scolar or kyrforth. after the appearance of these eight books there was no more printing at oxford until a press was started there in 1585 by joseph barnes, under the auspices of the university. the last book of the schoolmaster-printer appeared at st. albans in 1486, and after this there was no more printing there until 1534. in that year, at the request of abbot catton, a printer named john hertfort, or herford, printed there _the glorious lyfe and passion of seint albon_. robert catton was succeeded as abbot by richard stevenage, and in the years 1536-8 three religious books were printed for him by hertfort, who also printed an arithmetic and two other books on his own account, making seven books in all. then, in october, 1539, john hertfort fell under suspicion of having printed a "little book of detestable heresies,"[55] and the abbot had to send him to london. the abbey itself was suppressed by the king the same year, and hertfort, deprived of his patron, had no inducement to return. he is next heard of as printing in london in 1544. at york a _directorium_ was printed by hugo goes, and there is a seventeenth century reference to a _donatus minor_ and _accidence_ from his press. three small books are also known to have been printed by ursyn mylner in 1514 and 1516. previous to this, in or about 1507, an _expositio hymnorum et sequentiarum_ for use at york had been printed at rouen by pierre violette for a stationer named gerard freez (also known as gerard wandsforth), who died in 1510. this gerard freez had a brother frederick, who is described not only as a bookbinder and stationer, but as a printer, and may therefore have printed books which have perished without leaving any trace behind them. but the only extant york books of the sixteenth century are the _directorium_ of 1507, two small service-books of 1513, and a little grammatical work in 1516. after this there was no more printing in york until 1642. at cambridge a stationer named john laer, of siberch, i.e. siegburg, near cologne, settled, in or about 1520, and acted as publisher to an edition of croke's _introductiones in rudimenta græca_, printed at cologne by eucharius cervicornus. after this, in 1521 and 1522, siberch himself printed nine small books at cambridge, the first of them being a latin speech by henry bullock addressed to cardinal wolsey. among the other books was a dialogue of lucian's ([greek: peri dipsadôn]), for which siberch had to use some greek type, and a work on letter-writing (_de conscribendis epistolis_) by erasmus, with whom he seems to have been on friendly terms. after 1522 no more books were printed at cambridge until 1583. at tavistock in 1525 a monk named thomas richard printed a translation of boethius's _de consolatione philosophiae_ for "the ryght worschypful esquyer mayster robert langdon." nine years later, in 1534, the same press printed the _statutes_ concerning the devonshire stannaries or tin mines. these are the only two early books known to have been printed at tavistock. at abingdon in 1528, john scolar, presumably the same man who had previously worked a few miles off at oxford, printed a portiforium or breviary for the use of the monastery. no other early book is known to have been printed there. from 1539, when john hertfort was summoned from st. albans, to the end of the reign of henry viii, we know of no provincial printing in england. but on the accession of edward vi the extreme protestants who had fled from england to the netherlands, germany, and switzerland, came flocking back, and some of them seem to have stopped at ipswich. two, or perhaps three printers, all in the protestant interest, worked there in the first few months of the new reign. the first of these, anthony scoloker, printed seven books at ipswich in 1547 and 1548, and then went on to london. the second, john overton, brought over with him from wesel the text of bishop bale's latin bibliography of the illustrious writers of britain, printed there by theodoricus plateanus, otherwise dirick van der straten, and may or may not have printed at ipswich two additional sheets, which he dated there 31 july, 1548.[56] the third printer, john oswen, printed at ipswich eleven tracts, mostly controversial, in or about 1548, and then removed to worcester. on his arrival at worcester late in 1548, or early in 1549, john oswen obtained a special privilege from edward vi for printing service-books for use in the principality of wales, and produced there three editions of the first prayer book of edward vi and a new testament. besides these, from 1549 to 1553 he printed eighteen other books, mostly of controversial theology, calling himself in his imprints "printer appoynted by the kinges maiestie for the principalitie of wales and the marches of the same." on the accession of mary, it being no longer safe to print protestant theology, oswen's press ceased working. at canterbury in 1549 john mychell, or mitchell, who had moved there after producing a few books in london, printed an english psalter, "poynted as it shall be songe in churches." during edward's reign mychell printed at canterbury altogether some twenty books and tracts, mostly more or less controversial treatises on the protestant side. on the accession of mary he ceased publishing till 1556, when his press was employed by cardinal pole to print his articles of visitation. the next year, by the charter granted to the stationers' company, printing outside london was forbidden, the prohibition being subsequently relaxed in favour of the two universities, although it was nearly thirty years before they availed themselves of their right. in the previous eighty years only about a hundred books[57] had been produced at the provincial presses, and in the year in which the charter was granted it can hardly be said that any press outside london was in existence. the new regulation stood in the way of development, but it was a development for which there seems to have been little demand. we may see some slight confirmation of this view in the fact that during elizabeth's reign there was very little secret printing, though there had probably been a good deal under mary. the three elizabethan secret presses which have been chronicled were: (1) a puritan press which printed various tracts on church government, written by thomas cartwright. these were printed secretly in 1572 and 1573, first at wandsworth, afterwards at hempstead, near saffron walden, in essex. the press was seized in august, 1573, and the type handed to henry bynneman, who, the next year, used it to reprint cartwright's attack, interpolating whitgift's replies in larger type. (2) a jesuit press which printed for edmund campion and robert parsons in 1580 and 1581, first at greenstreet house in east ham, afterwards at stonor park, near henley. the press was managed by stephen brinckley, who was ultimately captured and imprisoned for nearly two years. (3) the puritan travelling press, from which issued the famous martin marprelate tracts in 1588 and 1589. some of these were printed in east molesey, in surrey; others in the house of sir richard knightley at fawsley, near daventry, others in that of roger wigston of wolston priory, between coventry and rugby. the chief printer of them was robert waldegrave, who eventually fled first to la rochelle, where he may have printed one of the tracts, and then to edinburgh, where he became a printer of some importance. while there was thus very little secret printing in england, exiled protestants, catholics, and nonconformists all in turn made frequent recourse to foreign presses, and apparently succeeded in circulating their books in england. religious repression, however, though the chief, was not the only cause of english books being printed abroad. from a very early time the superior skill of foreign printers had procured them many commissions to print service-books for the english market, alike on account of their greater accuracy, their experience in printing in red and black, and the more attractive illustrations which they had at their disposal. not long after 1470 a sarum breviary was printed abroad, possibly at cologne. caxton employed george maynyal, of paris, to print a missal (and probably a _legenda_) for him in 1487, and johann hamman or herzog printed a sarum missal in 1494 as far away as venice. when the paris printers and publishers had won the admiration of all europe by their pretty editions of the hours of the blessed virgin, they competed with each other for the english market. early in the sixteenth century wolfgang hopyl printed some magnificent sarum missals and also an antiphoner and _legenda_, besides some very fine editions of lyndewood's constitutions. breviaries, missals, and primers were also poured out for english use by françois regnault, and in lesser numbers by nearly a dozen other paris firms, and martin morin and other printers plied the same trade at rouen, while christoffel van remunde, of endhoven, was busy at antwerp. the predominance of the foreign editions of these books over those printed in england may be estimated from the fact that of 105 sarum service-books printed before 1540 in the possession of the british museum, one was printed at basel, one at venice, eleven at rouen, twelve at antwerp, as many as fifty-six at paris, and only twenty-four in england.[58] in addition to service-books, a good many of the smaller latin grammatical works were printed for the english market in france and the low countries, their destination being occasionally stated, but more often inferred from the appearance in them of english explanations of latin words or phrases. a few attempts were also made to issue popular english works in competition with those produced at home. the most formidable of these rivalries was that of gerard leeu at antwerp, who, after printing three entertaining books (_the history of jason_, _knight paris and the fair vienne_, and the _dialogue of salomon and marcolphus_), embarked on a more important work, _the chronicles of england_, and might have seriously injured the home trade had he not met his death in a quarrel with a workman while the _chronicles_ were still on the press.[59] soon after 1500 another antwerp printer, adriaen von berghen, in addition to holt's _lac puerorum_, published the commonplace book of a london merchant which passes under the name of _arnold's chronicle_, and is famous as containing the earliest text of the _nutbrown maid_. a little later still, jan van doesborch was at work at the same place, and between 1505 and 1530 produced at least eighteen popular english books, including _tyll howleglas_, _virgilius the magician_, _robin hood_, and an account of recent discoveries entitled, "of the new landes and of the people found by the messengers of the kynge of portyngale named emanuel." doesborch's books are poorly printed and illustrated, but his texts are not noticeably worse than those in contemporary editions published in england. the reverse is the case with two english books produced (1503) by the famous paris publisher, antoine vérard, _the traitte of god lyuyng and good deying_ and _the kalendayr of shyppars_. these have the illustrations which book-lovers prize so highly in the _kalendrier des bergers_ and _art de bien viure et de bien mourir_, but the translations seem to have been made by a scot, only less ill equipped in scottish than in french. in a third translation, from pierre gringore's _chasteau de labeur_, vérard was more fortunate, for the _castell of labour_ was rendered into (for that unpoetical period) very passable verse by alexander barclay. vérard, however, had no cause to congratulate himself, for both pynson and de worde reprinted barclay's translation with copies of the woodcuts, and the other two books in new translations, so that in future he left the secular english market alone. it may be supposed that the act of 1534, restricting the importation of foreign books into england, finally put an end to competition of the kind which leeu, vérard, and doesborch had attempted. but isolated english books have continued to appear abroad down to our own day, and form a miscellaneous, but curious and interesting appendix in the great volume of the english book trade. from 1525 onwards, however, until nearly the end of the seventeenth century, compared with the masses of theological books alternately by protestant and roman catholic english exiles, printed in the low countries, germany, switzerland, and france, the output of secular work sinks into insignificance. the stream begins with tyndale's new testament, of which a few sheets were printed at cologne (see plate xxviii), two editions at worms, and half a dozen or more at antwerp before it was suffered to appear in england. the first english bible is believed to have been printed (1535) by christopher froschauer at zurich, the second (1537) at antwerp, the third (1539) was begun at paris and completed in england. besides their new testaments, tyndale and george joy published a good many controversial works at antwerp. in the next generation the city became one of the strongholds of the romanist exiles after the accession of elizabeth, and hans de laet, john fouler, willem sylvius, and gillis van diest the younger were frequently called on in 1564-6 to provide paper and print for stapleton, harding, william rastell, and the other antagonists of bishop jewel. in 1528 and the following year books by tyndale, roy, and frith appeared purporting to be printed by "hans luft at malborowe in the land of hesse." a later book with this imprint has been shown by mr. sayle to have been printed at antwerp; whether these earlier works were really produced at marburg, or, as has been conjectured, at cologne, or again at hamburg, is still uncertain. in the 'forties and 'fifties christopher froschauer printed several english protestant books at zurich, including _a faythfull admonycion of a certen trewe pastor and prophete sent unto the germanes_, translated from luther's _warnunge_, with the pleasing imprint "at grenewych by conrade freeman in the month of may 1554." in the 'fifties, again, jean crespin and other geneva printers worked for john knox, and the geneva new testament was produced there in 1558 and the bible in 1560. in the 'sixties, as we have seen, many treatises attacking bishop jewel were issued at antwerp, others appeared at louvain, and about the same time (1566), at emden, g. van der erven was printing for exiled puritans some of their diatribes against the "popish aparrell" (i.e. the surplice) which elizabeth prescribed for the english church. in 1574 we encounter at amsterdam a curious group of nine little books "translated out of base-almayne into english," in which hendrik niclas preached the doctrines of the "family of love." from that time onwards a good deal of theological literature on the protestant side was published by amsterdam presses. richard schilders at middelburg was also an extensive publisher of this class of book. presses at leyden and dort made similar contributions, but on a smaller scale. on the roman catholic side the head-quarters of propagandist literature, as we have seen, were at first at antwerp and louvain, at both of which places john fouler had presses. in the 'eighties the existence of the english college at rheims caused several catholic books to be printed there, notably the translation of the new testament which was made in the college itself. for like reasons much catholic literature was published from 1602 onwards at st. omer, and from 1604 onwards at douai. books of the same class, though in smaller numbers, appeared also at paris and rouen. individually the books from the presses we have been naming, both on the romanist and the puritan side, are unattractive to look at and dull to read. collectively they form a very curious and interesting episode in english bibliography, which deserves more study than it has yet received, though mr. sayle has made an excellent beginning in his lists of english books printed on the continent in the third volume of his _early english printed books in the university library, cambridge_. since then mr. steele and mr. dover wilson have made important contributions to the subject, but much still remains to be done. it was doubtless the existence of these foreign safety-valves which rendered the course of english printing after the grant of a charter to the stationers' company so smooth and uneventful.[60] two violations of the terms of the charter were winked at or authorized, in some way not known to us, by the crown. the first of these was the printing of a few books for the use of foreign refugees by antony de solempne at norwich. most of these books were in dutch, but in 1569 antony corranus, previously pastor of the spanish protestant congregation at antwerp, published through de solempne certain broadside tables _de operibus dei_ in latin, french, dutch, and english, of which copies only of the first and second have been traced. in 1570 another english broadside commemorated the execution at norwich of thomas brooke. archbishop parker seems to have resented the publication, unexamined, of the _de operibus dei_, but de solempne placed the royal arms and a loyal motto (godt bewaer de coninginne elizabeth) on some of his books, and seems in some way or another to have secured the queen's protection. mr. allnutt, to whose exhaustive articles on "english provincial printing" in the second volume of _bibliographica_ all subsequent writers on the subject must needs be indebted, conscientiously includes among his notes one on the edition of archbishop parker's _de antiquitate ecclesiae britannicae_ printed for him by john day, in all probability at lambeth palace, where a small staff of book-fashioners worked under the archiepiscopal eye. eton is a good deal farther "out of bounds" than lambeth, but the employment of the king's printer, john norton, and a dedication to the king saved sir henry savile from any interference when he started printing his fine edition of the works of s. john chrysostom in the original greek. the eight folio volumes of which this consists are dated from 1610 to 1613, and in these and the two following years five other greek books were printed under savile's supervision. after this his type was presented to the university of oxford, where a fairly flourishing press had been at work since 1585. that printing at oxford made a new start in 1585 was due no doubt to the example of cambridge, which two years earlier had at last acted on a patent for printing granted by henry viii in 1534, the year, it will be remembered, in which restrictions were placed on the importation of foreign books on account of the proficiency in the art to which englishmen were supposed to have attained. in the interim printers to the university seem to have been appointed, but it was not till 1583 that a press was set up, whereupon, as soon as a single book had been printed, it was promptly seized by the stationers' company of london as an infringement of the monopoly granted by their charter. although the bishop of london seems to have backed up the stationers, lord burghley (the chancellor of the university) and the master of the rolls secured the recognition of the rights of the university. forty years later they were again attacked by the stationers, and the privy council forbade the cambridge printer to print bibles, prayer books, psalters, grammars, or books of common law, but in 1628 the judges pronounced strongly in favour of the full rights of the university, and the next year these were recognized with some modifications by the privy council. up to this time there had been three printers, thomas thomas (1583-8), john legate (1588-1610), and cantrell legge (1606-29), the university library possessing (in 1902) 34 books and documents printed by the first, 108 by the second, and 55 by the third, or a total of 197 for a period of forty-six years. from 1628 to 1639 the majority of cambridge books bear no individual names on them, but have usually the imprint "cantabrigiæ, ex academiæ celeberrimæ typographeo." but thomas and john buck and roger daniel, in various combinations, were responsible for a good many publications. while burghley was chancellor of cambridge, dudley, earl of leicester, held the oxford chancellorship, and doubtless felt that, charter or no charter, it concerned his honour to see that his university should be allowed all the privileges possessed by the other. under his auspices a press was started late in 1584 or early in 1585 by joseph barnes, an oxford bookseller, to whom the university lent £100 to enable him to procure the necessary equipment, and on leicester's visiting the university on 11 january, 1585, a _carmen gratulatorium_ in four elegiac couplets was presented to him, printed on an octavo leaf at the new press. the first book to appear was a _speculum moralium quaestionum in uniuersam ethicen aristotelis_, by john case, a former fellow of s. john's, with a dedication to leicester by the author and another by the printer. in the latter the promise was made "ea solum ex his prælis in lucem venient que sapientum calculis approbentur & sybille foliis sint veriora," but the remaining publications of the year were a polemical treatise by thomas billson, two issues of a protestant adaptation of the _booke of christian exercise appertaining to resolution_, by robert persons, the jesuit, and two sermons. in 1586 no fewer than seventeen books were printed (a number not again attained for several years), and among them was an edition of six homilies of s. chrysostom, "primitiæ typographi nostri in græcis literis preli." after this the press settled down to an average production of from eight to a dozen books a year, including a fair number of classical texts and translations, with now and then a volume of verse which brings it into connection with the stream of elizabethan literature. among the more interesting books which it produced, mention may be made of the _sixe idillia_ of theocritus (1588), poems by nicholas breton and thomas churchyard (1592), richard de bury's _philobiblon_ (1599), the _microcosmus_ of john davies of hereford (1603), captain john smith's _map of virginia, with a description of the countrey_ (1612), and burton's _anatomy of melancholy_ (1621). in the 'twenties of the seventeenth century the average annual output was still only 14; in the 'thirties, under the fostering care of laud, it had risen as high as 25. in 1641 it was but 19. then, on the outbreak of the civil war, the king came to oxford, and under the stress of official publications and royalist controversy the numbers shot up to about 147 in 1642, followed by 119 in 1643, about 100 in 1644, and 60 in 1645. then they become normal again, and in 1649 under the parliamentary _régime_ sink as low as seven. these statistics are taken from the various works of mr. falconer madan, mentioned in our bibliography, and from the same source we learn that until the nineteenth century the annual average of production, calculated by periods of ten years, never exceeded thirty-two. similar causes to those which brought about the sudden increase in the oxford output in 1642 led to the establishment of presses at newcastle and york. in 1639, when charles i marched against the scots, his head-quarters were at newcastle, and the royal printer, robert barker,[61] printed there a sermon by the bishop of durham, the _lawes and ordinances of warre_, and some proclamations. in march, 1642, again barker was in attendance on the king at york, and printed there _his majesties declaration to both houses of parliament_, in answer to that presented to him at newmarket, and some thirty-eight other pieces. another london printer, stephen bulkley, was also given employment, and in the years 1642-4 printed at york some twenty-eight different pieces. bulkley also attended the king at newcastle in 1646, when he was in the hands of the scots, and remained printing there and at gateshead until the restoration, when he returned to york, where a puritan press had in the meantime been set up by thomas broad. charles i left york on 16 august, 1642, and six days later the royal standard was raised at nottingham. _his majesties instructions to his commissioners of array_, dated "at our court at nottingham, 29th august, 1642," were printed by barker at york. two days later the king ordered that the press should be brought to nottingham, but we next hear of barker at shrewsbury, where he served the king's immediate needs, and then remained at work for the rest of the year and the greater part of 1643 reprinting oxford editions and publishing other royalist literature. after the capture of bristol for the king on 2 august he removed once more and printed there during 1644 and 1645. during the confusion of the civil war an exeter stationer, thomas hunt (the local publisher of herrick's _hesperides_), had a book printed for him--thomas fuller's _good thoughts in bad times_--which is described in the dedication as the "first fruits of the exeter presse," and another is said to have been printed there in 1648. but we hear of no other presses being set up. after the restoration printing was allowed to continue at york. otherwise provincial printing outside the universities was once more non-existent. the arrival of william of orange caused some broadsides to be printed at exeter in 1688, and in the same year thomas tillier printed at chester, not only _an account of a late horrid and bloody massacre in ireland_ on a single leaf, but also a handsome folio, _the academy of armory_, for randall holme, who rewarded him for any risk he may have run by devising for him a fancy coat. nevertheless, despite the change of government, the act of parliament restricting printing to london, oxford, cambridge, and york was not allowed to expire till 1695. a press was set up at bristol the same year. plymouth and shrewsbury followed in 1696, exeter in 1698, and norwich in 1701, the first provincial newspaper, _the norwich post_, dating from september in that year. by 1750 about seventy-five provincial towns possessed presses, cities and small country places starting them at haphazard, not at all in the order of their importance. the dates for some of the chief are as follows (all on the authority of mr. allnutt): 1708, newcastle-upon-tyne; 1709, worcester; 1710, nottingham; 1711, chester; 1712, liverpool; 1715, salisbury; 1716, birmingham; 1717, canterbury; 1718, ipswich, leeds, and taunton; 1719, manchester and derby; 1720, northampton; 1721, coventry and hereford; 1723, reading; 1731, bath; 1737, sheffield; 1745, stratford-on-avon; 1748, portsmouth. as a side-consequence of the lapsing of the licensing act in 1695, it became possible for any private person to buy a printing press, hire a journeyman printer, and start printing any books he pleased. several private presses were thus set up during the second half of the eighteenth century, the most famous of them being that of horace walpole at strawberry hill, near twickenham. walpole started in 1757 by printing two of the odes of his friend gray, and at intervals during the next twenty-seven years printed several of his own works, and a few other books, of which an edition of grammont's _mémoires_ was the most important. walpole's example was followed by george allan, m.p. for durham, and francis blomefield, the historian of norfolk; also in the nineteenth century by thomas johnes, who printed his translation of froissart in four large quarto volumes at his own house at hafod in cardiganshire in 1803-5, and followed them up with a joinville in 1807 and a monstrelet in 1810. between 1813 and 1823 sir egerton brydges caused a number of interesting literary reprints to be issued for him in limited editions from a press in or near his house at lee priory in kent. the work of both these presses, like that of walpole's, was perhaps equal to the best commercial printing of its day, but was not superior to it, and perhaps the same may be said of the few reprints manufactured, in still more jealously limited editions, by e. v. utterson between 1840 and 1843 at beldornie house, ryde. sir thomas phillipps, who printed numerous antiquarian documents between 1822 and 1862 at middle hill in worcestershire, and between 1862 and 1872 at cheltenham, set even less store by typographical beauty and accuracy. the other private presses of the first half of the nineteenth century are not more interesting, though that of gaetano polidori at park village east, near regent's park, 1840-50, has become famous as having printed gabriel rossetti's _sir hugh the heron_ in 1843, and christina rossetti's first volume of verse four years later, polidori being the grandfather of the young authors on their mother's side. passing north of the tweed, where the most formidable competitors of the london printers now abide, we find the first scottish press at work at edinburgh in 1508. in september of the previous year andrew myllar, a bookseller who had gained some experience of printing at rouen, and walter chapman, a merchant, had been granted leave to import a press, chiefly that they might print an aberdeen breviary, which duly appeared in 1509-10. the books which anticipated it in 1508 were a number of thin quartos, _the maying or disport of chaucer_, dated 4 april, the _knightly tale of golagros and gawane_, dated 8 april, the _porteous of noblenes_, "translated out of franche in scottis be maistir andrew cadiou," dated 20 april, and eight undated pieces, three of them by dunbar (_the goldyn targe_, _the flyting of dunbar and kennedy_, and the _twa marrit wemen and the wedo_, with other poems), the others being the _ballad of lord barnard stewart_, _orpheus and eurydice_, the _buke of gude counsale_, _sir eglamoure of artoys_, and _a gest of robyn hode_. all these have survived (some of them much mutilated) in a single volume, and it is at the reader's pleasure to decide whether they represent the harvest of some careful person who bought up all chapman and myllar's fugitive pieces, or are merely the remnants of a much larger output. the aberdeen breviary, which the printers were encouraged to produce by protection against the importation of sarum books from england or abroad, is really handsomely printed in black and red. at the end of one of the four or five copies of it now known is an addendum, the _officium compassionis beatae virginis_ (commemorated on the wednesday in holy week), which bears the colophon "impressum edinburgi per johannem story nomine & mandato karoli stule," which scottish bibliographers assign to about 1520. a fragment of a _book of the howlat_ may belong to the same period. thus although scottish writers, such as john vaus and hector boece of aberdeen, had to send their books to france to be printed, it is possible that presses were at work in edinburgh or elsewhere in scotland, of which nothing is now known. the next printer of whom we have certain information is thomas davidson, who in february, 1541 (1542), produced a handsome edition of _the new actis and constitutionis of parliament maid be the rycht excellent prince iames the fift_. this was his only dated book, but he issued also a fine edition of _the hystory and croniklis of scotland_, translated by "johne bellenden, archdene of murray, chanon of ros," from the latin of hector boece, and some smaller works. the next scottish printer is john scot, whom the best authorities, despite the fact that he is first heard of in edinburgh in 1539, refuse to identify with the john skot who printed in london from 1521 to 1537. whoever he was, he had no very happy existence, as notwithstanding some efforts to please the protestant party, the work he did for the catholics twice brought him into serious trouble. his first dated book, archbishop hamilton's _catechism_, did not appear till 29 august, 1552, and was printed not at edinburgh, but at st. andrews. how he had been employed between 1539 and this date we have no means of knowing. at st. andrews scot printed patrick cockburn's _pia meditatio in dominicam orationem_ (1555), and probably also lauder's _dewtis of kingis_ (1556). scot also printed controversial works on the catholic side by the abbot of crosraguell (quentin kennedy) and ninian winzet, and for the opposite party _the confessione of faith professit and belevit be the protestantes within the realme of scotland_ (1561). he issued also two editions (1568 and 1571) of the works of sir david lindesay, while his undated books include some of lindesay's single poems. since john scot printed mainly on the catholic side, the protestant general assembly in december, 1562, started a printer in opposition to him, robert lekpreuik, lending him "twa hundreth pounds to help to buy irons, ink and papper and to fie craftesmen for printing." he had previously, in 1561, like scot, printed the _confession of the faith_, also robert noruell's _meroure of an chr[i]stiane_ and an _oration_ by beza. the grant allowed him was in connection with an edition of the psalms, which eventually appeared in 1565, together with the _form of prayer and ministration of the sacraments used in the english church at geneva_ and the catechism (dated 1564). lekpreuik continued active till 1574, and after an interval issued three books in 1581 and perhaps one in 1582. in mr. aldis's list he is credited with ninety-one publications (mostly controversial) as against four assigned to davidson and fifteen to scot. during 1571 he printed at stirling, and the next two years at st. andrews. like scot, he found printing perilous work, his intermission after the beginning of 1574 being due to imprisonment. thomas bassandyne, who had previously published books at edinburgh, began printing there in 1572. he produced but ten (extant) books and documents in all, but his name is famous from its connection with the first scottish bible, of which he produced the new testament in 1576, the old testament being added, and the whole issued by his successor, alexander arbuthnot, in 1579. besides the bible, only five books were printed by arbuthnot. between 1574 and 1580 twenty-six were produced by john ross, and on his death henry charteris, a bookseller, took over his material, and by the time of his death in 1599 had printed forty more. but the best edinburgh work towards the end of the century was produced by two craftsmen from england, thomas vautrollier, who produced ten books in 1584-6, and robert waldegrave (1590-1603), who had to flee from england for his share in the marprelate tracts, and during his thirteen years in edinburgh issued 119 books. when joseph ames was desirous of obtaining information about early printing in ireland he applied to a dr. rutty, of dublin (apparently a quaker), who could only furnish the name of a single book printed there before 1600, this being an edition of the book of common prayer, which states that it is "imprinted by humphrey powell, printer to the kynges maiesti, in his highnesse realme of ireland dwellyng in the citie of dublin in the greate toure by the crane. cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. anno domini mdli." we know from the records of the english privy council that humphrey powell, an inconspicuous english printer, was granted £20 in july, 1550, "towards his setting up in ireland," and this prayer book was doubtless the first fruits of his press. powell remained in dublin for fifteen years, but the only other products of his press still in existence are two proclamations, one issued in 1561 against shane o'neill, the other in 1564 against the o'connors, and _a brefe declaration of certein principall articles of religion_, a quarto of eight leaves set out by order of sir henry sidney in 1566. in 1571 john o'kearney, treasurer of st. patrick's, was presented with a fount of irish type by queen elizabeth, and a catechism by him and a broadside poem on the last judgment, by philip, son of conn crosach, both in irish type, are still extant. but there seems to be no trustworthy information as to where they were printed, though it was probably at dublin. an almanac, giving the longitude and latitude for dublin, for the year 1587, appears to have been printed at london. but in 1595 william kearney printed a proclamation against the earl of tyrone and his adherents in ireland "in the cathedrall church of the blessed trinitie, dublin." we reach continuous firm ground in 1600 when john francke, or franckton (as he called himself in 1602 and thenceforward), printed one or more proclamations at dublin. in 1604 franckton was appointed king's printer for ireland, and he continued at work till 1618, when he assigned his patent to felix kyngston, matthew lownes, and thomas downes. some four-and-twenty proclamations and upwards of a dozen books and pamphlets from his press are extant, some of them in irish type. in 1620 the office of printer-general for ireland was granted for a period of twenty-one years to kingston, lownes, and downes, all of them members of the london stationers' company, and the usual imprint on the books they issued is that of the company (1620-33) or society (1633-42) of stationers. they seem to have appointed an agent or factor to look after their interests, and the last of these factors, william bladen, about 1642 took over the business. the earliest allusion to books printed in what afterwards became the united states of america occurs in the diary of john winthrop, governor of massachusetts bay, for march, 1639: "a printing house was begun at cambridge by one stephen daye, at the charge of mr. glover, who died on sea hitherward. the first thing which was printed was the freemen's oath; the next was an almanac made for new england by mr. william pierce, mariner; the next was the psalms newly turned into metre." the mr. glover here mentioned was the rev. joseph glover, rector of sutton in surrey from 1628 to 1636, who, after collecting funds for the benefit of harvard college at cambridge, mass., sailed with his family from england in the summer of 1638, but died on the way. his widow (elizabeth glover), shortly after her arrival, married the rev. henry dunster, the first president of harvard, and thus, as had happened in paris, the first press in america was set up in a college under clerical auspices. stephen day, the printer whom glover had brought from england, is naturally supposed to have been a descendant of john day, the great elizabethan printer, but of this there is no evidence. he obtained some grants of land in consideration of his services to the colony, but did not greatly thrive, and in 1648, or early in 1649, was superseded by samuel green. of the specimens of his press mentioned by governor winthrop the _oath of a freeman_ and the _almanac_ have perished utterly. of the "bay psalter," or the "new england version of the psalms," as it was subsequently called, at least eleven copies are known to be extant, of which five are stated to be perfect.[62] it is a small octavo of 148 leaves, disfigured by numerous misprints, but with passable presswork. the translation was made by the massachusetts clergy, who prefixed to it "a discourse declaring not only the lawfullnes but also the necessity of the heavenly ordinance of singing scripture psalmes in the churches of god." its titlepage bears the name neither of printer nor of place, but merely "imprinted 1640." there is no doubt, however, that it was produced by day at cambridge, whereas the edition of 1647 appears to have been printed in london. the massachusetts records make it probable that day printed several books and documents now lost. an imperfect copy of harvard theses with the imprint "cantabrigiæ nov. ang., mens. 8 1643" is the next production of his press still extant. after this comes an historical document of some interest: "_a declaration of former passages and proceedings betwixt the english and the narrowgansets, with their confederates, wherein the grounds and iustice of the ensuing warre are opened and cleared_. published by order of the commissioners for the united colonies. at boston the 11 of the sixth month 1645." another broadside of harvard theses (for 1647) and a couple of almanacs for 1647 and 1648, the first of which has the imprint "cambridge printed by matthew daye and to be solde by hez. usher at boston. 1647", are the only other remnants of this stage of the press. of matthew day nothing more is known. samuel green appears to have taken over day's business without any previous technical training, so that it is thought that day may have helped him as a journeyman. the first book ascribed to green is: a platform of church discipline gathered out of the word of god: and agreed upon by the elders: and messengers of the churches assembled in the synod at cambridge in new-england. to be presented to the churches and generals court for their consideration and acceptance in the lord. the eighth moneth, anno 1649. printed by s.g. at cambridge in new-england and are to be sold at cambridge and boston anno dom. 1649. his next extant piece of work is an almanac for 1650, his next the third edition (the second, as noted above, had been printed at london in 1647) of the bay psalter, "printed by samuel green at cambridge in new-england, 1651." this was followed in 1652 by richard mather's _the summe of certain sermons upon genes_. 15. 6, a treatise on justification by faith, and then green seems to have begun to busy himself with work for the corporation in england for the propagation of the gospel amongst the indians in new england, or corporation for the indians, as it is easier to call it. a second press was sent over to enable this work to be undertaken, and a primer by john eliot ("the apostle to the indians") was printed in 1654, and the books of genesis and matthew the next year, all three in the indian language, all three now known only from records. the same destruction has befallen an indian version of some of the psalms mentioned as having been printed in 1658, but of another indian book of the same year, abraham peirson's _some helps for the indians, shewing them how to improve their natural reason to know the true god, and the true christian religion_, two issues have been preserved, one in the new york public library, the other at the british museum. another edition, dated the next year, is also at the museum, though it has escaped the notice of mr. evans, the author of the latest "american bibliography." by this time the corporation for the indians had sent over a skilled printer, marmaduke johnson, to aid green in his work. unfortunately, despite the fact that he had left a wife in england, johnson flirted with green's daughter, and this conduct, reprehensible anywhere, in new england brought down on him fines of £20 and a sentence of deportation, which, however, was not carried out. johnson's initials appears in conjunction with green's in _a brief catechism containing the doctrine of godlines_, by john norton, teacher of the church at boston, published in 1660, and the two men's names in full are in the indian new testament of 1661 and the complete bible of 1663. of the new testament it is conjectured that a thousand, or perhaps fifteen hundred copies, were printed, of which five hundred were bound separately, and forty of these sent to england. how many copies were printed of the old testament is not known, but of the complete bible some forty copies are still extant in no fewer than eight variant states produced by the presence or absence of the indian and english titlepages, the dedication, etc., while of the new testament about half as many copies may be known. during the progress of the indian bible green had continued his english printing on his other press, and had produced among other things _propositions concerning the subject of baptism_ collected by the boston synod, and bearing the imprint "printed by s.g. for hezekiah vsher at boston in new england 1662." printing at boston itself does not appear to have begun until 1675, when john foster, a harvard graduate, was entrusted with the management of a press, and during that and the six following years printed there a number of books by increase mather and other ministers, as well as some almanacs. on his death in 1681 the press was entrusted to samuel sewall, who, however, abandoned it in 1684. meanwhile, samuel green had continued to print at cambridge, and his son, samuel green junior, is found working by assignment of sewall and for other boston booksellers. in 1690 his brother bartholomew green succeeded him, and remained the chief printer at boston till his death in 1732. at philadelphia, within three years of its foundation in 1683, a _kalendarium pennsilvaniense, or america's messinger: being and [sic] almanack for the year of grace 1686_, by samuel atkins, was issued with the imprint, "printed and sold by william bradford, sold also by the author and h. murrey in philadelphia and philip richards in new york, 1685," and in the same year there was published anonymously thomas budd's _good order established in pennsilvania & new jersey in america, being a true account of the country; with its produce and commodities there made_. in 1686 bradford printed _an epistle from john burnyeat to friends in pensilvania_ and _a general epistle given forth by the people of the lord called quakers_; in 1687 william penn's _the excellent privilege of liberty and property being the birthright of the free-born subjects of england_; in 1688 a collection including böhme's _the temple of wisdom_, wither's _abuses stript and whipt_, and bacon's _essays_, edited by daniel leeds. in 1689 bradford began working for george keith, and three years later he was imprisoned for printing keith's _appeal from the twenty eight judges to the spirit of truth and true judgement in all faithful friends called quakers_. in consequence of this persecution bradford left philadelphia the next year and set up his press at new york. reinier jansen and jacob taylor are subsequently mentioned as printers at philadelphia, and in 1712 andrew bradford, son of william, came from new york and worked there until his death in 1742. from 1723 he had as a competitor samuel keimer, and it was in keimer's office that benjamin franklin began printing in philadelphia. his edition of a translation of cicero's _cato major on old age_, by j. logan of philadelphia, is said to have been the first rendering of a classic published in america. meanwhile, william bradford had set up his press in new york in 1693, and obtained the appointment of government printer. his earliest productions there were a number of official acts and proclamations, on which he placed the imprint, "printed and sold by william bradford, printer to king william and queen mary, at the city of new york." in 1700 he was apparently employed to print an anonymous answer to increase mather's _order of the gospel_, and a heated controversy arose as to whether the refusal of bartholomew green to print it at boston was due to excessive "awe" of the president of harvard or to a more praiseworthy objection to anonymous attacks. bradford remained new york's only printer until 1726, when johann peter zenger set up a press which became notable for the boldness with which it attacked the provincial government. such attacks were not regarded with much toleration, nor indeed was the press even under official regulation greatly beloved by authority. in 1671 sir william berkeley, governor of virginia, in an official document remarked: "i thank god we have not free schools nor printing; and i hope we shall not have these hundred years. for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world; and printing has divulged them and libels against the government. god keep us from both." eleven years later (21 february, 1682) there is an entry in the virginian records: "john buckner called before the l^d culpeper and his council for printing the laws of 1680, without his excellency's license, and he and the printer ordered to enter into bond in £100 not to print anything hereafter, until his majesty's pleasure shall be known." as a result there was no more printing in virginia till about 1729, nor are any other towns than those here mentioned known to have possessed presses during the seventeenth century, the period within which american books may claim the dignity of incunabula. footnotes: [55] mr. duff is no doubt right in his suggestion that this is _a very declaration of the bond and free wyll of man: the obedyence of the gospell and what the gospell meaneth_, of which a copy, with colophon, "printed at saint albans," is in the spencer collection at the john rylands library. this increases hertfort's total to eight. [56] mr. duff plausibly suggests that overton's name in the colophon was merely a device for surmounting the restrictions on the circulation in england of books printed abroad. [57] those recorded by mr. e. g. duff in his sandars lectures on "the english provincial printers, stationers, and bookbinders to 1557," by my reckoning number 114. [58] this reckoning was made in 1896, but the proportion has not been substantially altered. [59] the colophon to the _chronicles_ which commemorates leeu has already been quoted (p. 81). [60] before the incorporation of the company brought english printing more easily under supervision, at least a few books had been issued by english printers with spurious foreign imprints, of which the most impudent was "at rome under the castle of st. angelo." [61] robert barker himself was imprisoned for debt in the king's bench at london in 1635, and died there in 1646. what is here written applies to his deputy, who may have been his son of the same name. [62] the assertion by mr. charles evans (_american bibliography_, p. 3) that one of these, "the crowninshield copy, was privately sold by henry stevens to the british museum for £157 10s.," despite its apparent precision, is an exasperating error. chapter xiv english woodcut illustrations [illustration: xxix. westminster, caxton, c. 1488 bonaventura. meditationes. (part of sig. k 5 recto) christ raising the daughter of jairus] a few illuminated manuscripts of english workmanship and a few with illustrations in outline have come down to us from the fifteenth century, but amid the weary wars with france and the still wearier struggles of yorkists and lancastrians, the artistic spirit which had been so prominent in england in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries seems to have died out altogether. until the reign of queen elizabeth, or perhaps we should rather say until the advent of john day, few english books were illustrated, and of these few quite a large proportion borrowed or copied their pictures from foreign originals. nevertheless, english illustrated books are rightly sought after by english collectors, and though we may wish that they were better, we must give the best account of them we can. as we shall see in a later chapter, there is some probability that an engraving on copper was specially prepared for the first book printed by caxton, _the recuyell of the histories of troye._ for the present, however, we must concern ourselves only with illustrations on wood, or on soft metal cut in relief after the manner of wood, a difference of more interest to the technical student than to book-lovers. the first english books thus illustrated appear in or about 1481, the year in which jean du pré began the use of cuts in paris. england was thus fairly well to the front in point of time; it is the quality which is to seek. the first of these illustrated books was probably an undated edition of the _mirrour of the world_, a translation of a french version of a latin _speculum_ or _imago mundi_. besides some woodcut diagrams copied from drawings found in the french manuscripts, this has ten little cuts, seven of the masters of the seven liberal arts, one of the author, and two of the creation. two of the cuts illustrating the arts were used again almost at once in caxton's third edition of the _parvus et magnus cato_, a book of moral instruction for children in a series of latin distichs. in 1481 also caxton ornamented the second edition of the didactic treatise, _the game and play of the chess_ (from the latin of jacobus de cessolis), with sixteen woodcuts, representing the characters after which the different pieces and pawns were called. the pictures are clumsy and coarsely cut, comparing miserably with the charming little woodcuts in the italian edition printed at florence, but they illustrate the book, and may conceivably have increased its sales. in any case, caxton seems, in a leisurely way, to have set about producing some more, since by or about 1484 appeared three of his most important illustrated books, the _golden legend_, the second edition of chaucer's _canterbury tales_, and an _aesop_. the _golden legend_ is ornamented with eighteen large and thirty-two smaller woodcuts; the _aesop_ with a full-page frontispiece and one hundred and five smaller cuts; the _canterbury tales_ with a large cut of the pilgrims seated at a round table, and with some twenty smaller pictures of the different story-tellers on their horses, some of these being used more than once. for the _aesop_, like many other foreign publishers, caxton sent his illustrators to the designs made for the zainers at augsburg and ulm, and quickly imitated all over germany, and the copies he obtained are merely servile and so clumsy as occasionally to attain to unintended humour. foreign influence is also evident in some at least of the cuts in the _golden legend_; on the other hand, we may be sure that the device of the earl of arundel on leaf 3 verso, a horse galloping past a tree, must have been made in england. original, too, of necessity, were the illustrations to the _canterbury tales_, for which no foreign models could have been found. but the succession of pilgrims, each decked with a huge string of praying-beads and mounted on a most ungainly horse, is grotesque in its cumulation of clumsiness, though when we find that the miller really has got a kind of bagpipe, we recognize that the illustrator had at least read his text. apparently caxton himself realized that these english-made woodcuts were a failure, for the only two important illustrated books which he issued after this, the _speculum vitae christi_, printed about 1488 (see plate xxix), and the _fifteen oes_ of a year or two later, both seem to be decorated with cuts of flemish origin. the _fifteen oes_ (a collection of fifteen prayers, each beginning with o), though i have called it important, is so mainly as proving that caxton must have printed a horae of the same measurements (of which it may, indeed, have formed a part), illustrated with a set of very spirited woodcuts, undoubtedly imported from flanders and subsequently found in the possession of wynkyn de worde. that the cuts in the _speculum vitae christi_ are also flemish is a degree less certain, but only a degree. some of these were used again in the _royal book_, the _doctrinal of sapience_, and the _book of divers ghostly matters_. but the seven books which we have named are the only ones for which caxton troubled to procure sets of cuts, and of these seven sets, as we have seen, one was certainly and another probably imported, one certainly and another probably copied, and only three are of english origin, and these the rudest and clumsiest. while our chief native printer made this poor record his contemporaries did no better. lettou and machlinia used no woodcuts which have come down to us save a small border, which passed into the possession of pynson; for use at oxford two sets of cuts were imported from the low countries, one which mr. gordon duff thinks was originally designed for a _legenda aurea_, the other clearly meant for a horae. these were used together in the oxford edition of mirk's _liber festivalis_, and the cut of the author of the _legenda aurea_ (jacobus de voragine) is used for lyndewood in an edition of his _constitutions_. at st. albans some poor little cuts were used in the _chronicles of england_, but from the point of view of illustration the anonymous schoolmaster-printer is chiefly memorable for having printed some cuts of coat-armour in the "book of st. albans" (_the boke of haukyng, huntyng and also of cote-armuris_) in colours. wynkyn de worde inherited caxton's stock of woodcuts, and early in his career used some of them again in reprints of the _golden legend_ and _speculum vitae christi_, and in his larger horae used the full set of cuts which, while in caxton's hands, is only known from those which appear in the _fifteen oes_. about 1492 he purchased some ornamental capitals (caxton had only used a single rather graceful rustic a) and one or more cuts from govaert van os of gouda. in his 1494 edition of walter hylton's _scala perfectionis_ (the first book in which he put his name) he used a woodblock consisting of a picture of christ suckled by his mother with a long woodcut inscription, part of which reads "sit dulce nomen domini nostri ihesu christi et nomen genitricis virginis marie benedictum," the whole surrounded by a graceful floral border. in 1495 came higden's _polychronicon_ with a few woodcut musical notes, the "hystorye of the deuoute and right renommed lyues of holy faders lyuynge in deserte" (usually quoted as the _vitas patrum_), with one large cut used six times and forty small ones used as 155, and about the same time a handsome edition of bartholomaeus anglicus's _de proprietatibus rerum_, with large cuts (two-thirds of the folio page) prefixed to each of the twenty-two books, apparently copied partly from those in a dutch edition printed at haarlem in 1485, partly from the illustrations (themselves not original) in a french edition printed at lyon, of which caxton, who finished the translation on his death-bed, had made use. in 1496, in reprinting the _book of st. albans_ de worde added a treatise on _fishing with an angle_, to which he prefixed a cut of a happy angler hauling up a fish which will soon be placed in a well-filled tub which stands beside him on the bank. this is quite good primitive work and was sufficiently appreciated to be used for numerous later editions, but soon after this de worde employed a cutter who served him very badly, mangling cruelly a set of rather ambitious designs for the _morte d'arthur_ of 1498 (several of them used again in the _recuyell_ of 1503), and also some single cuts used in different books. for the next half-dozen years de worde relied almost exclusively on old cuts, but at last found a competent craftsman who enabled him to bring out in january, 1505-6, an english version of the _art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_ with quite neat reductions of the pictures in vérard's edition of 1492. it was, no doubt, the same workman who copied in 1506 the vérard-pigouchet cuts in pierre gringore's _chasteau de labeur_ as translated by alexander barclay, but from the frequent omission of backgrounds it is obvious that in these he was hurried, and they are by no means so good as those in the 1505 edition by pynson with which de worde was enviously hastening to compete. the _calendar of shepherds_ was another translation from the french, illustrated with copies of french cuts, while in the prose _ship of fools_, translated by henry watson from a french version of the german _narrenschiff_ of sebastian brant, basel originals were reproduced probably from intermediate copies. but when in 1509 henry vii died, de worde for once seems to have let his craftsman do a bit of original work for a title-cut to a funeral sermon by bishop fisher. in this (see plate xxx) the bishop is shown preaching in a wooden pulpit, immediately below which is the hearse covered by a gorgeous pall on which lies an effigy of the dead king, while beyond the hearse stands a crowd of courtiers. it is evident that perspective was not the artist's strong point, as the pavement seems climbing up the wall and the shape of the hearse is quite indeterminate, but the general effect of the cut is neat and pleasing. that it is an english cut is certain. a few months later bishop fisher preached another funeral sermon, over henry vii's aged mother, margaret duchess of richmond, and when de worde economically wished to use the same woodcut on the titlepage of his edition of this, there was a craftsman on the spot able to cut out the royal hearse from the block and plug in a representation of an ordinary one, and the similarity of touch shows that this was done by the original cutter. [illustration: xxx. london, wynkyn de worde, 1509 bishop fisher. funeral sermon on henry vii. (title)] as we have already noted in chapter xii, wynkyn de worde was singularly unenterprising as a publisher, and although he lived for nearly a quarter of a century after the accession of henry viii, during all this time he printed no new book which required copious illustration. on the other hand, he was a man of fixed habits, and one of these habits came to be the decoration of the titlepage of nearly every small quarto he issued with a woodcut of some kind or other, the title itself being sometimes printed on a riband above it. when a new picture was absolutely necessary for this purpose it was forthcoming and generally fairly well cut, but a few stock woodcuts, a schoolmaster holding a birch for grammatical books, a knight on horseback for a romance, etc., were used again and again, and often the block was picked out (we are tempted to say "at random," but that would be an exaggeration) from one of the sets already described, which de worde had commissioned in more lavish days. one of richard pynson's earliest books was an edition of chaucer's _canterbury tales_ with about a score of woodcuts of the pilgrims obviously influenced by those in caxton's second edition, but in no way an improvement on them. it is true that not only is the miller again allowed his bagpipe, but a little mill is placed in the corner of the cut to identify him beyond doubt. on the other hand, the knight's horse is bedecked with the cumbrous skirts used in the tilt-yard, but which would have become sadly draggled ere much progress had been made along the miry road to canterbury. the clerk, moreover, is made to carry a bow as if, instead of having his mind set on aristotle, he were of the lusty sort that loved to get venison where they should not. round most of the cuts there is a heavy edge of black, as if from an untrimmed block, which does not improve their appearance. altogether they are poor work, and it was doubtless his recognition of this that caused pynson in future to rely so largely on the purchase or imitation of foreign blocks. for his edition of lydgate's _falles of princes_, a verse rendering of boccaccio's _de casibus illustrium virorum_, issued in 1494, he procured the woodcuts made for the fine french edition (_de la ruine des nobles hommes_), printed at paris by jean du pré in 1483. before 1500 he brought out an _aesop_, copying as usual the german cuts. in 1505 he printed alexander barclay's version of pierre gringore's _chasteau du labeur_ with cuts closely and fairly skilfully copied from those in the pigouchet-vérard editions. in 1506 he went further and procured from vérard the blocks for a new edition of the _kalendar of shepherds_, which, however, he caused to be retranslated, with sundry remarks on the extraordinary english of the version published by vérard. in 1509 he produced in a fine folio barclay's free rendering of brant's _narrenschiff_, illustrating this english _ship of fools_ with 117 cuts copied from the originals. in 1518 he procured from froben some border-pieces for small quartos, one showing in the footpiece a boy carried on the shoulders of his fellows, another an elephant, a third mutius scaevola and porsenna. [illustration: xxxi. london, pynson, c. 1520 barclay's version of sallust's jugurtha. the translator and the duke of norfolk. (reduced)] if pynson had dealt largely in illustrated books the borrowings and copyings here recited might seem insignificant. he published, however, very little english work which can be set against them, and even of the cuts which pass for english the native origin is not always sure. i should be sorry to pledge myself, for instance, as to the provenance of some neat but rather characterless column-cuts in his edition of the _speculum vitae christi_ (fifteenth century). the title-cut to the _traduction and mariage of the princesse_ (katherine), printed in 1501, is almost certainly english in its heaviness and lack of charm, but despite the fact that they must have been produced in london we can hardly say as much of the two far prettier pictures which adorn the _carmen_ of petrus carmelianus on the treaty of marriage between the future charles v and the princess mary (1508). in the first of these the ambassadors are being received by henry vii, in the second by the princess who is attended by her maids, and the latter is perhaps the first english book-illustration with any touch of grace. unluckily there is a half spanish, half low-country look about it, which suggests that some member of the ambassadors' suite with an artistic turn may at least have supplied the design, so that one hesitates to claim it too vigorously as english work. we may be more confident about the one good cut (the rest are a scratch lot) in the 1513 edition of lydgate's _the hystory sege and dystruccion of troy_. in this henry v is shown seated in a large room, with his suite, while lydgate in his black habit as a benedictine presents him with his book. there is a general resemblance between this and another good piece of work, the picture in alexander barclay's translation of sallust's _jugurtha_ (undated) of this other black monk offering his book to the duke of norfolk (see plate xxxi). probably both were from the same hand. it may be noted that the cut of barclay was used again in the _myrrour of good maners conteyning the iiii. vertues called cardynall compyled in latin by domynicke mancyn_, of which he was the industrious translator. in pynson's 1516 edition of fabyan's _chronicle_, besides some insignificant column-cuts of kings and some decorative heraldic work, there is an excellent picture of a disembarkation. in other books we find cuts of a schoolmaster with his pupils, of an author, of a woman saint (s. bridget, though used also for s. werburga), etc. towards the end of his career in the collection of chaucer's works (1526) and reprint of lydgate's _falles of princes_ (1527), pynson drew on his stock of miscellaneous blocks rather than allow works with which illustrations had become associated to go forth undecorated.[63] but with his purchase of the border-pieces from froben in 1518, it would seem that he more or less definitely turned his back on pictorial illustration. mr. gordon duff has shown that a change comes over the character of his books about this time, and has suggested that during the latter years of his life his business was to some extent in the hands of thomas berthelet, who succeeded him as king's printer. berthelet himself in the course of his long and prosperous career eschewed illustrations altogether, while he took some trouble to get good capitals and had a few ornamental borders. it is thus hardly too much to say that from 1518 for some forty years, until in 1559 john day published cunningham's _cosmographicall glasse_, book-illustration in england can only be found lurking here and there in holes and corners. in 1526 peter treveris issued the _grete herbal_ with numerous botanical figures; in 1529 john rastell printed his own _pastime of people_ with huge, semi-grotesque cuts of english kings; a few of robert copland's books and a few of robert wyer's have rough cuts of no importance. but when we think of pynson's edition of lord berners' _froissart_, of berthelet's of gower's _confessio amantis_, of godfray's _chaucer_, and of grafton's edition of halle's _chronicle_, all illustratable books and all unillustrated, it is evident that educated book-buyers, wearied of rudely hacked blocks, often with no relevance to the book in which they were found, had told the printers that they might save the space occupied by these decorations, and that the reign of the primitive woodcut in english books, if it can be said ever to have reigned, was at an end. this emphatic discouragement of book-illustrations during so many years in the sixteenth century was perhaps the best thing that could have happened--next to an equally emphatic encouragement of them. there can have been no reason in the nature of things why english book-illustrations should continue over a long period of time to be third-rate. a little help and a little guidance would probably have sufficed to reform them altogether. nevertheless it can hardly be disputed that as a matter of fact they were, with very few exceptions, third-rate, the superiority of pynson's to wynkyn de worde's being somewhat less striking than is usually asserted. in the absence of the needed help and guidance it was better to make a sober dignity the ideal of book-production than to continue to deface decently printed books by the use of job lots of column cuts. the borders and other ornaments used by berthelet, reyner wolfe, and grafton, the three principal firms of this period, are at least moderately good. all three printers indulged in the pleasing heresy of pictorial or heraldic capitals, wolfe in the _homiliae duae_ of s. chrysostom (1543), grafton in halle's chronicle entitled _the union of the families of lancaster and york_ (1548), and berthelet in some of his later proclamations. as regards their devices, grafton's punning emblem (a tree grafted on a tun), though in its smallest size it may pass well enough, was not worthy of the prominence which he sometimes gave it; but wolfe's "charitas" mark, of children throwing sticks at an apple tree, is perhaps the most pleasing of english devices, while berthelet's "lucrece," despite the fact that her draperies have yielded to the renaissance temptation of fluttering in the wind rather more than a roman lady would have thought becoming at the moment of death, is of its kind a fine piece of work. as for pictures, from which berthelet, as far as i remember, was consistent in his abstinence--wolfe and grafton were wisely content to make an exception in favour of holbein, a little medallion cut after his portrait of sir thomas wyatt adorning wolfe's edition of leland's _naeniae_ (1542), and grafton owing to him the magnificent titlepage to the great bibles in which cranmer and cromwell, with a host of other worthies, are seen distributing bibles under the superintendence of henry viii. after the fall of cromwell his armorial bearings were cut out of the block, a piece of petty brutality on a level with that which compelled owners of prayer books and golden legends to deface them by scratching out the word "pope" and as much as they could of the service for the day of that certainly rather questionable saint, thomas à becket. [illustration: xxxii. london, t. powell, 1556 heywood. the spider and the fly. portrait of heywood] in 1548 we come across a definitely illustrated book, cranmer's _catechism_, published by walter lynne, with a delicately cut titlepage[64] showing figures of justice, prudence, and victory, and also the royal arms, and in the text numerous small biblical pictures, two of which are signed "hans holbein," while others have been rashly attributed to bernard salomon. in 1556 we find heywood's _spider and the fly_ illustrated not only with various woodcuts of spiders' webs, but with a portrait of the author stiff and ungainly enough in all conscience, but carrying with it an impression of lank veracity (see plate xxxii). about this time, moreover, william copland was issuing folio and quarto editions of some of the poems and romances which had pleased the readers of the first quarter of the century, and some of these had the old cuts in them. it is evident that illustrations would have come back in any case--book-buyers can never abstain from them for long together. but it is only fair to connect this return with the name of john day, who made a strenuous effort, which only just failed of success, to bring up book-illustration to the high level at which he was aiming in printing. day had issued a few books during the reign of edward vi, notably a bible with an excellent pictorial capital showing the promoter of the edition, edmund becke, presenting a copy of it to the king. as a staunch protestant he had been in some danger under queen mary, but with the accession of elizabeth he came quickly to the front, thanks to the help of archbishop parker, and the edition of _the cosmographicall glasse_ of william cunningham, which he issued in 1559, is thus, as we have already suggested, a real landmark in english book-production. in addition to its fine types, this book is notable for its woodcut diagrams and pictorial capitals, ornamental titlepage, large map of norwich and, most important of all, a strong and vigorous portrait of the author, his right hand on a globe, a _dioscorides_ with a diagram of a rose lying open before him, and a wooded landscape being seen in the distance. the whole is enclosed in an oval frame, round which runs a greek motto cut in majuscules, [greek: ê megalê eudaimoniê oudeni phthonein] ("the great happiness is to envy no man"), with the author's age, "ætatis 28" at the foot. the portrait measures about 6 inches by 4½, and occupies the whole folio page. it is only too probable that it was the work not of a native englishman, but of some dutch refugee, but here at last in an english book was a piece of living portraiture adequately cut on wood, and with better luck it should have been the first of a long series. john day himself did his best to promote a fashion by prefixing a small portrait of becon to that author's _pomander of prayer_, 1561, and having a much larger one of himself cut the next year, "ætatis svæ xxxx," as the inscription tells us, adding also his motto, "liefe is deathe and death is liefe", the spelling in which suggests a dutch artist, though dutch spelling about this time was so rampant in england that we may hope against hope that this was english work. the oval portrait is surrounded with strap-work ornament, another fashion of the day, and at the foot of this are the initials i. d. on one interpretation these would lead us to believe not only that the work is english, but that day himself was the cutter. but bindings from his shop are sometimes signed i. d. p. (ioannes day pegit), and we must hesitate before attributing to him personal skill not only in printing, but in binding and wood-cutting as well. the portrait itself is taken side-face and shows a cropped head, keen eye, and long beard, the neck being entirely concealed by a high coat-collar within which is a ruff. the ground to the front of the face is all in deep shadow, that at the back of the head is left white, a simple contrast which perhaps makes the general effect more brilliant. day used this portrait as a device in some of his largest folio books--for instance, his three-volume edition of becon's works (1560-4) and foxe's _book of martyrs_ (1563). the full title of the _book of martyrs_, which we have now reached, is _actes and monuments of these latter and perillous dayes, touching matters of the church, wherein ar comprehended and described the great persecutions and horrible troubles, that have bene wrought and practised by the romishe prelates, especially in this realm of england and scotlande, from the yeare of our lorde a thousande unto the tyme nowe present_. it bears an elaborate titlepage showing protestants and catholics preaching, protestants being burnt at the stake contrasted with catholics offering the sacrifice of the mass, and finally the protestant martyrs uplifted in heaven, while the catholic persecutors are packed off to hell. the text is very unevenly illustrated, but the total number of woodcuts even in the first edition (1563) is very considerable, and as many new pictures were added in the second (1570), the book was certainly the most liberally illustrated with cuts specially made for it which had yet been produced in england. one or two of the smaller cuts, mostly the head of a martyr praying amid the flames, are used several times; of the larger cuts only a very few are repeated, and, considering the monotonous subject of the book, it is obvious that some trouble must have been taken to secure variety in the illustrations. a few of these occupy a whole page, that illustrating the protestant legend of the poisoning of king john by a fanatic monk being divided into compartments, while others showing some of the more important martyrdoms are ambitiously designed. the drawing of some of the later pictures is coarse, but on the whole the designs are good and with a good deal of character in them. the cutting is careful and painstaking, but hardly ever succeeds in making the picture stand out boldly on the page, so that the general effect is grey and colourless. as to the personality of the designers and cutters we know nothing. day at one time was anxious to get leave to keep more than the permitted maximum of four foreigners in his employment, but we have really no sufficient ground for arguing either for an english or a foreign origin for these illustrations. a few years after this, in 1569, when the new edition of the _book of martyrs_ was in preparation, day issued another illustrated book: _a christall glasse of christian reformation, wherein the godly maye beholde the coloured abuses used in this our present tyme. collected by stephen bateman_, better known as the "batman uppon bartholomew," i.e. the editor by whom the _de proprietatibus rerum_ of bartholomaeus anglicus was "newly corrected, enlarged, and amended" in 1582. the _christall glasse of christian reformation_ is a dull book with dull illustrations, which are of the nature of emblems, made ugly by party spirit. a more interesting book by the same author and issued in the same year was _the travayled pylgrime, bringing newes from all partes of the worlde_, to which bateman only put his initials and which was printed not by day, but by denham. this, although i cannot find that the fact has been noted, is largely indebted both for its scheme and its illustrations to the _chevalier délibéré_ of olivier de la marche, though the woodcuts go back not to those of the gouda and schiedam incunabula, but to the antwerp edition of 1555, in which these were translated into some of the most graceful of sixteenth century cuts. needless to say, much of the grace disappears in this new translation, although the cutting is more effective than in the _book of martyrs_. besides these two books by stephen bateman, 1569 saw the issue of the first edition of one of john day's most famous ventures, _a booke of christian prayers, collected out of the ancient writers and best learned in our time, worthy to be read with an earnest mind of all christians, in these dangerous and troublesome daies, that god for christes sake will yet still be mercifull vnto us_. from the presence on the back of the titlepage of a very stiff portrait of the queen kneeling in prayer (rather like a design for a monumental brass), this is usually quoted as _queen elizabeth's prayer book_. it was reprinted in 1578 (perhaps also earlier), 1581, and 1590, and the later editions, the only ones i have seen, ascribe the compilation to r. d., i.e. richard day, john day's clergyman son. the book is in appearance a kind of protestant horae, having borders to every page divided into compartments as in the paris editions, showing scenes from the life of christ, the cardinal virtues and their opposites, the works of charity, and a dance of death. compared with the best, or even the second best, of the horae of pigouchet or kerver, the book looks cold and colourless, but the rarity of the early editions shows that it must have been very popular. the only other book issued by day with borders to every page was the (supposititious) _certaine select prayers gathered out of s. augustines meditations, which he calleth his selfe-talks with god_, which went through several editions, of which the first is dated 1574. this is a much less pretentious book, the borders being decorative instead of pictorial, but it makes rather a pretty little octavo. another 1569 book which has cuts is the edition of grafton's _chronicle_ of that year, printed by henry denham, but as the cuts look like a "job" lot, possibly of german origin, and are only placed at the beginnings of sections in the short first book, while all the history from 1066 onwards is left unillustrated, this speaks rather of decadence than progress. [illustration: xxxiii. london, c. barker, 1575 turberville. booke of faulconrie. queen elizabeth hawking] in 1581, towards the close of his career, day was employed to print john derrick's _image of ireland_, giving an account of sir henry sidney's campaign against the irish "wood-karnes." in some few copies this work is illustrated with eight very large woodcuts, the most ambitious in some respects that had ever been attempted in england. the first four are wretchedly cut; the last four, showing sir henry's battle with the rebels and his triumphal return, are both well designed and well executed. meanwhile, other printers and publishers had produced a few more illustrated books in the 'seventies. thus in 1575 henry bynneman had printed turberville's _booke of faulconrie_ for christopher barker. the numerous excellent illustrations of hawks (and probably those of dogs also) are taken from french books, but there is a fairly vigorous picture of queen elizabeth hawking attended by her suite, badged, back and front, with large tudor roses, and this (see plate xxxiii) looks like english work. in a much later edition--that of 1611--it is curious to note that the portrait of the queen was cut out and one of james i substituted. in 1576 a rather forbidding woodcut portrait of george gascoigne was printed (by r. smith) in that worthy's _steele glas_. in 1577 came a very important work, the famous _chronicle_, begun on a vast scale by reyner wolfe and completed for england, scotland, and ireland by raphael holinshed, now published by john harrison the elder. this has the appearance of being much more profusely illustrated than the _book of martyrs_ or any other english folio, but as the cuts of battles, riots, executions, etc., which form the staple illustrations, are freely repeated, the profusion is far less than it seems. the cuts, moreover, are much smaller than those in foxe's _martyrs_. as a rule they are vigorously designed and fairly well cut, and if it had come fifty years earlier the book would have been full of promise. but, as far as pictorial cuts in important books are concerned, we are nearing the end. in 1579 h. singleton published spenser's _shepheardes calender_ with a small cut of no great merit at the head of each "æglogue," and in the same year vautrollier illustrated north's _plutarch_ with insignificant little busts which derive importance only from the large ornamental frames, stretching across the folio page, in which they are set. woodcuts did not cease to be used after this date. they will be found in herbals (but these were mainly foreign blocks), military works, and all books for which diagrams were needed. they continued fashionable for some time for the architectural or other forms of borders to titlepages, some of them very graceful, as, for instance, that to the early folio editions of sidney's _arcadia_; also for the coats of arms of the great men to whom books were dedicated. they are found also at haphazard in the sixpenny and fourpenny quartos of plays and romances, and many of the old blocks gradually drifted into the hands of the printers of ballads and chapbooks, and appear in incongruous surroundings after a century of service. but i cannot myself call to mind any important english book after 1580 for which a publisher thought it worth his while to commission a new set of imaginative pictures cut on wood, and that means that woodcut illustration as a vital force in the making of books had ceased to exist. they needed good paper and careful presswork, and all over europe paper and presswork were rapidly deteriorating. they cost money, and book-buyers apparently did not care enough for them to make them a good investment. the rising popularity of copper engravings for book-illustration on the continent probably influenced the judgment of english book-lovers, and although, as we shall see, copper engraving was for many years very sparingly used in england save for portraits, frontispieces, and titlepages, woodcuts went clean out of fashion for some two centuries. footnotes: [63] he had apparently returned the blocks borrowed from du pré for the _falles of princes_, as none of them is used in 1527, although one or two are copied. i have not met with all the chaucer illustrations, and it is possible that a few of these are new. [64] used again the same year in a treatise by richard bonner. chapter xv engraved illustrations the good bookman should have no love for "plates," and to do them justice bookmen have shown commendable fortitude in resisting their attractions, great as these often are. as a form of book-decoration the plate reached its highest development in the french _livres-à-vignettes_ of the eighteenth century, the charm of the best bookwork of moreau, eisen, and their fellows being incontestable. it would, indeed, have argued some lack of patriotism if french book-lovers had not yielded themselves to the fascination of a method of book-illustration which had thus reached its perfection in their own country, and they have done so. but as he reads the enthusiastic descriptions of these eighteenth century books by m. henri béraldi, a foreign book-lover may well feel (to borrow the phrase which jonson and herrick used of the over-dressed ladies of their day) that the book itself has become its "own least part." a book which requires as an appendix an album of original designs, or of proofs of the illustrations, or (worse still) which has been mounted on larger paper and guarded so that these proofs or designs can be brought into connection with the text, is on its way to that worst of all fates, the avernus of extra illustration or graingerism. when it has reached this, it ceases to be a book at all and becomes a scrap-album of unharmonized pictures. lack of means may make it easy for a bookman to resist the temptation to supplement the illustrations in a book with duplicates in proof or any like extravagances, but even then few books which have plates in them fail to bring trouble. if the plates are protected with "flimsies," the owner's conscience may be perturbed with doubts as to whether these may lawfully be torn out. if there are no flimsies, the leaf opposite a plate often shows a set-off from it and is sometimes specially badly foxed. moreover, not being an integral part of the book, the plate presents problems to publishers and binders which are too often left unsolved. it ought to be printed on paper sufficiently wide to allow of a flap or turn-over, so that the leaf can be placed in the quire and properly sewn. but the flap thus left is not pretty, and unless very thin may cause the book to gape. thus too often the plate is only glued or pasted into its place, with the result that it easily comes loose. hence misplacements, imperfections, and consequent woe. it is the charm of the earlier books illustrated with incised engravings that the impressions are pulled on the same paper as the rest of the book, very often on pages bearing letterpress, and almost always, even when they chance to occupy a whole page, the back of which is left blank, as part of the quire or gathering. the price, however, which had to be paid for these advantages was a heavy one, the trouble not merely of double printing, as in the case of a sheet printed in red and black, but of double printing in two different kinds, one being from a raised surface, the other from an incised. it is clear that this trouble was found very serious, as both at rome and florence in italy, at bruges in the low countries, at würzburg and eichstätt in germany, and at lyon in france, the experiment was tried independently and in every case abandoned after one or two books had been thus ornamented. [illustration: xxxiv. florence, nicolus laurentii, 1477 bettini. monte santo di dio. christ in glory. (reduced)] at rome, after the failure of his printing partnership with pannartz, conrad sweynheym betook himself to engraving maps to illustrate an edition of ptolemy's _cosmographia_, and this was brought out after his death by arnold buckinck, 10 october, 1478. thirteen months earlier nicolaus laurentii, of breslau, had published at florence the _monte santo di dio_ of antonio bettini, with two full-page engravings and one smaller one. the first of these shows the ladder of prayer and the sacraments up which, by the virtues which form its successive rungs, a cassocked youth is preparing to climb to heaven, where christ stands in a mandorla supported by angels. the second plate is given up entirely to a representation of christ in a mandorla, both drawing and engraving being excellent, and the little angels who are lovingly upholding the frame being really delightful (see plate xxxiv). the third picture, printed on a page with text, is smaller than these and represents the pains of hell. when a second edition of the _monte santo di dio_ was needed in 1491 the copperplates were replaced by woodcuts, a fact which may remind us that not only the trouble of printing, but the small number of impressions which could be taken from copperplates, must have been a formidable objection to their use in bookwork. but at the time the first edition may well have been regarded as a success. if so, it was an unlucky one, as nicolaus laurentii was thereby encouraged to undertake a much more ambitious venture, an annotated _divina commedia_ with similar illustrations, and this, which appeared in 1481, can only be looked on as a failure. no space was left at the head of the first canto, and the engraving was printed on the lower margin, where it is often found cruelly cropped. in subsequent cantos spaces were sometimes left, sometimes not, but after the second the engravings are generally founded printed on separate slips and pasted into their places, and in no copy do they extend beyond canto xix. they used to be assigned to botticelli, but the discovery of his real designs to the _divina commedia_ has shown that these of 1481 were only slightly influenced by them. in germany the only copper engravings found in fifteenth century books are the coats of arms of the bishops and chapters of würzburg and eichstätt in the books printed for them at these places by georg and michel reyser respectively. in order more easily to persuade the clergy of these dioceses to buy properly revised service-books to replace their tattered and incorrect manuscript copies, the bishops attached certain "indulgences" to their purchase, and as a proof that the recital of these was not a mere advertising trick of the printer permitted him to print their arms at the foot of the notice. these arms, most charmingly and delicately engraved, are found in the würzburg missals of 1481 (this i have not seen) and 1484, and the "agenda" of 1482 (see plate xxxv), and no doubt also in other early service-books printed by georg reyser. the eichstätt books of his kinsmen michel are similarly adorned--for instance, the _statuta synodalia eystettensia_ of 1484, though neither the design nor the engraving is so good. in how many editions by the reysers these engraved arms appeared i cannot say, as the books are all of great rarity; but by 1495, if not earlier, they had been abandoned, for in the würzburg _missale speciale_ of that year we find the delicate engraving replaced by a woodcut copy of nearly four times the size and less than a fourth of the charm. the only french book of the fifteenth century known to me as possessing copper engravings is a very beautiful one, the version of breidenbach's _peregrinatio ad terram sanctam_, by frère nicole le huen, printed at lyon by michel topie and jacob heremberck in 1488, and adorned with numerous excellent capitals. in this all the cuts in the text of the mainz editions are fairly well copied on wood, but the large folding plans of venice and other cities on the pilgrims' route are admirably reproduced on copper with a great increase in the delicacy of their lines. [illustration: xxxv. würzburg, g. reyser, 1482 würzburg agenda. (end of preface)] we come now to a book bearing an earlier date than any of those already mentioned, but not entitled to its full pride of place because it is doubtful to what extent the engravings connected with it can be reckoned an integral part of it. this is the french version of boccaccio's _de casibus illustrium virorum_ ("des cas des nobles hommes"), printed at bruges by colard mansion and dated 1476. as originally printed there was no space left for any pictorial embellishments; but in at least two copies the first leaf of the prologue has been reprinted so as to leave room for a picture; in another copy, which in 1878 belonged to lord lothian, spaces are left also at the beginning of each of the nine books into which the work is divided, except the first and sixth, and all the spaces have been filled with copper engravings coloured by hand; in yet another copy there is a space left also at the beginning of book vi. according to the monograph on the subject by david laing (privately printed in 1878), the subjects of the engravings are:- (1) prologue, the author presenting his work to his patron, mainardo cavalcanti. (2) book i. adam and eve standing before the author as he writes. (3) book ii. king saul on horseback, and lying dead. (4) book iii. fortune and poverty. (5) book iv. marcus manlius thrown into the tiber. (6) book v. the death of regulus. (7) book vi. not known. (8) book vii. a combat of six men. (9) book viii. the humiliation of the emperor valerian by king sapor of persia. (10) book ix. brunhilde, queen of the franks, torn asunder by four horses. from the reproductions which laing gives in his monograph it is evident that the engraver set himself to imitate the style of the contemporary illuminated manuscripts of the bruges school, and that he used his graver rather to get the designs on to the paper than with any real feeling for the characteristic charm of his own art. my own inclination is to believe that we must look on these plates as a venture of colard mansion's rather in his old capacity as an illuminator, anxious to decorate a few special copies, than as a printer intent on embellishing a whole edition. the engravings may have been made at any time between 1476 and 1483, when they were clearly used as models by jean du pré for his paris edition, the wood-blocks for which, as we have seen, were subsequently sold or lent to pynson. the variations in the number of spaces in different copies may quite as well be due to a mixing of quires as to successive enlargements of the plan, and the fact that more copies of the engravings have survived apart from than with the book draws attention once more to the difficulty found in printing these incised plates to accompany letterpress printed from type standing in relief. there is still one more engraving connected with an early printed book to be considered, and though the connection is not fully established, the facts that the book in question was the first from caxton's press, and that the engraving may possibly contain his portrait, invite a full discussion of its claims. the plate (see frontispiece to chapter i, plate ii) represents an author on one knee presenting a book to a lady who is attended by five maids-of-honour, while as many pages may be seen standing in various page-like attitudes about the room. a canopy above a chair of state bears the initials cm and the motto _bien en aveingne_, and it is thus clear that the lady represents margaret duchess of burgundy, and that the offering of a book which it depicts must have taken place after her marriage with charles the bold, 3 july, 1468, and before the latter's death at nancy, 5 january, 1477. during the greater part of this time caxton was in the service of the duchess; the donor of the book is represented as a layman, and a layman not of noble birth, since there is no feather in his cap; he appears also to be approaching middle-age. all these points would be correct if the donor were intended for caxton, and as we know from his own statement that before his _recuyell of the histories of troy_ was printed he had presented a copy of it (in manuscript) to the duchess, probably in or soon after 1471, until some more plausible original is proposed the identification of the donor with our first printer must remain at least probable. unfortunately, although the unique copy of the engraving is at present in the duke of devonshire's copy of the _recuyell_, it is certain that it is an insertion, not an original part of the book, and beyond a high probability that it has occupied its present position since the book was bound for the duke of roxburghe some time before his sale in 1812, nothing is known as to how it came there. a really amazing point is that although the connection of this particular copy with elizabeth, queen of edward iv, caused it to be shown at the caxton exhibition, until the appearance of mr. montagu peartree's article in the _burlington magazine_ for august, 1905, no notice had ever been paid to the engraving. analogy with the _boccaccio_ suggests that caxton had the plate made before he realized the difficulties of impression, and that some prints were separately struck from it and one of these pasted inside the binding of the devonshire copy, whence it was removed to its present position when the book was rebound. it should be noted that the style of the engraving is quite unlike that of the _boccaccio_ prints, and suggests that caxton procured it from a dutch rather than a bruges engraver, possibly with the aid of veldener, from whom, or with whose help, according to mr. duff's suggestion, he procured his first type. for over a quarter of a century after the engraving of the plans in the lyon _breidenbach_ printers seem to have held aloof altogether from copperplates. in 1514 we find four engraved plans, of only slight artistic interest, printed as plates in a topographical work on _nola_ by ambrogius leo, the printer being joannes rubeus (giovanni rossi) of venice. three years later, in 1517, a really charming print is found (set rather askew in the museum copy) on the titlepage of a thin quarto printed at rome, for my knowledge of which i am indebted to my friend, mr. a. m. hind. the book is a _dialogus_, composed by the right reverend amadeus berrutus, governor of the city of rome, on the weighty and still disputable question as to whether one should go on writing to a friend who makes no reply,[65] and the plate shows the four speakers, amadeus himself, austeritas, amicitia, and amor, standing in a field or garden outside a building. the figures, especially that of austeritas, are charmingly drawn (see plate xxxvi); the tone of the little picture is delightful, and it is enclosed in a leafy border, which reproduces in the subtler grace of engraved work the effect of the little black and white frames which surround the florentine woodcuts of the fifteenth century. with the _dialogus_ of bishop berrutus copper engravings as book-illustrations came to an end, as far as i know, for a period of some forty years. i make this statement thus blankly in the hope that it may provoke contradiction, and at least some sporadic instances be adduced. but i have hunted through descriptions of all the books most likely to be illustrated--bibles, horae, editions of petrarch's _trionfi_ and ariosto's _orlando furioso_ and books of emblems, and outside england (the necessity of the exception is almost humorous) i have lighted on nothing. [illustration: xxxvi. rome, gabriel of bologna, 1517 berrutus. dialogus. (title)] we may, perhaps, trace the revival of engraved illustrations to the influence of hieronymus or jerome cock, an antwerp engraver, who in may, 1551, issued a series of plates from the designs of f. faber, entitled _praecipua aliquot romanae antiquitatis ruinarum monimenta_, without any letterpress save the name of the subject engraved on each plate. cock followed this up in 1556 with twelve engravings from the designs of martin van veen illustrating the victories of charles v, which are also celebrated in verses in french and spanish. he issued also various other series of biblical and antiquarian plates, which do not concern us, and in 1559 a set of thirty-two illustrating the funeral of charles v. for this, aided by a subsidy, christopher plantin acted as publisher, and we thus get a connection established between engraving and printing. this did not, however, bear fruit at all quickly. plantin's four emblem-books of 1562, 1564, 1565, and 1566 were illustrated not with copper engravings, but with woodcuts; so was his bible of 1566, so were his earlier horae. that of 1565 has unattractive woodcut borders to every page and small woodcut illustrations of no merit. in 1570 he began the use of engravings for his horae, but in a copy in the british museum, printed on vellum almost as thick as cardboard, he was reduced to pulling the pictures on paper and pasting them in their places. in 1571 he illustrated the _humanae salutis monumenta_ of his friend arias montanus with some rather pretty copperplates, each surrounded with an effective engraved border of flowers and birds, but for a new horae (on paper) in 1573, for which he had commissioned a set of full-page plates of some merit (printed with the text on their back), he had not troubled to procure borders. two years later he produced a really curious edition in which the engraved illustrations (some of them from the _humanae salutis monumenta_) are surrounded with woodcut borders, and in many cases have red underlines, so that each page must have undergone three printings.[66] although woodcuts were considered sufficiently good for plantin's bible of 1566, for his great polyglot it was indispensable to have titlepages engraved on copper, and to the first volume he prefixed no fewer than three, engraved by p. van der heyden after designs by p. van der borcht. all of them are emblematical, the first symbolizing the unification of the world by the christian faith and the four languages in which the old testament was printed in the polyglott, the second the zeal of philip ii for the catholic faith, the third the authority of the pentateuch. while some volumes had no frontispiece others contained a few illustrations, and the total number of plates was twenty-eight. some of these were used again in plantin's bible of 1583, and raphelengius, into whose possession the whole set passed in 1590, used sixteen of them three years later to illustrate the _antiquitates judaicae_ of arias montanus. for his missals and breviaries as for his horae plantin sometimes used woodcuts, sometimes copperplates. for his editions of the works of s. augustine and s. jerome (1577) he caused really fine portrait frontispieces to be engraved by j. sadeler from the designs of crispin van den broeck. as regards his miscellaneous secular books he was by no means given to superfluous illustrations, and, as we have seen, continued to use woodcuts contemporaneously with plates. probably his earliest secular engravings (published in 1566, but prepared some years earlier) are the anatomical diagrams in imitation of those in the roman edition of _valverde_ mentioned below, to which he prefixed a better frontispiece than that of his model. in 1574 he produced a fine book of portraits of physicians and philosophers, _icones veterum aliquot ac recentium medicorum philosophorumque_, in sixty-eight plates, with letterpress by j. sambucus. the next year he issued another illustrated book, the _de rerum usu et abusu_ of bernardus furmerius, sharing the expense of it with ph. gallus, a print-seller, for whom later on he published several books on commission. from 1578 onwards he printed for ortelius, the great cosmographer. in 1582 he published the _pegasides_ of y. b. houwaert, in 1584 waghenaer's _spieghel der zeevaerdt_, and other illustrated books followed. but none of them, little indeed that plantin ever produced, now excite much desire on the part of collectors. of what took place in other countries and cities in the absence of even tentative lists of the books printed after 1535 anywhere except in england it is difficult to say. in 1560 an anatomical book translated from the spanish of juan de valverde was published at rome with engraved diagrams of some artistic merit and a rather poorly executed frontispiece. in 1566 "in venetia appresso rampazetto," a very fine book of impresas, or emblematical personal badges, made its appearance under the title _le imprese illustre con espositioni et discorsi del s^or ieronimo ruscelli_, dedicated "al serenissimo et sempre felicissimo re catolico filippo d'austria." this has over a hundred engraved _imprese_ of three sizes, double-page for the emperor (signed g. p. f.), full-pagers for kings and other princely personages, half-pagers for ordinary folk (if any owner of an _impresa_ may be thus designated), and all these are printed with letterpress beneath, or on the back of them, and very well printed too. in another book of _imprese_, published in this same year 1566, the text, consisting of sonnets by lodovico dolce, as well as the pictures, is engraved, or rather etched. this is the _imprese di diuersi principi, duchi, signori, etc., di batt^a pittoni pittore vicentino_. it exists in a bewildering variety of states, partly due to reprinting, partly apparently to the desire to dedicate it to several different people, one of the british museum copies being dedicated by pittoni to the earl of arundel and having a printed dedicatory letter and plate of his device preceding that of the emperor himself. another noteworthy venetian book, with engraved illustrations, which i have come across is an _orlando furioso_ of 1584, "appresso francesco de franceschi senese e compagni," its engraved titlepage bearing the information that it has been "nuouamente adornato di figure di rame da girolamo porro," a little-known milanese engraver, who had reissued pittoni's _imprese_ in 1578. the illustrations are far too crowded with incident to be successful, and their unity is often sacrificed to the old medieval practice of making a single design illustrate several different moments of the narrative. their execution is also very unequal. nevertheless, they are of interest to english collectors since, as we shall see, they served as models for the plates in sir john harington's version of the _orlando_ in 1591. all of them are full-pagers, with text on the back, and the printer was also compliant enough to print at the head of each canto an engraved cartouche within which is inserted a type-printed "argomento." of sixteenth century engraved book-illustrations in france i have no personal knowledge. in germany, as might be expected, they flourished chiefly at frankfort, which in the last third of the century had, as we have seen, become a great centre for book-illustration. jost amman, who was largely responsible for its development in this respect, illustrated a few books with copper engravings, although he mainly favoured wood. but it is the work of the de brys, theodor de bry and his two sons johann israel and johann theodor, which is of conspicuous importance for our present purpose, for it was they who originated and mainly carried out the greatest illustrated work of the sixteenth century, that known to collectors as the _grands et petits voyages_. this not very happy name has nothing to do with the length of the voyages described, but is derived from the fact that the original series which is concerned with america and the west indies is some two inches taller (fourteen as compared with twelve) than a subsequent series dealing with the east indies. for the idea of such a collection of voyages theodor de bry was indebted to richard hakluyt, whose famous book _the principall navigations, voiages, and discoveries of the english nation_, published in 1589, was in preparation when de bry was in england, where he worked in 1587-8. the first volume, moreover, was illustrated with engravings by de bry after some of the extraordinarily interesting water-colour drawings made by an englishman, john white, in virginia, and now preserved in the british museum.[67] this first part was published in latin at frankfort by j. wechel in 1590 and a second edition followed the same year. a second part describing florida followed in 1591, a third describing brazil in 1592. by 1602 nine parts had been issued, all at frankfort, though by different publishers, the name of j. feyrabend being placed on the fourth, and that of m. becker on the ninth. after an interval of seventeen years two more parts of the latin edition (x. and xi.) were printed at oppenheim "typis h. galleri," and then an appendix to part xi. at frankfort in 1620, where also were issued part xii. in 1624 and part xiii., edited by m. merian, in 1634, this last being accompanied by an "elenchus," or index-volume, to the whole series. parallel with this latin series ran a german one with about the same dates. one or two parts were also issued in french and at least one in english. there is also an appendix of "other voyages" usually added, mostly french, and issued at amsterdam, and of nearly every volume of the whole series there were several issues and editions, all of them with differences in the plates. the "petits voyages" followed a similar course, beginning in 1598 and ending in 1628. although the engravings, many of which are placed unpretentiously amid the text, vary greatly alike in the interest of their subjects, the value of the original designs, and the skill of the engraving, taken as a whole they have given to these _grands et petits voyages_ a unique position among books of travel, and a small literature has grown up round them to certify the collector as to the best state of each plate and what constitutes a complete set. while the illustrations to the voyages formed their chief occupation, the de brys found time to engrave many smaller plates for less important books. thus in 1593 theodor de bry issued an emblem book _emblemata nobilitati et vulgo scitu digna_ (text in latin and german), in which each emblem is enclosed in an engraved border, mostly quite meaningless and bad as regards composition, but of a brilliancy in the "goldsmiths' style" which to lovers of bookplates will suggest the best work of sherborn or french. the plates marked b and d, illustrating the lines "musica mortales divosque oblectat et ornat" and "cum cerere et baccho veneri solemnia fiunt," are especially fine and the "emblems" themselves more pleasing than usual. in 1595 there was printed, again with latin and german text, a _noua alphabeti effictio, historiis ad singulas literas correspondentibus_. the _motif_ is throughout scriptural. thus for a adam and eve sit on the crossbar on each side of the letter, the serpent rests on its peak amid the foliage of the tree of knowledge. in b abel, in c cain is perched on a convenient part of the letter, and so on, while from one letter after another, fish, birds, fruit, flowers, and anything else which came into the designer's head hang dangling on cords from every possible point. nothing could be more meaningless or lower in the scale of design, yet the brilliancy of the execution carries it off. the year after this had appeared theodor de bry engraved a series of emblems conceived by denis le bey de batilly and drawn by j. j. boissard. the designs themselves are poor enough, but the book has a pretty architectural titlepage, and this is followed by a portrait of le bey set in an ornamental border of bees, flowers, horses, and other incongruities, portrait and border alike engraved with the most brilliant delicacy (see plate xxxvii). in the following year, again, 1597, the two younger de brys illustrated with line engravings the _acta mechmeti saracenorum principis_, and (at the end of these) the _vaticinia severi et leonis_ as to the fate of the turks, also the _david_ of arias montanus. the plates are fairly interesting, but in technical execution fall far below those of their father. [illustration: xxxvii. frankfort, de bry, 1596 le bey. emblemata. portrait of author by t. de bry, after j. j. boissard] turning now to england, we find engraving in use surprisingly early in some figures of unborn babies in _the birth of mankind_, translated from the latin of roesslin by richard jonas and printed in 1540 by thomas raynold, a physician, who five years later issued a new edition revised by himself, again with engravings. in 1545 there appeared a much more important medical work, a _compendiosa totius anatomie delineatio_ professedly by thomas geminus, a flemish surgeon and engraver attached to the english court. in reality this was a rather shameless adaptation of the _de fabrica humani corporis_ of vesalius (basel, 1543), with engravings copied by geminus from the woodcuts of his original. for us its chief interest lies in an elaborate engraved titlepage showing the royal arms surrounded by a wealth of architectural and strapwork ornament in the style, if not actually the work, of peter cock of alost, as has been shown by sir sidney colvin in the invaluable introduction to his _early engravings and engravers in england_ (1905). in 1553 an english translation of the anatomy was published by nicholas hyll, and in a second edition of this, printed in 1559, a rather heavy and stiff portrait of elizabeth replaces the royal arms, which were burnished out to make room for it. geminus subsequently produced a much larger portrait of the queen, set in an architectural frame studded with emblematical figures, and a royal proclamation forbidding unauthorized "paynters, printers, and gravers" to meddle with so great a subject seems to have been provoked by his handiwork. in 1563 john shute for his work on _the first and chief groundes of architecture_ produced four amateurish engravings to illustrate four of the five "orders," a woodcut being considered good enough for the fifth. in 1568 we find the first edition of the "bishops'" bible adorned with an engraved titlepage in the centre of which, in an oval, is a not unpleasing portrait of the queen, holding sceptre and orb, set in a mass of strapwork, amid which are seated charity and faith with the royal arms between them, while below the portrait a lion and dragon support a cartouche enclosing a text. besides this titlepage, attributed by sir sidney colvin to franciscus hogenberg, before the book of joshua there is an engraved portrait of leicester, while the "blessed is the man" of the first psalm is heralded by another engraved portrait which shows lord burghley holding in front of him a great b. in 1573 remigius hogenberg, brother of franciscus, engraved after a picture by john lyne a stiff but rather impressive portrait of archbishop parker, prefixed to some copies of his _de antiquitate ecclesiae britanniae_. the year before this the second edition of the "bishops'" bible had been enriched with a decorative engraved map of the holy land, and in 1574 archbishop parker employed john lyne to engrave for the _de antiquitate academiae cantabrigiensis_ of dr. caius (printed by day) a plate of the arms of the colleges, a plan of the university schools, and a large map of the town. in 1579 there appeared a work which had occupied the intermediate five years, a series of maps of england from the drawings of christopher saxton, engraved by augustine ryther (like saxton a native of leeds), remigius hogenberg and others, and with a fine frontispiece showing the queen seated in state beneath an architectural canopy, which sir sidney colvin thinks may perhaps be the work of ryther. ryther was subsequently concerned with other maps, including the series illustrating the defeat of the armada (_expeditionis hispanorum in angliam vera descriptio_), and other cartographers got to work who hardly concern us here. two long engraved rolls, the first by marcus gheraerts, representing a procession of the knights of the garter (1576), the second by theodor de bry, from the designs of thomas lant, the funeral of sir philip sidney (1587), although most safely preserved when bound in book form, can hardly be reckoned as books. yet over the latter i must stop to confess a dreadful sin of my youth, when i jumped to the conclusion that the portrait on the first page stood for sidney himself, whereas it really represents the too self-advertising lant. that it appears in the sky, above the black pinnace which bore home sidney's body, and itself bears the suggestive motto "god createth, man imitateth, virtue flourisheth, death finisheth," may palliate but cannot excuse the crime which enriched an edition of _astrophel and stella_ with a portrait, not of sidney, but of the illustrator of his funeral. not until 1590, when hugh broughton's _concent of scripture_ was accompanied by some apocalyptic plates engraved by jodocus hondius (subsequently copied by w. rogers), do we come across what can really be called engraved illustrations in an english book, and these, which are of little interest, were speedily eclipsed the next year by sir john harington's _orlando furioso in english heroical verse_ with its engraved titlepage and forty-six plates. of these the translator writes in his introduction: as for the pictures, they are all cut in brasse, and most of them by the best workemen in that kinde, that haue bene in this land this manie yeares: yet i will not praise them too much, because i gaue direction for their making, and in regard thereof i may be thought partiall, but this i may truely say, that (for mine owne part) i have not seene anie made in england better, nor (in deede) anie of this kinde in any booke, except it were in a treatise, set foorth by that profound man, maister broughton, the last yeare, upon the reuelation, in which there are some 3. or 4. pretie figures (in octauo) cut in brasse verie workemanly. as for other books that i haue seene in this realme, either in latin or english, with pictures, as liuy, gesner, alciats emblemes, a booke _de spectris_ in latin, & (in our tong) the chronicles, the booke of martyrs, the book of hauking and hunting, and m. whitney's excellent emblems, yet all their figures are cut on wood, & none in metall, and in that respect inferior to these, at least (by the old proverbe) the more cost, the more worship. the passage is of considerable interest, but hardly suggests, what is yet the fact, that, save for the addition on the titlepage of an oval portrait of the translator and a representation of his dog, all the plates in the book are closely copied from the engravings by girolamo porro in the venice edition of 1584. the english titlepage was signed by thomas cockson. we are left to conjecture to whom harington was indebted for the rest of the plates. although, as we shall see, from this time forward a great number of english books contain engraved work, those which can be said to be illustrated during the next sixty years are few enough, a study of mr. a. m. hind's very useful _list of the works of native and foreign line-engravers in england from henry viii to the commonwealth_,[68] tempting me to place the number at about a score. the year after the _orlando furioso_ came another curious treatise by hugh broughton, not printed with type, but "graven in brasse by j. h.," whom sir sidney colvin identifies with jodocus hondius, a fleming who lived in england from about 1580 to 1594, and may have done the plates in the _concent of scripture_ and some at least of those in the _orlando_. six years later (1598) we find lomazzo's _tracte containing the artes of curious paintinge_ with an emblematical titlepage and thirteen plates by richard haydock, the translator, four of the plates being adapted from dürer's book on proportion, and all of them showing very slight skill in engraving. in 1602 came sir william segar's _honour, military and civil_, with eight plates showing various distinguished persons, english and foreign, wearing the robes and insignia of the garter, the golden fleece, s. michael, etc. three of the plates are signed by william rogers, the most distinguished of the english elizabethan engravers, and the others are probably his also. most of them are very dignified and effective in the brilliantly printed "first states" in which they are sometimes found, but ordinary copies with only the "second states" are as a rule disappointing. the beginning of the reign of james i was directly responsible for one ambitious engraved publication, stephen harrison's _the archs of triumph erected in honor of the high and mighty prince james, the first of that name king of england and the sixt of scotland, at his maiesties entrance and passage through his honorable city & chamber of london vpon the 15th day of march 1603 [1604] invented and published by stephen harrison joyner and architect and graven by william kip_. here an engraved titlepage, with dangling ornaments in the style of the de bry alphabet, is followed by seven plates of the seven arches, the most notable of which (a pity it was not preserved) was crowned with a most interesting model of jacobean london, to which the engraver has done admirable justice. in 1608 came robert glover's _nobilitas politica et civilis_, re-edited two years later by t. milles as the _catalogue of honour_, with engraved illustrations (in the text) of the robes of the various degrees of nobility, attributed by sir sidney colvin to renold elstracke, the son of a flemish refugee, and also two plates representing the king in a chair of state and in parliament. after this we come to two works illustrated by an english engraver of some note, william hole, tom coryat's _crudities_ (1611), with a titlepage recalling various incidents of his travels (including his being sick at sea) and five plates (or in some copies, six), and drayton's _polyolbion_ (1612, reissued in 1613 with the portrait-plate in a different state), with a poor emblematic title, a portrait of prince henry wielding a lance, and eighteen decorative maps of england. in 1615 we come to a really well-illustrated book, the _relation of a journey_, by george sandys, whose narrative of travel in turkey, egypt, and the holy land, and parts of italy, is accompanied with little delicately engraved landscapes and bits of architecture, etc., by francis delaram. the work of the decade is brought to a close with two print-selling ventures, the _basili[omega]logia_ of 1618 and _her[omega]ologia_ of 1620. the former of these works describes itself as being "the true and lively effigies of all our english kings from the conquest untill this present: with their severall coats of armes, impreses and devises. and a briefe chronologie of their lives and deaths. elegantly graven in copper. printed for h. holland and are to be sold by comp.[ton] holland over against the exchange." the full set of plates numbers thirty-two, including eight additions to the scheme of the book, representing the black prince, john of gaunt, anne boleyn, a second version of elizabeth, mary queen of scots, anne of denmark, prince henry, and prince charles. fourteen of the plates, mostly the earlier ones, are signed by elstracke, and simon passe and francis delaram each contributed four. it need hardly be said that they are of very varying degrees of authenticity as well as merit. several of the later plates are found in more than one state. with the second of the two ventures henry holland was also concerned, but the expenses of the book were shared by crispin passe and an arnhem bookseller named jansen. its title reads: "her[omega]ologia anglica: hoc est clarissimorum et doctissimorum aliquot anglorum qui floruerunt ab anno cristi md. usque ad presentem annum mdcxx." it is in two volumes, the first containing thirty-seven plates, the second thirty. two of these represent respectively queen elizabeth's tomb and the hearse of henry prince of wales. all the rest are portraits of the notable personages of the reigns of henry viii and his successors, some of them based on drawings by holbein, the majority on earlier prints, and all engraved by william passe (younger brother of simon) and his sister magdalena. [illustration: xxxviii. london. j. marriot, 1638 quarles. hieroglyphikes of the life of man. page 22 engraved by w. marshall] the next decade was far from productive of works illustrated with more than an engraved titlepage and a portrait, but in 1630 appeared captain john smith's _true travels_ with several illustrations, one of them by martin droeshout; in 1634-5 came wither's _emblems_, with plates by william marshall, and in 1635 thomas heywood's _hierarchie of the blessed angels_, with an engraved title by thomas cecill and plates representing the several orders, seraphim, cherubim, and thrones being entrusted to john payne, dominations to marshall, powers and principalities to glover, virtues to droeshout, etc. some of the plates record the name of the patron who paid for them, another suggestion that it was money which stood most in the way of book-illustrating. in 1638 marshall illustrated quarles's _hieroglyphikes of the life of man_, with engravings, most of which seem chiefly made up of a candle, but in one the candle is being extinguished by death egged on by time, and to this not very promising subject (plate xxxviii) marshall, the most unequal engraver of his day, has brought some of his too rare touches of delicacy and charm. in 1640 wenceslaus hollar, whom thomas earl of arundel had discovered at cologne (he was born at prague) and brought to england, published his charming costume book _ornatus muliebris anglicanus_, and his larger work, _theatrum mulierum_, must have been almost ready when charles i hoisted his standard at nottingham, since it was published in 1643. after this the civil war interfered for some time with the book trade. while fully illustrated books were thus far from numerous in the half century which followed the _orlando furioso_ of 1591, the output of engraved titlepages and portraits to be prefixed to books was sufficient to find work for most of the minor engravers. the earlier titlepages were mostly architectural and symbolical, their purport being sometimes explained in verses printed opposite to them, headed "the mind of the front." william rogers engraved a titlepage to gerard's _herbal_ (1597), which is never found properly printed, and others to linschoten's _discourse of voyages into y^e east and west indies_ (1598), camden's _britannia_ (1600--a poor piece of work), and moffett's _theatrum insectorum_, this last having only survived in a copy pasted at the head of the author's manuscript at the british museum. william hole did an enlarged title for camden's _britannia_ (1607), titles for the different sections of chapman's _homer_, a portrait of john florio for the italian-english dictionary which he was pleased to call _queen anna's new world of words_, a charming titlepage to a collection of virginal music known as _parthenia_ (1611-12), another to browne's _britannia's pastorals_, and much less happy ones to drayton's _polyolbion_ (1612), and the _works_ of ben jonson (1616). the best-known titlepages engraved by renold elstracke are those to raleigh's _history of the world_ (1614) and the _workes of the most high and mightie prince james_ (1616), the latter a good piece of work which when faced, as it should be, by the portrait of the king by simon van de passe, makes the most decorative opening to any english book of this period. passe himself was responsible for the very imaginative engraved title to bacon's _novum organum_ (1620), a sea on which ships are sailing and rising out of it two pillars with the inscription: "multi pertransibunt et augebitur scientia" (many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased). his son william, besides his work on the _her[omega]ologia_, already mentioned, engraved a complicated title for chapman's version of _the batrachomyomachia_ or battle of the frogs and mice, humorously called _the crowne of all homer's worckes_. after 1620 the old architectural and symbolical titlepages began to be replaced by titles in compartments, in which a central cartouche is surrounded by little squares, each representing some incident of the book. portraits of the author remained much in request, and nearly a hundred of these were done by william marshall, who was employed also on about as many engraved titlepages. as has been noted, his work was strangely uneven, and he fully deserved the scorn poured on him by milton for the wretched caricature of the poet prefixed to the _poems_ of 1645. yet marshall could at times do a good plate, as, for instance, that in quarles's _hieroglyphikes_ already mentioned, a portrait of bacon prefixed to the 1640 oxford edition of his _advancement of learning_ and the charming frontispiece to brathwait's _arcadian princess_. marshall at his worst fell only a little below the work of thomas cross; at his best he rivalled or excelled the good work of thomas cecill and george glover. after cromwell's strong hand had given england some kind of settled government the book market revived, and some ambitiously illustrated books were soon being published. the too versatile john ogilby, dancing-master, poet, and publisher, appeared early in the field, his version of the fables of aesop, "adorned with sculpture," being printed by t. warren for a. crook in 1651. the next year came benlowe's _theophila, or love's sacrifice_, a mystical poem, some copies of which have as many as thirty-six plates by various hands, with much more etching than engraving in them. in 1654 ogilby produced his translation of virgil, a great folio with plates dedicated to noble patrons by pierre lambart. ogilby's other important ventures were the large _odyssey_ of 1665, and the aesop's _fables_ of the same year, with plates by hollar, d. stoop, and f. barlow, and two portraits of the translator engraved respectively by pierre lambert and w. faithorne. faithorne embellished other books of this period, e.g. the poems of the "matchless orinda" (1667), with portraits, and publishers who could not afford to pay faithorne employed r. white. the presence of a portrait by white in a copy of the first edition of bunyan's _pilgrim's progress_, to which it was very far indeed from certain that it really belonged,[69] has once made the book sell for over £1400, but save for the sake of completeness his handiwork is not greatly prized by collectors, nor is there any english illustrated book of this period after the restoration which is much sought after for the sake of its plates, although those of ogilby's _virgil_ were sufficiently well thought of to be used again for dryden's version in 1697. meanwhile, books with illustrations _en taille douce_ were being issued in some numbers both at paris and at amsterdam. in the former city françois chauveau (1613-76), in the latter jan and casper luyken are credited by mr. hind (_a short history of engraving and etching_, 1908) with having produced "hosts of small and undistinguished plates," and these damning epithets explain how it is that even patriotic french collectors like eugène paillet and henri béraldi thought it wise to leave the illustrated books of the seventeenth century severely alone. we meet the first advance guard of the brilliant french eighteenth century school of book-illustration in 1718, when a pretty little edition of _les amours de daphnis et chloé_ (as translated by bishop amyot from the greek of longus) made its appearance with twenty-eight plates by benoît audran, after the designs of no less a person than the regent of france, and duly labelled and dated "philippus in. et pinx. 1714." the plates vary very much in charm, but that with the underline _chloé sauve daphnis par le son de sa flûte_ certainly possesses it, and one of the double-plates in the book, _daphnis prend ses oyseaux pendant l'hyver pour voir chloé_, is really pretty. we find no other book to vie with this until we come to a much larger and more pretentious one, the works of molière in six volumes, royal quarto, published in 1734. this was illustrated with thirty-three plates, in the mixture of etching and engraving characteristic of the french school of the day, by laurent cars, after pencil drawings by françois boucher, and by nearly two hundred vignettes and tailpieces (not all different) after boucher and others by cars and françois joullain. another edition of this in four volumes with boucher's designs reproduced on a smaller scale was published in 1741 and reprinted three times within the decade. after the molière, books and editions which collectors take count of come much more quickly. there was an edition of montesquieu's _le temple de gnide_ in 1742 (imprint: londres), a _virgil_ in 1743 with plates by cochin, engraved by cochin père, the _contes_ of la fontaine (amsterdam, 1743-5) also illustrated by cochin, guer's _moeurs et usages des turcs_, with plates after boucher (1746), an edition of the works of boileau in five volumes, with vignettes by eisen and tailpieces by cochin (1743-5), and in 1753 a _manon lescaut_ (imprint: amsterdam) with some plates by j. j. pasquier, which are stiff, and others by h. gravelot, which are feeble. in the four-volume edition of the _fables_ of la fontaine (1755-9) with illustrations after j. b. oudry, we come to a very ambitious piece of work, handsomely carried out, which a book-lover may yet find it hard to admire. oudry's designs are always adequate, and have more virility in them than is often found in the work of this school, and they are competently interpreted by a number of etchers and engravers, some of whom, it may be noted, worked together in pairs on the same plate, so that we find such signatures as "c. cochin aqua forti, r. gaillard cælo sculpsit," and "gravé à l'eau forte par c. cochin, terminé au burin par p. chenu"--a very explicit statement of the method of work. but adequate as the plates may seem, if they are judged not as book-illustrations but as engravings, no one could rate them high, and as a book what is to be said of an edition of la fontaine's _fables_, which fills four volumes, each measuring nearly nineteen inches by thirteen? the bookman can only regard such a work as a portfolio of plates with accompanying text, and if the plates as plates are only second rate, enthusiasm has nothing to build on. we return to book-form in 1757, when boccaccio's _decamerone_ was published in italian (imprint: londra) in five octavo volumes, with charming vignettes and illustrations mostly by gravelot, although a few are by boucher and eisen. gravelot, who was more industrious than successful as an illustrator, is seen here to advantage, and deserves some credit for having made his designs not less but more reticent than the stories he had to illustrate. this praise can certainly not be given to the famous 1762 edition of the _contes_ of la fontaine, the cost of which was borne by the fermiers-généraux (imprint: amsterdam). the _fleurons_ by choffard are throughout delightful and the plates are brilliantly engraved, but the lubricity of eisen's designs is wearisome in the first volume and disgusting in the second, and possessors of the book are not to be envied. it is to be regretted that the next book we have to notice, the _contes moraux_ of marmontel (3 vols., 1765), has very little charm to support its morality, the plates after gravelot being poor, while the headand tailpieces, or rather the substitutes for them, are wretched. a much better book than either of these last is the edition in french and latin of ovid's _metamorphoses_ in four quarto volumes (1767-71); with plates after boucher, eisen, gravelot, and moreau, and headpieces by choffard at the beginning of each book. the imprint, "a paris, chez leclerc, quai des augustins, avec approbation et privilège du roi," prepares us to find that the designers have kept their licence within bounds, and many of the plates have a combined humour and charm which are very attractive. if i had to choose a single plate to show gravelot at his best, i doubt if prolonged search would find any success more complete than that of the illustration to book i, xi., _deucalion et pyrrha repeuplant la terre, suivant l'oracle de themis_ (see the frontispiece to this volume, plate i), and though eisen was a much better artist than gravelot, his _apollon gardant les troupeaux d'admet, dans les campagnes de messene_ (ii, x.) is certainly one of his prettiest pieces. [illustration: xxxix. paris, lambert, 1770. dorat. les baisers. page with engraved headpiece after eisen] during the next few years illustrated books became the fashion, so that in 1772 cazotte wrote _le diable amoureux, nouvelle d'espagne_, with the false imprint naples (paris, lejay) and six unsigned plates, said to be by moreau after marillier, on purpose to ridicule the craze for putting illustrations into every book. in 1768 the indefatigable gravelot had illustrated an edition of the works of voltaire, published at geneva, with forty-four designs. in 1769 _les saisons_, a poem by saint lambert, was published at amsterdam, with designs by gravelot and le prince and _fleurons_ by choffard. in the same year there was published at paris meunier de queslon's _les graces_, with an engraved title by moreau, a frontispiece after boucher, and five plates after moreau. in 1770 came voltaire's _henriade_ with ten plates and ten vignettes after eisen, and more highly esteemed even than this, dorat's _les baisers_ (la haye et paris), with a frontispiece and plate and forty-four headand tailpieces, all (save two) after eisen, not easily surpassed in their own luxurious style (see plate xxxix). in 1771 gravelot, more indefatigable than ever, supplied designs for twenty plates and numerous headand tailpieces for an edition of tasso's _gerusalemme liberata_, and was honoured, as eisen had been in the fermiers-généraux edition of la fontaine's _contes_, by his portrait being prefixed to the second volume. in 1772 a new edition of montesquieu's _le temple de gnide_, in which the text was engraved throughout, was illustrated with designs by eisen, brilliantly interpreted by le mire, and imbert's _le jugement de paris_ was illustrated by moreau, with, _fleurons_ by choffard. in 1773 _le temple de gnide_ was versified by colardeau, and illustrated by monnet, and selections from anacreon, sappho, bion, and moschus by eisen, while moreau and others illustrated the _chansons_ of laborde in four volumes and the works of molière in six. after this the pace slackened, and we need no longer cling to the methods of the annalist. moreau illustrated saint lambert's _les saisons_ and fromageot's _annales du règne de marie therèse_ (both in 1775), marmontel's _les incas_ (1777), the seventy-volume voltaire (1784-9), _paul et virginie_ (1789), and many other works, living on to illustrate goethe's _werther_ in 1809; other books were adorned by marillier, cochin, duplessis, bertaux, desrais, saint quentin, fragonard, gérard, and le barbier, and the fashion survived the revolution and lingered on till about 1820. we must go back now to england, where at the end of the seventeenth century the requirements of book-illustration were neglected, partly because of the growing taste for a neat simplicity in books, partly because the chief english engravers all devoted themselves to mezzotint. a few foreigners came over to supply their place, and michael burghers, of amsterdam, illustrated the fourth edition of _paradise lost_, a stately folio, in 1688, with plates which enjoyed a long life and were also imitated for smaller editions. burghers also illustrated the oxford almanacs, and supplied frontispieces to the bibles and other large books issued by the university press up to about 1720. another dutchman who came to england not much later (in about 1690) was michael van der gucht, who worked for the booksellers, as his children did after him. how low book-illustration had fallen in england at the beginning of the eighteenth century may be seen by a glance at the wretched plates which disfigure rowe's shakespeare in 1709, the first edition on which an editor and an illustrator were allowed to work their wills. the year after this louis du guernier came to england, and was soon engaged in the not too patriotic task of helping claude du bosc to illustrate the victories of marlborough. in 1714 he and du bosc were less painfully, though not very successfully, employed in making plates for pope's _rape of the lock_. du bosc subsequently worked on the _religious ceremonies of all nations_ (1733), an english edition of a book of bernard picart's, and on plates for rapin's _history of england_ (1743), but he was far from being a great engraver. it is a satisfaction that the plates to the first edition of _robinson crusoe_ (1719) were engraved by two englishmen, and not very badly. their names are given as "clark and pine," the clark being presumably john clark (1688-1736), who engraved some writing-books, and the pine, john pine (1690-1756), who imitated some designs by bernard picart to the book of jonah in 1720, and may have been a pupil of his at amsterdam. it should, perhaps, have been mentioned that two years before _crusoe_ an english engraver, john sturt (1658-1730), produced a book of common prayer, of which the text as well as the pictures was engraved. this is rather a curiosity than a work of art, the frontispiece being a portrait of george i made up of the creed, lord's prayer, ten commandments, prayer for the royal family, and psalm xxi. written in minute characters, instead of lines. sturt produced another engraved book, _the orthodox communicant_, in 1721. in 1723 william hogarth began what might have proved a notable career as a book-illustrator had not he soon found more profitable work. he illustrated the travels of aubry de la mottraye in 1723, briscoe's _apuleius_ (1724), cotterel's translation of _cassandra_ (1725), blackwell's _compendium of military discipline_ (1726), and (also in 1726) butler's _hudibras_, his plates to which, though grotesque enough, show plenty of character. for some years after this he worked on frontispieces, e.g. to leveridge's _songs_ (1727), cooke's _hesiod_ (1728), j. miller's comedy, _the humours of oxford_ (1729), theobald's _perseus and andromeda_ (1730), and in 1731 to a molière, fielding's _tragedy of tragedies_, and mitchell's _highland fair_. but the success of his set of prints on "the harlot's progress" diverted him from bookwork, although many years after he contributed frontispieces to vols. ii and iv of _tristram shandy_, and in 1761 a head-and tailpiece (engraved by grignion) to a catalogue of the society of arts. in 1733 hubert gravelot was invited from france by du bosc to help in illustrating picart's _religious ceremonies_. he illustrated gay's _fables_ in 1738, richardson's _pamela_ in 1742, theobald's _shakespeare_ in 1740, and, mainly after hayman, hanmer's in 1744-6. neither of the sets of shakespeare plates deserves any higher praise than that of being neat and pretty, but at least they were a whole plane above those in rowe's edition. the year after gravelot came to england, in 1733, pine produced the first volume of his _horace_, engraved throughout, and with headand tailpieces in admirable taste. the second volume followed in 1737, and in 1753 the first of an illustrated _virgil_ which pine did not live to complete. besides his work on hanmer's _shakespeare_, francis hayman designed illustrations to moore's _fables of the female sex_ (1744), which were well engraved, some of them by charles grignion, a pupil of gravelot's, born in england (1717), but of foreign parentage. hayman also illustrated the _spectator_ (1747), newton's _milton_ (1749-52), and later on, with the aid of grignion, smollett's _don quixote_ (1755), and baskerville's edition of congreve's _poems_ (1761). the plates to the earlier edition of _don quixote_, that of 1738, had been chiefly engraved by gerard van der gucht after vanderbank, but two are by hogarth. [illustration: xl. london, t. hope, 1760 walton, compleat angler w. w. rylands after s. wale] samuel wale (died 1786), a pupil of hayman, was also an illustrator, and in 1760 supplied sir john hawkins with fourteen drawings for his edition of walton's _angler_. these were engraved by the luckless w. w. rylands, who was hanged for forgery in 1783, and the walton thus produced is one of the prettiest and least affected of the illustrated books of its day (see plate xl). wale also drew designs for wilkie's _fables_ (1768) and goldsmith's _traveller_ (1774). he also worked for the magazines which about the middle of the century made rather a feature of engravings, often as headpieces to music. a few of the isolated books may be named, thus paltock's _peter wilkins_ (1750) was illustrated very well by louis peter boitard, who had previously contributed numerous plates to spence's _polymetis_, and in 1751 supplied a frontispiece to each of the six books of the _scribleriad_ by r. o. cambridge. another book which, like _peter wilkins_, was concerned with flight, lunardi's _account of the first aerial voyage in england_ (1784), has a portrait of the author by bartolozzi and two plates. for baskerville's edition of the _orlando furioso_ (birmingham, 1773) recourse was had to plates by de launay, after moreau and eisen. footnotes: [65] "in quo precipue tractat: an amico sepe ad scribendum prouocato ut scribat, non respondenti sit amplius scribendum." [66] it was probably from his horae plates that plantin illustrated the _rerum sacrarum liber_ of laur. gambara in 1577. they are printed with the text and are of average merit. [67] they were bought to accompany the fine set of de bry collected by mr. grenville, but have since been transferred to the department of prints and drawings. [68] contributed to the work by sir sidney colvin, _early engravers and engraving in england_, already quoted. [69] this was an early proof of the portrait which is found in a slightly different state in copies of the third edition, and seemed to be an insertion in the first edition rather than an integral part of it. chapter xvi modern fine printing after the restoration, printing and the book trade generally in england became definitely modern in their character, and the printer practically disappears from view, his work, with here and there an exception, as in the case of robert foulis or john baskerville, being altogether hidden behind that of the publisher, so that it is of herringman and bernard lintott and dodsley that we hear, not of newcomb and roycroft. notwithstanding this decline in the printer's importance, there was a steady improvement in english printing. as an _art_ it had ceased at this time to exist. if a publisher wished to make a book beautiful he put in plates. if he wanted to make it more beautiful he put in more or larger plates. if he wanted to make it a real triumph of beauty he engraved the whole book, letterpress and all, as in the case of sturt's prayer books and pine's _horace_. that a printer by the selection and arrangement of type, by good presswork and the use of pretty capitals and tailpieces, could make a book charming to eye and hand, without any help from an illustrator--such an idea as this had nearly perished. there was little loss in this, since if any artistic work had been attempted it would assuredly have been bad, whereas the craftsmen, when set to do quite plain work, gradually learnt to do it in a more workmanlike way. in this they were helped by certain improvements in printing which rendered the task of the pressman less laborious. in the middle of the seventeenth century william blaew, of amsterdam, invented an improved press, "fabricated nine of these new fashioned presses, set them all on a row in his printing house and called each press by the name of one of the muses." clearly blaew was an enthusiast. his chronicler, joseph moxon, was a fairly good english printer, and his description of the equipment of a printing house in the second part of his _mechanick exercises_ (1683) contains much information still interesting. we gather from moxon that blaew's improvements were slowly copied in england, and we know that the english printers still continued to buy their best founts from holland. thus when bishop fell, about 1670, was equipping the university press at oxford with better type, he employed an agent in holland to purchase founts for him. english founts of which we have any reason to be proud date from the appearance about 1716 of william caslon, who established a firm of type founders which has enjoyed a long and deservedly prosperous career. the next move came from the north. robert foulis (the name was originally spelt faulls), born in 1707, the son of a glasgow maltster, had been originally apprenticed to a barber. he was, however, a man of bookish tastes, and, when already over thirty years of age, was advised to set up in business as a printer and bookseller. with his brother andrew, five years younger than himself and educated for the ministry, he went on a book-buying tour on the continent, and on his return started book-selling in 1741, and printed in that year dr. william leechman's _temper, character, and duty of a minister of the gospel_, and four other books, including a phaedrus and a volume of cicero. in march, 1743, he was appointed printer to the university of glasgow, and his edition of _demetrius phalerus de elocutione_ in greek and latin was the first example of greek printing produced at glasgow. a _horace_ which was hung up in proof in the university, with the offer of a reward for every misprint detected (in spite of which six remained), followed in 1744, an _iliad_ in 1747, an edition of _hardyknute_ in 1748, and a _cicero_ in 1749. in 1750 as many as thirty works were printed at the foulis press. the next two years were mainly spent in touring on the continent, and on his return robert foulis unhappily started an academy of art at glasgow, which he had neither the knowledge nor the taste to direct successfully, and which sapped his energies without producing any valuable results. an edition of the greek text of callimachus in 1755 was rewarded by an edinburgh society with a gold medal, and other greek and latin texts followed, including the _iliad_ in 1756, _anacreon_ in 1757, _virgil_ and the _odyssey_ in 1758, and _herodotus_ in 1761. among the more notable later books of the firm were an edition of gray's _poems_ in 1768, and a _paradise lost_ in 1770. the younger brother died in 1775, and robert, after a mortifying experience in london, where he sold the "old masters" he had bought as models for his academy for less than a pound over the expenses incurred in the sale, followed him the next year. the two brothers had raised printing at glasgow from insignificance to an excellence which equalled, and perhaps surpassed, the standard attained at london, oxford or cambridge, or, indeed, for the moment, anywhere in europe. this was no small achievement, and their compatriots and fellow citizens may well show them honour. but they were content to work according to the best standards set by other men without making any positive advance upon them or showing any originality. they avoided the snare of bad ornaments by using none; their greek types were modelled on the french royal types associated with the name of the étiennes; their roman types exhibit no special excellence. historically, their chief importance is that they proved that care and enthusiasm for fine printing was re-awakening, and that printers with high ideals would not lack support. meanwhile, in the english midlands an interesting and creditable, though wrong-headed, attempt to improve on existing founts had been made by john baskerville, a worcestershire man, born in 1706, who worked at birmingham, and in 1757 printed there in his own types a quarto edition of _virgil_ which attracted considerable notice. the merit of baskerville's type is its distinctness; its fault is the reappearance in a slightly different form of the old heresy of aldus, that what is good, or is thought to be good, in penmanship must necessarily be good in type. in imitation of the writing-masters baskerville delighted in making his upstrokes very thin and his downstrokes thick, and his serifs--that is, all the little finishing strokes of the letters--sharp and fine. it is probable that his ideals were influenced in this direction by books like pine's _horace_ (1733-7), in which, as already noted, the letterpress as well as the illustrations and ornament is engraved throughout. these contrasts of light and heavy lines would naturally please an engraver; but they have no advantage when transferred to type, only making the page appear restless and spotty. contemporary opinion in england was no more than lukewarm in their favour. the _virgil_ procured baskerville a commission from the university of oxford to cut a greek fount, but this was generally condemned, though it had the merit of being free from contractions. editions of milton's _paradise lost_ and _paradise regained_ (1758), and other classics, were more successful, and baskerville was appointed printer to the university of cambridge for ten years; but his profits were small, and when he died in 1775, in default of an adequate english offer, his types were sold to a french society for £3700, and used in printing a famous edition of the works of voltaire (1785-9). the most conspicuous exponent of baskerville's methods was an italian, giovanni battista bodoni, born in piedmont in 1740. bodoni settled at parma, and it was at parma that he did most of his printing. even more notably than baskerville, he tried to give to the pages which he printed the brilliancy of a fine engraving. he used good black ink (which is to his credit), exaggerated the differences between his thick strokes and his thin, and left wide spaces between his lines so as to let the elegance of his type stand out as brilliantly as possible against the white paper. the judgment of the best modern printers is against these vivid contrasts and in favour of a more closely set page, the two pages which face each other being regarded as an artistic whole which should not be cut into strips by a series of broad white spaces. bodoni's books, which used to be highly esteemed, are now perhaps unduly neglected, for his work in its own way, whether he used roman type, italics, or greek, is very good, and his editions of _virgil_, _homer_, and the _imitatio christi_ are very striking books, though built on wrong lines. bodoni died at padua in 1813. while the names of caslon, the brothers foulis, and baskerville in great britain, and of bodoni in italy, stand out from amid their contemporaries, the premier place in french book-production was occupied by members of the didot family. the first of these was françois didot (1689-1757); his eldest son, françois ambroise (1730-1804), was a fine printer; his younger son, pierre (1732-95), was also a typefounder and papermaker. in the third generation pierre's son henri (1765-1852) was famous for his microscopic type, while pierre ii (1760-1853), the eldest son of françois ambroise and nephew of pierre i, printed some fine editions of latin and french classics at the press at the louvre; and his brother firmin didot (1764-1836) won renown both as a typefounder and engraver, and also as a printer and improver of the art of stereotyping, besides being a deputy and writer of tragedies. in the fourth generation, the two sons of firmin didot, ambroise (1790-1876) and hyacinthe, carried on the family traditions. incidentally, ambroise wrote some valuable treatises on wood-engraving and amassed an enormous library, which, when sold at auction in 1882-4, realized nearly £120,000. with the names of bodoni and the didots we may link that of the german publisher and printer georg joachim goeschen, grandfather of the late viscount goschen. he was born in 1752, died in 1828, and worked the greater part of his life at leipzig. he brought out pretty illustrated editions, made experiments with greek types, much on the same lines as bodoni, and devoted his life to the improvement of printing and bookmaking and the spread of good literature, enjoying the friendship of schiller and other eminent german writers. coming back to england, we may note the beginning of the chiswick press in 1789, the year of the french revolution. charles whittingham was then only twenty-two (he had been born at coventry in 1767), and for his first years as his own master he was content to print hand-bills and do any other jobbing work that he could get. he began issuing illustrated books in 1797, and after a time the care he took in making ready wood-blocks (the use of which had been revived by bewick) for printing gained him a special reputation. from about 1811 to his death in 1840 he left one branch of his business in the city under the charge of a partner, while he himself lived and worked at chiswick, whence the name the chiswick press by which the firm is still best known. his nephew, charles whittingham the younger, was born in 1795, was apprenticed to his uncle in 1810 and worked with him until 1828. then he set up for himself at tooks court off chancery lane, and came rapidly to the front, largely from the work which he did for william pickering, a well-known publisher of those days. on his uncle's death in 1840 the younger whittingham inherited the chiswick business also. four years after this, in 1844, he led the way in the revival of old-faced types. the examples of baskerville at home and of bodoni and other printers abroad had not been without effect on english printing. brilliancy had been sought at all costs, and in the attempt to combine economy with it the height of letters had been increased and their breadth diminished so that, while they looked larger, more of them could be crowded into a line. the younger whittingham had the good taste to see that the rounder, more evenly tinted type, which caslon had made before these influences had come into play, was much pleasanter to look at and less trying to the eyes. he was already thinking of reviving it when he was commissioned by longmans to print a work of fiction, _so much of the diary of lady willoughby as relates to her domestic history and to the eventful period of the reign of charles the first_, and it occurred to him that the use of old-faced type would be especially in keeping with such a book. a handsome small quarto was the result, and the revival of old-faced type proved a great success. not content with reviving old type, the younger whittingham revived also the use of ornamental initials, causing numerous copies to be cut for him from the initials used in french books of the sixteenth century. some of these are good, some almost bad, or while good in themselves, suitable only for use with black-letter founts and too heavy for use with roman letter. still the attempt was in the right direction, and the books of this period with the imprint of the chiswick press are worth the attention of collectors interested in the modern developments of printing. during the succeeding forty years there is little by which they are likely to be attracted save the issues of the private press kept and worked by the rev. c. h. o. daniel of worcester college, oxford, of which he is now provost. while he was yet a lad mr. daniel had amused himself with printing, and a thin duodecimo is still extant entitled _sir richard's daughter, a christmas tale of olden times_, bearing the imprint "excudebat h. daniel: trinity parsonage, frome, 1852." in 1874 mr. daniel resumed his old hobby at oxford, printing _notes from a catalogue of pamphlets in worcester college library_, and in 1876 _a new sermon of the newest fashion by ananias snip_, of which the original is preserved in the library of worcester college. it was, however, in 1881, by an edition of thirty-six copies of _the garland of rachel_ "by divers kindly hands," that the daniel press won its renown. rachel was mr. daniel's little daughter, and the eighteen contributors to her "garland" included frederick locker, robert bridges, austin dobson, andrew lang, edmund gosse, john addington symonds, lewis carrol, w. henley, and margaret woods. each poet was rewarded by a copy in which his name was printed on the titlepage, and the "garland" soon came to be regarded as a very desirable possession. mr. daniel subsequently printed numerous little books by interesting writers (robert bridges, walter pater, canon dixon, and others), and while neither his types nor his presswork were exceptionally good, succeeded in investing them all with a charming appropriateness which gives them a special place of their own in the affections of book-lovers. another venture in which a high literary standard was combined with much care for typography was _the hobby-horse_, a quarterly magazine edited by herbert p. horne and selwyn image between 1886 and 1892, after which it appeared fitfully and flickered out. the change in the type, the setting it close instead of spaced, and the new initials and tailpieces which may be noted at the beginning of vol. iii (1888), constituted a landmark in the history of modern printing of an importance similar to that of the return to old-faced type in _lady willoughby's diary_. the progress of the movement can be followed (i) in the catalogue of the exhibition of arts and crafts exhibition society, held at the new gallery in the autumn of 1888, with an article on printing by mr. emery walker; (ii) in three books by william morris, viz. _the house of the wolfings_, _the roots of the mountains_, and the _gunnlaug saga_, printed under the superintendence of the author and mr. walker at the chiswick press in 1889 and 1890. in 1891 william morris gave an immense impetus to the revival of fine printing by setting up a press at no. 16 upper mall, hammersmith, close to his own residence, kelmscott house. "it was the essence of my undertaking," he wrote subsequently, "to produce books which it would be a pleasure to look upon as pieces of printing and arrangement of type," and no one will be inclined to deny that the kelmscott press books fulfil this aim. the gothic type, whether in its larger or smaller size (the troy type designed for the reprint of caxton's _recuyell of the histories of troy_, and the chaucer type designed for the great _chaucer_), will hold its own against any gothic type of the fifteenth century. the golden type (designed for the reprint of caxton's _golden legend_) cannot be praised as highly as this. "by instinct rather than by conscious thinking it over," morris confessed, "i began by getting myself a fount of roman type," and it is no unfair criticism of it to say that it betrays the hand of a man whose natural expression was in gothic letter forcing roman into yielding some of the characteristic gothic charm. the _golden legend_ would have been a far finer book if it had been printed in the chaucer type, and the shelley, keats, herrick and other books which morris printed in it to please f. s. ellis or other friends cannot stand the test of comparison with _the wood beyond the world_ and the other romances which he printed entirely to please himself. but whether he used his roman or his gothic type the exquisite craftsmanship which he put into all his books enabled morris to attain his aim, and his wonderful borders and capitals crown them with the delight which this king of designers took in his work. no other printer since printing began has ever produced such a series of books as the fifty-three which poured from the kelmscott press during those wonderful seven years, and no book that has ever been printed can be compared for richness of effect with the chaucer which was the crowning achievement of the press. morris's example brought into the field a host of competitors and plagiarists and a few workers in the same spirit. by his side throughout his venture had stood mr. emery walker, who had no small part in starting the whole movement, whose help and advice for more than twenty years have been freely at the service of any one who has shown any inclination to do good work, and who, whenever good work has been achieved, will almost always be found to have lent a hand in it. after morris's death mr. walker joined with mr. cobden sanderson in producing the doves press books, printed, all of them, in a single type, but that type a fine adaptation of jenson's and handled with a skill to which jenson not only never attained but never aspired. the first book printed in it was the _agricola_ of tacitus, and this and mr. mackail's lecture on morris and other early books are entirely without decoration. woodcut capitals and borders, it was thought, had reached their highest possible excellence under the hand of william morris, and since not progress but retrogression would be the certain result of any fresh experiments, decoration of this sort must be abandoned. the reasoning was perhaps not entirely cogent, since the decoration appropriate to the doves type would hardly enter into any direct competition with morris's gothic designs. later on, however, it was more than justified by the use in the _paradise lost_, the bible, and most subsequent books (these later ones issued by mr. sanderson alone) of very simple red capitals, which light up the pages on which they occur with charming effect. similar capitals on a less bold scale, some in gold, others in red, others in blue, are a conspicuous feature in the masterpieces of the ashendene press belonging to mr. st. john hornby. this was started by mr. hornby at his house in ashendene, herts, in 1894, and was for some time worked by mr. hornby himself and his sisters, with, as at least one colophon gratefully acknowledges, "some little help of cicely barclay," who subsequently, under a different surname, appears as a joint proprietor. the early books--the _journals_ of joseph hornby, _meditations_ of marcus aurelius, _prologue_ to the _canterbury tales_, etc.--are not conspicuously good, but in 1902, in a type founded on that used by sweynheym and pannartz at subiaco, mr. and mrs. hornby produced the first volume of an illustrated _divina commedia_ which cannot be too highly praised. its story is told in the red-printed colophon, the wording of which is very prettily turned: fine della prima cantica appellata inferno della commedia di dante poeta eccellentissimo. impressa nella stamperia privata di ashendene a shelley house, chelsea, per opera e spesa di st. john & cicely hornby coll' aiuto del loro cugino meysey turton. le lettere iniziali sono l'opera di graily hewitt, le incisioni in legno di c. keates secondo disegni fatti da r. catterson smith sopra gli originali dell' edizione di 1491. finita nel mese di dicembre dell' anno del signore mcmii, nel quale dopo dieci secoli di bellezza cadde il gran campanile di san marco dei veneziani. the third type happily inspired by the example of morris was the greek type designed by robert proctor on the model of that used for the new testament of the complutensian polyglott in 1514, with the addition of majuscules and accents, both of them lacking in the original. an edition of the _oresteia_ of aeschylus in this type was being printed for mr. proctor at the chiswick press at the time of his death, and appeared in 1904. in 1908 it was followed by an edition of the _odyssey_ printed at the clarendon press. like morris's gothic founts, this greek type may or may not be admired, but that it attains the effects at which it aims can hardly be denied. no page of such richness had ever before been set up by any printer of greek. to write of books printed in types which for one reason or another seem less successful than those already named is a less grateful task, but there are several designers and printers whose work approaches excellence, and who worked independently of morris, though with less sure touch. foremost among these must be placed mr. charles ricketts,[70] whose vale type, despite a few blemishes, is not very far behind the golden type of the kelmscott press, and whose ornament at its best is graceful, and that with a lighter and gayer grace than morris's, though it cannot compare with his for dignity or richness of effect. in a later type, called the kinge's fount from its use in an edition of _the kinges quair_ (1903), mr. ricketts's good genius deserted him, for the mixture of majuscule and minuscule forms is most unpleasing. the eragny books printed by esther and lucien pissarro on their press at epping, bedford park, and the brook, chiswick, were at first (1894-1903, nos. 1-16) printed by mr. ricketts's permission in the vale type. in june, 1903, a "brook" fount designed by mr. pissarro was completed, and _a brief account of the origin of the eragny press_ printed in it. mr. pissarro's books are chiefly notable for their woodcuts, which are of very varying merit. in the united states, in addition to some merely impudent plagiarisms, several excellent efforts after improved printing were inspired by the english movement of which morris was the most prominent figure. mr. clarke conwell at the elston press, pelham road, new rochelle, new york, printed very well, both in roman and black letter, his edition of the _tale of gamelyn_ (1901) in the latter type being a charming little book. mr. berkeley updike of the merrymount press, boston, and mr. bruce rogers during his connection with the riverside press, boston, have also both done excellent work, which is too little known in this country. the artistic printing which mr. rogers did while working for the riverside press is especially notable because of the rich variety of types and styles in which excellence was attained. footnote: [70] like proctor, mr. ricketts had no press of his own. his books were printed for him by messrs. ballantyne. select bibliography general works ferguson, j. _some aspects of bibliography._ edinburgh, 1900. peddie, r. a. _a list of bibliographical books published since the foundation of the bibliographical society in 1893_ (_bib. soc. transactions_, vol. x., pp. 235-311). london, 1910. * * * * * bigmore and wyman. _a bibliography of printing._ with notes and illustrations, 2 vols. london, 1880. reed, t. b. _a list of books and papers on printers and printing under the countries and towns to which they refer._ (bibliographical society.) london, 1895. * * * * * bibliographical society. _transactions._ london, 1893, etc. edinburgh bibliographical society. _transactions._ edinburgh, 1896, etc. * * * * * _le bibliographe moderne._ paris, 1897, etc. _bibliographica._ 3 vols. london, 1895-7. _centrallblatt für bibliothekswesen._ leipzig, 1888, etc. _the library._ london, 1889, etc. * * * * * _zeitschrift für bücherfreunde._ bielefeld, 1897, etc. brunet, j. c. _dictionnaire de géographie ancienne et moderne à l'usage du libraire et de l'amateur de livre. par un bibliophile._ paris, 1870. with notes on the introduction of printing into the places named. crane, w. _of the decorative illustration of books old and new._ second edition. london, 1901. duff, e. g. _early printed books._ (_books about books._) london, 1893. 8vo. humphreys, h. n. _masterpieces of the early printers and engravers_: series of facsimiles from rare and curious books, remarkable for illustrative devices, beautiful borders, decorative initials, printers' marks, and elaborate titlepages. fol. london, 1870. kristeller, p. _kupferstich und holzschnitt in vier jahrhunderten._ 4to. berlin, 1905. lang, a. _the library._ with a chapter on modern english illustrated books by austin dobson, london, 1881. ---second edition. london, 1892. lippmann, f. _druckschriften des xv. bis xviii. jahrhunderts in getreuen nachbildungen herausgegeben von der direction der reichsdruckerei unter mitwirkung von dr. f. lippmann and dr. r. dohme._ fol. berlin, 1884-7. morgan, j. p. _catalogue of early printed books from the libraries of william morris, richard bennett, etc., now forming portion of the library of j. p. morgan._ [by s. aldrich, e. g. duff, a. w. pollard, r. proctor.] 3 vols. large 4to. london, 1907. with many facsimiles. rouveyre, e. _connaissances nécessaires à un bibliophile._ 10 vols. paris, 1899. i.--collectors and collecting elton, c. i. and m. a. _the great book collectors._ london, 1893. fletcher, w. y. _english book-collectors._ london, 1902. quaritch, b. _contributions towards a dictionary of english book collectors._ london, 1892-9. davenport, c. _english heraldic book-stamps._ london, 1909. with biographical notes. guigard, j. _nouvel armorial du bibliophile. guide de l'amateur des livres armoriés._ 2 tom. paris, 1890. with biographical notices of many french collectors. * * * * * _book prices current._ london, 1893, etc. _american book prices current._ new york, 1895, etc. livingston, l. s. _auction prices of books._ 1886-1904. 4 vols. new york, 1905. lawler, j. _book auctions in england in the seventeenth century._ london, 1898. roberts, w. _catalogues of english book sales._ london, 1900. ---_rare books and their prices._ london, 1896. wheatley, h. b. _prices of books_: an inquiry into the changes in the price of books which have occurred in england at different periods. london, 1898. * * * * * brunet, j. c. _manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres, contenant 1^o un nouveau dictionnaire bibliographique_, etc. cinquième édition. 6 vols. paris, 1860-5. graesse, j. g. t. _trésor de livres rares et précieux: ou nouveau dictionnaire bibliographique._ 7 vols. dresde, 1859-69. these two books mark the close of the fashion of general collecting. ii.--block-books sotheby, s. l. _principia typographica._ the block-books issued in holland, flanders, and germany during the fifteenth century, etc. 3 vols. fol. london, 1858. schreiber, w. l. _livres xylographiques et xylo-chirographiques. fac-similés des livres xylographiques._ (_manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au xv^e siècle_, tomes 4, 7, 8.) 8vo and fol. leipzig, 1895, 1900, 1902. pilinski, a. _monuments de la xylographie ... reproduits en fac-similé sur les exemplaires de la bibliothèque nationale, précédés des notices par gustave pawlowski._ fol. paris, 1882-3. 1. apocalypse. 4. ars moriendi. 2. bible des pauvres. 5. oraison dominicale. 3. ars memorandi. 6. cantica canticorum. biblia pauperum. _biblia pauperum. nach dem einzigen in 50 darstellungen herausgegeben von p. heitz, w. l. schreiber._ 4to. strassburg, 1903. cust, l. h. _the master e. s. and the ars moriendi._ 4to. oxford, 1898. iii. and iv.--the introduction of printing--holland and mainz grolier club. _a description of the early printed books owned by the grolier club_, with a brief account of their printers and the history of typography in the fifteenth century. fol. new york, 1895. quotes numerous early references to the invention of printing, and gives some facsimiles. enschedé, c. _laurens jansz. coster de uitvinder van de boekdrukkunst._ haarlem, 1904. ---_technisch onderzoek naar de uitvinding van de boekdrukkunst._ haarlem, 1901. hessels, j. h. _gutenberg: was he the inventor of printing?_ london, 1882. ---_haarlem the birthplace of printing, not mentz._ london, 1887. ---article "typography" in the _encyclopædia britannica._ gutenberg gesellschaft. _veröffentlichungen._ mainz, 1902, etc. 4to. i. zedler, g. _die älteste gutenbergtype._ 1902. ii. schwenke, p. _die donatund kalendertype._ 1903. iii. _das mainzer fragment vom weltgericht. der canon missae vom jahre._ 1458. iv. zedler. _das mainzer catholicon._ v-vi. _das mainzer fragment vom weltgericht. die type b^42 im missale von 1493. die missaldrucke p. und joh. schöffers. die bucheranzeigen p. schöffers._ viii-ix. seymour de ricci. _catalogue raisonné des premières impressions de mayence_ (1445-67). dziatzko, c. _was wissen wir von dem leben und der person joh. gutenbergs?_ [1895.] ---_gutenberg's früheste druckerpraxis auf grund einer ... vergleichung des 42-zeiligen und 36-zeilgen bibel._ (sammlung, no. 4.) 1890. hessels, j. h. _gutenberg: was he the inventor of printing?_ london, 1882. ---_the so-called gutenberg documents._ (reprinted from _the library._) london, 1912. v.--other incunabula panzer, g. w. _annales typographici ab artis inventæ origine ad annum md._ (_ad annum mdxxxvi_). 11 vols. 4to. norimbergæ, 1793-1803. hain, l. _repertorium bibliographicum, in quo libri omnes ab arte typographica inventa usque ad annum md. typis expressi ordine alphabetico vel simpliciter enumerantur vel adcuratius recensentur._ stuttgartiæ et tubingæ, 1826. ---_indices uberrimi operâ c. burger._ lipsiæ, 1891. copinger, w. a. _supplement to hain's repertorium bibliographicum._ (index by konrad burger.) 3 vols. london, 1895-1902. reichling, d. _appendices ad hainii copingeri repertorium bibliographicum. additiones et emendationes._ 7 pt. monachii, 1905-11. pellechet, m. l. c. _catalogue général des incunables des bibliothèques publiques de france._ [continued by m. l. polain.] vols. i.-iii. paris, 1897, etc. proctor, r. _an index to the early printed books in the british museum, with notes of those in the bodleian library, oxford._ 2 vols. london, 1898. british museum. _catalogue of books printed in the fifteenth century, now in the british museum._ vols. i-ii. [block-books and germany, mainz-trier.] 4to. london, 1908, etc. providence, r.i. annmary brown memorial. _catalogue of books mostly from the presses of the first printers, showing the progress of printing with movable metal types through the second half of the fifteenth century._ collected by rush c. hawkins. catalogued by a. w. pollard. 4to. oxford, 1910. burger, k. _monumenta germaniae et italiae typographica. deutsche und italienische inkunabeln in getreuen nachbildungen._ parts 1-8. fol. berlin, 1892, etc. gesellschaft für typenkunde des 15. jahrhunderts. _veröffentlichungen._ fol. uppsala, 1907, etc. type facsimile society. _publications._ (1900-4 edited by r. proctor; 1904-8 by g. dunn.) 4to. oxford, 1900, etc. woolley photographs. _woolley photographs. photographs of fifteenth century types of the exact size of the originals, designed to supplement published examples, with references to robert proctor's index of books in the british museum and bodleian library._ [edited by george dunn, with a list of the 500 photographs.] fol. woolley, 1899-1905. haebler, k. _typenrepertorium der wiegendrucke._ 3 vols. leipzig, 1905, etc. 8vo. this supplies the measurement and some guide to the characteristics of every recorded fifteenth century type, with helps to the identification of the printers of unsigned books by means of the different forms of m, qu, etc. bernard, a. j. _de l'origine et des débuts de l'imprimerie en europe._ 2 vols. paris, 1853. valuable for its numerous references to notes and dates in individual copies. hawkins, rush c. _titles of the first books from the earliest presses established in different cities, towns, and monasteries in europe, before the end of the fifteenth century. with brief notes upon their printers._ 4to. new york, 1884. claudin, a. _histoire de l'imprimerie en france._ vols. i.-iii. 4to. paris, 1900, etc. thierry-poux, o. _premiers monuments de l'imprimerie en france au xv^e siècle._ [40 sheets of facsimiles.] fol. paris, 1890. holtrop, j. w. _monuments typographiques des pays-bas au quinzième siècle._ [130 plates of facsimiles.] fol. la haye, 1868. campbell, m. f. a. g. _annales de la typographie néerlandaise au xv^e siècle._ (with four supplements.) la haye, 1874 (1878-90). fumagalli, g. _lexicon typographicum italiae. dictionnaire géographique d'italie pour servir à l'histoire de l'imprimerie dans ce pays._ florence, 1905. haebler, k. _bibliografia iberica del siglo 15._ la haya, 1904. ---_the early printers of spain and portugal._ [bibliog. soc. illust. monographs, 4.] 4to. london, 1897. ---_typographie ibérique du xv^e siècle. reproduction en fac-similé de tous les caractères typographiques employés en espagne et en portugal jusqu'à 1500._ fol. la haye, 1902. vi.--the development of the printed book pollard, a. w. _an essay on colophons._ with specimens and translations, by a. w. pollard, and an introduction by r. garnett (caxton club). chicago, 1905. ---_last words on the history of the titlepage._ 4to. london, 1890. roberts, w. _printers' marks: a chapter in the history of typography._ london, 1893. büchermarken. _die büchermarken oder buchdrucker und verlegerzeichen._ 4to. strassburg, 1892, etc. 1. _elsässische büchermarken bis anfang des 18. jahrhunderts._ herausgeg. von p. heitz, 1892. 2. _die italienischen buchdruckerund verlegerzeichen bis 1525._ herausgeg. von p. kristeller, 1893. 3. _die basler büchermarken bis anfang des 17. jahrhunderts._ herausgeg. von p. heitz, 1895. 4. _die frankfurter drucker und verlegerzeichen bis anfang des 17. jahrhunderts._ herausgeg. von p. heitz, 1896. 5. _spanische und portugiesische bücherzeichen des xv. und xvi. jahrhunderts._ herausgeg. von. k. k. haebler, 1898. 6. _kölner büchermarken bis zum anfang des xvii. jahrhunderts._ herausgeg. von dr. zaretzky, 1898. 7. _genfer buchdrucker, und verlegerzeichen von xv. xvi. und xvii. jahrhundert._ von p. heitz, 1908. silvestre, l. c. _marques typographiques, ou recueil des monogrammes ... des libraires et imprimeurs en france, depuis l'introduction de l'imprimerie jusqu'à la fin du xv^e siècle._ paris, 1853-67. jennings, o. _early woodcut initials._ london, 1908. vii.--early german and dutch illustrated books dodgson, c. _catalogue of early german and flemish woodcuts preserved in the department of prints and drawings in the british museum._ vols. i.-ii. london, 1903, 1911. muther, r. _die deutsche bücherillustration der gothik und frührenaissance (1460-1530)._ 2 bde. 4to. münchen, 1884. schreiber, w. l. _catalogue des incunables à figures imprimés en allemagne, en suisse en autriche-hongrie et en scandinavie, avec des notes critiques et bibliographiques._ (_manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au xv^e siècle_, tom. 5 & 6.) leipzig, 1910. cockerell, s. c. _some german woodcuts of the fifteenth century._ 4to. hammersmith, 1897. conway, sir w. m. _the woodcutters of the netherlands in the fifteenth century._ cambridge, 1884. viii.--early italian illustrated books lippmann, f. _the art of wood-engraving in italy in the fifteenth century._ london, 1888. pollard, a. w. _italian book-illustrations, chiefly of the fifteenth century._ (portfolio monographs, 12.) london, 1894. kristeller, p. _early florentine woodcuts._ with an annotated list of florentine illustrated books. london, 1897. essling, prince d'. _les missels imprimés à venise de 1481 à 1600. description, illustration, bibliographie. ouvrage orné de planches sur cuivre et de 250 gravures._ fol. paris, 1894. ---_études sur l'art de la gravure sur bois à venise. les livres à figures vénitiens de la fin du 15^e siècle et du commencement du 16^e._ fol. paris, 1907, etc. ix.--early french and spanish illustrated books murray, c. f. _catalogue of a collection of early french books in the library of c. fairfax murray._ compiled by h. w. davies. 4to. london, 1910. vindel, p. _bibliografia grafica_: reproduccion en facsimil de portadas, retratos, colofones y otras curiosidades útiles á los bibliófilos, que se hallan en obras únicas y libros preciosos ó raros. 2 tom. madrid, 1910. 1224 facsimiles of titlepages, illustrations, etc., of spanish books, unfortunately neither well selected, nor well arranged, but still useful. x.--later foreign books proctor, r. _an index to the early printed books in the british museum. part ii._ 1501-20. germany. london, 1903. nijhoff, w. _bibliographie de la typographie néerlandaise des années 1500 à 1540._ la haye, 1901, etc. ---_l'art typographique dans les pays-bas, 1500-1540_: reproduction en fac-similé des caractères, typographiques, des marques d'imprimeurs, etc. fol. la haye, 1902, etc. renouard, a. a. _annales de l'imprimerie des aldes, ou histoire des trois manuces, et de leurs éditions. troisième édition, avec notes de la famille des juntes, etc._ 3 vols. paris, 1834. ---_annales de l'imprimerie des estiennes ou histoire de la famille des estiennes et de ses éditions._ 2^e édition. paris, 1843. rooses, max. _christopher plantin, imprimeur anversois. biographie et documents._ 2^e édition. fol. anvers, 1896. willems, a. _les elzevier. histoire et annales typographiques._ bruxelles, etc., 1880. goldsmid, e. m. _bibliotheca curiosa._ a complete catalogue of all the publications of the elzevir presses. edinburgh, 1888. xi.--sixteenth century illustrations *** many of the books entered under vii, viii, and ix relate also to this period. butsch, a. f. _die bücherornamentik der renaissance, eine auswahl stylvoller titeleinfassungen, initialen, leisten, vignetten und druckerzeichen hervoragender italienischer, deutscher, und französischer officinen aus der zeit der frührenaissance._ 4to. leipzig, 1878. xii.--english printing, 1476-1580 hazlitt, w. c. _handbook to the popular, poetical and dramatic literature of great britain, from the invention of printing to the restoration._ london, 1867. hazlitt, w. c. _collections and notes._ three series with supplements. london, 1876-89. ---_a general index to hazlitt's handbook and his bibliographical collections, 1867-1889._ by g. t. gray. london, 1893. british museum. _catalogue of books in the library of the british museum printed in england, scotland, and ireland, and of books in english printed abroad, to the year 1640._ [mainly by g. w. eccles.] 3 vols. london, 1884. duff, e. g. _catalogue of books in the john rylands library, manchester, printed in england, scotland, and ireland, and of books in english printed abroad to the end of the year 1640._ 4to. manchester, 1895. sayle, c. e. _early english printed books in the university library, cambridge, 1475-1640._ cambridge, 1900-7. the books are arranged under the printers. ames, j. _typographical antiquities_: being an historical account of printing in england; with some memoirs of our antient printers, and a register of the books printed by them, 1471-1600. with an appendix concerning printing in scotland and ireland to the same time. 4to. london, 1749. ---considerably augmented.... by w. herbert. 3 vols. 4to. london, 1785-90. ---greatly enlarged, with copious notes and engravings by t. f. dibdin. vols. i.-iv. 4to. london, 1810-19. duff, e. g. _english printing on vellum to the end of 1600._ (bibliographical society of lancashire.) 4to. aberdeen, 1902. ---_a century of the english book trade_: short notices of all printers, stationers, bookbinders, and others connected with it, 1457-1557. 4to. bibliographical society, london, 1905. ---_the printers, stationers, and bookbinders of westminster and london, 1476-1535._ (sandars lectures.) cambridge, 1896. ---_early english printing_: a series of facsimiles of all the types used in england during the fifteenth century. fol. london, 1896. ---(and others.) _handlists of english printers, 1501-1557._ parts 1-3. 4to. bibliographical society, london, 1896, etc. arber, e. _a transcript of the registers of the company of stationers of london, 1554-1640._ 5 vols. 4to. london, 1875-94. blades, w. _the life and typography of william caxton._ 2 vols. 4to. london, 1861-3. ---_biography and typography of caxton._ london, 1882. duff, e. g. _william caxton._ (caxton club of chicago.) 4to. chicago, 1905. ricci, seymour de. _a census of caxtons._ (bibliographical society, illust. monographs, 15.) london, 1909. * * * * * plomer, h. r. _a short history of english printing, 1476-1898._ (english bookman's library.) london, 1900. reed, t. b. _history of the old english letter foundries._ 4to. london, 1887. xiii.--early printing in english outside london allnutt, w. h. _english provincial presses._ (bibliographica, parts 5-7.) london, 1895. duff, e. g. _the english provincial printers, stationers, and bookbinders to 1557._ (sandars lectures.) cambridge, 1912. bowes, r. _a catalogue of books printed at or relating to the university, town and county of cambridge, 1521-1893._ cambridge, 1894. madan, f. l. oxford books. vol. 1. _the early oxford press_: a bibliography of printing and publishing at oxford "1468-1640." ------vol. 2. _oxford literature, 1450-1640, and 1641-1650._ oxford, 1895, 1912. ---_a chart of oxford printing, "1468"-1900._ with notes and illustrations. 4to. oxford, 1903. ---_a brief account of the university press at oxford._ with illustrations, together with a chart of oxford printing. 4to. oxford, 1908. davies, r. _a memoir of the york press._ with notices of authors, printers, and stationers in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. westminster, 1868. dobson, a. _horace walpole: a memoir._ with an appendix of books printed at the strawberry hill press. new york, 1893. aldis, h. g. _a list of books printed in scotland before 1700, including those printed furth of the realm for scottish booksellers._ with brief notes on the printers and stationers. 4to. edinburgh bibliographical society, edinburgh, 1904. dickson, r., and edmond, t. p. _annals of scottish printing: from the introduction of the art in 1507 to the beginning of the 17th century._ 4to. cambridge, 1890. dix, e. r. mcc. _a list of irish towns and dates of earliest printing in each._ second edition. dublin, 1909. ---_the earliest dublin printing._ with list of books, etc., printed in dublin prior to 1601. dublin, 1901. gilbert, sir j. t. _irish bibliography._ two papers. with an introduction, notes, and appendices by e. r. mcc. dix. dublin, 1904. watkins, g. t. _bibliography of printing in america_: books, etc., relating to the history of printing in the new world. boston, 1906. evans, c. _american bibliography...._ a chronological dictionary of all books, pamphlets, and periodical publications printed in the united states from 1639 to 1820. 4to. chicago, 1903, etc. thomas, j. _the history of printing in america._ with a biography of printers, etc. second edition. 2 vols. albany, 1874. roden, r. f. _the cambridge press, 1638-1692_: a history of the first printing press in english america, together with a bibliographical list of the issues. new york, 1905. xiv.--english woodcut illustrations chatto and jackson. _a treatise on wood engravings_: historical and practical. second edition. london 1861. linton, w. j. _the masters of wood-engraving._ folio. london, 1889. xv.--engraved books--illustrations hind, a. m. _a short history of engraving and etching for the use of collectors and students._ with full bibliography, classified list, and index of engravers. second edition, revised. london, 1911. colvin, sir s. _early engraving and engravers in england, 1545-1695._ fol. british museum. london, 1905. hind, a. m. _list of the works of native and foreign line-engravers in england from henry viii to the commonwealth._ british museum. london, 1905. reprinted from sir s. colvin's work. cohen, h. _guide de l'amateur de livres à gravure du 18^e siècle, 6^e édition, augmentée par seymour de ricci._ paris, 1912. levine, j. _bibliography of the 18th century art and illustrated books._ london, 1898. béraldi, j. h. _estampes et livres, 1872-1892._ 4to. paris, 1892. a catalogue of the compiler's own collection of french illustrated books. xvi.--modern fine printing straus, r., and dent, r. k. _john baskerville: a memoir._ 4to. cambridge, 1907. goschen, viscount. _the life and times of georg joachim goeschen, publisher and printer of leipzig, 1752-1828._ 2 vols. london, 1903. werelet, e. _études bibliographiques sur la famille des didot, imprimeurs, etc., 1713-1864._ (extrait de l'histoire du livre en france.) paris, 1864. warren, a. _the charles whittinghams, printers._ (grolier club.) new york, 1896. morris, w. _a note by william morris on his aims in founding the kelmscott press._ with a short description of the press by s. c. cockerell, and an annotated list of the books printed thereat. hammersmith, 1898. ricketts. _a bibliography of the books issued by hacon and ricketts._ (the vale press.) london, 1904. steele, r. _the revival of printing._ london, 1912. index abbeville, illustrated books, 145 _sq._ aberdeen breviary, printed at edinburgh, 239 _sq._ abingdon, printing at, 226 acqui, colophon, 80 _ad te levavi_ woodcut, 144 aesop, illustrated editions, 106, 111, 120, 124, 125, 139, 141, 162, 251, 256, 289 alcalà, cardinal ximenes' polyglott printed at, 176; greek testament type imitated by proctor, 307 aldus manutius. _see_ manutius. alexander gallus, early edition of his _doctrinale_ "jeté en moule," 42; colophon of acqui ed. quoted, 80 _sq._; venice ed. of, 126; pynson's, 213 alexander of villedieu. _see_ alexander gallus allan, george, private press, 238 allnutt, w., on english provincial printing, 233, 238 _alphabeti noua effictio._ de bry's, 280, 285 altdorfer, albrecht, illustrator, 188 _sq._ -erhard, bible illustrated by, 190 alunno di domenico. _see_ bartolommeo di giovanni american colonies, early printing in, 243-9 ammann, jost, book-illustrations, 193, 278 amsterdam, english books printed at, 232; engravings, 289, 292; presses improved at, 297 anabat, guil., his _horae_, 156 andrea, hieronymus, wood-cutter, 188 _antichristus_, block-book, 27 antwerp, printing, 72, 175 _sq._; woodcuts, 202 _sq._; english books printed, 229 _sqq._; engraved illustration, 274 _sqq._ _apocalypsis s. johannis_, block-book, 26 aquila, good roman type, 89; illustrated _aesop_, 141 arbuthnot, alexander, edinburgh printer, 242 ariosto, lodovico, _orlando furioso_, illustrated editions, 277, 283, 296 _ars moriendi_, block-book, 25 _art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_, vérard's edition, 149, de worde's, 254 arundel, earl of, caxton's cut of his device, 251 ascensius. _see_ badius ascensius ashendene press, 306 audran, benoît, engraver, 290 augsburg printing, 62, 169; book-illustration, 102 _sqq._, 184 _sqq._ augustine, s., abbeville edition of his _de ciuitate dei_, 146 .b., woodcuts signed, 128 _sq._ bacon, francis, engraved title to _novum organum_, 288 badius ascensius, jodocus, printer at lyon and paris, 170 bagford, john, his copies from block-books, 19 bämler, johann, illustrated books, 104 bankes, robert, london printer, 216 banks, sir joseph, his natural history books, 5 barbier, jean, partner of julyan notary, 214 barcelona, early printing, 75; illustration, 162 barclay, alexander, translator of sallust, 217; of gringore's _chasteau de labeur_, 230, 254, 256 barker, robert, royal printer, 216 _sq._ barnes, dam julyan, "her boke of huntyng," 208 -joseph, oxford printer, 235 bartholomaeus anglicus, editions of his _de proprietatibus rerum_, 121, 159; printed by caxton, 204; by de worde, 212, 253; edited by s. bateman, 263 bartolommeo di giovanni, mr. berenson's attribution of florentine woodcuts to, 136 bartolozzi, f., portrait of lunardi, 296 basel printing, 60, 170, book-illustration, 109, 191 _sq._ basiliologia engravings, 285 baskerville, john, birmingham printer, 299 _sq._ bassandyne, thomas, edinburgh printer, 242 bateman, stephen, illustrated books by, 263 _bay psalter_, first book printed in north america, 244 _sq._ beck, leonhard, illustrator, 186, 188 _sq._ beham, hans sebald, illustrator, 183 belgium, early printing, 73 _belial siue consolatio peccatorum. see_ theramo, jac. de bellaert, jacob, illustrated books, 120 _sq._ bellini, gentile, woodcut after, 130 benlowes, e., _theophila_, 289 berenson, bernhard, attributes all early florentine cuts to "alunno di domenico," 135 berghen, adriaen von, english books printed by, 230 bergomensis, jac. phil., his _supplementum cronicarum_, 126; _de claris mulieribus_, 140 berkeley, sir william, on free schools and printing, 249 berrutus, amadeus, engraving in his _dialogus_, 273 berthelet, thomas, connection with pynson, 213, 258; royal printer, 216, 259 bettini, ant., illustrated editions of his _monte santo di dio_, 124, 268 _sq._ bible, english, early editions, 217, 231 _sq._, 260, 281; french _bible historiée_, 150; german, illustrated editions of, 108, 112, 113, 114; indian (narraganset), 246 _sq._; italian, illustrated editions of, 125, 128; latin, the 42-line, 47 _sqq._, 96; the 36-line, 51 _sq._, 83; of 1462, 57; of 1472, 57; polyglott, 175, 176, 275; scottish, 242 _biblia pauperum_, block-book, 25, 118; its plan imitated in _horae_ borders, 152, 155 biel, fried., illustrated books, 162 binneman. _see_ bynneman birmingham, baskerville's press at, 299 _birth of mankind_, first english book with engravings, 280 bladen, william, dublin printer, 243 bladi, printers at rome, 169 blaew, william, improves printing-press, 297 block-books, 19-31, 118 blomefield, francis, private press, 238 boccaccio, giov., _de casibus illustrium virorum_, 144, 159, 186, 213, 256, 258 note, 270; _de claris mulieribus_, 106, 122, 162, 186; _decamerone_, 291 bodleian library, effect of its foundation on private book-collecting, 3 bodoni, giovanni battista, printer at parma, 300 _boec von der houte. see_ cross, the holy boitard, peter, illustrator, 296 bonaventura, s., illustrations to his _devote meditatione_, 123, 125, 138 bonhomme, jean, his illustrated books, 144, 158 book-illustration, natural method of, 100; in germany and holland, 102-22, 181-94; in italy, 123-42, 194-6; in france and spain, 143-64, 197-202; in england, 250-66; engraved, 267-96 borderpieces, stamped by illuminators, 125; venetian, 125, 133; florentine, 133; other italian, 140, 142; spanish, 162; basel, 191; london, 252, 256, 258 _sq._, 266 boston, mass., early printing, 247; modern, 308 boucher, françois, illustrator, 290 bradford, andrew, printer at philadelphia, 248 -william, first printer at philadelphia, 247; and at new york, 248 bradshaw, henry, his claim for bibliography, 12; on the printer of the _speculum_, 40 brandis, lucas, first lübeck printer, 64, 114 brant, sebastian, connected with book-illustration, 110, 112, 161, 213, 254, 256 brass, types made of, 212 note breidenbach, bernhard von, his arms on a mainz _agenda_, 114; his _peregrinatio in montem syon_, 115, 161, 162, 270 brinckley, stephen, jesuit printer, 228 bristol printing, 237 _sq._ british museum, bequests to, 4-6; block-books in, 31 brosamer, hans, bibles illustrated by, 190 broughton, hugh, plates in his _concent of scripture_, 283 bruges early printing, 73, 122, 205 _sq._; engravings in books printed at, 270-3 brussels early printing, 73 brydges, sir egerton, private press, 239 buckner, john, virginia printer, 249 bulkley, stephen, printer at york, 237 bulle, john, printer at rome, lettou's relation with, 210 bunyan, john, portrait in _pilgrim's progress_, 289 burghers, michael, engraver, 294 burgkmair, hans, illustrator, 185 _sq._, 188 _sq._ burgundy, margaret duchess of. _see_ margaret bynneman, henry, london printer, 220, 228 cagli, good roman type, 89 _calendar of shepherds_, french editions, 145; english, 254, 256 cambridge, printing at, 225, 234 _sq._, 300 cambridge, mass., printing at, 244 _sq._, 308 _canon missae_, mainz edition of, 55; crucifixion woodcut to, 109, 129 canterbury, printing at, 227 _canterbury tales. see_ chaucer _canticum canticorum_, block-book, 26, 118 caoursin, gulielmus, woodcuts in books by, 107 capell, edward, bequeaths his shakespeare books to trin. coll., camb., 5 capitals, pictorial and heraldic, 69, 104, 197, 259 _sqq._ carmelianus, petrus, pictures in his _carmen_, 257 cartwright, thomas, his tracts printed at a secret press, 228 caslon, william, typefounder, 298 _catholicon_, possibly printed by gutenberg, 52 caxton, william, 204, 208; press at bruges, 73, 205 _sq._; at westminster, 76, 207 _sq._; method of printing in red, 86; illustrated books, 250-2; possible engraved portrait of, 272 _sq._ cazotte, j., his _le diable amoureux_, 292 cecill, thomas, engraver, 286 cennini, bernardo, first printer at florence, 67; colophon of his _virgil_, 80 cervicornus, eucharius, printer at cologne, 225 chapman, walter, printer at edinburgh, 239 charteris, henry, printer at edinburgh, 242 chaucer, geoffrey, early editions, 207, 251, 255, 258 chauveau, françois, engraver, 289 _chess, game and play of the_, 205, 251 chester, printing at, 237, etc. chiromantia, block-book, 28 choffard, p. p., _fleurons_ by, 291 _sq._ _christian prayers, book of_ (queen elizabeth's prayer book), 264 christopher, s., early woodcut of, 119 ciripagus, meaning of the word, 43 civil war, its effects on oxford printing, 236 clark, john, engraver, 294 classics, first editions of the, 6 claudin, anatole, his _histoire de l'imprimerie en france_, 143 clement v, 1460 edition of his _constitutiones_, 56 clemente of padua, self-taught printer at venice, 67, 89 cochin, c., paris engraver, 290 _sq._ cock, hieron, antwerp engraver, 274 -peter, alost engraver, 281 cockson, thomas, london engraver, 283 colines, simon, his _horae_, 157; relations with the estiennes, 171; illustrated books, 199 collectors and collecting, 1-18, 83 cologne, printing at, 61, 169, 205, 225, 231; book-illustration at, 113 _cologne chronicle_, its story of the invention of printing, 34 colonna, francesco. _see hypnerotomachia poliphili_ colophons, 14; specimens quoted, 80 _sq._; in manuscript, 91 colour-printing in incunabula, 129 _sq._, 253 columna, aegidius, his _regimiento de los principes_, 163 colvin, sir sidney, his _early engravings_ quoted, 281, 300 complutensian polyglott. _see_ alcalà constance, _das conciliumbuch_, illustrated editions of, 106, 186 conway, sir m., his _woodcutters of the netherlands_ conwell, clarke, american printer, 308 copland, robert, london printer, 215, 258 -william, london printer, 215, 260 cornelis, the bookbinder, of haarlem, 37 _sq._, 41 corrozet, gilles, his verses to holbein's cuts, 192; other illustrated books by, 200 _sq._ coryat, thomas, _crudities_, 285 coster, lourens, legend of his inventing printing, 37 _sqq._ "_costeriana_," group of books so called, 39-41, 72 cotton, sir robert, his collections, 2 cranach, lucas, his bookwork at wittenberg, 190 cremer, heinrich, copy of 42-line bible rubricated by, 47 _sq._ creussner, f., nuremberg printer, 63, 108 cromwell, thomas, earl of, arms on title of great bible, 260 croquet, jean, of geneva, first edition of _roman de la rose_ attributed to, 160 note cross, the holy, block-book history of, 118 cunningham, william, his _cosmographicall glasse_, 218, 261 dalles, jean, lyonnese wood-cutter, 159 daniel, rev. c. h. o., private press, 303 _danse macabre_, illustrations to, 145, 151 dante alighieri, illustrated editions of _divina commedia_, 129, 269, 306 _sq._ darmstadt prognostication, printer of the, forged dates in his books, 58 davidson, thomas, edinburgh printer, 240 _sq._ day, john, london printer, 218 _sq._, 234; illustrated books, 260 _sq._ -matthew, printer at cambridge, mass., 245 -stephen, first printer in north america, 244 de bry, family of engravers, 278-80, 282 _defensorium inviolatae castitatis virginis mariae_, block-book, 127 defoe, daniel, plates to _robinson crusoe_, 294 delaram, francis, engraver, 285 _sq._ delft, early printing at, 72 denham, henry, london printer, 220 derrick, john, _image of ireland_, 264 deventer, early printing at, 72, 74 d'ewes, sir simeon, fate of his manuscripts, 4 _dialogus creaturum_, woodcuts in, 119 _dictes or sayengis of the philosophers_, caxton's, 207 didot, family of printers at paris, 301 digby, sir kenelm digby, benefactions to libraries, 5 dinckmut, conrad, illustrated books, 106 _sq._ doesborg, jan van, english books printed by, 230 dolet, etienne, printer at lyon, 174 donatus, aelius, early editions of his _de octo partibus orationis_, 35, 36, 46, 51, 65 douay, english catholic books printed at, 232 dorat, c. j., _les baisers_, 293 doves press, 306 downes, thomas, english bookseller, patentee for irish printing, 243 drach, peter, speier printer, 63 drayton, michael, _polyolbion_, 285 dublin, early printing at, 242 _sq._ du bosc, claude, engraver, 294 dudley, earl of leicester, encourages oxford printing, 235 duff, e. g., on woodcuts in 1471 bible, 125 note; on berthelet and pynson, 213; on free trade in books, 223; on a book printed at st. albans, 225 du guernier, louis, engraver, 294 du guesclin, bertrand, woodcut of, 146 du moulin, conrad, buys a _de salute corporis_, 39 dupré, jean, fine printer at paris, 71; his illustrated books, 143 _sqq._, 160; his _horae_, 151 _sq._ dürer, albrecht, book-illustrations by, 181 _sq._, 188 dutch printing and book-illustration. _see_ holland duranti, gulielmus, _rationale diuinorum officiorum_, 1459 edition, 56 dyson, humphrey, book-collector, 3 edinburgh printing, 239-42 editions, number of copies in early, 21 edward vi, woodcut of, 260 egenolph, christian, illustrated books, 183, 187 eichstätt service-books, engravings in, 270 eisen, c., illustrator, 291 _sqq._ eliot, john, books by, printed at cambridge, mass., 246 elizabeth, queen, portraits of, 264, 265, 281 _sq._; her "prayer book," 264 elston press, 308 elstracke, renold, engraver, 285 _sq._, 288 elzevir, family of printers, 177 _sqq._ emblem books, 275, 280 emden, puritan books printed at, 232 england, printing in, 76 _sq._, 204-28, 233-9, 302-8 english books printed abroad, 228-32 english engraved illustrations, 280-9, 293-6 english woodcut illustrations, 250-66 engraved illustrations, 267-96 _epistole ed evangelii_, illustrated florentine ed., 136, 139 eragny press, 308 erasmus, desiderius, his relations with froben, 170, 191 erven, g. van der, printer at emden, 232 e. s., the master, _ars moriendi_ engravings by, 25 essling, prince d', his _livres à figures venitiens_ quoted, 125 note, 127, 130 _sq._ estienne, family of scholar-printers, 171 _sqq._ eton, printing at, 234 eustace, guil., his _horae_, 156 exeter, early printing at, 237 f, woodcuts signed, at venice, 128; at paris, 200 fabyan's _chronicle_, pynson's ed., 257 faithorne, w., engraver, 289 faques or fawkes, richard, london printer, 215 faques, william, royal printer, 214 fell, bishop, buys dutch types for oxford, 298 ferrara, early printing at, 68, 70; book-illustrations, 140 fichet, guillaume, letter on invention of printing, 33, 44; invites printers to the sorbonne, 70 field, richard, london printer, 221 _fifteen oes_, caxton's edition, 252 first books printed in different countries and towns, their interest, 78 _sq._ fisher, bishop, woodcuts to his funeral sermons, 254 florence, early printing, 67, 70, book-illustration at, 133-9, 267; venetian imitation of florentine style, 196 florio, john, engraved portrait, 287 foliation, or leaf-numbers, first used by ther hoernen, 62 foster, john, first printer at boston, mass., 247 fouler, john, english printer at antwerp and louvain, 232 foulis, robert and andrew, glasgow printers, 298 foxe, john, his _actes and monuments_, or _book of martyrs_, 219, 262 france, printing in, 70-2, 170-5, 224; book-illustration, 143-61, 197-202, 289-93 franciscus, magister, schoeffer's corrector, 51 francke (or franckton), john, dublin printer, 243 frankfort am main, book-illustration at, 184, 193, 278 _sqq._ franklin, benjamin, printer at philadelphia, 248 freez (or wandsforth), gerard, york printer, 225 freiburger, gering and crantz, first paris printers, 70 _sq._ frezzi, bishop, _quatriregio_, illustrated editions, 139 froben, johann, scholarly printer at basel, 170; his book-decorations, 191 front, the mind of the, 287 froschauer, christopher, zurich printer, his english books, 231 _sq._ fust, johann, dealings with gutenberg, 46 _sqq._; books printed by, 53 _sq._, 86 gafori, francesco, illustrations to his music-books, 141, 196 gaguin, robert, illustrations to his chronicles, 198 _game and pley of the chesse_, 206 garamond, claude, french royal greek types cut by, 172 _garland of rachel_, 303 garrick, david, his collection of plays, 5 geiler, johann, of kaisersberg, illustrations to his books, 185, 190 geminus, thomas, engraved work, 281 geneva, english books printed at, 232 gérard, pierre, first printer at abbeville, 145 germany, printing in, 44-64, 169 _sq._, 224; book-illustration, 102-17, 181-94 giunta, family of printers at florence and venice, 128, 168 _sq._, 195 giustiniano, lorenzo, portrait of, 130 glasgow, fine printing at, 298 glover, rev. joseph, benefactor of harvard college, 244 goes, hugo, york printer, 225 goeschen, georg joachim, printer at leipzig, 301 _golden legend_, caxton's editions, 207, 251 gothic type, 88, 90 _sq._ gouda, printing and illustration, 72, 119, 122 graf, urs, book-decorations by, 191 grafton, richard, royal printer, 217, 259; his _chronicle_, 264 gravelot, h., engraver at paris, 291 _sqq._, and london, 295 greek printing in italy, 167, 301; in france, 171 _sqq._; in spain, 176; in england, 176, 218, 226, 234, 300, 307 green, bartholomew, printer at boston, mass., 247 _sq._ -samuel, printer at cambridge, mass., 245 _sqq._ gregorii, giov. and greg. dei, printers at venice, 69, 195 grenewych by conrade freeman, spurious imprint, 232 grenville, thomas, character of his collection, 6 grien, hans baldung, illustrator, 190 grignion, charles, engraver, 296 gringore, pierre, _chasteau de labeur_, 150 _sq._; english editions, 230 _sq._, 254 grolier, jean, example as a book-buyer, 2; supports aldus, 168 grüninger, johann, of strassburg, illustrated books, 111 _sq._ gryphius, sebastian, lyon printer, 173 gutenberg, johann, claims to the invention of printing, 33-6, 44 _sqq._; books he may have printed, 51 _sq._ haarlem, its claims to be the birthplace of printing, 37 _sqq._, 72 hakluyt, richard, _voyages_, 278 hamman, johann. _see_ herzog han, ulrich, early printer at rome, 65, 67 _sq._, types, 90; printed the first italian illustrated book, 123 hardouyn, germain and gilles, their _horae_, 156 harington, sir john, on the plates in his _orlando furioso_, 283 harrison, stephen, _archs of triumph_, 284 hartlieb, johann, block-book of _die kunst chiromantia_, 28 harvard college, printing at, 244 _sq._ haydock, richard, engraver, 284 hayman, francis, illustrator, 296 heber, richard, character of his collection, 6 hempstead (essex), secret printing at, 228 henry v, woodcut of lydgate offering book to, 257 henry vii, books decorated by vérard for, 148; woodcut of his funeral, 254 henry viii "protects" english book-trade, 222, 234 _heroologia_ engravings, 285 hertfort or herford, john, printer at st. albans and london, 224 _sq._ herzog, johann, prints sarum missal at venice, 229 hessels, dr., his theories on the invention of printing, 38 _sqq._ heynlyn, jean, superintends first paris press, 70 heywood, thomas, woodcut of, 260; engravings to his _hierarchie of the blessed angels_, 286 higman, nicolas, _horae_, 156 hind, a. m., quoted, 284, 290 _hobby-horse_, experiments in printing in, 304 hogarth, william, book-illustrations, 295 _sq._ hogenberg, franciscus and remigius, engravers, 281 _sq._ holbein, ambrosius, book-decorations, 191 -hans, book-decorations and illustrations, 191 _sq._, 259 _sq._ hole, william, engraver, 285, 287 holinshed, raphael, _chronicle_, 265 holland, claims to the invention of printing, 32-43; printing in, 72; book-illustrations, 119-22 holland, h., print-seller, 285 hollar, wenceslaus, engraver, 287 homer, the florentine, 167; in french, 201; chapman's, 287; ogilby's odyssey, 287; proctor's, 307 hondius, jodocus, engraver, 283 _sq._ hopyl, wolfgang, missals by, 198, 229 _horace_, pine's ed., 295 _sq._, 300; foulis, 298 _horae_, paris editions, 151-7, 264; plantin's, 275 hornby, c. st. john, private press, 88, 306 hroswitha, illustrations to her comedies, 182 hunte, thomas, oxford stationer, partner in rood's press, 76, 209 hurning, hans. _see_ walther, f., and hans hurning hurus, paul, illustrated books, 162 huss, martin, illustrated books, 158 huvin, jean, probable partner (i. h.) of jul. notary, 214 hylton, walter, _scala perfectionis_, de worde's ed., 253 _hypnerotomachia poliphili_, 90, 131 _sq._; french version of, 201 i, ia., woodcuts signed, 128 i.d., woodcut signed, 159 _imprese_, engravings of, 277 incipits of books, quoted, 93 incunabula, study of, 12 _sq._; the word misleading, 77; points of, 78 _sq._ indulgences, printed at mainz, 47 ipswich, printing at, 226 ireland, printing in, 242 _sq._ italic type, 91, 218 italy, printing in, 65-70, 165-9, 224; book-illustration in, 123-42 james i, works and portrait, 288 janot, denis, printer of french illustrated books, 200 jenson, nicolas, printer at venice, 67, 85 jesuit press (1580), 228 jewel, bishop, books against, printed at antwerp and louvain, 232 johnes, thomas, private press, 238 johnson, marmaduke, printer at cambridge, mass., 246 junius, hadrianus, his story of coster, 37 _sq._ justinian, in council, metal-cut of, 198 kearney, william, dublin printer, 243 kefer, or keffer, heinrich, servant of gutenberg, 47, 63 keimer, samuel, printer at philadelphia, 248 keith, george, his _appeal from the twenty-eight judges_, 248 kerver, thielmann, _horae_, 156 ketham, johannes, _fascicolo di medicina_, illustrated, 129 kipling, r., contribution to a school magazine, 8 knoblochtzer, h., strassburg printer, 60; illustrated books, 111 köbel, jakob, printer at oppenheim, 193 koberger, anton, largest nuremberg printer, 63; illustrated books, 108, 183 koelhoff, johann, father and son, printers at cologne, 113 kyngston, felix, english bookseller, patentee for irish printing, 243 kyrforth, samuel, oxford printer, 224 laer, john, of siberch. _see_ siberch la fontaine, jean, illustrated editions of his _fables_ and _contes_, 290 _sq._ laing, david, on the bruges _des cas des nobles hommes_, 271 la marche, olivier de, illustrations to his _chevalier délibéré_, 122, 147, 149, 263 lambeth palace, printing at, 234 lant, thomas, engraver, 282 la rochelle, marprelate tract printed at, 228 laud, archbishop, benefactions to libraries, 5 lauer, georg, early printer at rome, 68 le bey, denis, his emblems, 280 leeu, gerard, printer at gouda and antwerp, 72; colophon recording his death quoted, 81; sells cuts to koelhoff, 113, 120; his illustrated books, 119 _sq._; english books printed by, 229 _sq._ legate, john, cambridge printer, 235 legge, cantrell, cambridge printer, 235 le huen, nicole, his adaptation of _breidenbach_, 161, 270 leipzig printing, 64, 169; book-illustrations, 116 lekpreuit, robert, scottish printer, 241 lemberger, georg, bookwork at wittenberg, 190 le rouge, pierre, prints for vérard, 150 leroy, guil., first printer at lyon, 71; illustrated books, 158 _sq._ le signerre, guil., illustrated books, 141 le talleur, guil., printer at rouen, prints for pynson, 211 _sq._ lettou, john, first printer in the city of london, 77, 210, 252 leyden, printing at, 176, 177 lignamine, joh. phil. de, on the invention of printing, 34; his own press, 68 lirer, thomas, _chronik_, illustrated ed., 107 lisa, gerard, first printer at treviso, 67 _sq._, 70 locatellus, bonetus, venice printer, 69 locker-lampson, f., his copy of blake's _songs of innocence and experience_, 11 london, printing in the city of, 77 longus, _daphnis et chloé_, 290 louvain, early printing at, 73; book-illustration, 122; english books, 232 lownes, matthew, english bookseller, patentee for irish printing, 243 lübeck early printing, 64; book-illustration at, 113 _sq._ lucrece, berthelet's device of, 259 lutzelburger, hans, holbein's wood-cutter, 192 luyken, jan and casper, engravers, 289 lydgate, john, woodcut of, 257. for his _falles of pryncis_, see boccaccio, _de casibus_ lyne, john, engraver, 282 lyon, printing at, 71, 171, 173 _sq._; illustration, 157-61, 202 macfarlane, john, monograph on antoine vérard, 147 machlinia, william, printer at london, 77, 210, 252 madan, falconer, on oxford printing, 236 magdeburg early printing, 64 mainz, printing as a practical art invented at, 44-58; book-illustration, 114 _sq._ malborow in the land of hesse, doubtful imprint, 231 malermi bible. _see_ bible, italian malone, e., bequeaths books to the bodleian, 5 mansion, colard, bruges printer, 72, 122, 205 _sq._, 271 _sq._ manutius, aldus, his work, 166-8; large roman type, 90; italic octavos, 91, 167, 196; _hypnerotomachia_, 131 _sq._; lyonnese counterfeits of his octavos, 173 --the younger, 168 -paulus, 168 marchant, gui., illustrated books, 145 margaret duchess of burgundy, caxton's patron, 204, 272 -duchess of richmond, woodcut of her funeral, 255 margins, right proportions, 97 marprelate press, 228 marsh, archbishop, library founded by, 4-5 marshall, william, engraver, 286 _sqq._ mary, princess, daughter of henry vii, woodcut of her reception of spanish embassy, 257 master and pupil, method of depicting, 135 and note maximilian, the emperor, illustrated books in his honour, 182 _sq._, 185 _sq._, 188 _sq._ maynyal, george, prints service-books for caxton, 229 mentelin, johann, first printer at strassburg, 60; manuscript colophon of, 91 _sq._ merrymount press, boston (mass.), 308 middelburg, english books printed at, 232 milan early printing, 68 _sq._; book-illustration, 125, 141 miller, w. h., character of his collection, 6 millet, jacques, illustrations to his _destruction de troye la grant_, 144, 158, 198 milton, john, portrait by marshall, 288 _mirabilia romæ_, block-book, 28 misprinted dates at barcelona, 75; at oxford, 209 mitchell, john. _see_ mychell molière, françois, illustrations to, 290, 293 molner, theodoricus, confused with theod. rood, 209 mondovi, good roman type, 89 montanus, arias, relations with plantin, 275 _sq._ monte regio, johannes de. _see_ müller montesquieu, _le temple de gnide_, 290, 293 moore, bishop, fate of his books, 4 moreau, french illustrator, 292 morris, william, admired subiaco type, 88; on the double page as the unit in a book, 98; on the illustrator of caoursin, 108; his set of proofs of richel's _spiegel_, 109 note; his decorative bookwork, 126; the kelmscott press, 304 _sq._ moxon, joseph, his _mechanick exercises_, 298 müller, johann, his calendars, 27, 125; his work as a printer, 108 musurus, marcus, aldus copies his greek script, 167 mutius scaevola, border representing, 256 mychell (or mitchell), john, printer at canterbury and london, 227 myllar, andrew, first scottish printer, 239 mylner, ursyn, york printer, 225 n, woodcuts signed, 128 naples early printing, 70; book-illustration, 124 negker, andrea and jost de, wood-cutters, 188 neobar, conrad, printer of greek, 172 netherlands. _see_ holland; belgium _neuf preux_, les, french block-book, 29 neumeister, johann, printer at foligno, mainz, albi, etc., 114 newcastle, printing at, 236 _sq._; new testament, tyndale's, 231; eliot's, 246 niclas, hendrik, his books printed at amsterdam, 232 nitschewitz, hermann, _psalterium b.m.v._, 117 norwich, dutch books printed at, 233; other printing at, 238 notary, julyan, early printer at london, 77, 213 _sq._, 222 nuremberg, printing at, 63, 169; book-illustration at, 108, 116 _sq._, 181-4, 193 _nuremberg chronicle. see_ schedel _nut-brown maid_, the earliest text in arnold's _chronicle_, 230 ogilby, john, illustrated books, 289 o'kearney, john, irish printing by, 243 _opera nova contemplativa_, venetian block-book, 20 _sq._, 29 oppenheim, book-decoration at, 193 ortuin and schenck, printers of _roman de la rose_, 160 os, pieter van, early printer at zwolle, 72 ostendorfer, michael, illustrations by, 190 oswen, john, printer at ipswich and worcester, 229 _sq._ overton, john, printer (?) at ipswich, 226 ovid, illustrations to his _metamorphoses_, 292 oxford, printing at, 76, 209, 224, 234 _sqq._, 252, 302 _sq._ pacini, piero and bernardo, publishers of illustrated books at florence, 139 paderborn, johann. _see_ westphalia, john of palmart, lambert, first printer in spain, 75, 78, 89 paper, made at hertford, 212; tottell seeks a monopoly for making, 220 paris, printing in, 70 _sqq._, 171 _sqq._; book-illustration, 143-56, 197-201, 289-93 parker, archbishop, his efforts to rescue old books, 2; patron of john day, 219; and of bynneman, 220; his _de antiquitate brit. eccl._ perhaps printed at lambeth, 219, 234; engraved portrait, 282 parma, baskerville's press at, 300 passe family, engravers, 286, 288 _passio domini nostri jesu christi_, venetian block-book, 28, 123 paulirinus, paulinus, on the word _ciripagus_, 43 pavia, book-illustration at, 141 peartree, montagu, article on possible portrait of caxton, 273 pepwell, henry, london printer, 216 pepys, s., bequest of his books, 5 petrarca, f., illustrated editions of his _trionfi_, 127, 139 petri, johann, early printer at florence, 67 pfister, albrecht, printer of illustrated books at bamberg, 19, 32, 51, 59 philadelphia, first printing at, 247 philippe, regent of france, engraved illustrations to longus, 290 phillipps, sir thomas, private printing by, 239 pigouchet, philippe, prints _le chasteau de labeur_, 150; his _horae_, 154 pinder, ulrich, private press at nuremberg, 184 pine, john, engraver, 294 _sqq._ plantin, christopher, printer at antwerp, 175 _sq._; woodcut illustration, 202 _sq._; engraved, 274 _sqq._ plateanus, theodoricus (dirick van der straten), printer at wesel, 226 plates, troubles arising from in books, 267 pleydenwurff, wilhelm, book-illustrations by, 116 poitiers, early printing at, 72 polidori, gaetano, his private press, 239 pope, erasure of the word, 260 popish apparel, puritan tracts against, 232 "poppy-printer" of lübeck, 114 porro, girolamo, engraves plates for _orlando furioso_, 277, 283 powell, humphrey, english printer in dublin, 242 printing, changes in the primacy of, 16, 169, 170, 177; invention of, 32-58; early progress of, in various countries, 59-82; its technical development, 83-99; in the sixteenth century, 165-79; in england, 204-23; in the provinces of england, 224-8, 233-8; on the continent for the english market, 229-33; private, 238 _sq._; in scotland, 239 _sqq._; in ireland, 242 _sq._; in the english colonies in america, 243 _sqq._ private presses in england, 238 _sq._, 303 _sqq._ proctor, robert, found beauty in all incunabula, 10, 39; classification of them, 12; greek type, 176, 307 provincial printing in england, 9, 76, 208 _sq._, 224-7, 234-8 prüss, johann, of strassburg, illustrated books, 111, 162 psalms, the new england version of the, 244 _sq._ psalter, latin, of 1457, 54, 83; of 1459, 55; cost of writing and illuminating a manuscript, 84 ptolemy, _cosmographia_ (or _geographia_), illustrated editions of, 66, 107 pynson, r., number of copies in his editions, 21; work as a printer, 211, 212 _sq._, 222; book-illustrations, 255-9 quarles, francis, _hieroglyphikes of the life of man_, 287 quentell, heinrich, of cologne, his illustrated books, 113; his bible cuts copied, 112, 114, 126, 128 quinterniones, a name for manuscripts, 94 quire, origin of the word, 94 quiring in old books, 94 _sqq._; collection by, 96 _sq._ r-printer, the, of strassburg, 60 _rappresentazioni_, illustrated florentine editions, 138 rarity, effect on value of books, 7 _sq._ rastell, john, lawyer-printer, 215, 222, 258 -william, printed english plays, 215 ratdolt, erhard, early printer at venice, 69; titlepage to his calendar, 93; his decorative work at venice, 125 _sq._; at augsburg, 106; colour-printing by, 129 rawlinson, richard, gives manuscripts to the bodleian, 5 raynold, thomas, his ed. of the _birth of mankind_, 280 _recuyell of the histories of troye_, 206, 254; engraving in chatsworth copy of caxton's, 272 redman, robert, pynson's successor, 216, 222 red printing, difficulty of, 86, 228 _sq._; colophons in, 92 regiomontanus. _see_ müller reinhard, johann. _see_ grüninger retza, fran. de, block-book of his _defensorium_, 27 reuwich, erhard, illustrator of breidenbach's _peregrinatio_, 108, 115 _sq._ reyser, georg, first würzburg printer, 64, 269 _sq._ -michel, first eichstätt printer, 64, 269 _sq._ rheims, english catholic books printed at, 232 richard iii, statute permitting free importation of books into england, 209, 222 richard, thomas, printer at tavistock, 226 richel, bernhard, early printer at basel, his illustrated books, 109, 158 ricketts, charles, the vale press books, 307 rodericus zamorensis, illustrated editions of his _speculum humanae vitae_, 104, 159, 162 rodlich, hieronymus, his illustrated books, 193 rogers, bruce, fine printer, 308 -william, engraver, 284, 287 rolewinck, werner, all his books printed by ther hoernen, 62; venice editions of his _fasciculus temporum_, 126; seville ed., 161 roman de la rose, early editions of, 160 roman type, 88-90 rome, printing at, 65, 167; book-illustration at, 123, 268, 273, 276 rome under the castle of st. angelo, spurious imprint, 233 rood, theodoricus, printer at oxford, 76 ross, john, edinburgh printer, 242 rouen early printing, 72, 146; english books, 225, 229 ruppel, berthold, of hanau, basel printer, 47, 60 ruscelli, jerononimo, his _imprese_, 277 rusch, adolf, the r-printer, 60; roman type used by, 88 rylands, w. h., engraver, 296 ryther, augustine, engraver, 282 saint albans, printing at, 76, 208, 224 _sq._, 253 saint andrews, printing at, 241 saint omer, english catholic books printed at, 232 saluzzo, book-illustration at, 141 sanctis, hieronymus de, wood-cutter and printer at venice, 127 sanderson, cobden, fine printing by, 306 sandys, george, _relation of a journey_, 285 santritter, johann, illustrator and printer at venice, 127 saragossa, early printing at, 75; illustration, 162 sarum service-books mostly printed abroad, 229; their importation into scotland forbidden, 240 savonarola, girolamo, illustrated editions of his tracts, 133 _sq._, 137 savile, sir henry, his press at eton, 234 saxton, christopher, maps by, 282 sayle, c., his catalogue of english books in cambridge university library, 233 schatzbehalter. _see_ stephan schaüfelein, hans leonhard, book-illustrations by, 184, 188 _sq._ schedel, hartmann, his _liber chronicarum_, 117 schilders, richard, english books printed by, 232 _sq._ schoeffer, johann, printer at mainz, 58, 169 -peter, a witness on the side of fust, 47; his share in the invention of printing, 50 _sq._; books printed by him, 53-8; his method of printing, 81-6, 95; his type, 90 schön, erhard, illustrations by, 183 schreiber, w., his _manuel de l'amateur_, quoted, 24, 100 note, 114; his block-books, 31 schwabacher type, 90 scolar, johannes, printer at oxford, 224; and at abingdon, 226 scoloker, anthony, printer at ipswich and london, 226 scot, john, scottish printer, 240 _sq._ scotland, printing in, 239-42 secret printing in elizabeth's reign, 228 segar, sir w., _honour, military and civil_, 284 selden, w., his books go to the bodleian, 5 sensenschmidt, johann, first printer at nuremberg, 63; his illustrated books, 108 sessa, family of printers, illustrated books, 196 seville, early printing at, 75; illustration, 161, 163 shakespeare, first folio, 8; illustrations to, 294 _sqq._ shrewsbury, printing at, 237 _sq._ siberch, john laer of, first cambridge printer, 225 _sibyllenbuch_, early mainz fragment of, 46 sidney, sir philip, title-border to 1598 ed. of his _arcadia_, 266; engraving of his funeral, 282 siemen, illustrated books published at, 193 signatures of artists or wood-cutters in italian books, 128, 194; in german books, 194; in french books, 157, 159 signatures (typographic), first used by joh. koelhoff, 62; their origin, 94; example of collation by, 96 silber, eucharius, printer at rome, 169 simon, "das süsses kind," woodcuts of his history, 103, 108 small books, 214; stages in their popularity, 166, 173, 178 smith, richard, book-collector, 3 solempne, antony de, dutch printer at norwich, 233 sorbonne, first paris press at the, 70; roman type used at, 89; persecution of printers by its theologians, 174 sorg, anton, of augsburg, illustrated books, 105 spaces left blank for headings and capitals, 85; for illustrations, 143 spain, early printing in, 74-6, 176 _sq._, 224; book-illustration, 161-4 spanish armada, engravings of, 282 _speculum humanae saluationis_ partly block-printed, 26, 39; fate of the blocks, 40, 118; augsburg ed. of, 103; basel ed. of (in german), 109, 150; french ed. at lyons, 158 _speculum humanae vitae. see_ rodericus zamorensis _speculum vitae christi_, caxton's edition, 252 _sq._ speier, early printing at, 63 -johann of, first printer at venice, 66 sq., 89 -wendelin of, successor of johann, 67, 89 spenser, edmund, woodcuts to his _shepheardes calender_, 265 spindeler, nic., illustrated books, 162 _sq._ spoerer, hans, block-books printed by, 25 springinklee, hans, illustrator, 183, 188 stagninus, bernardinus, his illustrated service-books, 195 stanheim, melchior, arbitrator on book-illustrating, 63, 103 stationers' company, 221 _sq._, 227, 233 _sq._ steele, robert, on english books printed abroad, 233 stephan, p., _schatzbehalter_, 116 steyner, hans, illustrated books by, 185, 187 stillingfleet, archbishop, fate of his library, 4 stöffler, hans, mathematical works by, curiously decorated, 189 story, john, edinburgh printer, 240 strassburg, printing at, 59 _sq._, 169; book-illustration at, 112 _sqq._, 187, 190 _sq._ straten, dirick van der. _see_ plateanus strawberry hill, horace walpole's press at, 238 stuchs, g., nuremberg printer, 63 stule, karolus, edinburgh publisher, 240 sturt, john, engraver, 294 _sq._ subiaco, books printed at, 65 sweynheym and pannartz, number of copies in their editions, 21 note, 66; early reference to, 34; books printed by, 65 _sq._; their types, 88 -conrad, engraves maps for 1478 ptolemy, 66, 268 tacuinus, joannes, venice printer, 69 tate, john, papermaker, 212 taverner, john, london stationer, 222 tavistock, printing at, 226 terence, illustrated editions of, 107, 112, 131, 150, 160, 163, 213 theramo, jacobus de, illustrated editions of his _belial_, 121 ther hoernen, arnold, second cologne printer, 62 thomas, thomas, cambridge printer, 235 thomas à becket, erasure of the service for, 260 tillier, thomas, chester printer, 237 tin, types made of, 21 note titlepage, early examples of, 62, 93, 210 tortosa early printing, 75 tory, geoffroi, printer at paris, 173; his _horae_, 156 _sq._, 199 tottell, richard, london printer, 219 tournes, jean de, father and son, printers at lyon, 174 traut, wolfgang, illustrator, 182, 188 trechsel family of printers at lyon, 160, 171, 174, 192 _sq._ treviso, early printing at, 67 _sq._, 70 tuberinus, his account of the death of "das susses kind simon," 103, 108 tübingen, book-decoration at, 189 turberville, george, _booke of faulconrie_, 265 turrecremata, cardinal, illustrated editions of his _meditationes_, 114, 123 tyndale, w., editions of his new testament, 231 types, characteristics of, in early books, 86 _sq._ ugo (vgo), woodcuts signed, 194 ulm early printing, 63 _sq._; illustrated books, 106 _sqq._ ungut and polonus, illustrated books of, 163 united states of america, colonial printing in, 243-9; modern fine printing, 308 updike, berkeley, fine printer, 308 usher, archbishop, fate of his library, 4 utrecht, "costeriana" attributed to, 40, 72 utterson, e. v., private printing by, 239 valdarfer, christopher, printer at venice and milan, 67 valentia, early printing at, 74 _sq._; illustration, 162 valturius, r., _de re militari_, verona editions of, 123 _sq._; french version of, 200 van der gucht, michael, engraver, 294 vautrollier, thomas, printer at london and edinburgh, 221, 242 vavassore, giovanni andrea, block-printed _opera nova contemplativa_ by, 21; woodcuts signed z.a., etc., by, 194 _sq._ veldener, jan, early printer at louvain, kuilenburg and utrecht, 40, 73, 118, 119, 205 venice early printing, 66 _sq._; book-illustration, 125-32, 194-7, 277 vérard, antoine, publisher at paris, 147-50; his _horae_, 151 _sq._; his english books, 230; his use of old cuts, 101, 148, 160 vergetius, angelus, french royal greek types designed by, 172 verona early book-illustration, 123 _sq._ villena, marquis of, _trabajos de hercules_, 161 vincent de beauvais, his _speculum_, 165 violette, pierre, rouen printer, 225 virgil, printed by b. cennini, colophon quoted, 80; grüninger's, 112; leroy's, 158; aldine, 167; first english, 226 _sq._; ogilby's, 289; baskerville's, 300 virginia, early printing in, 249 viterbo, good roman type, 89 voltaire, edition of his works printed with baskerville's type, 300 vostre, simon, books printed by pigouchet for, 150, 154 _sqq._ wächtlin, johann, illustrator, 190 waldegrave, robert, prints marprelate tracts, 228. _see_ prints at edinburgh, 242 wale, samuel, illustrator, 296 walker, emery, expert in printing, 304 _sqq._ walpole, horace, private press, 238 walther, f., and hans hurning, printers of a _biblia pauperum_, 25 walton, izaak, illustrations to his _angler_, 296 wandsforth, gerard. _see_ freez wandsworth, secret press at, 228 weiditz, hans, illustrator, 186 _sq._ wenssler, michael, basel printer, 60 _sq._ wesel, bale's _catalogus_ printed there, 226 westphalia, john of, early printer at alost and louvain, 73; used roman type, 89; his woodcut portrait, 119 white, john, his drawings of virginia, 278 -robert., engraver, 289 whittingham, charles (uncle and nephew), printers, 302 _sq._ wilcocks, william, gave commissions to wynkyn de worde, 210 williams, archbishop, gifts of books by, 5 wilson, j. d., on english books printed abroad, 233 winthrop, john, allusion to printing at cambridge, mass., 243 wittenberg, printing at, 169; illustrations, 190 wolfe, reyner, royal painter, 218, 259 wolgemut, michael, book-illustrator, 116 woodcuts, early, their charm and distinctiveness, 15 worde, wynkyn de, on caxton's printing the _de proprietatibus_, 214 _sq._; on the st. alban's printer, 208; on _fishing with an angle_, 209 note; his work as a printer, 211 _sq._; his assessment, 222; book-illustrations, 253 _sq._ würzburg, early printing at, 64 -missals, engravings in, 270 wyer, robert, london printer, 222 ximenes, cardinal, polyglott bible, 176 york, printing at, 225, 236 _sqq._ z.a., z.a., woodcuts signed, 194 zainer, günther, first augsburg printer, 62 _sq._; used roman type, 88; his illustrated books, 103 -johann, first ulm printer, 63; used roman type, 88; his illustrated books, 106 zarotus, antonius, first printer at milan, 68, 70 zell, ulrich, his story of the invention of printing, 35; the first printer at cologne, 61 zenger, joh. peter, new york printer, 248 zinna, the _psalterium b.v.m._ printed at, 117 zoan andrea. _see_ vavassore, 194 zurich, english books printed at, 231 _sq._ zwolle early printing, 72; book-illustrations at, 122 printed by william brendon and son, ltd. plymouth transcriber's notes: (1) letters following a carat (^) were originally printed in superscript. (2) side-notes were moved to their respective paragraph's start, and treated as titles. for the exact locations see the html version. (3) the following typographical errors have been corrected: page i: "are useful in themselves, and are neatly and clearly." 'clearly' amended from 'cleary'. page 8: "i have seen the ghastly illustrations to the licentious contes drolatiques of balzac." 'drolatiques' changed from 'diolatiques'. page 100: "arrogance or nonchalance of the tenth reported." 'nonchalance' changed from 'nonchalence'. page 114: "in common fairness some credit should be conceded." 'conceded' changed from 'conceeded'. page 115: "with a threat of further inquiry into its truth." 'further' changed from 'furthur'. page 116: "this extraordinary work presents us with pictures." 'work' amended from 'works'. page 117: "the king at home, or mathews at carlton house." 'the' amended from 'the'. page 206: "professor bates would assign as one of the principal causes of the sterility which befel the genius of cruikshank." 'befell' amended from 'befel' page 246: "who however is too firmly seated on his shoulders to be dislodged." 'dislodged' amended from 'disloged'. page 330: "while at whitby, a deputation from the institute of that town waited on john leech." 'whitby' amended from 'whity'. page 349: "which does not show the care and thought which he bestowed upon its elaboration." comma removed after 'upon'. page 376: "stated anywhere, we shall now proceed to relate them. thackeray was in london when seymour shot himself in 1836." comma after 'them' changed to period. appendix v.: "charles lever's 'harry lorrequer.' 1839. (a pirated edition was published at philadelphia, 1840.)" '1840' amended from '1804'. english caricaturists. some opinions of the press. "at last we have a treatise upon our caricaturists and comic draughtsmen worthy of the great subject.... an entertaining history of caricature, and consequently of the events, political and social, of the century; in fact, a thoroughly readable and instructive book.... and what a number of political occurrences, scandals public and private, movements political and secular, are passed in review! all these events mr. everitt describes at length with great clearness and vivacity, giving us a view of them, so to speak, from the inside."--_pall mall gazette._ "it is a handsome and important volume of 400 pages; the letterpress being a brightly written commentary, abounding with illustrative gossip, on the caricature of the century and the merits of its graphic humourists.... it includes a great deal of the more stirring social and political history of the time. the illustrations so plentifully strewn through mr. everitt's volume give it a peculiar interest."--_st. james's gazette._ "the work, which contains a large amount of information and some valuable lists of publications, is illustrated with about seventy wood engravings."--_literary world._ "a real contribution to the history of the social life of the century. the book is very fully and well illustrated, forming in fact quite a gallery of nineteenth century caricature."--_truth._ "the plates with which it is illustrated are remarkably well produced, and are useful in themselves, and are neatly and clearly printed, so that they give a capital idea of the originals from which they are prepared."--_saturday review._ "gives an elaborate estimate of the merits of the later caricaturists and a complete account of their lives."--_graphic._ [illustration: _published 21st october, 1812, by_ s. w. fores, 50, _piccadilly_. "a buz in a box, or the poet in a pet." _frontispiece._] english caricaturists and graphic humourists of the nineteenth century. how they illustrated and interpreted their times. _a contribution to the history of caricature from the time of the first napoleon down to the death of john leech, in 1864._ by graham everitt. second edition. [illustration] london: swan sonnenschein & co. 1893. butler & tanner, the selwood printing works, frome, and london. preface. the only works which, so far as i know, profess to deal with english caricaturists and comic artists of the nineteenth century are two in number. the first is a work by the late robert william buss, embodying the substance of certain lectures delivered by the accomplished author many years ago. mr. buss's book, which was published for private circulation only, deals more especially with the work of james gillray, his predecessors and contemporaries, treating only briefly and incidentally of a few of his successors of our own day. the second is a work by mr. james parton, an american author, whose book (published by harper brothers, of new york) treats of "caricature, and other comic art in all times and many lands." it is obviously no part of my duty (even if i felt disposed to do so) to criticise the work of a brother scribe, and that scribe an american gentleman. covering an area so boundless in extent, it is scarcely surprising that mr. parton should devote only thirty of his pages to the consideration of english caricaturists and graphic humourists of the nineteenth century. under these circumstances, it would seem to me that, in placing the present work before the public, an apology will scarcely be considered necessary. depending oftentimes for effect upon overdrawing, nearly always upon a graphic power entirely out of the range of ordinary art, the work of the caricaturist is not to be measured by the ordinary standard of artistic excellence, but rather by the light which it throws upon popular opinion or popular prejudice, in relation to the events, the remembrance of which it perpetuates and chronicles. while, however, a latitude is allowed to the caricaturist which would be inconsistent with the principles by which the practice of art is ordinarily governed, it may at the same time be safely laid down that it is essential to the success of the comic designer as well as the caricaturist, that both should be _artists_ of ability, though not necessarily men of absolute genius. it may be contended that gillray, rowlandson, bunbury, and others, although commencing work before, are really quite as much nineteenth century graphic satirists as their successors. this i admit; but inasmuch as their work has been already described by other writers, and the present book concerns itself especially with those whose labours commenced after 1800, i have endeavoured to connect them with those of their predecessors and contemporaries, without unnecessarily entering into detail with which the reader is supposed to be already more or less familiar. i am in hopes that the character in which i am enabled to present george cruikshank as the leading caricaturist of the century; the account i have given of his hitherto almost unknown work of this character; together with the view i have taken of the causes which led to his sudden and unexampled declension in the very midst of an artistic success almost unprecedented, may prove both new and interesting to some of my readers. i have to acknowledge the assistance i have derived from the 1864 and 1867 ms. diaries of the late shirley brooks, kindly placed at my service by cecil brooks, esq., his son; my thanks are likewise due to mr. william tegg for some valuable information kindly rendered. preface to the present edition. having been called on to write a preface to a popular edition of this book, i seize the opportunity which is now afforded me of correcting an error which occurred in the original edition. by some unaccountable accident the printer omitted my sub-title; and it was not unnatural that some of my reviewers should inquire _why_, in a work dealing with english caricaturists of the nineteenth century, no mention should be made of the graphic humourists who succeeded john leech. this question is answered by the restoration of the original title, from which it will be seen that the work is simply "a _contribution_ to the history of caricature from the time of the first napoleon _down_ to the death of john leech, in 1864." to take in the later humourists, would be to carry the work beyond the limits which i had originally assigned to it. one word more, and i have done. my intention in writing this book was to show how the caricaturist "illustrated" his time,--in other words, how he "interpreted" the social and political events of his day, according to his own bias, or the views he was retained to serve. while exhibiting him in the light of an _historian_--which he most undoubtedly is--i had no idea (as some of my too favourable critics seem to have imagined) of writing a history of caricature itself. for this task, indeed, i am not qualified, nor does it in the slightest degree enlist my sympathy. g. everitt. _11th august, 1893._ contents. chapter i. dr. johnson's definition of the word _caricatura_.--francis grose's definition.--modern signification of the word.--change in the spirit of english caricature during the last fifty years.--its causes.--gillray.--rowlandson.--bunbury.--influence of gillray and rowlandson on their immediate successors.--gradual disappearance of the coarseness of the old caricaturists.--change wrought by john doyle.--we have now no caricaturist.--effect of wood engraving on caricature.--hogarth, although a satirist, not a caricaturist.--gustave doré misdescribed a caricaturist.--absurdity of comparing him with cruikshank.--"etching moralized." _pp._ 1-11. chapter ii. connection of gillray and rowlandson with nineteenth century caricaturists.--napoleon bonaparte.--the causes of english exasperation against him explained.--sketch of his policy towards england.--the "berlin decree."--english caricatures brought to the notice of bonaparte.--"a political fair."--the "gallick storehouse for english shipping."--"spanish flies, or boney taking an immoderate dose."--"boney and his new wife, or a quarrel about nothing."--birth of the young king of rome.--"british cookery, or out of the frying-pan into the fire."--"general frost shaving boney."--"polish diet with french dessert."--"the corsican blood-hound beset by the bears of russia." "nap nearly nab'd, or a retreating jump just in time."--"boney returning from russia covered with glory."--"nap's glorious return."--rowlandson's anti-bonaparte caricatures.--french contemporary satires.--gillray's anti-bonaparte caricatures.--his libels on josephine.--madame tallien.--robert dighton.--consequences of a pinch of snuff.--master betty--impeachment of lord melville.--introduction of gas.--mary anne clarke.--imbecility and death of james gillray _pp._ 12-33. chapter iii. re-opening of drury lane.--dr. busby's "monologue."--"a buz in a box, or the poet in a pet."--"doctors differ, or dame nature against the college."--joanna southcott.--flight of the princess charlotte.--"plebeian spirit, or coachee and the heiress presumptive."--"miss endeavouring to excite a glow with her dutch plaything."--american war of 1812-1815.--hostile temper of the americans.--disastrous results of their invasion of canada.--english retaliatory measures.--burning of washington.--expedition against alexandria.--"the fall of washington, or maddy in full flight."--british defeated at baltimore and new orleans.--"romeo coates."--marriage of the princess charlotte.--"leap year, or john bull's establishment."--troubles of 1817.--narrow escape of the prince regent.--"more plots!!! more plots!!!"--edmund kean and lucius junius booth.--"the rival richards."--congress of the allied sovereigns at aix-la-chapelle.--"a russian dandy at home: a scene at aix-la-chapelle."--"a peep at the pump room, or the zomerzetshire folks in a maze."--death of queen charlotte.--"the hambourg waltz."--invention of the kaleidoscope.--"caleidoscopes, or paying for peeping."--the velocipede or "hobby."--"the spirit moving the quakers upon worldly vanities."--"john bull in clover," and "john bull done over."--birth of the princess victoria.--"a scene in the new farce, called the rivals, or a visit to the heir presumptive." _pp._ 34-61. chapter iv. caroline of brunswick.--levity of her character.--result of the commission to inquire into her conduct in 1806.--her letter to the regent.--result of the commission of 1813.--caroline rebels.--wrath of lord ellenborough.-"a key to the investigation, or iago distanced by odds."--refusal of the regent to meet her in 1814.--her protest.--applies for permission to travel abroad.--rumours prejudicial to her moral conduct.--"paving the way for a royal divorce."--the milan commission.--ministers averse to the prosecution of the queen.--their false step.--arrival of caroline in london.--opening of the "green bag."--arrival of the witnesses.--strange appearance of caroline at the trial.--satire upon her and her supporters.--"city scavengers cleansing the london streets of impurities."--practical failure of the prosecution.--"the queen caroline running down the royal george."--"the steward's court of the manor of torre devon."--popularity of the king.--"grand entrance to bamboozlem."--public events of 1822-1825.--greek war of independence.--battle of navarino.--"russian bear's grease, or a peep into futurity."--"the descent of the great bear, or the mussulmans in a quandary."--"the nest in danger."--"the porte presenting a bill of indemnification."--"burking old mrs. constitution, aged 141."--caricature declines after 1830, and why.--william heath and other caricaturists of the period.--theodore lane. _pp._ 62-88. chapter v. caricatures of robert cruikshank.--forgotten, and why.--artistic training--"the mother's girl plucking a crow, or german flesh and english spirit."--"the horse marine and his trumpeter in a squall."--queer fashions of the early part of the century.--thackeray's difficulty.--caricatures on the "dandies" of 1818.--robert and his fellow-caricaturists ridicule the sham "corinthians" and "corinthian kates" of their day.--hollow pretensions of the "dandies."--"the dandy dressing at home" and "the dandy dressed."--"a dandyess."--robert's satires on the "dandies" of 1819.--"the mysterious fair one, or the royal introduction to the circassian beauty."--other caricatures of his of 1819.--his satires on the trial of queen caroline.--his caricatures of 1821.--duel between the dukes of bedford and buckingham.--other satires by him in 1822.--interference of louis xviii. in spanish affairs.--robert's satires on louis and his son.--"the golden ball."--other caricatures by robert in 1823.--the tenth hussars.--maria foote and "pea-green hayne."--other satires by robert in 1824.--colonel fitz-bastard and mr. judge.--cox _v._ kean.--sir walter scott.--"the living skeleton."--popple and stockdale.--other subjects of 1825.--"cruikshankiana." _pp._ 89-108. chapter vi. book illustrations of isaac robert cruikshank.--the "life in london."--injustice done to robert with reference to this book.--the "life" dramatized.--excitement it occasioned.--the portly stranger in the duke's box.--queer visitors at rehearsal.--horror of the serious people.--the mistake which they made.--"the finish."--pierce egan's position with reference to the "life."--origin of "bell's life in london."--charles molloy westmacott.--"the english spy."--"the oppidans' museum."--the "king at home."--rowlandson's contribution to "the english spy."--westmacott and the literature of foote and hayne.--robert's carelessness.--"points of misery."--"doings in london."--"cruikshank's comic album."--"monsieur nong-tong-paw."--three books illustrated by robert.--death. _pp._ 109-124. chapter vii. caricatures of george cruikshank.--"no plan, no ambition."--the assertion disproved.--why george's caricatures possess so remarkable an interest.--"the scourge."--lord sidmouth's bill to amend the toleration act.--opposition to the measure by the nonconformists.--george's satire upon them.--satire upon the medical profession.--"the satirist, or monthly meteor."--"fashion."--"the loyalists' magazine."--an early satire.--"meditations amongst the tombs."--other satires of 1813.--"little boney gone to pot."--alexander of russia and the duchess of oldenburg.--the princess caroline.--joanna southcott.--the obnoxious corn laws of 1815.--satires thereon.--escape of napoleon.--outlawed by the powers.--excitement caused by this event.--george's satires thereon.--napoleon endeavours to establish friendly relations.--silent hostility of europe.--he sets out for the army.--george's satire thereon.--surrender of bonaparte.--the _bellerophon_ off the english coast.--other satires of 1815.--the regent's repugnance to retrenchment and reform.--marriage of the princess charlotte.--satire on the purchase of the "elgin marbles."--other satires of 1816.--john bull's bankruptcy proceedings.--remanded for extravagance.--his "schedule."--seditious troubles of 1817.--a satire on the princess caroline.--death of the princess charlotte.--other satires of 1817--of 1818.--the "bank restriction note."--satires of 1819.--queen caroline and other caricatures of 1820 and 1821.--death and funeral of the queen.--the populace force the procession to go through the city.--the military fire on the people.--alderman sir william curtis in highland costume.--indignation of the king.--satires on both.--statue of achilles.--other caricatures of 1822.--satires of 1823 and 1824.--joint stock company mania of 1825.--undated satires.--amazing value of george cruikshank's caricatures. _pp._ 125-166. chapter viii. george cruikshank as a book illustrator.--defects and excellencies.--women, horses, trees.--"greenwich hospital."--sikes and the dog.--jonathan wild.--simon renard and winwike.--"born a genius and born a dwarf."--its history.--randalph and hilda at ranelagh.--sale of the shadow.--sailors carousing.--paying off a jew.--simpkin dancing.--the last cab driver.--dominie sampson.--dumbiedikes.--fall of the leaf.--taurus.--libra.--revolution at madame tussaud's.--theatrical fun dinner.--"gone!"--duke of marlborough's boot.--the two elves.--witches' frolic.--ghosts.--jack o' lantern.--devils.--the gin shop.--redgauntlet.--fagin in the condemned cell.--murder of sir rowland trenchard.--xit wedded to the scavenger's daughter.--mauger sharpening his axe.--massacre at tullabogue, etc.--his genius. _pp._ 167-188. chapter ix. the sleep of thirty years.--causes of george cruikshank's decadence insufficiently understood.--professor bates' theory.--charles dickens's nervousness (?).--why cruikshank was unfitted to illustrate his novels.--the rejected illustration to oliver twist.--quarrel with bentley.--guy fawkes illustrations.--"ainsworth's magazine."--progress of the cruikshank _versus_ bentley campaign.--cruikshank's declaration of war.--his tactics.--"our library table."--quarrel with harrison ainsworth.--cruikshank's claim to be originator of two of his stories considered.--a word for harrison ainsworth.--popularity and success of his novels.--charles lever's "arthur o'leary."--cruikshank's final leap in the dark.--its fatal consequences.--crusade against drink.--"worship of bacchus."--his work falls away.--thirty years of artistic sterility.--fairy stories turned into temperance tracts.--forgotten! _pp._ 189-207. chapter x. birth of robert seymour.--starts as a painter in oils.--death of george iv.--his contemptible character.--sale of his wardrobe.--order for general mourning.--"the adelaide mill."--revolution of 1830.--dismissal of the german band.--st. john long the quack.--administering an oath.--the "humorous sketches."--"book of christmas."--"new readings of old authors."--"figaro in london."--à beckett's editorial amenities.--feud between him and seymour.--seymour caricatures à beckett.--"figaro" passes into the hands of mayhew.--re-engagement of seymour.--origin of the "pickwick papers."--the rejected etching.--suicide of seymour.--his claim to be the "inventor" of "pickwick" considered. _pp._ 208-234. chapter xi. the agitation for reform in 1830-32.--the marquis of blandford's scheme of reform.--strange state of the english representative system of those days.--o'connell's scheme.--lord john russell's "resolutions" rejected.--dearth of political caricaturists at this time.--hb.--secret of the success of his "political sketches."--his style a complete innovation.--"i'll be your second."--unpopularity of the duke of cumberland.--"my dog and my gun."--lord john russell introduces a reform bill.--second reading carried by a majority of one.--general election.--lord john russell's second reform bill passes the house of commons.--deputation to the lords.--"bringing up our bill."--the lords throw it out.--lord john russell again brings in a bill.--ministers again in a minority in the lords.--earl grey tenders certain alternatives.--excitement caused by the opposition of the lords.--perplexity of the king.--how he overcame the opposition of the peers.--william iv. as johnny gilpin.--the king as mazeppa and sinbad the sailor.--outrage on the duke of wellington.--"taking an airing in hyde park."--"auld lang syne."--"a hint to duellists."--"a great subject dedicated to the royal college of surgeons."--sir francis burdett.--"following the leader."--"the dog and the shadow."--"a race for the westminster stakes."--"a fine old english gentleman."--"jim crow dance and chorus." _pp._ 235-253. chapter xii. political sketches of hb. (continued).--lord john russell.--"jonah."--reduction of the stamp on newspapers.--how it was evaded.--arguments of the opponents of the measure.--hard and soft soap _versus_ newspapers.--strange arguments of the newspaper proprietors of the day.--"the rival newsmongers."--brougham watches for the door of preferment being opened.--"the gheber worshipping the rising sun."--made lord chancellor.--"a select specimen of the black style."--a scene in the house of lords.--"the duel that did not take place."--dissolution of parliament in 1834.--brougham's royal "progress" through scotland.--annoyance of william iv., who determines to get rid of him.--"the fall of icarus."--"the vaux and the grapes."--the irish coercion bill of 1833.--irish disaffection which led up to it.--list of irish crimes for one year.--scenes between english and irish members.--"prisoners of war."--good effects of the coercion bill.--irish agitators of 1833 and 1883 compared.--o' connell and the irish peasant.--unscrupulous political conduct of o'connell.--"the comet of 1835."--"doctor syntax [_i.e._ peel] on his faithful steed in search of the picturesque."--amazing number of hb's political sketches.--his failings.--his imitators and their fate. _pp._ 254-276. chapter xiii. john leech.--birth.--at charterhouse.--the "coach tree."--early efforts in drawing brought to the notice of flaxman.--apprenticed to whittle, an eccentric medical man.--transfer of leech's indentures.--early work.--applies to illustrate "pickwick."--style not matured till 1840.--an attack on dickens.--attack on "phiz."--attack on d'israeli.--"bentley's miscellany."--joins _punch_.--marriage.--the "right-hand man in punch's cabinet."--"illuminated magazine."--portraits of leech in _punch_.--douglas jerrold and albert smith.--douglas jerrold and à beckett.--leech at a fancy ball.--albert smith and the wide-awake innkeepers at chamounix.--george cruikshank borrowing from leech.--influence of cruikshank on leech.--the two compared.--abhorrence of frenchmen.--mistake in "the battle of life." _pp._ 277-293. chapter xiv. john leech's _punch_ cartoons.--the "albert" hat.--o'connell.--sir james graham.--"peel's dirty little boy."--"how do you like the new whig?"--"the premier's fix."--"the railway juggernaut."--between free trade and protection sir robert peel falls through.--"dombey and son."--lord brougham "in order."--smithfield.--louis philippe.--the year of unrest, 1848.--french expedition to rome.--"a bright idea."--general haynau and barclay & perkins' draymen.--"joe" hume.--the "papal aggression" cartoons.--"the boy who chalked up 'no popery' and then ran away."--great exhibition of 1851.--the _coup d'état_.--the peace society.--"the old 'un and the young 'un."--war with russia.--evils of the purchase system.--generals _janvier_ and _fevrier_.--"the return from vienna."--incapacity of english generals.--"urgent private affairs."--"staying proceedings."--the royal levées.--the french colonels.--"religion _à la mode_."--fête at cremorne.--plots against the french emperor, and their consequences.--"invasion of french light wines." _pp._ 294-314. chapter xv. exhibition of leech's "sketches in oil" at the egyptian hall in 1862.--what thackeray said of them.--gradual decrease in the numbers of his cartoons for _punch_.--overwork.--goes to the continent with mark lemon in 1862.--"a day at biarritz."--returns with no benefit.--leech and thackeray at evans's in december, 1863.--thackeray and leech at charterhouse on "founder's day."--thackeray at the wednesday _punch_ dinner, 15th of december, 1863.--death of thackeray.--death of mr. r. w. surtees.--the _punch_ council dinners.--john leech a faithful attendant.--"moses starting for the fair."--john leech's illness described.--no falling off in the quality of his designs.--"st. genulphus."--starts off for homburg with mr. alfred elmore.--death of thomas frederick robson.--his wonderful powers wasted.--leech goes to whitby.--shirley brooks joins him.--"the weinbrunnen schwalbach."--reminiscences of the whitby visit.--opening of fechter's season at the lyceum.--john leech at a party at mr. w. p. frith's, 13th of october--at the weekly _punch_ dinner, 26th of october.--serious change for the worse.--his death.--shock caused by his death in london and the provinces.--his funeral.--shirley brooks' memorial in _punch_. _pp._ 315-335. chapter xvi. hablot knight browne ("phiz").--invincible tendency to exaggeration.--charles lever's opinion.--weakness and attenuation of his figures.--compared with john leech.--tendency to reproduce.--all his heroes closely resemble one another.--charles lever's complaint on this score.--great ability of the artist.--"ralph nickleby's visit to his poor relations."--newman noggs.--squeers.--mrs. nickleby's lunatic admirer.--"pecksniff's reception of the new pupil."--"pleasant little family party at mr. pecksniff's."--"warm reception of mr. pecksniff by his venerable friend."--quilp and samson brass.--quilp and the dog.--mrs. jarley's waxwork brigand.--capture of bunsby by mrs. macstinger.--"sunday under three heads."--the jack sheppard mania of 1840.--"the way to the gallows made easy and pleasant."--"phiz" not a born comic artist.--excellence in depicting graver subjects.--"the dombey family."--"mrs. dombey at home."--"abstraction and recognition."--"the dark road."--"carker in his hour of triumph."--"bleak house."--why browne suited charles dickens's requirements.--coolness between artist and author.--one of browne's finest illustrations.--decline of book etching.--browne without an idea of his own.--powerful assistance rendered to novelists by book illustrators of his day.--sketches and studies.--death of the artist. _pp._ 336-354. chapter xvii. kenny meadows.--"portraits of the english."--a thoroughly useful man.--some works illustrated by meadows.--his merits unequal.--his contempt for nature.--an early illustrator of _punch_.--his illustrated shakespeare.--some excellent work of meadows.--his death.--robert william buss.--recommended to illustrate "pickwick" on seymour's death.--etchings suppressed.--the "buss plates" not his at all.--his paintings.--lectures on caricature and graphic satire.--comic publications which preceded or ran side by side with _punch_.--alfred william forrester (alfred crowquill).--"a general utility man."--crowquill a caricaturist.--his talent and cleverness.--some of his paintings.--charles h. bennett.--"shadows."--"shadow and substance."--"origin of species."--taken on the _punch_ staff.--early death.--theatrical performances for the benefit of his family.--kate terry.--thackeray as a comic artist.--satire on charles lever.--unfitted to illustrate his own novels, and why.--his genius displayed in literature not in art.--illustrations to "vanity fair" considered.--anthony trollope on this subject. _pp._ 355-380. chapter xviii. first work of richard doyle.--receives his art training from his father.--joins _punch_.--the peace-at-any-price party.--the troubles of 1848.--the sea-serpent of revolution upsetting the monarchical cock-boats.--lord brougham.--richard doyle's dream of the future of ireland.--the window tax.--"manners and customs of ye englishe."--"the month" upon exeter hall.--establishment of the papal hierarchy in england.--the causes of doyle's retirement from _punch_ explained.--unselfishness of his conduct.--ultimate consequences on his prospects.--number of his _punch_ illustrations.--caricatures of richard doyle.--"brown, jones, and robinson."--works illustrated by doyle.--mr. hamerton's criticism on his illustrations to "the newcomes."--his death.--john tenniel.--joins _punch_ at the commencement of troublous times.--death of the duke of wellington.--battle of oltenitza.--lord aberdeen as the "courier of st. petersburg."--lord aberdeen tries to hold in the british lion.--england the unready.--"peace" seated on the garrison gun.--_punch's_ low estimate of the third napoleon.--an "international poultry show."--"the eagle in love."--"playing with edged tools."--"an unpleasant neighbour."--louis closes his firework shop "to please johnny."--miss britannia refuses to dance again with louis.--mr. tenniel one of the most versatile of modern designers.--examples of his graphic satire.--notice of his cartoons closes with 1864, in accordance with the plan of the work.--his comic powers. _pp._ 381-400. list of illustrations. anonymous. page a buzz in a box _frontispiece_ _from woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ grand entrance to bamboozlem 81 _from woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ leap year; or, john bull's peace establishment 50 _from woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ a peep in the pump room 57 _from woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ bennett, chas. h. "creeping like a snail" 371 _from original woodblock in possession of the publishers._ old enough to know better 372 _from original woodblock in possession of the publishers._ browne, hablot k. ("phiz"). the departure 336 dick swiveller and the lodger 340 the rioters 346 sam weller and his father 352 _woodcut reproductions of the original sketches._ bunbury, w. h. interior of a barber's shop 5 salutation tavern 11 strephon and chloe 11 _by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ crowquill, alfred. frozen out gardeners 368 "swearing the horns" at highgate 369 _both by permission of messrs. w. & r. chambers._ cruikshank, george. absent-mindedness 175 bat boroo 175 the braintrees 171 the deaf postilion 171 the dentist 175 the elves and the cobbler 180 _above six by permission of messrs. geo. bell & sons._ the gin shop 184 _from woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ the old commodore 182 _by permission of messrs. geo. routledge & son._ russian condescension 133 _from woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ a scene in kensington gardens 152 _from woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ "a tall figure her sight engrossed" 182 _by permission of messrs. geo. routledge & son._ the tête-a-tête 175 the waits of bremen 180 the witch's switch 175 _above three by permission of messrs. geo. bell & sons._ cruikshank, robert. john bull flourishing 99 _woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ cuts from "the universal songster" 110 _by permission of messrs. geo. routledge & son._ doré, gustave. the abbot of marmoustiers 8 the landlord of the three barbels 9 monseigneur hugon 9 serjeant-of-the-justice taupin 8 _above four by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ gillray, j. a connoisseur 24 the gout 5 a lesson in apple dumplings 24 napoleonic caricatures 18, 20 the national assembly 26 a peep at christie's 14 royal affability 24 _above seven by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ shakespeare sacrificed 12 _woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ twopenny whist 16 _by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ hogarth, w. marriage à la mode 7 _woodcut reproduction of the original sketch._ lane, theodore. the gallery 85 the non-paying audience 85 _woodcut reproductions of the original sketches._ leech, john. the election 286 "i hope, mr. smug, you don't beat your boys!" 292 the mayor and corporation of swinestead 278 rowlandson, t. "all the talents" 3 "anything will do for an officer" 2 the cobbler's cure for a scolding wife 29 desire 11 spitfires 28 trumpet and bassoon 2 _above six by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ sandby, paul. a mountebank painter 7 _by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ seymour, robert. the adelaide mill 213 _woodcut reproduction of the original caricature._ the dying clown 233 _woodcut reproduction of the original sketch._ thackeray, w. m. angelica arrives just in time 379 _by permission of messrs. smith, elder & co._ brown, jones, and robinson 392 _by permission of messrs. bradbury, agnew & co._ gruffanuff 378 _by permission of messrs. smith, elder & co._ marginal sketches (2) 375 _by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ monks of the order of flagellants 378 prince bulbo 378 _both by permission of messrs. smith, elder & co._ woodward, g. m. desire 11 "general complaint" 11 _both by permission of messrs. chatto & windus._ [illustration: "_the farthing rushlight._" the prince of wales, with fox, sheridan, and his whig associates, trying in vain to blow out poor old george.] the author desires to express his sense of obligation to the several publishers who have courteously granted him permission to reproduce drawings, the copyrights of which are vested in themselves; and at the same time to state his regret that other publishers, similarly situated with respect to other works, have not seen their way to render it possible for him to supply specimens of the style of certain artists, two of whom in particular, john leech and h. k. browne, must needs be conspicuous by their comparative absence. such caricatures and book illustrations as have seemed specially desirable--of which the copyrights have lapsed and no editions are at the present day in print--have been engraved for this work by mr. william cheshire. english caricaturists. chapter i. _of the english caricature and its decay._ definition of caricature if you turn to the word "_caricatura_" in your italian dictionary, it is just possible that you will be gratified by learning that it means "caricature"; but if you refer to the same word in old dr. johnson, he will tell you, with the plain, practical common-sense which distinguished him, that it signifies "an exaggerated resemblance in drawings," and this expresses exactly what it _does_ mean. any distinguishing feature or peculiarity, whether in face, figure, or dress, is _exaggerated_, and yet the likeness is preserved. a straight nose is presented unnaturally straight, a short nose unnaturally depressed; a prominent forehead is drawn unusually bulbous; a protuberant jaw unnaturally underhung; a fat man is depicted preternaturally fat, and a thin one correspondingly lean. this at least was the idea of _caricature_ during the last century. old francis grose, who, in 1791, wrote certain "rules for drawing caricaturas," gives us the following explanation of their origin:--"the sculptors of ancient greece," he tells us, "seem to have diligently observed the form and proportions constituting the european ideas of beauty, and upon them to have formed their statues. these measures are to be met with in many drawing books; a slight deviation from them by the predominancy of any feature constitutes what is called character, and serves to discriminate the owner thereof and to fix the idea of identity. this deviation or peculiarity aggravated, forms caricatura." as a matter of fact, the strict definition of the word given by francis grose and dr. johnson is no longer applicable; the word caricature includes, and has for a very long time been understood to include, within its meaning any pictorial or graphic satire, political or otherwise, and whether the drawing be exaggerated or not: it is in this sense that mr. wright makes use of it in his "caricature history of the georges," and it is in this sense that we shall use it for the purposes of this present book. [illustration: rowlandson. the trumpet and the bassoon.] [illustration: rowlandson. _january 1st, 1796._ "anything will do for an officer." "what shall we do with him?" "do with him? why, make an officer of him!" _face p. 2._] change in the spirit of english caricature. since the commencement of the present century, and more especially during the last fifty years, a change has come over the spirit of english caricature. the fact is due to a variety of causes, amongst which must be reckoned the revolution in dress and manners; the extinction of the three-bottle men and topers; the change of thought, manners, and habits consequent on the introduction of steam, railways, and the electric telegraph. the casual observer meeting, as he sometimes will, with a portfolio of etchings representing the men with red and bloated features, elephantine limbs, and huge paunches, who figure in the caricatures of the last and the early part of the present century, may well be excused if he doubt whether such figures of fun ever had an actual existence. our answer is that they not only existed, but were very far from uncommon. our great-grandfathers of 1800 were jolly good fellows; washing down their beef-steaks with copious draughts of "york or burton ale," or the porter for which trenton, of whitechapel, appears to have been famed,[1] fortifying themselves afterwards with deeper draughts of generous wines--rich port, madeira, claret, dashed with hermitage--they set up before they were old men paunches and diseases which rendered them a sight for gods and men. reader, be assured that the fat men who figure in the graphic satires of the early part of the century were certainly _not_ caricatured. [illustration: t. rowlandson. _april 13th, 1807._ "all the talents." the "broad-bottom administration," known as "all the talents," showing the several qualifications of the ministry. _face p. 3._] the three great caricaturists of the last century. in connection with the subject of graphic satire, the names of the three great caricaturists of the last century--gillray, rowlandson, and bunbury--are indispensable. the last, a gentleman of family, fortune, and position, and equerry to the duke of york, was, in truth, rather an amateur than an artist. rowlandson was an able draughtsman, and something more; but his style and his tastes are essentially coarse and sensual, and his women are the overblown beauties of the drury lane and covent garden of his day. george moutard woodward, whose productions he sometimes honoured by etching, and whose distinguishing characteristics are carelessness and often bad drawing, follows him at a respectful distance. the genius of james gillray has won him the title of the "prince of caricaturists," a title he well earned and thoroughly deserved. the only one of the nineteenth century caricaturists who touches him occasionally in _caricature_, but distances him in everything else, is our george cruikshank. commencing work when george the third was still a young man, gillray and rowlandson necessarily infused into it some of the coarseness and vulgarity of their century. with gillray, indeed, this coarseness and vulgarity may be said to be rather the exception than the rule, whereas the exact contrary holds good of his able and too often careless contemporary. as might have been expected, every one who excites their ridicule or contempt is treated and (in their letterpress descriptions) spoken of in the broadest manner. bonaparte is mentioned by both artists (in allusion to his supposed sanguinary propensities) as "boney, the carcase butcher;" josephine is represented by gillray as a coarse fat woman, with the sensual habits of a drury lane strumpet; talleyrand, by right of his club foot and limping gait, is invariably dubbed "hopping talley." the influence of both artists is felt by those who immediately succeeded them. the coarseness, for instance, of robert cruikshank, when he displays any at all, which is seldom, is directly traceable to the influence of rowlandson, whom (until he followed the example of his greater brother) he at first copied. influence of gillray on cruikshank. gillray wrought much the same influence upon george cruikshank. i have seen it gravely asserted by some of those who have written upon him,[2] that this great artist never executed a drawing which could call a blush into the cheek of modesty. but those who have written upon george cruikshank--and their name is legion--instead of beginning at the beginning, and thus tracing the gradual and almost insensible formation of his style, appear to me to have plunged as it were into _medias res_, and commenced at the point when he dropped caricature and became an illustrator of books. book illustration was scarcely an art until george cruikshank made it so; and the most interesting period of his artistic career appears to us to be the one in which he pursued the path indicated by james gillray, until his career of caricaturist merged into his later employment of a designer and etcher of book illustration, by which no doubt he achieved his reputation. in answer to those who tell us that he never produced a drawing which could call a blush into the cheek of modesty, and never raised a laugh at the expense of decency, we will only say that we can produce at least a score of instances to the contrary. to go no further than "the scourge," we will refer them to three: his _dinner of the four-in-hand club at salthill_, in vol. i.; his _return to office_ (1st july, 1811), in vol. ii.; and his _coronation of the empress of the nares_ (1st september, 1812), in vol. iv. revolution effected by h. b. as the century passed out of its infancy and attained the maturer age of thirty years, a gradual and almost imperceptible change came over the spirit of english graphic satire. the coarseness and suggestiveness of the old caricaturists gradually disappeared, until at length, in 1830, an artist arose who was destined to work a complete revolution in the style and manner of english caricature. this artist was john doyle,--the celebrated h. b. he it was that discovered that pictures might be made mildly diverting without actual coarseness or exaggeration; and when this fact was accepted, the art of caricaturing underwent a complete transition, and assumed a new form. the "sketches" of h. b. owe their chief attraction to the excellence of their designer as a portrait painter; his successors, with less power in this direction but with better general artistic abilities, rapidly improved upon his idea, and thus was founded the modern school of graphic satirists represented by richard doyle, john leech, and john tenniel. so completely was the style of comic art changed under the auspices of these clever men, that the very name of "caricature" disappeared, and the modern word "cartoon" assumed its place. with the exception indeed of carlo pellegrini (the "ape" of _vanity fair_), and his successors, we have now no caricaturist in the old and true acceptation of the term, and original and clever as their productions are, their compositions are timid compared with those of bunbury, gillray, rowlandson, and their successors, being limited to a weekly "exaggerated" portrait, instead of composed of many figures. [illustration: james gillray. _may 14th, 1799._ "the gout."] [illustration: w. h. bunbury, _etched by_ gillray. _1811, pubd. may 15th, 1818._ "interior of a barber's shop in assize time."] _face p. 5_] but caricature was destined to receive its final blow at the hands of that useful craftsman the wood-engraver. the application of wood-engraving to all kinds of illustration, whether graphic or comic, and the mode in which time, labour, and expense are economised, by the large wood blocks being cut up into squares, and each square entrusted to the hands of a separate workman, has virtually superseded the old and far more effective process of etching. economy is now the order of the day in matters of graphic satire as in everything else; people are no longer found willing to pay a shilling for a caricature when they may obtain one for a penny. hence it has come to pass, that whilst comic artists abound, the prevailing spirit of economy has reduced their productions to a dead level, and the work of an artist of inferior power and invention, may successfully compete for public favour with the work of a man of talent and genius like john tenniel, a result surely to be deplored, seeing there never was a time which offered better opportunities for the pencil of a great and original caricaturist than the present.[3] mistake of those who compare modern caricaturists with hogarth. it is a common practice, and i may add mistake, with writers on comic artists or caricaturists of our day, to compare them with hogarth. both hogarth and the men of our day are graphic satirists, but there is so broad a distinction between the satire of each, and the circumstances of the times in which they respectively laboured, that comparison is impossible. those who know anything of this great and original genius, must know that he entertained the greatest horror of being mistaken for a _caricaturist_ pure and simple; and although he executed caricatures for special purposes, they may literally be counted on the fingers. "his pictures," says hazlitt, "are not imitations of still life, or mere transcripts of incidental scenes and customs; but powerful _moral_ satires, exposing vice and folly in their most ludicrous points of view, and with a profound insight into the weak sides of character and manners, in all their tendencies, combinations, and contrasts. there is not a single picture of his containing a representation of mere pictorial or domestic scenery." his object is not so much "to hold the mirror up to nature," as "to show vice her own feature, scorn her own image." "folly is there seen at the height--the moon is at the full--it is the very error of the time. there is a perpetual error of eccentricities, a tilt and tournament of absurdities, pampered with all sorts of affectation, airy, extravagant, and ostentatious! yet _he is as little a caricaturist_ as he is a painter of still life. criticism has not done him justice, though public opinion has."[4] "a set of severer satires," says charles lamb, "(for they are not so much comedies, which they have been likened to, as they are strong and masculine satires), less mingled with anything of mere fun, were never written upon paper or graven upon copper. they resemble juvenal, or the satiric touches in timon of athens." [illustration: w. hogarth. "_mariage à la mode._"] [illustration: paul sandby. _anti-hogarthian caricature._ "a mountebank painter demonstrating to his admirers and subscribers that crookedness is y^e most beautifull." _face p. 7._] character of hogarth's satires. hogarth was a stern moralist and satirist, but his satires have nothing in common with the satires of the nineteenth century; such men as the infamous charteris and the quack misaubin figure in his compositions, and their portraits are true to the life. although his satire is relieved with flashes of humour, the reality and gravity of the satire remain undisturbed. the _march to finchley_ is one of the severest satires on the times; it shows us the utter depravity of the morals and manners of the day, the want of discipline of the king's officers and soldiers, which led to the routs of preston and falkirk, the headlong flight of hawley and his licentious and cowardly dragoons. some modern writers know so little of him that they have not only described his portrait of wilkes as a _caricature_, but have cited the inscription on his veritable contemporary _caricature_ of churchill in proof of the assertion. now what says this inscription? "the bruiser (churchill, once the reverend), in the character of a russian hercules, regaling himself after having killed the monster _caricatura, that so severely galled his virtuous friend_, the heaven-born wilkes." hogarth's use of the word _caricatura_ conveys a meaning which is not patent at first sight; wilkes's leer was the leer of a satyr, "his face," says macaulay, "was so hideous that the caricaturists were forced in their own despite to flatter him."[5] the real sting lies in the _accuracy_ of hogarth's portrait (a fact which wilkes himself admitted), and it is in this sarcastic sense that hogarth makes use of the word "caricatura." gustave doré. turning from hogarth to a modern artist, in spite of his faults of most marvellous genius and inventive faculty, i frequently find critics of approved knowledge and sagacity describing the late gustave doré as a caricaturist. it may seem strange at first sight to introduce the name of doré into a work dealing exclusively with english caricature art, and i do so, not by reason of the fact that his works are as familiar to us in england as in france, not because he has pictorially interpreted some of the finest thoughts in english literature, but because i find his name so constantly mentioned in comparison with english caricaturists and comic artists, and more especially with our george cruikshank. now gustave doré is, if possible, still less a caricaturist than our english hogarth. i have seen the ghastly illustrations to the licentious "contes drolatiques" of balzac cited in proof of his claims to be considered a caricaturist. i will not deny that doré did try his hand once upon a time at caricature, and if we are to judge him by these attempts, we should pronounce him the worst french caricaturist the world ever saw, which would be saying a great deal; for a worse school than that of the modern french caricaturists (and i do not except even gavarni, cham, or daumier), does not anywhere exist. that this man of marvellous genius had humour i do not for one moment deny; but it was the grim humour of an inquisitor or torturer of the middle ages--of one that revels in a perfect nightmare of terror.[6] genius is said to be nearly allied to madness; and if one studies some of his weird creations--such, for instance, as _the judgment day_ in the legend of "the wandering jew"--the thought involuntarily suggests itself that a brain teeming with such marvellous and often morbid conceptions, might have been pushed off its balance at any moment. gustave doré delights in lofty, mediæval-gabled buildings, with bartizans and antique galleries; in steep streets, dominated by gloomy turrets; in narrow entries, terminating in dark vistas; in gloomy forests, crowded with rocky pinnacles; in masses of struggling, mutilated men and horses; in monstrous forms of creeping, crawling, slimy, ghastly horror. by the side of the conceptions of gustave doré--_teste_ for instance the weird pictures of "the wandering jew" already mentioned--george cruikshank sinks at times into insignificance; and yet side by side with george cruikshank, as a purely comic artist or caricaturist, doré is beneath mediocrity. [illustration: gustave doré. _from "contes drolatiques."_ "sergeant-of-the-justice taupin."] [illustration: gustave doré. _from "contes drolatiques."_ "the abbot of marmoustiers." _back to p. 8._] [illustration: gustave doré. _from "contes drolatiques."_ "the landlord of the three barbels."] [illustration: gustave doré. _from "contes drolatiques."_ monseigneur hugon. _back to p. 9._] mr. hamerton's observations on caricature. artists and art critics not unnaturally regard caricature with some disfavour. "art," says hamerton, "with a great social or political purpose, is seldom pure fine art; artistic aims are usually lost sight of in the anxiety to hit the social or political mark, and though the caricaturist may have great natural facility for art, it has not a fair chance of cultivation." writing of cruikshank's "etchings" (and i presume he refers to those which are marked with comic or satirical characteristics), he says: "they are full of keen satire and happy invention, and their moral purpose is always good; but all these qualities are compatible with a carelessness of art which is not to be tolerated in any one but a professional caricaturist."[7] now all this is true, and moreover it is fairly and generously stated; on the other hand, mr. hamerton will probably admit that no artist is likely to succeed in graphic satire, unless he be a man of marked artistic power and invention. while treating incidentally of the etchings of artists who have distinguished themselves as graphic satirists or designers, with etching itself as an _art_ this work has no concern. for those who would be initiated into the mysteries of etching and dry point, negative and positive processes, soft grounds, mordants, or the like, the late thomas hood has left behind him a whimsical sketch of the process, which, imperfect as it is, will not only suffice for our purpose, but has the merit probably of being but little known:- "prepared by a hand that is skilful and nice, the fine point glides along like a skate on the ice, at the will of the gentle designer, who, impelling the needle, just presses so much, that each line of her labour _the copper may touch_, as if done by a penny-a-liner. * * * * * certain objects however may come in your sketch, which, designed by a hand unaccustomed to etch, with a luckless result may be branded; wherefore add this particular rule to your code, let all vehicles take the _wrong_ side of the road, and man, woman, and child be _left-handed_. yet regard not the awkward appearance with doubt, but remember how often mere blessings fall out, that at first seemed no better than curses: so, till _things take a turn_, live in hope, and depend that whatever is wrong will come right in the end, and console you for all your _reverses_. * * * * * but the acid has duly been lower'd and bites only just where the visible metal invites, like a nature inclined to meet troubles; and behold as each slender and glittering line effervesces, you trace the completed design in an elegant bead-work of bubbles. * * * * * but before with the varnishing brush you proceed, let the plate with cold water be thoroughly freed from the other less innocent liquor; after which, on whatever you want to protect, put a _coat_ that will act to that very effect, like the black one which hangs on the vicar. then the varnish well dried--urge the biting again, but how long, at its meal, the _eau forte_ may remain, time and practice alone can determine: but of course not so long that the mountain, and mill, the rude bridge, and the figures--whatever you will- are as black as the spots on your ermine. it is true, none the less, that a dark looking scrap, with a sort of blackheath and black forest, mayhap, is considered as rather rembrandty; and that very black cattle and very black sheep, a black dog, and a shepherd as black as a sweep, are the pets of some great _dilettante_. * * * * * but before your own picture arrives at that pitch, while the lights are still light, and the shadows, though rich. more transparent than ebony shutters, never minding what black-arted critics may say, stop the biting, and pour the green blind away, as you please, into bottles or gutters. then removing the ground and the wax _at a heat_, cleanse the surface with oil, spermaceti or sweet- for your hand a performance scarce proper- so some careful professional person secure, for the laundress will not be a safe amateur, to assist you in _cleaning the copper_. * * * * * thus your etching complete, it remains but to hint that with certain assistance from paper and print, which the proper mechanic will settle, you may charm all your friends--without any sad tale of such perils and ills as beset lady sale- with a fine _india proof of your metal_."[8] [illustration: woodward, _engr. by_ rowlandson. _"desire," jan. 20th, 1800._ desire.] [illustration: w. h. bunbury. _"strephon and chloe," july 1st, 1804._ sentimental courtship.] [illustration: w. h. bunbury. _"the salutation tavern," july 21st, 1801._ a fashionable salutation.] [illustration: g. m. woodward. _"general complaint," may 5th, 1796._ "don't tell me of generals raised from mere boys, though, believe me, i mean not their laurel to taint; but the general, i'm sure, that will make the most noise, if the war still goes on, will be general complaint." _face p. 11._] footnotes: [1] "nor london singly can his porter boast, alike 'tis famed on every foreign coast; for this the frenchman leaves his bordeaux wine, and pours libations at our thames's shrine; afric retails it 'mongst her swarthy sons, and haughty spain procures it for her dons. wherever britain's powerful flag has flown, there london's celebrated porter's known." --_the art of living in london_ (6th edition 1805). [2] one quotation shall suffice. mr. william bates tells us in his admirable "maclise portrait gallery":--"he _never_ transgressed the narrow line that separates wit from buffoonery, pandered to sensuality, glorified vice or raised a laugh at the expense of decency. satire _never_ in his hands degenerated into savagery or scurrility. a moral purpose _ever_ underlaid his humour; he sought to instruct or improve when he amused." mr. bates will, we hope, pardon us if we say that this is not quite the fact. george cruikshank in truth was no better or worse than his satirical brothers, and his tone necessarily improved from the moment he took to illustrating books. [3] since the above was written, strange to say, caricature appears to be showing symptoms of revival. [4] "the fine arts," by william hazlett, p. 29. [5] "critical and historical essays," vol. iii., p. 574. [6] we can scarcely call the wonderful series of historical cartoons which he executed at sixteen _caricatures_, even in the modern sense of the word. whatever humour they possess is neutralized by the grim irony which, even at this early period, characterized his work. [7] "etching and etchers," by philip gilbert hamerton, third edition, p. 246. [8] thomas hood's "etching moralized," in _new monthly magazine_, 1843, vol. lxvii. p. 4, and _seq._ chapter ii. _miscellaneous caricatures and subjects of caricature, 1800-1811._ proposed method of arrangement. although gillray began his work in 1769,--thirty years before our century commenced, and rowlandson five years later on, in 1774, their labours were continued some years after 1799, and are so interwoven, so to speak, with the work of their immediate successors, that it is almost impossible in a work dealing with nineteenth century caricaturists to omit all mention of them. in collecting too materials for the present treatise, we necessarily met with many anonymous satires, without signature, initials, or distinguishing style, which may be, and some of which are probably due to artists whose pencils were at work before the century began. even if equal in all cases to the task of assigning these satires to the particular hands which designed and executed them, we submit that little real service would be rendered to the cause of graphic satire. it appears to us therefore that the most convenient method will be to indicate in this and the following chapters _some_ of the leading topics of caricature during the first thirty years of the century, and to cite in illustration of our subject such of the work of anonymous or other artists, for which no better place can be assigned in other divisions of the work. [illustration: james gillray. _june 20th, 1789._ shakspeare sacrificed, or the offering to avarice. alderman boydell, as high priest within the magic circle, preparing an oblation to shakspeare; the demon of avarice, seated upon the list of subscribers, hugging his money-bags; puck on his shoulders blowing bubbles of "immortality" to the promoter of the "gallery" about to be published. shakespeare himself, obscured by the aldermanic fumes. figures of shakspearean characters above. _face p. 12._] the attention of the public during the first fifteen years of the century was mainly directed to the progress and fortunes of the great national enemy, napoleon bonaparte. the hatred with which he was regarded in this country can scarcely be appreciated in these days; and in order that the cause of this bitter antipathy may be understood, it will be necessary for us to consider bonaparte's general policy in relation to ourselves. 18th brumaire. the close of the century had been signalized in france by the memorable revolution of "the eighteenth brumaire." the directory had ceased to exist, and a provisional consular commission, consisting of "citizens" sieyes, ducos, and bonaparte, was appointed. on the 13th of december, the legislative committees presented the new constitution to the nation, the votes against it being 1,562 as against 3,012,659 in its favour. bonaparte was nominated first consul for ten, and cambacères and lebrun (nominal) second and third consuls for five years. although bonaparte, as soon as he was appointed first consul, made direct overtures to the king of england with a view to peace, he had himself to thank if his overtures met with no corresponding return. to accomplish the revolution of the "eighteenth brumaire," he had found it necessary to quit egypt. the english knew the french occupation of egypt was intended as a direct menace to british interests in india. lord granville, therefore, in his official reply, without assuming to prescribe a form of government to france, plainly but somewhat illogically intimated that the "restoration of the ancient line of princes, under whom france had enjoyed so many centuries of prosperity, would afford the best possible guarantee for the maintenance of peace between the two countries." this new year's greeting on the part of lord granville put an end, as might have been expected, to all further communications. the french driven out of egypt. the french, however, had no business in egypt, and england was resolved at any cost to drive them out of that country. with this object in view, the armament under the command of sir ralph abercrombie effected its disembarkation at aboukir on the 8th of march, 1801. a severe though indecisive action followed five days afterwards. on the 20th was fought the decisive battle of alexandria. general hutchinson, on the death of the english commander, followed up the victory with so much vigour and celerity, that early in the autumn the french army capitulated, on condition of being conveyed to france with all its arms, artillery, and baggage. the capitulation was signed just in time to save french honour; for immediately after the conclusion of the treaty, a second british force, under the command of sir david baird, arrived from india by way of the red sea. bonaparte's favourite project of making egypt an _entrepôt_ for the conquest of hindostan was thus most effectually checkmated.[9] on the 1st of october, 1801, _preliminaries_ of peace between france and great britain were signed in downing street; on the 10th, general lauriston, aide-de-camp to the first consul, having arrived with the ratification of these preliminaries, the populace took the horses from his carriage and drew it to downing street. that night and the following there was a general illumination in london. the "preliminaries" referred to were those of the very unsatisfactory "peace of amiens," as it was called. its terms, by no means flattering to this country, were shortly these: france was to retain all her conquests; while, on the other hand, the acquisitions made by england during the war were to be given up. malta and its dependencies were to be restored (under certain restrictions) nominally to the knights of st. john of jerusalem; the french were to evacuate naples and the roman states; and the british porto ferrago, and all the ports possessed by them in the mediterranean and the adriatic. [illustration: james gillray. _sept., 1796._ a peep at christie's, or tally-ho and his nimeney pimeney taking the morning lounge. a study of lord derby and miss farren (the actress), a few months before their marriage, enjoying the fine arts, he studying "the death of reynard," she "zenocrates and phryne." _face p. 14._] bonaparte establishes an english newspaper in paris. all this time a violent paper war had been maintained between the english press and the _moniteur_, the official organ of the consular government. in the month of august, 1802, bonaparte prohibited the circulation of the english newspapers, and immediately after the issue of the order, the coffee houses and reading rooms were visited by his police, who carried away every english journal upon which they could lay their hands. by way of answer to english abuse (to which napoleon was singularly sensitive), the first consul now established an english newspaper in paris, which was thenceforth unceasingly occupied in vilifying the government and people of england. this paper was called _the argus_, and an englishman, one goldsmith,--whilom proprietor of the _albion_ newspaper in london,--was actually found mean enough to undertake the peculiarly dirty office of its editor. the _denouement_ was not long delayed. on the 13th of march, 1803, occurred the extraordinary and well-known scene between the first consul and the english ambassador, lord whitworth. bonaparte, in the presence of a numerous and astonished court, vehemently accused england of breach of faith in not carrying out the provisions of the treaty, by still remaining in possession of malta. the episode appears to have been of an extraordinary character, and the violence and ferocity of bonaparte's language and behaviour, maintained till the very close of the interview, must have contrasted strangely with the coolness of the english ambassador. the restoration of malta to the knights of st. john was of course a mere nominal restitution, for, except in name, the knights of st. john had ceased to exist. the first consul really wanted the island for himself; and while he accused us of breach of faith, was himself acting all the while contrary to the spirit of the treaty of amiens. while requiring that we should drive the royalist emigrants from our shores, he demanded that the english press should be deprived of its liberty of speaking in such frank terms of himself and his policy. his unfriendly conduct did not end here. at this very time he was actively employed in fomenting rebellion in ireland, and in planting (under the nominal character of consuls) spies along our coast, whose treacherous objects were accidentally discovered by the seizure of the secret instructions issued to one of these fellows at dublin. "you are required," said this precious document, "to furnish a plan of the ports of your district, with a specification of the soundings for mooring vessels. if no plan of the ports can be procured, you are to point out with what wind vessels can come in and go out, and what is the greatest draught of water with which vessels can enter the river deeply laden." still there was no actual breach of the nominal peace between the two countries until the 12th of may, on which day lord whitworth left paris. he landed at dover on the 20th, meeting there general audreossi, napoleon's minister to the english court, on the point of embarking for france. england declares war. for two days before, that is to say on the 18th of may, 1803, england had issued her declaration of war against france. in this document, our government alleged that the surrender of malta to the knights of st. john of jerusalem had been rendered impossible by the action of france and spain, who had destroyed the independence of the order itself. reference was made to bonaparte's attempts to interfere with the liberty of the english press, and the indignities he had offered to our ambassador; but the real ground of quarrel was to be found in an official gasconade of bonaparte's, in which he declared that "britain could not contend single handed against france," a vainglorious boast, which (in those days at least) touched a chord which thrilled the patriotic feelings of every englishman that loved his country. napoleon's next step--a simply detestable action--was quite in accordance with the faithless policy which he pursued towards this country. the treaty of amiens had induced crowds of english to cross the channel, and on the specious pretext that two french ships had been captured prior to the actual declaration of war, he issued a decree on the 22nd of may, 1803, for the arrest and imprisonment of all englishmen in france, over eighteen and under sixty years of age, all subjects of the king of england between those ages being considered, for the purpose of this outrageous order, _as forming part of the english militia_. this measure was carried out with the utmost rigour, and the eleven thousand english who thus became prisoners of war were deprived of their liberty fifteen years, and regained it only in 1814. [illustration: james gillray. _january 11th, 1796._ twopenny whist. mistress humphrey and betty, of st. james' street, their neighbour mortimer (a well-known picture dealer) and a german guest. [a satire, by contrast, on the high stakes of "white's" and "boodle's."] _face p. 16._] english enthusiasm. the feeling of the nation at this time may be judged by the debates in the houses of parliament. in the commons, mr. grey moved an amendment, which, while it assured his majesty of support in the war, expressed _disapprobation of the conduct of ministers_. this amendment was rejected by 398 to 67. the unanimity in the lords was still greater. the official statement that england was unable to contend single-handed with france produced a violent outburst of indignation, and the amendment moved by lord king, to omit words which charged france with the actual guilt and responsibility of breaking the treaty, was negatived by 142 to 10. this was on the 23rd of may. on the 20th of june a great meeting was held at lloyds, for the purpose of promoting a subscription for carrying on the war. six days later on, five thousand merchants, bankers, and other persons of position met at the royal exchange, and unanimously agreed to a declaration which expressed their determination to "stand or fall with their king and country." this resolution or declaration was seconded by the secretary to the east india company, and the meeting did not separate until "god save the king" and "rule britannia" had been sung, and nine cheers had been given for england and king george. on the 26th of august, his majesty reviewed the london volunteers in hyde park, in the presence of the french princes, general dumouriez, and two hundred thousand spectators; this military spectacle being followed on the 28th by a review, in the same place, of the westminster, lambeth, and southwark corps. the number of volunteers actually enrolled in the metropolis and outparishes at this time was forty-six thousand. the following year saw the final end of the great french revolution; the names of the puppet "second" and "third" consuls had been long omitted from the public acts of the french government. the motives of this omission were soon abundantly apparent; and in the month of may, 1804, bonaparte was proclaimed emperor of the french. some writers have doubted whether napoleon entertained any serious intention of invading this country; but to doubt such intention would be really to doubt whether nelson fell at trafalgar, for that crushing defeat was simply the sequel and outcome of the collapse of the emperor's plans. the details of the invasion scheme were fully explained to general sir neil campbell by napoleon himself at elba, in 1814, and afterwards confirmed by him in precisely similar terms to o'meara at st. helena. those plans were defeated by the suspicions and vigilance of lord nelson; by his habit of acting promptly upon his suspicions; by the alacrity with which the admiralty of the day obeyed his warnings; by the prescience of lord collingwood; and by the consequent intercepting of the combined french and spanish fleets off ferrol by sir robert calder, in july, 1806. the moment this happened, napoleon saw that his game--so far at least as england was concerned--was at an end; and fertile in resources, he immediately carried out the second part of his programme. then followed, as we know, the campaign of austerlitz, the treaty of presburg, the war with prussia, and finally the battle of jena, in october, 1806. berlin decree. ever bent on humiliating and crippling the resources of england, napoleon on the 1st of november, 1806, issued his memorable "berlin decree," containing eleven clauses, of which this country formed the exclusive topic. by it, all trade and correspondence with the british isles was prohibited; all letters and packets at the post office, addressed to england, or to an englishman, or "written in english," were to be seized; every subject of england found _in any_ of the countries occupied by french troops or those of their allies, was to be made prisoner of war; all warehouses, merchandise, and property belonging to a subject of england were declared lawful prize; all trading in english merchandise forbidden; every article belonging to england, or coming from her colonies, or of her manufacture, was declared good prize; and english vessels were excluded from every european port.[10] this outrageous "decree" bonaparte imposed upon every country that fell under the iron sway of his military despotism. [illustration: napoleon forty-eight hours after landing. "ha, my little boney! what dost think of johnny bull now? plunder old england, hay? make french slaves of us all, hay? ravish all our wives and daughters, hay? o, lord help that silly head! to think that johnny bull would ever suffer those lanthorn jaws to become king of old england's roast beef and plum pudding!"] [illustration: john bull offering little boney fair play. bonaparte--"i'm a-coming! i'm a-coming!" john bull--"you're a-coming! if you mean to invade us, why make such a route? i say, little boney,--why don't you come out? yes, d---you, why don't you come out?" figures from gillray's napoleonic caricatures. _face p. 18._] base policy of bonaparte. the policy, therefore, of the emperor towards england, which was contrary to all the usages of civilized warfare, will explain the bitter animosity with which he was regarded in this country. the english were molested everywhere; they were made prisoners at verdun and in holland; their property was confiscated in portugal; russia was cajoled, prussia forced into a league against them, and sweden menaced, because she persisted in maintaining her alliance with this country. the "berlin decree" was an infamous document, worthy rather the policy of a bandit chief than of a fair and honourable antagonist. it proclaimed war not against individuals, but against private property, and specially appealed to the cupidity of those to whom it was addressed. this base policy towards english subjects recoiled inevitably against its perpetrator; and its effects were soon felt in the fields of the peninsula, the banishment to elba, and above all, in the final consignment to the rock of st. helena. we, on our part, ignored bonaparte's right to the title of emperor. with us, he was invariably "general bonaparte," and nothing more; and in the graphic lampoons of gillray, rowlandson, and cruikshank, he was exhibited under the most ludicrous circumstances in connection with the divorce, the defeats of russia and the peninsula, and even the paternity of his son the young king of rome. these caricatures were brought to his notice by his spies and emissaries in england; they rendered him furious; and one of them--gillray's admirable and, as it subsequently proved, prophetic satire of _the handwriting on the wall_--is said to have given him not only offence, but even serious uneasiness. the tone of the english caricaturists may be gathered from one of the best of woodward's satires, published in 1807. it is entitled _a political fair_, in which the various shows are labelled russian, danish, swedish, westphalian, austrian, dutch, spanish, and even american. the best show in the fair is kept of course by john bull & co., whilst bonaparte is the proprietor of a humble stall, whereat gingerbread kings and queens are sold wholesale and retail by his imperial majesty.[11] the same artist, in another but distinctly inferior satire (published in november, 1807), gives us _the gallick storehouse for english shipping_: on one side we see napoleon accumulating vast stores of spanish, danish, dutch, and swedish vessels, intended to annihilate the naval power of england--the shipbuilder, however, shrugs his shoulders and suggests it is but time thrown away, for as fast as the ships are built, john bull "claps them into his storehouse over the way." the satire was suggested of course by the victory of trafalgar in october, 1805; by sir j. duckworth's capture of french shipping in january, 1806; and by the surrender of the danish fleet after the bombardment of copenhagen, in september, 1807.[12] battle of baylen. in a caricature published by walker in 1808, we see joseph bonaparte (one of these imperial ginger-bread monarchs) driven from madrid by spanish flies; the satire is entitled _spanish flies, or boney taking an immoderate dose_, and has reference to the results of the battle of baylen, in andalusia, one of the _very_ few victories ever obtained by the spaniards against the french, where a division of 14,000 men surrendered to castanos. this was on the 20th of july, and nine days afterwards joseph retreated to burgos with the crown jewels. the wretched spaniards, however, were incapable of improving their victory; and general castanos instead of following up the retreating enemy, went to seville to fulfil a vow he had made of dedicating his unexpected victory to st. ferdinand, on whose tomb he deposited the crown of laurel presented to him by his grateful countrymen. of the bonaparte caricatures of this year, no less than nineteen are due to the pencil of thomas rowlandson, and will be found fully described in mr. joseph grego's exhaustive work[13] upon that artist and his works. [illustration: the king of brobdingnag and gulliver.] [illustration: talleyrand, king-at-arms, bearing his master's genealogical tree, springing from buone, butcher.] [illustration: napoleon in his coronation robes. figures from gillray's napoleonic caricatures. _face p. 20._] the year 1809 witnessed the divorce from josephine, and the marriage of the emperor to marie louise. the purposes for which this matrimonial alliance was effected were made no secret of by the emperor, and were indicated of course in the plainest possible terms by the english contemporary caricaturists, who were certainly not troubled with any unnecessary scruples of prudery or delicacy. one of these satires, published by tegg, on the 16th of august, 1810, is entitled _boney and his new wife, or a quarrel about nothing_, and indicates in the plainest possible terms that the purposes for which the divorce had been effected were as distant as ever. the result of this union, however, was the birth of the young king of rome on the 20th of march, 1810, an event which set the pencils of our pictorial satirists once more in motion, and the young heir and his father were complimented by rowlandson in a rough caricature, published by tegg on the 9th of april, 1811, as _boney the second, the little babboon [sic] created to devour french monkies_. battle of barossa. in march, 1811, was fought the battle of barossa; while the same month massena, finding it difficult to maintain his army in a devastated country, instead of fulfilling his vain-glorious boast of driving "the english into their native element," began his own retreat from santarem, abandoning part of his baggage and heavy artillery. marching in a solid mass, his rear protected by one or two divisions, he retired towards the mondego, preserving his army from any great serious disaster, though watchfully and vigorously pursued by lord wellington. the skilful generalship of the french marshal elicited of course no encomiums from the english caricaturists. on the contrary, we see (in "the scourge" of 1st may, 1811) wellington in the act of basting a french goose before a huge fire, a british bayonet forming the spit. while basting the goose with one hand, the english general holds over the fire in the other a frying-pan filled with french generals, some of whom--to escape the overpowering heat--are leaping into the fire; another british officer (probably intended for general graham) blows the flames with a pair of bellows labelled "british bravery." napoleon appears in a stew-pan over an adjoining boiler, while we find marshal massena himself in a pickle-jar below. this satire is entitled, _british cookery, or out of the frying-pan into the fire_. napoleon's star begins to wane. the star of napoleon was beginning to wane in 1812. the snow made its first appearance in russia on the 13th of october of that year, and the french emperor already commenced his preparations for retreat. this is referred to in a very clever caricature published by tegg on the 1st of december, 1812, wherein we find _general frost shaving boney_ with a razor marked "russian steel." napoleon stands up to his knees in snow, and out of the nostrils of the snow fiend [general frost] issue blasts labelled "north," "east," "snow," and "sleet." seven days later on, we meet with a roughly-executed cartoon, _polish diet with french dessert_, wherein we see napoleon basted by general benningsen, the spit being turned by a russian bear. this caricature, no doubt, has reference to the disastrous defeat by benningsen of the french advanced guard, thirty thousand strong, under murat, on the 18th of october, 1812, when fifteen hundred prisoners, thirty-eight cannon, and the whole of the baggage of the corps, besides other trophies, fell into the victors' hands. the retreat from moscow is referred to in a satire published by thomas tegg on the 7th of march, 1813, labelled, _the corsican bloodhound beset by the bears of russia_; wherein napoleon is represented as a mongrel bloodhound with a tin kettle tied to his tail, closely pursued by russian bears. various papers are flying out of the kettle, labelled "oppression," "famine," "frost," "destruction," "death," "horror," "mortality," "annihilation." "push on, my lads," says one of the pursuers. "no grumbling; keep scent of him; no sucking of paws this winter, here is food for the bears in all the russias." the emperor, in truth, had the narrowest escape from being made a prisoner by the cossacks, a fact alluded to in another caricature published by tegg in june, 1813, entitled, _nap nearly nab'd, or a retreating jump just in time_. here, the emperor and one of his marshals are depicted leaping out of window, at the very moment when a cossack with his lance appears outside the palings. "vite," says the marshal, in the peculiar _patois_ adopted by the english caricaturists of the early part of the century, "courez, mon empereur, ce diable de cossack, dey spoil our dinner!!!" the bulletin. napoleon collected his marshals around him at smorgoni, on the 5th of december, 1812, and dictated a bulletin which developed the horrors of the retreat, and explained to them his reasons for returning to paris. "i quit you," he said, "but go to seek three hundred thousand men." he then proceeded to lay the blame on the king of westphalia, and his trusted and tried friend the duc d'abrantes; alleged that english torches had turned moscow into a heap of ashes; and added (with greater truthfulness) that the cold had done the rest of the mischief. he entrusted the command to murat, and bidding them farewell set out, accompanied only by generals coulaincourt, duroc, and mouton, the mameluke rustan, a captain of the polish lancers, and an escort of neapolitan horsemen. this event is referred to in a caricature, published by s. w. fores on the 1st of january, 1813, entitled, _boney returning from russia covered with glory, leaving his army in comfortable winter quarters_. napoleon and coulaincourt are seated in a sleigh driven by another general in jack boots, with a tremendous cocked hat on his head, a huge sword by his side, and a formidable whip in his hand. coulaincourt inquires, "will your majesty write the bulletin?" "no," replies napoleon; "you write it. tell them we left the army all well, quite gay; in excellent quarters; plenty of provisions; that we travelled in great style; received everywhere with congratulations; and that i had almost completed the _repose_ of europe" (a favourite expression of his). by way of contrast to these grandiloquent phrases, the eye is attracted to the surroundings. the ground is thickly coated with snow; in the foreground, two famished wretches cut and devour raw flesh from a dead horse. on all sides lie dead and dying men and animals, while in the distance we behold the flying and demoralized troops chased by a cloud of cossacks. the english caricaturists follow the emperor into the sanctity of his private life; they depict in their own homely but forcible fashion the astonishment of the empress at his unexpected return, and the disgust of young "boney the second," who not only expresses surprise that his imperial sire had forgotten his promise to "bring him some russians to cut up," but suggests that they seem to have "cut _him_ up" instead. these incidents are described in a satire entitled, _nap's glorious return; or, the conclusion of the russian campaign_, published by tegg, in june, 1813. the crushing defeat of vitoria, the crowning disaster of leipzig--sustained the same year, the subsequent abdication of bonaparte, the return from elba, the brief incident of the "hundred days," the catastrophe of waterloo, and the subsequent consignment of the great emperor to st. helena, form of course the subjects of a host of graphic satires. foremost amongst them (for gillray's intellect was gone), must be mentioned the caricatures of thomas rowlandson and of george cruikshank. the first being fully described in mr. grego's work, we are not called on to mention them here, while the last will be fully set out when we come to treat of the caricature work of george cruikshank. french royalist satires. the french royalist satirists of course expressed their views on the situation. a french royalist caricature, published after waterloo, represents napoleon as a dancing bear forced to caper by england, his keeper, who makes an unsparing use of the lash, whilst russia and prussia play pipe and drum by way of music. a good answer, however, to this is found in a french caricature (published in the napoleon interest), like most of the french satires of that period without date, entitled, _l'après dinée des anglais, par un français prisonnier-de-guerre_, which satirizes the after-dinner drinking propensities of the english of the period. the caricature, although neither flattering nor altogether decent, is probably not an exaggerated picture of english after-dinner conviviality while the century was young. [illustration: gillray. _"royal affability," feb. 10th._ "well, friend, where a' you going, hay? what's your name, hay? where do you live, hay?--hay?"] [illustration: gillray. _connoisseur examining a cooper june 18th, 1792._ a connoisseur in art.] [illustration: gillray. _"a lesson in apple dumplings."_ "hay? hay? apple dumplings?--how get the apples in?--how? are they made without seams?" _face p. 24._] by far the most biting, the most sarcastic, the most effective, and the most popular of the anti-bonaparte caricatures are those by james gillray, which commence before the close of the last century, and end in 1811, the year when the lurid genius of this greatest and most original of satirists was quenched in the darkness of mental imbecility. james gillray, however, like his able friend and contemporary, thomas rowlandson, does not fall within our definition of a "nineteenth century" satirist; and i am precluded from describing them. i have before me the admirable anti-bonaparte satires of both artists; and inseparably linked as they are with the men who began work after 1800, the almost irresistible tendency is to describe some of them in elucidation of the events to which i have occasion to refer. to do so, however, although fascinating and easy, would be not only to wander from my purpose, but to invade the province of the late thomas wright and of mr. grego, which i am not called upon to do; to refer to them, however, for the purpose of this chapter, i have found not only necessary, but unavoidable. injustice of the caricaturists. they mistake the character of bonaparte. caricature, like literary satire (as we all know from the days of the "dunciad" downwards), has little concern with justice; but we who look back after the lapse of the greater part of the century, and have moreover studied the history and the surroundings of napoleon bonaparte, may afford at least to do him justice. gillray is a fair exponent of the intense hatred with which bonaparte was regarded in this country, when not only the little "corsican," but those about him, were held up to a ridicule which, oftentimes vulgar, partook not unfrequently of absolute brutality. who would imagine, for instance, that the fat blousy female quaffing deep draughts of maraschino from a goblet, in his famous satire of the _handwriting on the wall_, was intended for the refined and delicate josephine? occasionally, however, james gillray descended to a lower depth, as in his _ci devant occupations_ (of 20th february, 1805), in which we see this delicate woman, with the frail but lovely spaniard, theresa de cabarrus (madame tallien), figuring in a manner to which the most infamous women of drury lane would have hesitated to descend. josephine de la pagerie, as we all know, was anything but blameless; which indeed of _les déesses de la revolution_ could pass unscathed through the fiery furnace of the terror?[14] but this miscalled satire of james gillray, which he dubs "a fact," is nothing less than a poisonous libel. as for _le petit caporal_ himself, everyone now knows, that while he viewed the carnage of the battlefield with the indifference of a conqueror, he shrank in horror from the murderers of the swiss; from danton and his satellites, the septembrist massacrists; from the mock trials and cold-blooded atrocities of the terrorists. standing apart from these last by right of his unexampled genius, with danton, marat, robespíerre, couthon, carrier, napoleon bonaparte has nothing whatever in common. looking back upon the ruins of his empire, the mistakes he had made, the faults he had committed, napoleon, with reference at least to his own personal elevation, might say with truth: "nothing has been more simple than my elevation. it was not the result of intrigue or _crime_. it was owing to the peculiar circumstance of the times, and because i fought successfully against the enemies of my country. what is most extraordinary is, that i rose from being a private person to the astonishing height of power i possessed, without having committed a single crime to obtain it. if i were on my death-bed i could make the same declaration."[15] to these facts, of course, james gillray (if indeed he knew them) closed his eyes. in his sketch of the 12th of may, 1800, he shows us the young lieutenant at the head of tattered legions directing the destruction of the royal palaces. blinded by the prejudice of his times, he seems apparently ignorant of the fact that napoleon although a _spectator_ of the attack on the tuileries, had no power; that if he had, he would (as he himself expressed it at the time) have swept the sanguinary _canaille_ into the gutters with his grape shot. again, in his satires, he connects him repeatedly with the guillotine, to all appearance unconscious of the fact that between napoleon and the guillotine no possible sympathy existed. * * * * * [illustration: james gillray. _june 28th, 1791._ the national assembly petrified, and the national assembly revivified. 1. barber--"de king is escape! de king is escape!" 2. cook.--"aha! be gar, de king is retaken!! aha! monsieur lewis is retaken, aha!!" [_the french revolution._] _face p. 26._] robert dighton's sketches. a good idea of the appearance and costume of "the general" and notables of the early part of the century, is given by the sketches of the last century artist, robert dighton. his etchings are not caricatures, as may be supposed, but likenesses of the _oi polloi_--the university dons--the prize-fighters--the butchers--the singers--actors--actresses--the men about town ("corinthians," as they were termed in the slang of the regency)--the "upper ten"; and what amazingly queer folks were these last! the duke of grafton, with his tremendous beak, wig, and cocked hat, his mahogany tops and spurs, his long coat with the flapped pockets and his star; the marquis of buckingham, with his red fat face and double chin, which told tales of nightly good cheer, his cocked hat, military coatee, and terrific paunch, which resisted all attempts to confine it within reasonable military compass; john bellingham--the murderer of spencer perceval,--with his retreating forehead, long pointed nose, drab cloth coat and exuberant shirt frill; "what? what? what?"--great george himself, as he appeared in 1810, in full military panoply--huge ill-fitting boots, huge blue military coat, collar, lappets, and star, a white-powdered bob surmounting a clean-shaved unintellectual face, the distinguishing characteristics of which were a pair of protruding eyes surmounted by ponderous eyebrows. a well-drawn caricature published by s. w. fores on the 11th of may, 1801, gives us an admirable idea of the male and female costume of the period. it contains sixteen figures, and is entitled _tea just over, or the game of consequences begun_. "consequences" would appear to have been a fashionable game at this time; but the "consequences" here alluded to are the immediate results of a pinch of snuff. the "consequences" of one gentleman sneezing are the following: he jerks the arm of the lady next him, the result being that she pours her cup of scalding hot tea over the knees of her neighbour, a testy old gentleman, who in his fright and pain raises his arms, jerking off with his cane the wig of a person standing at the back of his chair, who in the attempt to save his wig upsets his own cup and saucer upon the pate of his antagonist another guest, with his mouth full of tea, witnessing this absurd _contretemps_ is unable to restrain his laughter, the result of which is that he blows a stream of tea into the left ear of the man who has lost his wig, at the same time setting his own pigtail alight in the adjoining candle. all these disasters, passing in rapid succession from left to right, are the direct "consequences" of one unfortunate pinch of snuff. master betty. the year 1804 witnessed the advent of a performer whose theatrical reputation, notwithstanding the wonderful sensation it created for a couple of seasons, was not destined to survive his childhood. the brief _furore_ he excited, enabled his friends to lay by for him a considerable fortune, which enabled him to regard the memory of his immature triumphs and subsequent failures with resignation. master betty, "the young roscius," was not quite thirteen years of age when he made his first appearance at covent garden on the 1st of december, 1804, as achmet in _barbarossa_. he played alternately at the two great houses; twenty-eight nights at drury lane brought £17,210 into the treasury, whilst the receipts at covent garden during the same period are supposed to have been equally large. a rough caricature of 1804, bearing the signature "i. b.," depicts the child standing with one foot on drury lane and the other on covent garden, with a toy whip in one hand and a rattle in the other, while two full-grown actors of real merit bemoan the decadence of public taste on the pavement below. some years later on the pair might have said with byron,- "though now, thank heaven! the rosciomania's o'er, and full-grown actors are endured once more."[16] the leading home political incident of 1806 was the impeachment and acquittal of lord melville, an event which is dealt with by gillray, and also by rowlandson in his graphic satire of _the acquittal, or upsetting the porter pot_, both artists alluding to whitbread, the brewer, the head of the advanced liberals, and one of the principal movers of lord melville's impeachment. [illustration: t. rowlandson. _october 25th, 1810._ "spitfires." _back to p. 28._] [illustration: t. rowlandson. 1813. "the cobbler's cure for a scolding wife." _back to p. 29._] introduction of gas. gas, which now promises to be superseded in its turn by electricity, was introduced into boulton & watts' foundry, at birmingham, as early as the year 1798, and the lyceum theatre was lit with gas (by way of experiment) in 1803; it met however with much opposition from persons interested in the conservation of the oil trade, and made no real progress in london until 1807, when it was introduced into golden lane on the 16th of august. pall mall, however, was not lighted with gas until 1809, and it was really not finally and generally introduced into london until the year 1820. we meet with an excellent satire published by s. w. fores, in 1807, wherein a harlequin is depicted sitting on a rope suspended between a couple of lamp posts. the lamps and the hat of the figure are garnished with lighted burners; the neighbours in the windows of the adjoining houses, the people on the pavement below, the fowls, the dogs, the cats on the roofs, are suffocated with the noxious vapour. the figure holds in his hand a paper, whereon we read, "this is the speculation to make money, £10,000 per cent. profit all in _air_-light air. 'tis there, 'tis here, and 'tis gone for ever." this caricature bears the title of _the good effects of carbonic gas_. a caricature of woodward, engraved by rowlandson, and published by ackermann on the 23rd of december, 1809, gives us _a peep at the gas lights in pall mall_, the interest of which chiefly centres in the eccentric form of the early street lamps. among the groups looking on are a wondering "country cousin" and a "serious" companion. "ay, friend," says the latter, anxious of course, in season and out of season, to turn the occasion to profitable account, "verily it is all vanity! what is _this_ to the _inward light_?" some more disreputable members of the community are expressing their fears that the new light will interfere with their own peculiar modes of livelihood. a clever and somewhat remarkable woman succeeded in achieving an unenviable notoriety in 1809. the daughter of a printer residing in bowl and pin alley, near white's alley, chancery lane, the remarkably intelligent girl had early attracted the notice of friends, one of whom placed her at a boarding school, where she picked up an education (such as it was) sufficient to sharpen her natural abilities. her commencement in life was scarcely a hopeful one. mary anne thompson eloped at seventeen years of age with one joseph clarke, the son of a builder on snow hill, and after living with him three years married him. the marriage was not a happy one. the pair after some years separated, and mary anne was thenceforth driven to trust for her support to her own resources and attractions. mary anne clarke. these proved fully equal to the occasion. somewhat small in stature, nature had nevertheless endowed her with a remarkably well turned figure, well shaped arms, comely features, a singularly clear complexion, and blue eyes full of light and vivacity. dressing with considerable taste and elegance--utterly shameless--without principle or character, with nothing to lose--everything to gain, the woman was eminently fitted to succeed in the peculiar path in life she had elected to follow. throwing her line with all the dexterity of an accomplished angler, she succeeded almost at her first cast in hooking a very large fish indeed--his royal highness frederick duke of york, commander-in-chief, prince-bishop of osnaburgh, who had attained at this time the respectable age of forty-six years. mary anne proved, as might have been expected, an expensive plaything. in the short space of two years, the duke seems to have handed his mistress upwards of £5,000, besides expending on her in payments to tradesmen for wine, furniture, and other "paraphernalia," at least £16,000 or £17,000 more. in time, as is not unusual in matters of this kind, the duke seems to have grown tired of his enslaver, and endeavoured to pension her off with an annuity of £400 a year; but with the niggardliness which was so distinguishing a characteristic of his family, payment was not only withheld, but when the woman applied for payment, the duke was mean and foolish enough to threaten her with prison and the pillory. mrs. clarke, a woman of genius and resource, instead of being frightened, straightway betook herself to messrs. wilberforce and whitbread, the supporters of the impeachment of lord melville, and confessed to them certain irregularities of which she had been guilty. into the unsavoury revelations of mary anne clarke, her traffic in the sale of military commissions, and still worse, in a system of ecclesiastical patronage in which she alleged his royal highness connived, we need not enter. they are set out as far as is necessary in mr. grego's book, and also in mr. wright's treatise on james gillray and his works. suffice it to say, that all these miserable exposures would have been saved, had the duke, instead of seeking to save his pocket, paid the annuity to which the woman was entitled. if by resigning, he thought to silence his unscrupulous persecutor, he was quickly and unpleasantly undeceived. the clever, unscrupulous woman had reserved her trump-card to the last. all this time she had been engaged in preparing her "memoirs," comprising not only the history of her transactions with his royal highness, but a series of his letters, containing, it is said, anecdotes of illustrious personages of the most curious and _recherché_ description. the immediate publication of these "memoirs" having been announced to his royal highness, the duke was driven in spite of himself to effect an arrangement. for a payment of £7,000 down, an annuity of £400 for her own life, and one of £200 for each of her daughters, the printed "memoirs" (eighteen thousand copies) were destroyed, the publication suppressed, and above all the terrible private correspondence duly surrendered. the mover of the committee of inquiry was one wardle, colonel of a militia regiment, who for a very brief space of time was permitted to figure as a patriot; that he was a mere instrument in the hands of other persons seems now abundantly clear. no sooner had mary anne clarke landed his royal highness, than she fixed her hook in the jaws of the luckless colonel, who, tool as he was, proved to be by no means a sharp one. it is obvious a woman of mrs. clarke's character would be the last person to open her lips, unless it was made clear to her that it would be worth her while to do so. her go-between in the transaction was a certain "major" dodd. wardle gave mrs. clarke £100 for present necessities, and by way of earnest of more liberal promises which seem afterwards to have been repudiated by his employers. through major dodd, the clever, unprincipled woman secured a house in westbourne place, which she furnished in a style of comfortable elegance, and succeeded by her blandishments in swindling wardle into becoming security for her furniture. the inevitable result of course followed. on the 3rd july, 1809, wright, the upholsterer, brought his action against wardle and recovered £1,400 damages,[17] besides costs, "for furniture sold to the defendant to the use of mary anne clarke." the colonel, like the commander-in-chief, thus found himself not only out-manoeuvred by his clever and unscrupulous ex-ally, but reaped the obloquy attendant on exposure and ridicule, instead of the glorification which had at first greeted his patriotic exertions. mary anne clarke and the duke of york, afforded (as might have been expected) plenty of employment to the caricaturists. the theme, however, is treated too grossly for description, a subject to be regretted, as most of the satires, containing as they do admirable portraits of the principal personages, are exceedingly clever. the subject suited an artist who delighted in delineating the immodest and full-blown beauties of drury lane; and accordingly, more than forty caricatures on the subject of "the delicate investigation," as it was called, are due to the pencil of thomas rowlandson. the end of mary anne clarke. in order to show the character of this infamous woman, we must follow her progress a little farther than either mr. grego or mr. wright appear to have done. in february, 1814, she once more made a public appearance: this time in the court of queen's bench. she seems to have got the right hon. william fitzgerald, chancellor of the irish exchequer, by some means or other into her clutches, in connection with the proceedings of 1809. by this time, however, she had descended so low, that exposure was threatened unless a sum of money was deposited under a stone. in her threats, she announced her intention of "submitting to the public in a very short time _two or three volumes_, which might be followed by others as opportunity should suit or circumstances require." this threat, instead of extorting money, consigned mary anne to the custody of the marshal of the king's bench prison for the space of nine calendar months, at the end of which period she was ordered to find securities to keep the peace for a space of three years. it might have gone harder with the brazen woman if the proceedings had taken any other form than that of an indictment for libel, and if she had not admitted her fault, and in some measure thrown herself upon the mercy of the court. the pages of history do not appear to be sullied with the intrusion of mary anne clarke's name after this period. the year 1811 is marked by an event which claims special record in a work treating of english caricatures and caricaturists of the century. in that year, james gillray executed the last of his famous etchings; and although mere existence was prolonged for nearly four years afterwards, till the 1st of june, 1815, he sank in 1811 into that hopeless and dreary state of mingled imbecility and delirium from which the intellect of this truly great and original genius was destined never to recover. footnotes: [9] "if it had not been for you english, i should have been emperor of the east; but wherever there is water enough to float a ship, we are sure to find you in our way."--_napoleon to captain maitland._ see maitland's "narrative of the surrender of bonaparte," p. 99. [10] _london chronicle_, december 6th, 1806. [11] see also gillray's previous satire of the 23rd of january, 1806 (which probably suggested this), _tiddy doll, the great french gingerbread baker, drawing out a new batch of kings_. [12] see also gillray's cartoon of 1st october, 1807, _british tars towing the danish fleet into harbour_. [13] see vol. ii., p. 92, _et seq._ [14] in a loose age, madame tallien, notwithstanding such virtues as she possessed, was a loose character. between 1798 and 1802 she had three children, who were registered in her family name of _cabarrus_. on the 8th of april, 1802, at her own request a divorce was pronounced from tallien, and with two husbands still alive she married (14th july, 1805,) count joseph de caraman, soon after heir of the prince de chimay. she died in the odour of sanctity, on the 15th of january, 1835. [15] o'meara, vol. i, p. 250. [16] "english bards and scotch reviewers." [17] according to mr. grego, £2,000. chapter iii. _miscellaneous caricatures and subjects of caricature, 1812-1819._ 1812. rebuilding of drury lane theatre. drury lane theatre, which was burnt down in 1811, was rebuilt the following year, and the committee, anxious to celebrate the opening by an address of merit corresponding to the occasion, advertised in the papers for such a composition. theatrical addresses, however, as we all know by reference to a recent occasion,[18] are not always up to the mark; and whether the result of their appeal was unsatisfactory, or whether--as appears not unlikely--they were appalled by the number of competitors, which is said to have been upwards of one hundred, not one was accepted, the advertisers preferring to seek the assistance of lord byron, who wrote the actual address which was spoken at the opening on the 10th of october, 1812. among the competitors was a dr. busby, living in queen anne street, who apparently unable to realize the fact that competent men could have the effrontery to reject his "monologue," refused to accept the verdict of the committee. a few evenings afterwards, the audience and the company were electrified by an unexpected sensation. busby and his son sat in one of the stage boxes; and the latter, to the amazement of the audience, stepped at the end of the play from his box upon the stage, and began to recite his father's nonsense, as follows:- "when energizing objects men pursue, what are the prodigies they cannot do?" dr. busby's "monologue." the question remained unanswered; for raymond, the stage manager, walked at this moment upon the stage accompanied by a constable, and gave the amateur performer into custody. it is said that his father, not content with this failure, actually made an attempt to recite the "monologue" from his box, until hissed and howled down by the half laughing, half indignant audience. the circumstance is commemorated by an admirable pictorial satire entitled, _a buz in a box, or the poet in a pet_, published by s. w. fores on the 21st of october, in which we see the doctor gesticulating from his box, and imploring the audience to listen to his "monologue." young busby, seated on his father's pegasus (an ass), quotes one of the verses of the absurd composition, while the animal (after the manner of its kind) answers the hisses of the audience by elevating its heels and uttering a characteristic "hee haw." by the side of busby junior stands the manager (raymond), apologetically addressing the audience. certain pamphlets lie scattered in front of the stage, on which are inscribed (among others) the following doggerel:- "a lord and a doctor once started for fame, which for the best poet should pass; the lord was cried up on account of his name, the doctor cried down for _an ass_." "doctor buz, he assures us, on drury's new stage no horses or elephants there should engage; but pray, doctor buz, how comes it to pass, that you your own self should produce there an ass?" dr. busby was a person desirous of achieving literary notoriety at any amount of personal inconvenience. he translated _lucretius_, and is said to have given public recitations, accompanied with bread and butter and tea; but in spite of these attractions, the public did not come and the book would not sell, facts which a wicked wag of the period ridiculed, by inserting the following announcement in the column of births of one of the newspapers: "yesterday, at his house in queen anne street, dr. busby of a stillborn _lucretius_." 1813. the medical profession is ridiculed in a satire published in 1813: _doctors differ, or dame nature against the college_.[19] four physicians have quarrelled in consultation over the nature of their patient's malady, and the proper mode of administering to his relief. unable to convince one another, they wax so warm in argument that they speedily proceed from words to blows. "i say," shouts one (beneath the feet of the other three), "i say it is an exfoliation of the glands which has fallen on the membranous coils of the intestines, and must be thrown off by an emetic." "_i_ say," says another, raising at the same time his cane to protect his head, "i say it is a pleurisie in the thigh, and must be sweated away." "you are a blockhead!" cries a third, furiously striking at him with his professional cane. "i say it is a nervous affection of the cutis, and the patient must immediately lose eighteen ounces of blood, and then take a powerful drastic." "what are you quarrelling about?" asks a fourth, arresting the downfall of his professional brother's cane. "you are all wrong! i say it is an inflammation in the os sacrum, and therefore fourteen blisters must be immediately applied to the part affected and the adjacents." the table is down, and the prescriptions of the learned doctors covered with the ink which flows from the ruined inkstand. the amused patient (whom nature has meanwhile relieved of the cause and effect) watches the combat from the adjoining bedroom, and makes preparations to retreat and save both his "pocket and his life." 1814. joanna southcott. the year 1814 was marked by the bursting of one of the most extraordinary religious bubbles with which england has ever been scandalized. the person identified with and responsible for the craze to which we allude, was joanna southcott, the daughter of a farmer residing at the village of gettisham, in devonshire, where she herself was born in the month of april, 1750. at the time, therefore, the imposture was made patent to such of her deluded followers as retained any remnants of the small stock of common sense with which nature had originally endowed them, joanna was sixty-four years of age. the village girl appears to have been a constant reader of the scriptures, which she studied with so much enthusiasm, that a strong religious bias was established, which took almost entire possession of her mind. still, no marked peculiarity was manifested until after she had attained forty years of age, at which time we find her employed as a workwoman at an upholsterer's shop at exeter. the proprietor being a methodist, the shop was visited by ministers of that persuasion, and joanna, with her "serious turn of mind," was not only permitted to join in their discussions, but was regarded by these harmless folk somewhat in the light of a prodigy. to a mind predisposed to religious mania (for it would be unjust to stigmatize joanna altogether as a wilful impostor) the result was peculiarly unfortunate; she was visited with dreams, which she quickly accepted as spiritual manifestations, instead of being, as they really were, indications of a disordered digestion. two years afterwards joanna retired from secular business, and set up as a prophetess at exeter. she declared herself to be the woman spoken of as "the bride," "the lamb's wife," the "woman clothed with the sun." the county lunatic asylum might have done good at this point; but its wholesome discipline, unfortunately, was not resorted to. she published in 1801 her first inspired book, "the strange effects of faith," which absolutely brought five "wise men of gotham" to inquire into her pretensions from different parts of england. three of these learned pundits were methodist parsons, and these three parsons declared themselves satisfied that the mission of joanna was a divine one. it is needless to add that in england, no matter how absurd the nature of a so-called divine mission, it is safe and certain to attract believers; and by the year 1803 the doctrines of joanna southcott were eagerly swallowed by numerous simpletons in various parts of the country. thus fortified, joanna issued a manifesto, in which she stated her calling and pretensions: we set it out in all the original baldness of its composition:-"i, joanna southcott, am clearly convinced that my calling is of god, and my writings are indited by his spirit, as it is impossible for any spirit but an all-wise god, that is wondrous in working, wondrous in wisdom, wondrous in power, wondrous in truth, could have brought round such mysteries, so full of truth, as is in my writings; so i am clear in whom i have believed, that all my writings came from the spirit of the most high god." joanna was clear in whom she believed, and her followers were equally "clear" in their belief in joanna. this incoherent nonsense was signed in the presence of fifty-eight simpletons, all of whom expressed their confidence in the inspired mission of their precious prophetess. her disciples rapidly increased, and she visited in her apostolic character, bristol, leeds, stockport, and other large centres, obtaining numerous converts everywhere. among them was the celebrated engraver, william sharp; and to the last this man, who out of his calling was the veriest simpleton living, and who had swallowed successively the doctrines of richard brothers, wright, bryan, and joanna, believed in the divine mission of this unincarcerated lunatic. although joanna did not (like joseph smith) discover a book, she discovered a seal, which one of her disciples is said to have picked up in a dust-heap at clerkenwell. with this miraculously acquired talisman the spirit ordered her to "seal up the people," and as "the people" were limited to one hundred and forty-four thousand, and each of the elect had to pay a sum varying at different times from a guinea to twelve shillings, or even lower, for the privilege of being "sealed up," the scheme promised at first to turn out a comfortably profitable one. into the details of the "sealing" it is unnecessary for us to enter. suffice it to say that the numbers of the "sealed," up to 1808, when for some unexplained reason the process appears to have been discontinued, exceeded six thousand simpletons; the numbers of her deluded followers in the metropolis and its vicinity alone, are supposed at one time to have amounted to a hundred thousand. joanna was a coarse, common-place, and somewhat corpulent woman; she dressed in a plain, quaker-like garb, in a gown of calimancoe, with a shawl and bonnet of drab colour. the three leading preachers in her chapel in southwark (her great stronghold), were a mr. carpenter, who, after learning his business, set up as a prophet on his own account; a mr. foley, and a lath-render named tozer. she had chapels also in spitalfields, greenwich, twickenham, and gravesend. the scribblings in prose and verse of this illiterate creature, instead of being committed to the waste paper basket, were solemnly preserved and received as prophecies. attacked at last with dropsy, her delusions assumed the following objectionable form: she prophesied, and sharp and his fellow-disciples--some of whom were men of fair education--actually believed, that christ was to be born again under the name of "shiloh," and that she, joanna, at the age of sixty-five, was to be the mother. the revelation which proclaimed the miraculous _accouchement_ was worded as follows: "this year [1814], in the sixty-fifth year of thy age, thou shalt have a son by the power of the most high; which if they (the hebrews) receive as their prophet, priest, and king, then i will restore them to their own land, and cast out the heathen for their sakes, as i cast out them when they cast out me, by rejecting me as their saviour, prince, and king, for which i said i was born, but not at that time to establish my kingdom." one might have imagined that this gibberish would open the eyes of some at least of her votaries: their insane enthusiasm, on the contrary, increased. joanna was absolutely inundated with the "freewill" offerings of the faithful--a costly cradle, white robes, pinafores, shoes of satin and worsted, flannel shirts, napkins, blankets, silver spoons, pap-boats, mugs, silver tea-pots, sugar-basins, tongs, and corals,--absolutely without number. the absurdity of the simpletons who sent these offerings was severely criticised, both in england and on the continent; and by way apparently of answering her traducers, joanna inserted an apostolical advertisement in the _morning chronicle_ of thursday, 22nd september, 1814, and in the _courier_ of friday, 23rd, in which she stated that, in consequence of the false and malicious reports in circulation respecting herself, she was desirous of treating for "a spacious and ready-furnished house to be hired for three months, in which her _accouchement_ may take place in the presence of such competent witnesses as shall be appointed by proper authority to prove her character to the world." the appointed day--the 29th of october--however passed by, and the prophecy remained of course unfulfilled, although, in the manufacturing towns of the north, crowds of the faithful assembled to wait the arrival of the coaches, in expectation of tidings of the great manifestation. the satire entitled, _delivering a prophetess_ (in vol. 8 of "the scourge"), has reference to the actual event which occurred on the 27th of december, 1814, when death relieved joanna of her delusions and her dropsy; the wretched creature declaring on her deathbed that, "if she had been deceived, she had at all events been the sport of some spirit, good or evil." joanna forms the subject of one of rowlandson's caricatures of 1814, _joanna southcott, the prophetess, excommunicating the bishops_, published by tegg on the 20th of september, 1814. we shall also have to refer to her again when we treat of the caricatures of george cruikshank. flight of the princess charlotte. this year (1814) the princess charlotte, heiress presumptive actually ran away in a hackney coach, to avoid being affianced to the prince of orange, to whom her royal highness evinced an invincible repugnance. the event is referred to in a caricature entitled, _plebeian spirit, or coachee and the heiress presumptive_ (published by fores on the 25th of july), which shows us the princess emerging from warwick house, followed by britannia (who raises her hands in a suppliant attitude), and the dejected british lion. "coachman, will you protect me?" she appeals to the driver. "yes, yes, your highness," replies the fellow, "to the last drop of my blood!" a servant in the royal livery holds up his hands in amazement and horror, while another spurs off in hot haste to apprise the regent of the flight of his daughter. but a satire of far superior merit, entitled, _miss endeavouring to excite a glow with her dutch plaything_,[20] was issued by the same publisher a few days previously, in which the rejected prince figures as a dutch top, which the princess has kept spinning for some time. "there," she says to her father at last, "i have kept it up for a long while; you may send it away now, i am tired of it; mother [_i.e._ the princess caroline] has got some better plaything for me." "what! are you tired already?" exclaims the regent. "take another spell at it, or give me the whip." "no, no," replies her royal highness; "you may take the top, but i'll keep the whip." behind her is a picture representing an orange falling with cupid headlong into space. the regent was so incensed at his daughter's refractoriness, that he went at once to warwick house and dismissed all her attendants, and never forgave the duke of sussex for his supposed share in breaking off the connection. it was immediately after this event that her mother, the princess caroline, contrary to the advice of her friends and well-wishers, applied for permission to make that tour on the continent which, owing to her own obstinate folly and contempt for the duties of her high station, was destined--as we shall afterwards find--to end in such disastrous consequences to herself. 1812 1815. america and england. in the course of the year 1812, england had become involved--scarcely through any fault of her own--in a war with the united states of america. the causes of difference were mainly due to the obnoxious orders in council, which had been _forced_ upon us in consequence of the berlin and milan decrees of napoleon. as an evidence, however, of our own friendly intentions, it may be mentioned that the regent had issued a declaration on the 23rd of april, that if at any time the obnoxious decrees should by _an authentic act be absolutely_ repealed, thenceforth the orders in council of 7th january, 1807, and 26th april, 1809, should be revoked; and the american representative, having, on the 20th of may, transmitted to the english court a copy of a french decree of the 20th of april, by which the decrees of milan and berlin were declared to be no longer in force, _so far as american vessels were concerned_, the regent declared that, although he could not accept the terms of the decree as satisfying the conditions of his own declaration of the 23rd of april, yet, with the view of re-establishing friendly relations, _he revoked_ the orders in council of 7th january, 1807, and april 26th, 1809, so far as regarded american vessels and american cargoes. of this repeal, be it observed, the united states government took no notice, it might be in consequence of the very reasonable proviso annexed to the regent's concession, that unless the government of the united states revoked their exclusion of british armed vessels from their harbours, while those of france were admitted, and their interdiction of british commerce, while that of france was allowed, the order was to be of no effect. a very old english proverb tells us that "a stick is never wanting to beat a dog;" and where one nation wishes to fasten a quarrel on another, and the opportunity be favourable, there will be no difficulty in finding an excuse. there were other causes of discontent; in particular our claim to search not only for english goods, but for british seamen serving on board neutral vessels; and as the sovereignty of the seas depended on upholding these assumptions, our government was as strenuous in enforcing them as the french emperor was bent on the maintenance of his continental system. hostile spirit of the americans. the americans, however, were anxious for a war with this country, and in particular, the opportunity seemed eminently favourable for attempting the conquest of canada. a motion in the house of representatives, for the indefinite postponement of a bill for raising 25,000 additional troops, was rejected by a majority of 98 to 29. an outrageous bill, specially intended as an insult to england, was introduced into the same house about the end of april, "for the protection, recovery, and indemnification of american seamen," the first clause of which declared that every person who, under pretence of a commission from a foreign power, should impress upon the high seas a native seaman of the united states, should be adjudged a pirate and a felon, and should upon conviction suffer death. another of its articles gave to every such seaman impressed under the british flag, the right of attaching in the hands of any british subject, or in the hands of _any debtor of any british subject_, a sum equal to thirty dollars per month for the whole time of his detention. this monstrous bill was actually allowed to pass a third reading. the temper of the americans may be judged by the result of the voting on mr. randolph's motion in the same house, on the 29th of may. that gentleman submitted "that, under the present circumstances, it was inexpedient to resort to a war with great britain." the question being then put, that the house do proceed to the consideration of the said resolution, it was negatived by 62 votes against 37. under the overpowering influence of these feelings, war was declared against england on the 18th of june, 1812; our own declaration was not issued until the 13th of october following. "our american cousins," did not wait for this joinder of issue; they had invaded canada early in july. on the 11th of that month, the american general hull, with a body of 2,500 men--regulars and militia--crossed the river above detroit with most disastrous consequences to himself. he was speedily forced to retreat, and on the 16th of august to surrender the important fort of detroit itself, with his 2,500 men and thirty-three pieces of artillery. although this disaster seriously disconcerted the american plans of invasion, the design was by no means abandoned. a considerable force was assembled in the neighbourhood of niagara, and on the 13th of october, the american general wadsworth, with some 1,400 men, made an attack on the british position of queenstown, on the niagara river. wadsworth, with 900 men and many officers, was speedily compelled to surrender to british forces not exceeding the number of his own following. american naval successes. on the other hand, the losses of the americans on land were to some extent balanced by their naval successes. on the 19th of august, the english frigate _guerriere_, captain dacres, was forced after a gallant but (as we shall see) unequal fight, to strike her colours to the american frigate _constitution_, captain hull. under similar conditions, the english frigate _macedonia_, captain carden, was forced on the 25th of october, after an hour's hard fighting, in which the english lost 104 men killed and wounded, to yield to the american frigate _united states_, commodore decatur. these successes were due to the following causes: the rate of the american frigates corresponded to the largest british; but in size, weight of metal, and number of men, were almost equal to line-of-battle ships; the american navy too, at this time, was manned by sailors many of whom were unfortunately british tars, while many more had been trained in british service. the english assume the offensive. although we do not profess to give a history of the anglo-american war of 1812-14, some slight sketch of its more remarkable incidents seems necessary for the purpose of enabling the reader to understand what has to follow. having named some of the american naval successes, we can scarcely pass over the well-known fight of the 1st of june, 1813. captain broke, of the british frigate _shannon_, 330 men, burning with indignation at the naval defeats of his countrymen, having diligently perfected his crew in discipline, offered battle to the united states frigate _chesapeake_, for which he had long been watching. the _chesapeake_ was a fine ship, carrying forty-nine guns (18and 32-pounders) and a complement of 440 men. the american captain, nothing loth, bore down on his antagonist off boston light-house. the ships were soon in close contact; but the gallant english captain, discerning his opportunity, gave orders for boarding, himself setting the example; and after a sanguinary fight of only fifteen minutes, hauled down his adversary's flag and carried off the _chesapeake_ in triumph. the invasion of canada was still persevered in by the americans, with varying successes and defeats; but the results of the campaign of 1813 were in the end disastrous to them; and by the 12th of december, both provinces of canada were freed from the invaders, who retired to winter quarters within their own territory. another determined attempt to penetrate into canada was made by them in july, 1814, the british troops in the first instance being obliged to fall back: this was on the 5th. their triumph, however, was of brief duration. veteran troops, who had served under wellington in spain, had meanwhile arrived at quebec; general drummond arrested the further retreat of riall's division, and a decisive battle ensued, which terminated in the defeat of the americans, who were obliged to retire with precipitation beyond the chippewa. on the following day they abandoned their camp, threw the greater part of their baggage and provisions into the rapids, and after destroying the bridge over the chippewa, continued their retreat in great disorder to fort erie. out of a force of 5,000 men, they had lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners at least 1,500. this defeat, and the timely arrival of veteran troops from europe, appear to have decided the british commanders to change the defensive warfare they had hitherto adopted, and the small operations they had conducted on the coast of the southern states, for offensive movements of greater vigour. a large naval force was despatched under the command of vice-admiral cockrane, having on board a powerful land force commanded by general ross. the latter landed on the 20th of august at benedict; marched to nottingham on the 21st, and to upper marlborough on the 22nd, admiral cockrane in the meanwhile, with the barges, armed launches, and other boats of the fleet, having the marines on board, proceeding up the patuxent on the flank of the army. the american commodore blew up his vessels, seventeen in number, with the exception of one which fell into the hands of the british. the troops reached bladensburg (about five miles from washington) on the 24th. burning of washington. about 9,400 americans (400 of whom were cavalry) drawn up to oppose them, were speedily routed, with the loss of ten pieces of artillery and the capture of their commanding officer, general barney. it appears to have been general ross's first intention to return to his ships after laying the capital under contribution; but the americans having fired upon the bearer of the flag of truce who was sent forward with the conditions, all thoughts of an arrangement were dissipated. the soldiers pressed into the city, and after burning a frigate and sloop of war, the president's residence, the capitol--including the senate house and house of representatives, dockyard, arsenal, war office, treasury, and the great bridge over the potomac, re-embarked on the 30th of august. a part of the operations against washington consisted in despatching a force against fort washington, situate on the potomac below that city. captain gordon, the commander of this expedition, proceeded with the _sea horse_ and several other vessels up the river on the 17th of august, but was unable to reach the fort till the 27th. the place being rendered untenable by the explosion of a powder magazine, the garrison spiked their guns and evacuated it next day. the populous and commercial town of alexandria, situated higher on the river, thus lost its sole protection; and captain gordon, having no obstacle to oppose his progress, buoyed the channel, and placed his ships in such a position as to enforce compliance with his terms. the town (with the exception of public works) was not to be destroyed nor the inhabitants molested on compliance with the following articles:--all naval and ordnance stores, public and private, were to be given up, together with all the shipping, the furniture of which was to be sent on board by their owners; the sunk vessels to be delivered in their original condition; the merchandise of every description to be immediately delivered up, including all removed from the town since the 19th; and the british squadron to be supplied with refreshments at the market price. this capitulation was signed on the 29th; the whole of the captured vessels--twenty-one in number--were fitted, loaded, and delivered, by the 31st; and captain gordon had got back with all his ships and prizes, and anchored in safety in the chesapeake by the 9th of september. these events are referred to in a pictorial satire (published by fores on the 4th of october, 1814), entitled, _the fall of washington, or maddy_ [_i.e._, president madison] _in full flight_:- "death of thy soul those linen cheeks of thine are counsellors to fear." flight of president madison. james madison and one of his ministers, habited as quakers (a then popular mode of ridiculing the americans), are seen in full flight, carrying under their arms bundles of compromising papers. by the "bill of fare of the cabinet supper at president madison's, august 24th, 1814," which has fallen at his feet, the flight would really seem to have been of the most hasty character. "i say, jack," says an english tar, pointing at the same time to the flying president, "what, is _that_ the man of war that was to annihilate us, as master boney used to say?" "aye, messmate," answers his companion; "he is a famous fighter over a bottle of shampain; why, he'd have played ---with us if we had let him sit down to supper." five americans (all quakers) meanwhile make their own observations on the situation: "jonathan," says one, "where thinkest thou our president will run to now?" "why, verily," answers jonathan, "to elba, to his bosom friend." "the great washington," remarks a third, "fought for liberty; but we are fighting for shadows, which, if obtained, could do us no earthly good, but this is the blessed effects of it." "i suppose," observes a fourth, "this is what maddis calls benefitting his country." "why," answers his friend, "it will throw such a light on affairs, that we shall find it necessary to change both men and measures." the popular notion of the day that there had been some understanding between "boney" and the yankees, was scarcely unnatural under the circumstances we have narrated. the president himself is made to say to his companion, "who would have thought of this man, to oblige us to run from the best cabinet supper i ever ordered? i hope you have taken care of boney's promissory notes; the people won't stand anything after this." "d--n his notes," answers the other; "what are they good for now? we should get nothing but iron; he hasn't any of his stock of brass left, or some of _that_ would have helped us through this business." the caricaturist simply reflected the opinion of his countrymen in insinuating that the yankees had some understanding or sympathy with bonaparte; but in this they were mistaken. with napoleon and his system the americans had no sympathy or feelings in common. probably all that the satirist intended to convey was the fact that they had brought the retaliatory measure (severe as it was) upon themselves, and in this undoubtedly he was right. the americans would never have dreamed of invading canada had they not supposed that we were so hampered with our struggle with bonaparte in 1812. it was perhaps well for america that we were not actuated by the same embittered feelings as themselves; that our generals were incompetent, and their plans both badly conceived and most inefficiently carried out. the caricaturists too jubilant. notwithstanding these successes, the caricaturists proved a trifle too jubilant. on the 11th of september, a british naval force--consisting of a frigate, a brig, two sloops of war, and some gunboats--attacked the american flotilla before platsburg, on lake champlain, and after a severe conflict were all captured, with the exception of the gun-boats, captain downie, the english commander, being killed at the very beginning of the engagement. sir g. prevost, in consequence of this disaster, began his retreat, leaving his sick and wounded to the mercy of the enemy. the americans having now collected from all quarters, the british retired to their lines, and relinquished all idea of penetrating into the state of new york. on the 12th, however, an attempt was made to enter baltimore, and although in the engagement which followed the american troops were broken and dispersed in the course of fifteen minutes, the victory was dearly purchased by the death of general ross, while the defensive arrangements of the harbour were so perfect and so formidable, that the attempt was obliged to be given up. although peace was concluded in the following december, the intelligence unfortunately did not reach the belligerents in time to prevent further mistakes and bloodshed. a series of operations of the british army in the neighbourhood of new orleans occupied the last week of december and a part of january. an army had been collected for an attack on that town under the command of general kean, which, with the assistance of admiral cochrane, was disembarked without resistance on the 23rd december. on the 25th, general sir edward pakenham arrived and assumed the chief command. on the 27th, the enemy's picquets were driven in within six miles of the town, where their main body was found most strongly posted, and supported by a ship of war moored in such a position as to enfilade the assailants. the result was that the assault of the british was delivered under so withering a fire from every part of the enemy's line, that general pakenham was killed, generals keane and gibbs wounded, while over 2,000 men and officers were killed, wounded, or made prisoners. colonel thornton, indeed, had crossed the river during the previous night and captured a flanking battery of the americans on the other side; but the report made by him to general lambert was of so discouraging a character that he decided not to persevere with the attempt, and in the end the whole army re-embarked, leaving a few of the most dangerously wounded behind them, but carrying off all their artillery, ammunition, and stores. the concluding operation of the war was the capture of fort mobile, which surrendered to the british on the 11th of february. 1815. romeo coates. a remarkable figure puts in an appearance in the caricatures of the early part of the century. this was the renowned "romeo" coates, a vain, weak-minded gentleman, who had an absolute passion for figuring on the boards as romeo, lothario, belcour, and other romantic characters, for which his personal appearance and lack of brains altogether unfitted him. his "readings," like himself, being of the most original character, his vagaries afforded endless amusement to the coarse public of his day. the gods befooled him "to the top of his bent;" his overweening vanity failing to show the poor creature that he was exciting ridicule instead of applause. the fun (?) culminated in the tragic scene, romeo, to their delight, responding to the encores of his audience, by repeating the dying scene so long as it suited the managers to prolong the sorry exhibition. macready, whose dramatic genius and refined sensibilities revolted at a spectacle so degrading, describes him as he appeared at bath, in 1815: "i was at the theatre," says the tragedian, "on the morning of his rehearsal, and introduced to him. at night the house was too crowded to afford me a place in front, and seeing me behind the scenes, he asked me, knowing i acted belcour, to prompt him if he should be 'out,' which he very much feared. the audience were in convulsions at his absurdities, and in the scene with miss rusport, being really 'out,' i gave him a line which belcour has to speak, 'i never looked so like a fool in all my life,' which, as he delivered it, was greeted with a roar of laughter. he was 'out' again, and i gave him again the same line, which, again being repeated, was acquiesced in with a louder roar. being 'out' again, i administered him the third time the same truth for him to utter, but he seemed alive to its application, rejoining in some dudgeon, 'i have said that twice already.' his exhibition was a complete burlesque of the comedy and a reflection on the character of a management that could profit by such discreditable expedients." poor "romeo" coates lived to get over his theatrical weakness, and died (in 1848), in his seventy-sixth year, from the results of a street accident. [illustration: _published march, 1816, by s. w. fores, 50, piccadilly._ leap year, or john bull's peace establishment. "when two ride upon a horse, one must ride behind." _face p. 50._] 1816. marriage of the princess charlotte. the princess charlotte of wales, having successfully thrown over her royal dutch suitor, was married at carlton house to prince leopold of saxe-coburg, afterwards king of the belgians, on the 2nd of may, 1816. prior to the marriage, parliament had voted a provision for an establishment for the pair of £60,000, while in the event of the princess's death, £50,000 was settled on the prince during his life. _leap year, or john bull's establishment_ (s. w. fores, march, 1816) shows us john bull with a bit in his mouth, driven by her royal highness, who lashes him unmercifully with a tremendous horse-whip. miserable john is saddled with a pair of panniers, one of which carries the prince and his money bags, the other being filled with heavy packages labelled with different impositions or items of expenditure of which john is the victim. "plans for thatched cottages," "plan for pulling down and rebuilding," "assessed taxes," "increase of salaries," "army for peace establishment," and so on. says leopold to the princess, "you drive so fast, i shall be off!!!" "never fear," she replies; "i'll teach you an english waltz." the gouty regent hobbles after them on his crutches, the supports of which are formed of dragons from his famous brighton pavilion. "push on!" he shouts to his daughter and future son-in-law, "push on! preach economy! and when you have got your money, follow my example." "oh! my back," groans poor john, crawling with the greatest difficulty under the weight of his heavy burdens. "i never can bear it! this will finish me." popular discontent. the two years which succeeded the fall of bonaparte were remarkable for the distress which prevailed amongst the industrial classes in england. the glory we had reaped in our long struggle with france was forgotten in the consideration of the almost insupportable burdens which it necessarily entailed. the sufferings of the masses prompted them to seek relief by bringing their grievances before parliament; but the reception their petitions met with, served only to show the little sympathy which existed between the national representatives, as then elected, and the people of england. petitions were next presented to the regent himself, while the popular discontent found expression in large meetings convened in london, leeds, manchester, birmingham, and other industrial centres. these meetings, it was observed, were convened, attended, and addressed almost exclusively by the working classes, the middle and upper ranks taking no share in the proceedings. the speakers pointed out in impressive and forcible language the various evils which they said had brought about their altered condition; the waste of public money in perpetual wars, in unearned pensions, sinecures, and other unjust expenditure. the high price of provisions provoked riots at brandon, norwich, newcastle, ely, glasgow, preston, leicester, merthyr, tredegar, and other places; a large number of the populace assembled in spafields in december to receive the regent's answer to their petition. while waiting the arrival of "orator" hunt, one of the most popular of the agitators of the day, a band of desperadoes appeared on the scene with a tri-coloured flag, and headed by a man named watson, who, after delivering a violent harangue from a waggon, led them into the city. the rioters pillaged several gunsmiths' shops, but the prompt action of lord mayor wood, the strong party of constables at his back, who seized several of the rioters, and the appearance on the scene of the military, soon induced the rioters to disperse. in january, 1817, john cashman, one of the spafields rioters, was tried for burglariously entering the shop of mr. beckworth, a gunsmith, and hanged opposite the scene of his depredations. 1817. regent opens parliament. the regent opened parliament on the 28th of january, 1817. in his address, he said that "the distress consequent upon the termination of a war of such universal extent and duration, had been felt with greater or less severity throughout all the nations of europe, and had been considerably aggravated by the unfavourable state of the season." alluding to the proceedings of the popular agitators, he added: "in considering our internal situation, you will, i doubt not, feel a just indignation at the attempts which have been made to take advantage of the distresses of the country, for the purpose of exciting a spirit of sedition and violence.... i am determined to omit no precautions for preserving the public peace, and for counteracting the designs of the disaffected." whether this statement was the cause or not, the regent had a narrow escape on his return from the house; for, while passing at the back of the gardens of carlton house, the glass of his window was broken, either by a stone or (as was supposed) by two balls from an air-gun, which appeared to have been aimed at his royal highness. on the 6th of february, lord cockrane presented to the house of commons the petition of the spafields meeting, signed by 24,000 persons. it prayed for annual parliaments, universal suffrage, and reduction in the public expenditure. he presented at the same time a petition from manchester, signed by 30,000 persons, praying for reform in parliament and economy in the public expenditure. sir francis burdett also presented a leeds petition for the same objects, containing 7,000 signatures. these were of course only legitimate modes of expressing the wants of the people; but, unhappily, quite independent of the action of the popular leaders, the country in some parts was so disturbed, so closely on the brink of insurrection, that ministers found themselves obliged twice during the course of the year to resort to the almost unprecedented measure of suspending the habeas corpus act, on the first occasion at the end of february, and on the second in june. at a meeting held at manchester in march, for the purpose of petitioning the regent against the suspension of the act, it was proposed and agreed that another meeting should be held on the following monday (the 10th of march), with the professed intention that ten out of every twenty persons who attended it should proceed to london with a petition to his royal highness. the meeting took place accordingly; many thousands actually attended in full marching order (_i.e._ provided with a bundle and a blanket); and a considerable body appear to have made some advance on their way before their further progress was arrested. expeditions of a similar character were simultaneously planned, attempted, and frustrated in other parts of the country. government spies. meanwhile, there were trials for high treason at westminster hall; trials of rioters at york and derby; and at the latter town, on the 7th of november, three miserable men were hung. among the witnesses at these trials appear to have been two men named castle and oliver: and it came out that these fellows, with two other government spies, named edwards and franklin, had been among the chief fomenters by speeches and writings of the seditions in the metropolis and northern counties. the disclosures made by these scoundrels produced of course a great sensation and numerous satires. one of these, entitled, _more plots!!! more plots!!!_ published by fores in august, 1817, is "dedicated to the inventors, lord s [idmouth] and lord c [astlereagh]." it is divided into four compartments. in the first we see four foxes (typifying no doubt the four informers) watching the movements of a flock of geese. "'tis plain," says one of the former, "there is a plot on foot; let's seize them, brother oliver." "i have no doubt of it: i can smell it plainly," answers his companion. in the second, a couple of fierce nondescript beasts are regarding a number of innocent lambs: "these bloodthirsty wretches," remarks one of the two, "mean to destroy man, woman, and child, i know it to a certainty; for they carry sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion in their looks." "and i'll swear it, brother castle," says his companion; "let's dash at them." in the third, a cat watches the movements of some unsuspecting mice: "there's a pretty collection of rogues gathered together," observes grimalkin; "if there is not a plot among them, burn my tail and whiskers." in the last, we behold a kite just about to pounce on some chicken: "the world's over-run with iniquity," says the bird of prey; "and these troublesome miscreants will not let honest hawks sleep in security." we shall return to the subject of these government spies and the troubles of 1817 in the graphic satires of george cruikshank. edmund kean and booth. in 1817, the rivalry between the two national theatres ran so high, that the covent garden management employed agents to scour the provinces in search of a rival to edmund kean at drury lane. after a time one was found in the person of lucius junius booth, who in stature, _rôle_ of characters, and (as it was imagined) style of acting, closely resembled, if he did not equal, the great original. he made his _début_ at covent garden, in the character of richard the third. whether it was a success or not seems doubtful; for the manager being out of town, those deputed to act as deputies did not care to undertake the responsibility of engaging the new star. in this dilemma, overtures were made to him by the rival house, which he accepted, and made his appearance as "iago" to kean's "othello" to a densely-packed audience at drury lane. so great was the likeness between the two actors, that strangers were puzzled to know which was kean and which was booth, until the tragedy reached the third act, when the genius of kean made itself felt, and no doubt remained in the minds of the audience which was master of his art. booth, in fact, discovered that he had made a mistake, and the day after his trial at old drury, signed articles to return to covent garden for three years. here he proved a great attraction; he must have been in truth an actor of no ordinary merit; his rendering of the character of lear, in particular, met with universal approbation, and in this tragedy he was supported by actors of the ability of charles kemble and william macready, both of whom he threw into the shade. at the end, however, of his engagement, feeling that he was incapable of meeting kean on anything like equal terms, he set sail for america. the appearance of edmund kean and lucius junius booth at drury lane is referred to in a satire entitled, _the rival richards_, published by s. w. fores in 1817. the sketch (evidently the work of an amateur) shows us folly seated on an ass, holding in one hand a pair of scales, in one of which stands booth, and in the other edmund kean. to the mind of the satirist there appears to be no difference in the abilities of the two performers, as the scales exactly balance. on the right, the portico of covent garden is overshadowed by the inelegant but massive proportions of drury lane; the intervening space being occupied by various figures and details, among which is a "patent clapping machine." an advertisement board carried by one of the figures clearly shows that the satire--an elaborate idea badly worked out--has reference to the period when both actors were engaged at "old drury." 1818. evacuation of france. undoubtedly the most important event of the year 1818 was the congress of the allied sovereigns at aix-la-chapelle, and the evacuation of france which followed. by the second treaty of paris, the stay of the occupying armies had been fixed at a period of five years; but by an official note, dated the 4th of november, 1818, the ministers of austria, great britain, russia, and prussia, referring to the engagements entered into by the french government with the subscribing powers to that treaty, stated that such government had fulfilled all the clauses of the treaty, and proposed, "with respect to those clauses, the fulfilment of which was reserved for more remote periods, arrangements which were satisfactory" to the contracting parties. under these circumstances the sovereigns resolved that the military occupation of france should forthwith be discontinued. on the 7th of november, the duke of wellington, commander-in-chief of the army of occupation, issued an order of the day, taking leave of the troops under his command, which concluded in the following terms:-"it is with regret that the general has seen the moment arrive when the dissolution of this army was to put an end to his public connections and his private relations with the commanders and other officers of the corps of the army. the field marshal deeply feels how agreeable these relations have been to him. he begs the generals commanding in chief to receive and make known to the troops under their orders, the assurance that he shall never cease to take the most lively interest in everything that may concern them; and that the remembrance of the three years during which he has had the honour to be at their head, will be always dear to him." wellington appears to have received particular marks of distinction from the emperor alexander; but what may have been the particular tittle tattle which led up to the caricature we shall next describe, we are now unable to fathom. that it grew out of the event which we have attempted to describe will be sufficiently obvious. it is entitled, _a russian dandy at home; a scene at aix-la-chapelle_, and was published by fores in december, 1818. in it, the satirist shows us the duke arrayed in the regimentals of a russian general, part of which comprise a pair of jack-boots considerably too large for him, a fact which amuses the emperor and certain english and cossack officers at his back. the following doggerel appended to the satire affords an explanation of its meaning:- "it is said that the head of the forces allied, not having a coat to his back, a generous monarch the needful supplied; and when thus equipped, they sat down side by side, to drink their champagne and their sack. now, doubtless this hero of wonderful note, had the monarch allowed him to choose, would have bartered the honour to sit in his coat, for the pleasure to stand in his shoes." queen charlotte. a well-drawn caricature, published by fores in february, 1818, and entitled, _a peep at the pump room, or the zomersetshire folks in a maze_, shows us a singularly ugly old woman habited in a wonderful bonnet, and clothes of antiquated make and fashion, drinking the bath waters in the midst of a circle of deeply interested and curious gazers. this poor old woman, who looks very like an old nurse, is no less a person than charlotte of mecklenburg-strelitz, queen of george the third, who, in failing health and rapidly drawing towards the close of her earthly pilgrimage, had been recommended by her physicians to try the effect of the bath waters. the excitement which this event occasioned in the then gay, but now decayed western city, is thus referred to by mrs. piozzi in two of her contemporary letters to sir james fellowes: "the queen has driven us all distracted; such a bustle bath never witnessed before. she drinks at the pump room, purposes going to say her prayers at the abbey church, and a box is making up for her at the theatre." and again: "of the clusters in the pump room who _swarm_ round queen charlotte, as if she were actually the queen bee, courtiers must give you an account." at the back of her majesty's chair stands the portly figure of the duke of clarence, who recommends the old lady to qualify the water (which is evidently very distasteful to her) with a little brandy. "george and i," he adds, "always recommend brandy." a fat, well favoured woman in a flower-pot bonnet, with a gin bottle in her hand, on the other hand recommends the old queen to qualify the bath water with a dash of "old tom," advice which is seconded by the old woman next her. behind this last stands the physician, watch in hand, watching, and moreover predicting in very plain terms, the expected action of the medicated water. the folks behind make their observations on the old lady's appearance. "well, i declare," says one, "i see nothing extraordinary to look at." "why, she doant look a bit better than oul granny," remarks a country joskin. "who said she did, eh, dame?" replies her companion. poor old queen charlotte was never a beauty, and those who remember her exaggerated likenesses in the satires of gillray, will not fail to recognise her in the present satire. one of her well-known habits is referred to by the snuff-box which lies at her feet. [illustration: _published february, 1818, by_ s. w. fores, _50, piccadilly_ a peep into the pump-room, or the zomersetshire folk in a maze. _face p. 57._] the poor old lady was beyond the help of the bath waters or of any earthly assistance. we find mrs. piozzi writing a few months later on: "nothing kills the queen, however. it is really a great misfortune to be kept panting for breath so, and screaming with pain by medical skill: were she a subject, i suppose they would have released her long ago; but diseases and distresses of the human frame must lead to death at length," which was the case with the poor old queen, who died nine months after the date of the satire (in november, 1818). the announcement of the marriages of four of her children this year, viz.: of the princess elizabeth to frederick, landgrave of hesse homburg; of edward augustus, duke of kent, to victoria, daughter of the duke of saxe-coburg (and mother of queen victoria), on the 29th of may; of adolphus frederick, duke of cambridge, to augusta, daughter of the landgrave of hesse, on the 1st of may; and of william henry, duke of clarence (afterwards william the fourth), to adelaide, daughter of the duke of saxe-meiningen, on the 11th of july, gave rise to a coarse though admirably executed caricature entitled, _the homburg waltz, with characteristic sketches of family dancing_, in which all these royal personages, with the regent at their head, are seen prominently figuring amongst the dancers. invention of the kaleidoscope. a forgotten but ingenious instrument, the kaleidoscope, was invented by sir david brewster in 1818. the leading principles of the toy appear to have been accidentally discovered in the course of a series of experiments on the polarization of light by successive reflections between plates of glass. the invention of this now despised toy made a tremendous sensation at the time, and the inventor was induced to take out a patent for its protection; but he had, it appears, divulged the secret of its construction before he had secured the invention to himself, and the consequence was that, although "it made a hundred shopmen rich," it brought the inventor himself but little substantial benefit. this is explained by the fact that it was so simple in construction, that even when made without scientific accuracy, it served to delight as well as to amuse. so largely was it pirated, that it was calculated that no fewer than two hundred thousand were sold in three months in london and paris alone. judging by a caricature of williams's, published by fores in june, 1818, and its doggerel explanation, the toys would appear even at this time to have been made and sold by every street boy. the satire is called, _caleidoscopes, or paying for peeping_. in it, we see the pertinacious vendors pushing the sale of their wares upon the passengers in the streets--many of them women. a bishop resolves to buy one because the coloured glass reminds him of a painted window in his cathedral, another person has paid dearly for "peeping," and discovers that while gratifying his curiosity, his "pocket-book has slipped off with two hundred pounds in it." williams was a satirist of the old school, and the allusions made by some of the vendors render this otherwise interesting satire wantonly coarse and indelicate. attached to this rare and curious production is the following doggerel:- "'tis the favourite plaything of school-boy and sage, of the baby in arms and the baby of age; of the grandam whose sight is at best problematical, and of the soph who explains it by rule mathematical. such indeed is the rage for them, chapel or church in, you see them about you, and each little urchin finding a sixpence, with transport beside his hope, runs to the tin-man and makes a caleidoscope!" 1819. the hobby. another invention made its appearance in 1819: this was the _velocipede_, or as it was then called "the hobby," the grandfather of the bicycle and tricycle of our day. a tall gawky perched on the summit of a lofty bicycle, with an enormous wheel gyrating between a couple of spindle shanks capped with enormous crab-shells, is a sufficiently familiar and ridiculous object in our times; but the appearance presented by the people of 1819, who adopted the spider looking thing called a "hobby," was so intensely comical that it gave rise to a perfect flood of caricatures. the best of these we have personally met with is one entitled, _the spirit moving the quakers upon worldly vanities_, a skit upon the society of friends (published by j. t. sidebotham). the scene is laid in front of a "society of friends meeting house," and numerous "friends" of both sexes are busily engaged in exercising their hobbies. in the foreground, a broad-brimmed young "friend" gives ardent and amorous chase to a lovely quakeress, who, apparently disinclined to encourage his advances, urges her steed to its utmost speed, and makes frantic endeavours to get out of his way. depression in trade. the internal condition of the country this year (1819) gave cause for much anxiety. pecuniary distress, owing to the depression in trade, was almost universal. this state of things, as might have been expected, was taken advantage of by the popular agitators for their own purposes; and the people, under their encouragement, as in the two previous years, continued to give audible expression to their dissatisfaction at meetings, and through the medium of publications more or less of a seditious character. the miserable outlook gave rise (among others) to a pair of caricatures, published by fores on the 9th of january, _john bull in clover_, and (by way of contrast), _john bull done over_. in the first, fat john is enjoying himself with his pipe and his glass; the sleek condition of his dog shows that it shares in the comforts of its master's prosperity. john, in fact, has what our transatlantic cousins call "a good time;" scattered over the floor lie invoices of goods despatched by him to customers in spain, in russia, in america. beneath a portrait of "good queen bess," john has pinned several of his favourite ballads: "the land we live in," "oh, the roast beef of old england!" "may we all live the days of our life." in _john bull done over_, a very different picture is presented to our notice. the whole of john's fat is gone; he sits, a lean, starving, tattered, shoeless object in a bottomless chair, the embodiment of human misery. in place of his invoices lie the _gazette_, which announces his bankruptcy, and a number of tradesmen's bills; on the back of his chair is coiled a rope, and on the table before him a razor lies on a treatise on suicide,--john in fact is debating by what mode he shall put an end to his existence. an onion and some water in a broken jug are the only articles of sustenance he has to depend on. the tax gatherer, who has made a number of fruitless calls, looks through the broken panes to ascertain if john is really "at home." on the wall, in place of the picture of "good queen bess," hangs a portrait of john bellingham, the assassin of spencer perceval; and in lieu of his once joyous ballads, such doleful ditties as "oh, dear, what can the matter be!" "there's nae luck about the house," and so on. the poor dog, grown like his master a lean and pitiable object, vainly appeals to him for food. "england's hope"[21]--the darling of the nation--the amiable and interesting princess charlotte, whose loss is still lamented after the lapse of more than half a century, died in childbirth on the 6th of november, 1817; but on the 24th of may, 1819, was born, at kensington palace, another amiable and august princess, whose life has been most happily spared to us--her present majesty queen victoria. to show that the influence of the last century caricaturists had not yet left us, this auspicious event immediately gave rise to a coarse caricature,[22] published by fores, and labelled, _a scene in the new farce called the rivals, or a visit to the heir presumptive_, in which the scurrilous satirist depicts the supposed mortification and jealousy of other members of the royal family. her majesty's father, the duke of kent, died nine months afterwards, on the 23rd of january, 1820. footnotes: [18] the new alhambra. [19] a caricature entitled _doctors differ_, according to mr. grego (published in 1785) is due to rowlandson. it is possible, therefore, that the present one, although not in rowlandson's style, may be a reproduction. [20] this admirable satire appears to me very like the handiwork of george cruikshank; but not being able positively to identify it, i have given it its place in this chapter. [21] see the caricatures of george cruikshank, 1817. [22] apparently by williams. chapter iv. _miscellaneous caricatures and subjects of caricature, 1820-1830._ caroline of brunswick. as in 1809 a revengeful and unscrupulous woman had succeeded in exposing the reputation of a member of the royal family to public opprobrium, so, in like manner, in 1820, a woman, and no less a person in this instance than a titular queen of england, was the means of dragging the crown itself through the mire of a disreputable scandal. that caroline of brunswick was an uncongenial and unfitting consort; that she was an utterly unfit and improper person to occupy the exalted position of queen of england, there can be no manner of doubt. but to the question whether it was wise, politic, or dignified to subject her conduct (however morally criminal) to the reproach of a public investigation, there can be but one answer. the marriage of caroline, daughter of charles, duke of brunswick-wolfenbüttel, with george, prince of wales, was solemnized on the 8th of april, 1795. exactly one year afterwards, and three months after the birth of their child, the princess charlotte, the pair separated. the separation was effected at the instance of the prince, and the reasons for his wishing to live apart from her are assigned in a letter which he sent her royal highness through lord cholmondeley: "our _inclinations_," he told her, "are not in our own power; nor should either be answerable to the other because nature has not made us suitable to each other. tranquil and comfortable society is, however, in our power; let our intercourse therefore be restricted to _that_." sixty years have elapsed since this miserable woman died, and we who are no longer biassed by the political leanings which more or less influenced those who regarded her with favour or prejudice, are enabled to consider the circumstances from a fair and dispassionate point of view. in order that the reader may form his own conclusions of her character and disposition, we prefer to quote authorities whose political sympathies were distinctly favourable to her cause. writing of his grandmother, lady de clifford (governess of the princess charlotte), lord albermarle tells us: "she [lady de clifford] used often to recount to me the events of her court life. the behaviour of the princess of wales (this was before she left england) naturally came under review. i fear that the judgment she formed of the conduct of this much sinned against and sinning lady coincides but too closely with the verdict that public opinion has since passed upon her. to lady de clifford she was the source of constant anxiety and annoyance. often, when in obedience to the king's [george iii.] commands, my grandmother took her young charge to the charlton villa, the princess of wales would behave with a _levity of manner and language that the presence of her child and her child's governess were insufficient to restrain_. on more than one occasion, lady de clifford was obliged to threaten her with making such a representation to the king as would tend to deprive her altogether of the princess charlotte's society. these remonstrances were always taken in good part, and produced promises of amendment."[23] the hon. amelia murray tells us in her "recollections from 1803 to 1837": "there was about this period an extravagant _furore_ in the cause of the princess of wales. she was considered an ill-treated woman, and that was enough to arouse popular feeling. my brother was among the young men who helped to give her an ovation at the opera. a few days afterwards he went to breakfast at a place near woolwich. there he saw the princess, in a gorgeous dress, which was looped up to show her petticoat covered with stars, with silver wings on her shoulders, sitting under a tree, _with a pot of porter on her knee_; and as a finale to the gaiety, she had the doors opened of every room in the house, and selecting a partner, she galloped through them, desiring all the guests to follow her example! it may be guessed whether the gentlemen were anxious to clap her at the opera again." now this was the personage whom certain classes of the community persisted in regarding, sixty years ago, as a royal martyr. small as is the respect or esteem which we owe to the memory of george the fourth, we may almost sympathise with him when he calls such a consort "uncongenial." a person so little fitted for the high position which she occupied was certain to give trouble; and as far back as 1806, her indiscreet conduct had induced the king [george iii.] to grant a commission to lords spencer, grenville, erskine, and ellenborough, to examine into the truth of certain allegations which had been made against her; and, although their report expressed the most unqualified opinion that the graver charges were utterly destitute of foundation, such report, nevertheless, concluded with some strictures made by the commissioners "on the levity of manners displayed by the princess on certain occasions."[24] in consequence of this official report, the intercourse between the princess of wales and her daughter, the princess charlotte, was subjected to regulation and restraint; they were allowed at first a single weekly interview, which, for some doubtless sufficient reason, was afterwards reduced to a fortnightly meeting.[25] while pitying the mother, we seem scarcely justified in assuming, with our present knowledge of her obstinate nature and disposition, that these restrictions were imposed without some just and sufficient reason. it would seem to have come to the knowledge of the princess caroline in 1813, that the interdiction was intended "to be still more rigidly enforced,"[26] for on the 14th of january of that year we find that she wrote a letter to the prince regent, in which she complained that the separation of mother and daughter was equally injurious to her own character and to the education of her child. adverting to the restricted intercourse between them, she observed that in the eyes of the world, "this separation of a daughter from her mother would only admit ... of a construction fatal to the mother's reputation. your royal highness," she continued, "will pardon me for adding that there is no less inconsistency than injustice in this treatment. he who dares advise your highness to overlook the evidence of my innocence, and disregard the sentence of complete acquittal which it [_i.e._ the inquiry of 1806] produced--or is wicked and false enough still to whisper suspicions in your ear, betrays his duty to you, sir, to your daughter, and to your people, if he counsels you to permit a day to pass _without a further investigation of my conduct_.... let me implore you to reflect on the situation in which i am placed, without the shadow of a charge against me, without even an accuser after an inquiry that led to my ample vindication, yet treated as if i were still more culpable _than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me_, and held up to the world as a mother who may not enjoy the society of her only child." no possible objection can be taken to this letter; indeed, by whomsoever it was penned, taken altogether it was an admirable composition. if, however, we are to credit the statement of mr. whitbread, made in the house on the 5th of march, 1813, it was thrice returned to the writer unopened. but the princess, as we shall find, was not a person to be intimidated by any amount of rebuffs. "at length that letter [we quote mr. whitbread] was read to him [the prince regent], and the cold answer returned was, that ministers had received no commands on the subject."[27] the letter found its way into the public prints, and then, and not till then, if we are to believe mr. whitbread, his royal highness directed that the whole of the documents, together with her royal highness's communications to himself, should be referred to certain members of the privy council, who were to report to him their opinion, "whether under all the circumstances ... it was fit and proper that the intercourse between the princess of wales and her daughter ... should continue to be, subject to regulations and restrictions."[28] in their report, which was presented on the 19th of february, the commissioners stated that "they had taken into their most serious consideration, together with the other papers referred to by his royal highness, all the documents relative to the inquiry instituted in 1806 ... into the truth of certain representations respecting ... the princess of wales; and, that after full examination of all the documents before them, they were of opinion, that under all the circumstances of the case, it was highly fit and proper, with a view to the welfare of ... the princess charlotte ... and the most important interests of the state, that the intercourse between ... the princess of wales and the ... princess charlotte should continue to be subject to regulation and restraint." it was only natural, of course, that caroline should rebel; and she accordingly wrote on the 1st of march a letter to the speaker, protesting against the mode in which this second inquiry had been conducted. motions on her behalf were afterwards brought forward successively in the house by mr. cockrane johnson and mr. whitbread, both of which, however, fell to the ground. the remarks made by mr. whitbread provoked a speech in the house of lords from lord ellenborough (who had been a member of both commissions), which is singularly illustrative of the habits and manners of the time. after an introduction of great solemnity, his lordship said, "that, in the case alluded to, the persons intrusted with the commission [of 1806] were charged with having fabricated an unauthorised document, purporting to relate what was not given in evidence, and to suppress what was given. this accusation," said his lordship, "is as false as h---in every particular." he then proceeded to give an account of the mode in which everything had been taken down from the mouth of the witness, and afterwards read over to and subscribed by her.[29] he concluded his peculiarly energetic speech by again denying, in the most positive terms, the truth of the imputation which had been cast upon the commissioners. the inquiry of 1813 set the pencils of the caricaturists in motion, and among the satires it occasioned, i find a series of eight pictures on one sheet, representing the witnesses, the commissioners, mr. whitbread, and other persons connected with that and the previous investigation of 1806. it is called _a key to the investigation, or iago distanced by odds_; and the most amusing of the series is the seventh, which represents the furious lord ellenborough, attired in his official robes of lord chief justice of the king's bench. the following doggerel clearly identifies it with the speech from which we have already quoted:- "this is the chief j---who, as the lords tell, swore that the reflections were false!--black as h----! _and though such bad words no man can use fewer_, in his rage it was fear'd he would pistol the brewer[30] for moving the senate, who all cried, oh fie! that the lady and b----[31] had told a d----d lie, and were unworthy credit the oaths they did try; and lamented the witness, whose answer when penn'd, without questions which drew them, appear'd to portend more reproach than she meant against her good friend. while the hireling servants examined by law, who thought by a stretch to gain some _éclat_, while before the commissioners named by the king, to investigate matters and witnesses bring," etc., etc. the eighth of the series is "the spring that set all in motion," the satirist's meaning being indicated by a throne, on which lies a cocked hat adorned with the prince of wales' feathers, and beneath it, as is usual in a large proportion of the satires which allude to the prince-regent, a number of empty bottles. the regent seems never to have lost an opportunity of insulting his uncongenial and unfortunate wife. in anticipation of the expected visit of the allied sovereigns in june, 1814, the prince conveyed an intimation to his royal mother that, as he considered his presence could not be dispensed with at her ensuing drawing-rooms, he desired it to be distinctly understood, "for reasons of which he alone could be the judge, to be his fixed and unalterable determination not to meet the princess of wales upon any occasion, either in public or private."[32] queen charlotte was bound of course to give an official intimation to that effect to the princess caroline, which, on the 24th and 26th of may, 1814, brought from her letters to the queen and the regent. in the first of these communications she intimated her intention of "making public the cause of her absence from court at a time when the duties of her station would otherwise peculiarly demand her attendance"; while her letter to her husband contained the following intimation: "your royal highness may possibly refuse to read this letter; but the world must know that i have written it, and they will see my real motives for foregoing in this instance the rights of my rank. occasions, however, may arise (one, i trust, is far distant) when i _must_ appear in public, and your royal highness must be present also. can your royal highness have contemplated the full extent of your declaration? has your royal highness forgotten the approaching marriage of our daughter [to the prince of orange] and the possibility of our coronation?" these words show that from the first caroline had decided, _coûte que coûte_, when the time came to assert her position, in spite of the opposition of her husband and any obstacles which might be raised by his friends and advisers. we have entered rather fully into this matter, because it seemed to us necessary, in order that the reader might understand the temper of caroline, and the motives which influenced her in the extraordinary course of conduct which she afterwards thought fit to pursue. she was treated, we have seen, with the most cruel and studied insult; excluded from ceremonials at which her rank and position entitled her to be present. "sir," said the unfortunate woman in the letter to her husband to which we have alluded, "the time you have selected for this proceeding is calculated to make it peculiarly galling. many illustrious strangers are already arrived in england; among others, as i am informed, the illustrious heir of the house of orange, who has announced himself to me as my future son-in-law. from their society i am unjustly excluded. others are expected, of rank equal to your own, to rejoice with your royal highness in the peace of europe. my daughter will for the first time appear in the splendour and publicity becoming the approaching nuptials of the presumptive heiress of this empire. this season your royal highness has chosen for treating me with great and unprovoked indignity; and of all his majesty's subjects, i alone am prevented by your royal highness from appearing in my place, to partake of the general joy, and am deprived of the indulgence of those feelings of pride and affection permitted to every mother but me." poor mother! who may help pitying her! her most prejudiced enemy will admit that this was an eloquent and noble protest. had she only maintained this language and attitude, we should justly assign to her a place amongst the royal martyrs of history. naturally this barbarous, impolitic treatment soured her, as it would sour even the sweetest disposition. in an evil hour for her, and we may add for this country, she solicited and obtained permission to travel abroad. no sooner was she freed from the restraints which had surrounded her at home, than her conduct not only makes us doubt whether she had any hand in the composition of this maternal appeal, but appears to justify the conclusions at which the commissioners of 1806 and 1813 seem to have arrived. her temper was obstinate and wilful. she knew that she was watched; and from a spirit apparently of wanton mischief, designed with the view doubtless of annoying her enemies, she indulged in a series of the most extraordinary and undignified vagaries. she took into her service and received into her closest confidence and favour persons of the lowest position. it was impossible for rumours of her extraordinary eccentricities not to reach, not only the ears of those who detested her, but in an imperfect and incorrect degree those of the general public. that this was the case is shown by a caricature entitled, _paving the way for a royal divorce_, published by johnston on the 1st of october, 1816, in which we see the corpulent regent at table with lord liverpool, "old bags"[33] (chancellor eldon), lord chief justice ellenborough, vansittart, chancellor of the exchequer, and another, probably intended for viscount sidmouth. his royal highness is made by the caricaturist to say that he and his sympathizers think "we shall now succeed, having secured some evidence from the coast of barbary.... i have got everything as clear as the sun at noon-day.... now for a divorce as soon as possible." lord chancellor eldon says, "i'll stick to your highness through thick and thin, or never call me 'old bags' again as long as i live." lord liverpool supports him by the assurance, "i'm an unmatched negotiator, and i'll enter into a treaty with the house of commons to secure your suit." the temper of the commons is shown by the doubts expressed by the individual we take to be intended for viscount sidmouth. "i have my doubts," says this person, at the same time laying his hands on the port wine decanter, "i have my doubts and qualms of conscience, your highness; what say you, van?" "oh, my lord," replies vansittart, who is seated on the "budget," "i have some strange touches of feeling on the subject." up rises the hot-tempered lord chief justice, upsetting a decanter of port wine, and at the same time the chair on which he has been sitting, "don't put me in a passion with your 'qualms' and your 'touches'; they are all false, false as h----! i'll blow you all to the d----l if you don't stick to your master manfully!!" by the side of the prince we see, as usual, a pailful of wine bottles, and at his feet, in allusion to his notorious infidelities, an open volume entitled, "the secret memoirs of a prince, by humphrey hedghog, esq., 1815." by the side of the lord chief justice lie three portly volumes labelled, "the law of divorce." it will be evident from the foregoing, that from an early period, the satirists on the popular side gave credit to the prince and his advisers for being members of a secret conspiracy for compassing the ruin of the erring and unfortunate woman. now what was the "evidence" to which the corpulent regent is made to refer in the sketch before us? it was not of course _evidence_, but rumour; and rumour said the strangest things of the princess caroline. it associated her name with that of a courier,--a low italian, named bartolomeo bergami; it said that she had enriched and ennobled this man and other members of his family; procured for him a barony in sicily; decorated him with several orders of knighthood; and asserted in the plainest terms that she was living with him in a state of open and notorious adultery. these reports rendered it necessary to ascertain on what foundation they rested, and the result was that in 1818, mr. cooke, of the chancery bar, and mr. powell, a solicitor, were despatched into germany and italy to collect evidence with respect to her conduct. this inquiry, which is generally known as the "milan commission," seemed certainly preferable to an investigation of a more public and notorious character; and upon the evidence these gentlemen obtained was founded the "bill of pains and penalties," which we shall presently have to consider. 1820. it is quite clear that the ministers of 1820 were strongly averse to the introduction of the "bill of pains and penalties," which is now known to us as the "trial of queen caroline." the whole odium indeed of the proceedings rested upon them at the time; but we have no reason to doubt the statement of mr. charles greville, under date of 20th february, 1820, that they had offered to resign, "because the king would not hear reason." it seems at any rate tolerably certain that, although they brought forward the "bill of pains and penalties" under pressure of the crown, they did not do so until they had well-nigh exhausted every effort short of actual resignation (this dignified position they did _not_ take) to avoid it. mr. wade tells us that "their first indiscretion consisted in commencing hostilities against the queen by the omission of her name in the liturgy, thereby provoking her claim to legal rights;"[34] but this omission, which appears to us justifiable under the circumstances, mr. greville shows us was due to the action of the king himself.[35] in the month of june, 1819, a communication appears to have been received from mr. brougham, the professional adviser of the princess, and understood to be charged with the confidential management of her affairs. the proposal contained in this communication was in substance, that her then income of £35,000 a year should be secured to her for life, instead of terminating with the demise of the crown: and that she should undertake upon that arrangement being made to reside permanently abroad, and not to assume at any time the rank or title of queen of england. this proposal, however, being stated to be made without any authority from the princess, or knowledge of it on her part, the government at that time replied that there would be no indisposition at the proper time to entertain the principle on which the proposal was grounded, if it met with the approbation of her royal highness on the king's accession. the ministers, reverting to mr. brougham's proposal, offered to raise the already handsome allowance to £50,000 a year, subject to the conditions before mentioned. caroline, however, peremptorily declined the proposal, alleging that it had been made without her knowledge or sanction. unfortunately, too, this offer when made to caroline herself, was coupled with the intimation that if the queen should "be so ill-advised as to come over to this country, there must be _an end to all negotiations and compromise_."[36] considering the temper and disposition of the woman, the fact that she had demanded the insertion of her name in the liturgy, the haughty assertion of her claim "to be received and acknowledged as the queen of england," and the communication made at the same time of her desire that a royal yacht should be in readiness to receive her at calais,[37] it appears to us a greater mistake on the part of the ministry could scarcely have been made. it aroused her woman's nature, and flaming with the anger and resentment which she had nourished for so long a course of years, she boldly took up the gauntlet her enemies had flung at her feet, and crossed the channel almost as soon as the astonished government messenger himself. the queen (for she was titular queen of england now) arrived in london on the 7th of june: "the road was thronged with an immense multitude the whole way from westminster bridge to greenwich. carriages, carts, and horsemen followed, preceded, and surrounded her coach the whole way. she was everywhere received with the greatest enthusiasm. women waved pocket-handkerchiefs, and men shouted wherever she passed. she travelled in an open landau, alderman wood sitting by her side, and lady ann hamilton [the duke of hamilton's sister] and another woman opposite.... the queen looked exactly as she did before she left england, and seemed neither dispirited nor dismayed."[38] in one of the popular satires of the day we see her standing on the balcony of alderman wood's house in south audley street, receiving and acknowledging the enthusiastic plaudits of her admirers. the very day she arrived at dover, a royal message was sent down to parliament, by which the king commended to the lords an inquiry into the conduct of the queen; while on the following day, mr. brougham read in the house of commons a message or manifesto from his client, declaring that her return was occasioned by the necessity her enemies had laid upon her of defending her character and conduct. the bill of pains and penalties. both parties now stood irrevocably committed to the fatal measure. a secret committee of the house of lords proceeded to open the celebrated _green bag_, which contained the reports of the milan commission; and on the 4th of july they made their report, recommending a solemn inquiry into the conduct of the queen. next day the earl of liverpool presented a "bill of pains and penalties" entitled, "an act to deprive her majesty queen caroline amelia elizabeth of the title, prerogative, rights, privileges, and exemptions of queen consort of this realm, and to dissolve the marriage between his majesty and the said caroline amelia elizabeth" on the ground of the grossly immoral conduct therein alleged against her. the ill-advised proceedings once commenced, no time was lost in carrying them through. on the 7th of july the italian witnesses in support of the bill (twelve in number) landed at dover. the object of their visit soon became known, and on emerging from the custom house they were set upon and badly beaten by a furious crowd, composed principally of women. they were lodged in a building then separating the old houses of parliament, which, with its enclosure, was called cotton garden; the front faced the abbey, the rear the thames. "the land entrance was strongly barricaded. the side facing westminster bridge was shut out from the public by a wall run up for the express purpose at a right angle to the parliament stairs. thus the only access was by the river. here was erected a causeway to low-water mark; a flight of steps led to the interior of the inclosure. the street was guarded by a strong military force, the water side by gunboats. an ample supply of provisions was stealthily (for fear of the mob) introduced into the building; a bevy of royal cooks was sent to see that the food was of good quality, and to render it as palatable as their art could make it. about this building, in which the witnesses were immured from august till november, the london mob would hover like a cat round the cage of a canary. such confinement would have been intolerable to the natives of any other country, but it was quite in unison with the feelings of italians. to them it realized their favourite '_dolce far niente_.' their only physical exertion appears to have been the indulgence in that description of dance that the _pifferari_ have made familiar to the londoner."[39] such was the residence of the italian witnesses against the queen, and it is certain that if they had ventured beyond its precincts they would have been torn in pieces. the appearance which caroline of brunswick presented at her trial was an outrageous caricature, and is thus described by one then distinctly friendly to her cause--the earl of albemarle: "the peers rose as the queen entered, and remained standing until she took her seat in a crimson and gilt chair immediately in front of her counsel. her appearance was anything but prepossessing. she wore a black dress with a high ruff, an unbecoming gipsy hat with a huge bow in front, the whole surmounted by a plume of ostrich feathers. _nature_ had given her light hair, blue eyes, a fair complexion, and a good-humoured expression of countenance; but these characteristics were marred by _painted eyebrows_, and by a _black wig_ with a profusion of curls, which overshadowed her cheeks and gave a bold, defiant air to her features." the names of the witnesses, and possibly the precise nature of the testimony against her, would seem to have been unknown to the queen, for we have it on record that when the first witness (teodoro majoochi, the celebrated "non mi ricordo") was placed at the bar, on the 21st of august, her majesty, "uttering a loud exclamation, retired hastily from the house, followed by lady ann hamilton."[40] she evidently laboured under some strong emotion, whether of surprise or displeasure, or both, seems never to have been ascertained. among the general public, and even in the house of commons itself, the falsehood of all that had been alleged on oath against the queen was assumed as an undeniable axiom; the witnesses were loaded with the most opprobrious epithets, while those who had been concerned in collecting or sifting evidence were represented as conspirators or suborners. we shall see, when we come to speak of the caricatures of robert cruikshank, the light in which these unhappy witnesses were regarded by the graphic satirists on the popular side.[41] nevertheless, if their testimony is carefully read over by any unprejudiced person having any knowledge of the law of evidence, in spite of the badgering of mr. brougham, the admirable speech of that gentleman, and the testimony of the witnesses on the other side, i think he cannot fail to come to any other conclusion than that expressed by the then lord ellenborough, that her royal highness was "the last woman a man of honour would wish his wife to resemble, or the father of a family would recommend as an example to his daughters. no man," said his lordship, "could put his hand on his heart and say that the queen was not wholly unfit to hold the situation which she holds."[42] he will see too, by reference to the report of the proceedings in the "annual register," that of the peers who decided to vote against the second reading of the bill on the ground of _inexpediency_, a large majority gave it as their deliberate opinion that the case had been proved against the queen.[43] in a very clever pictorial satire, published by s. humphrey in 1821, the queen, bergami, and a third figure (possibly intended for alderman wood) are represented as standing on a pedestal forming the apex of a slender stem labelled "mobility," which rests on a base marked "adultery." the whole structure depends for support on a broom (in allusion of course to mr. brougham) and two frail pieces of wood, labelled respectively, "sham addresses," and "sham processions," which in turn rest on a slender railing, while a ladder on either side, marked "brass" and "wood," lend a further slight support to the very insecure fabric. the superincumbent weight of the queen and bergami breaks the frail stem in pieces, and the three figures tumble to the ground together. the back of the design is occupied with scenes and incidents detailed in the evidence. a very clever caricature, without date (published by t. sidebotham), i am inclined to assign to this period; and if so, it is one of the most plain spoken and telling satires ever published. it is entitled, _city scavengers cleansing the london streets of impurities_; a placard which has fallen in the street sufficiently explains its meaning: "by particular desire of the society for the suppression of vice, d-of k--t in the chair, ordered that the city officers do keep the streets clear of common prostitutes.--signed, wood, mayor."[44] a more foolish and undignified proceeding, however, than this "bill of pains and penalties" can scarcely be conceived. its fate might almost have been predicted from the first. the second reading was carried on the 6th of november, by a majority of twenty-eight, but the third (for the reasons already given) by a majority of nine only; whereupon, the earl of liverpool said that, "had the third reading been carried by as considerable a number of peers as the second had been, he and his colleagues would have felt it their duty to persevere with the bill and to send it down to the other branch of the legislature. in the present state of the country, however, ... they had come to the determination not to proceed further with it."[45] the victory will be acknowledged by us now-a-days as damaging as a defeat; but the result, curious to relate, was hailed by the queen and her party as if her innocence had been triumphantly vindicated. in signing a document prepared by her counsel on the 8th of november, she wrote, "carolina regina," adding the words, "there, _regina_ still, in spite of them." the abandonment of the bill was followed by three nights of illumination; but it was observed that they were of a very partial character, wholly unlike those which had greeted the great victories by sea and land, in which the public sympathy was spontaneous and universal. the mob in some cases testified its disapproval when these signs of satisfaction were wanting; and one gentleman in bond street, on being repeatedly requested to "light up," placed a single rushlight in his two-pair-of-stairs window. some of the transparencies were, as might have been expected, of a singular character. a trunk maker in the same street displayed the following new reading from genesis: "and god said, it is not good the king should reign alone." a publican at the corner of half moon street exhibited a flag whereon, in reference to the unpopular witness teodoro majoochi, was depicted a gallows with the following inscription:- "_q._ what's that for? _a._ non mi ricordo." an enthusiastic cheesemonger at the top of great queen street displayed a transparency on which he had inscribed the following verses:- "some friends of the devil with mischief and evil filled a green bag of no worth; but in spite of the host, it gave up the ghost and died 53 days after birth." the caricaturists of course were not idle, and the trial of queen caroline provoked a perfect legion of pictorial satires. the queen's victory is celebrated in one of the contemporary caricatures (published by john marshall, junior) under the title of _the queen caroline running down the royal george_; while on the ministerial side it is recorded (among others) by a far more elaborate and valuable performance (published by g. humphrey), called, _the steward's court of the manor of torre devon_, which contains an immense number of figures, and wherein the queen is seated on a black ram[46] in the midst of one of the popular processions, the members of which carry poles bearing pictorial records of the various events brought out in evidence against her. it is one of the peculiarities of our "glorious constitution," that while the ministers who acted under his direction incurred all the blame, the prime instigator of all these exposures was enabled to shelter himself behind the backs of his "advisers." the ministers were unpopular,--they deserved to be so, for, whatever might have been the consequences to themselves so far as loss of office was concerned, they should have refused from the first to lend themselves to the publication of a scandal so utterly grievous. the king himself at this time was far from unpopular; the odium he had incurred the previous year by the thanks he had caused to be conveyed to major trafford, "and the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates" of the yeomanry who had signalized themselves in the massacre at manchester (an outrage which, by the way, led to a number of pictorial satires), seemed to have wholly passed away. he was at ascot only two days before the queen's arrival, and "was always cheered by the mob as he went away. one day only a man in the crowd called out "where's the queen?"[47] again, we find on the same authority, that on the night of the 6th of february, 1821: "the king went to the play (drury lane) for the first time, the dukes of york and clarence and a great suite with him. he was received with immense acclamations, the whole pit standing up, hurrahing and waving their hats. the boxes were very empty at first, for the mob occupied the avenues to the theatre, and those who had engaged boxes could not get to them. the crowd on the outside was very great.... a few people called 'the queen!' but very few. a man in the gallery called out, 'where's your wife, georgy?'[48] his reception at covent garden the following night appears to have been equally loyal and gratifying. the truth was, that the numerous and truly honest people who sympathized with queen caroline, did so from little admiration for herself, but because she had been the victim of twenty-five years' persecution; because, however great her follies, they had been grievously provoked; and above all, because they felt that the man who was her most powerful and relentless persecutor, was the very last who was justified in casting a stone against her. the ministerialists and their supporters, however, attributed the sympathy which was shown by her professed admirers exclusively to a political origin, and thus stigmatized the motives of their opponents (with more justice than poetry) in one of the jingling rhymes of the day:- "what's the queen to reformists? as queen was to france, round her head and her consort's they'd equally dance. they care not for caroline, nor king, nor for queen, a pretext they want their intentions to screen, 'the queen!' is the radicals' rallying cry; a queen bears the standard the king to defy." how entirely unfitted this mistaken woman was to figure in the august position of a queen of england may be judged from her subsequent conduct. instead of contenting herself with her victory, such as it was, she had the ill taste, in spite of the remonstrances of her friends and advisers, to communicate to the lord mayor, through the medium of her "vice chamberlain," her intention to proceed to st. paul's in a public manner on wednesday, the 29th of november, there and then to offer up her thanksgivings for the result: and this resolution she actually carried out. the details of her procession, which really reminds us of the entry of a company of equestrians into some provincial town, need not be entered into here; suffice it to say that it comprised trumpeters without number, stewards' carriages, gentlemen on horseback, the corpulent queen herself, with her attendant, lady ann hamilton, and the indispensable alderman wood, the whole closing with "the various trades with flags and banners." it would appear to us that one of the rarest of the caricatures on the ministerial side has reference to this triumphal entry. it is labelled, _grand entrance to bamboozlem_, and was published by humphrey shortly afterwards. the queen is represented at the head of a procession, all the members of which (herself included) are mounted on braying "jackasses." a figure, intended no doubt for alderman wood, habited in a fool's cap and jester's dress, holds her by the hand; the lady who follows him, playing on the fiddle and wearing a scotch bonnet, is meant for lady ann hamilton (she is named "lady ann bagpipe" in the sketch); bergami (immediately behind) carries a banner inscribed "innocence"; and next him, his fat sister, whom the queen had dignified with the title of a countess; venus and bacchus appear amongst the crowd, and are labelled "protégés and bosom friends of her m----y." she is welcomed by an enthusiastic body of butchers with marrow-bones and cleavers; while among the crowd waiting to receive her we notice orator hunt and the other popular leaders of the day. [illustration: _face p. 81._] and here we drop for the present the subject of queen caroline, a subject we have approached with caution, although conscious that it can be by no means omitted from a work treating of graphic satires of the nineteenth century. that she should now accept the £50,000 per annum which she had previously refused, will probably not surprise the reader. the end of a career so strangely undignified will be seen when we come to treat of the caricatures of george cruikshank. the duel between the dukes of buckingham and bedford; the erection of the statue of achilles in hyde park; the new marriage act; the second french invasion of spain under the duc d'angoulème; the tenth hussars; miss foote, the celebrated actress; edmund kean; and the commercial distress of 1825-6, afford subjects for the pencils of the caricaturists, and will be mentioned in the chapters which relate to the graphic satires of the brothers cruikshank. greek war of independence. the pictorial satirists were kept fully employed by the political events of 1827 and 1828. the former year beheld the sanguinary greek war of independence. things turned out badly for the over-matched greeks, until at last great britain, france, and russia interposed with turkey on their behalf. the proposals offered were such as the turks refused to entertain. the porte, in refusing them, maintained that, though mediation might be allowable in matters of difference between independent states, it was utterly inadmissible as between a power and its revolted subjects. the allied powers then proposed an armistice, demanding a reply within fifteen days, plainly intimating that in the event of refusal or silence (which would be construed into a refusal), they should resort to measures for _enforcing_ a suspension of hostilities. battle of navarino. in the meantime arrived at navarino the egyptian fleet, consisting of ninety-two sail, including fifty-one transports, having on board 5,000 fresh troops. ibraham pacha's attempt to hoodwink the british, and to land these troops at patras, was foiled by the vigilance and determination of the english admiral. disappointed in these attempts, he proceeded, in the teeth of the warnings which had been given him, to execute his orders to put down the insurrection on land, and carried them out with merciless atrocity,--ravaging the morea with fire and sword. resolved now to bring matters to an issue, the combined fleets in october, 1827, entered the harbour. as was expected would happen, the turks fired upon them, and then ensued the famous battle of navarino, in which, after a four hours' engagement, the turkish and egyptian fleets were annihilated, and the bay strewed with the remains of their ruined vessels. russia declared war against turkey the following year, and we meet with many miscellaneous caricatures having reference to the conflict which followed. in one, published by maclean (without date) entitled, _russian bears' grease, or a peep into futurity_, we see the russian bear running off with greece in spite of england, france, and austria. another (also without date), is labelled _the descent of the great bear, or the mussulmans in a quandary_. in a third (also without date), called _the nest in danger_, we see turkey sitting on a nest marked "greece" disturbed by russia, whilst the british lion stands looking on at no great distance, discontentedly gnawing a bone labelled "navarino." by the time peace was concluded between the belligerents in 1829, england would seem to have realized the fact that she had been made the tool of russia, and this is the obvious idea intended to be conveyed by the satirist in another caricature (also without date, but bearing obvious reference to the same subject). the porte is represented in the act of _presenting a bill of indemnification_ to george the fourth. catholic relief bill. the principal political topic remaining to be noticed is the catholic relief bill of 1829, a measure forced upon the king, the ministry, the church, and the aristocracy by the imperative force of circumstances, directed by the prescience of a minister who, sharing at first all the objections of his colleagues, felt nevertheless that a large portion of his majesty's subjects were labouring under disabilities and fettered by restrictions inconsistent with the boasted liberties of a free people; and that such a measure, in the face of the political changes which had been loudly demanded for a long time past, could no longer be delayed. it is not surprising, however, that wellington and his colleagues, following out the maxims of a whig policy, should be viewed by their own party somewhat in the light of traitors. accordingly we see them figuring in this character in some of the caricatures of the day, one of which (one of the "paul pry" series), published by geans in 1829, may be cited as an example of the rest, and shows them to us in the act of _burking old mrs. constitution, aged 141_. in this and the two preceding chapters we have attempted to give an account of some of the leading events of the first thirty years of the century, illustrating them by reference to a _few_ of the miscellaneous caricatures of the period. we have adopted this method of arrangement because, if our theory be correct, it was during this period that the art of caricature continued to flourish, and it is from this period that we date its speedy decline and downfall. we think that the prime cause of this decline may be traced to the fact that george cruikshank, the best of nineteenth century satirists, had by this time resigned the art to follow his new employment of an illustrator of books; we think, too, that caricature received an additional impetus in its downward progress by the secession from the ranks of its professors of the veteran thomas rowlandson, who, although he did not die until 1827, had virtually given up caricature in favour of book illustration[49] many years before. further illustration of some of the events already related, and of others to which we have no occasion at present to refer, will be found in the chapters devoted to the work of isaac robert cruikshank and his brother george. a considerable number of the caricatures which belong to the first quarter of the century have an anonymous origin; whilst a large proportion are due to william heath, who, either in his own name, or often under the distinguishing hieroglyphic of "paul pry," contributed largely to the political and social satires of his day. other caricaturists of the period were h. heath (hundreds of whose comic sketches were collected and published by charles tilt), theodore lane, and his friends isaac robert and george cruikshank. to these names we must add those of the last century men who continued their work into the present, james gillray, thomas rowlandson, george moutard woodward, c. williams, henry william bunbury, robert dighton, and others. some idea of the industry of the nineteenth century satirists may be gathered from the fact that the "paul pry" series of political satires of 1829-30, alone number some fifty plates, which in our day can rarely be purchased at three times their original cost. * * * * * [illustration: theodore lane. _from "life of an actor," 1824._ "the gallery.--powerful attraction of talents!"] [illustration: theodore lane. _from "life of an actor," 1824._ "the non-paying audience." _face p. 85._] theodore lane. on the walls of some old-fashioned dining-rooms, and the parlours of provincial inns, may still be seen an engraving, called _the enthusiast_, which some of my readers may remember to have seen in the print shops of some twenty or five-and-twenty years ago. it represents an old disciple of izaac walton, whom the gout has incapacitated from following his favourite pursuit, so devoted to the sport, that we see him fishing for minnows in a water-tub, instead of the rippling stream out of which he has been accustomed to whip his favourite speckle-backed beauties. the painting from which this engraving was taken was the work of theodore lane, who, although his work is limited to the short space of five or six years, seems to call for special mention by virtue of his tragic ending, the short span allotted to his life and labours, and the superiority of his talent and genius to those of many of his contemporaries. lane was literally a comic artist of the nineteenth century, having been born at isleworth in 1800. he was apprenticed to a colourer of prints at battle bridge, named barrow; and, shortly after completing his time, produced (in 1822) six designs illustrative of "the life of an actor," and with these in a small portfolio under his arm, went out into the world to seek his fortune as other comic artists have done before him and since. pierce egan, at this time, was the most popular man in town; his name (on very insufficient literary merits) was identified with the success of the most famous book of the century--we allude to the "life in london." to his residence in spann's buildings, st. pancras, lane betook himself; showed him his sketches, and said if egan would only undertake the letterpress, he should find no difficulty in getting ackermann, sherwood, or any of the art publishers of the day, to undertake its publication. but egan's hands were full, and he declined the offer. two years later on, author and artist again met, and the result was that "the life of an actor, peregrine proteus," made its appearance, "illustrated by twenty-seven coloured scenes and nine woodcuts, representing the vicissitudes of the stage". the publisher was arnold, of tavistock street, covent garden, who paid the young artist one hundred and fifty pounds fifteen shillings for his share of the work. "the life of an actor" was published at a guinea, and dedicated to edmund kean; and a contemporary critic describes it as "one of the best exemplifications of mr. egan's peculiar talent. it is impossible for us," he continues, "to do justice to the spirit of the designs, many of which would [of course] not discredit the pencil of hogarth." lane's association with one of the most noted sporting characters of the day opened the way to him for further engagements, and for another work, entitled, "a complete panorama of the sporting world," he executed thirteen original etchings, and an equal number of designs on wood. among the number of theodore lane's social satires may be mentioned _scientific pursuits, or hobbyhorse races to the temple of fame_, four folio plates; _the parson's clerk_ (a comic song), four illustrations in ridicule of cant and hypocrisy; _legal illustrations_ (seventy humorous applications of law terms); _the masquerade at the argyll rooms_ (a large plate full of vigour, life, and character); _new year's morning: the old one out, and the new one coming in_, a party of topers, one of whom--the chairman, with the empty punch-bowl on his head (representing "the old one out")--merrily points at the waiter bringing a full bowl ("the new one") in; _sunday morning--the barber's shop_; _shilling fare to a christmas dinner, or just in pudding time_; _the rival whiskers_; and _amorous, clamorous, uproarious, and glorious_ (a pair of admirable and amusing satires of the prevailing features, vices, and follies of the day); _crowding to the pit_ and _contending for a seat_ (two capital theatrical subjects). lane also made a sketch entitled, _paul pry's first night in a boarding house_, intended to be succeeded by eleven others, the publication of which was however prevented by the death of liston. mclean published a large and clever design, bearing the somewhat lengthy title of _law gorging on the spoils of fools and rogues, and honest men among knavery, producing repentance and ruin; or, the fatal effects of legal rapacity_,--wherein the highway of law conducts to ruin through a series of toll-gates labelled respectively, "opinion of counsel," "injunction," "filing the bill," "consultation," "procrastination," etc. like his contemporaries the cruikshanks, with whom he was familiar, theodore lane mixed freely with the young bloods of his day, termed in the slang of his time "corinthians," and the results are shown in his designs. he might often be seen at the "craven's head," in drury lane, kept by a host known to his patrons by the familiar title of "billy oxberry"; at the saturday night harmonic meetings held at the "kean's head," in russell court, drury lane; at "the wrekin," in broad court, long acre, at that time frequented by gentlemen of the press; at "the harp," in russell street, drury lane, a well known house of call for actors, and appropriately immortalised in one of his illustrations to "the life of an actor"; at the "cider cellar"; at the "fives court"; at the numerous "masquerades" of the day; at any place of resort, in fact, which offered studies of life and character or subjects of social satire. he figures in his own sketch of _the masquerade at the argyll rooms_, where we recognise him (in one of the right hand boxes) in a white sheet, a tall paper cap on his head, and a staff in his hand. his impersonations were sometimes singularly original. at one of these "masquerades," for instance, he represented a "frozen-out gardener" soliciting charity, and holding in his hand a cabbage covered with icicles; at another, he appeared as a hospital "out-patient," wearing a hideous mask (designed by himself) representing some dreadful disease, from which the bystanders recoiled in horror and amazement. with all this drollery lane kept himself well out of mischief, and was moreover, in days when young and old were more or less inclined to be topers, a strictly temperate man. but lane's talents were not confined to comic etching or designs on wood. he was also an artist in oil and water colour. he painted in oils _the drunken gardener_; _the organ of murder_, a clumsy, nervous craniologist feeling his own head in doubt and perplexity to ascertain whether the dreadful "organ" is developed in himself; _an hour before the duel_ (exhibited at the institution in pall mall). other subjects of his pictures were: _the poet reading his manuscript play of five acts to a friend_; _too many cooks spoil the broth_; _the nightmare_; _the mathematician's abstraction_ (the latter purchased by lord northwick). his most ambitious work in oils (upwards of seventeen feet in length) was called _a trip to ascot races_. his last work, _the enthusiast_ (the first we have mentioned), was exhibited at somerset house at the time of his death. the fate of this clever young artist and satirist was both singular and tragical. it appears that on the 21st of february, 1828, theodore lane, who then resided in judd street, brunswick square, called upon his brother-in-law, mr. wakefield, a surgeon of battle bridge, intending to proceed in the latter's gig to hampstead, to join a party of friends who had gone there to spend the day. mr. wakefield having to visit a patient in manchester street, gray's inn lane, drove there with his brother-in-law, and this was the last time he was seen alive. close to the place was a horse bazaar, which the artist appears to have entered by way of passing the time. the horse and trap were there, but no trace of poor lane; and on search being made, his body was found lying lifeless at the foot of the auctioneer's stand. he appears to have wandered into the betting-room, and by some unexplained means or other fallen backwards through an insufficiently protected skylight. the clever head was battered so completely out of recognition that he was only identified by his card-case. that lane was a man of unusual promise is shown by the fact that amongst the subscribers for the benefit of the widow and children of the deceased, we find the names of sir thomas lawrence, president of the royal academy; f. chantrey, r.a.; george westmacott; cooper, the celebrated animal painter; and leahy, the painter of the celebrated picture of "mary stuart's farewell to france." the remains of this ill-fated, talented young fellow lie in the burial ground of old st. pancras. footnotes: [23] "fifty years of my life," by george thomas, earl of albemarle, vol. i. p. 270. [24] "annual register," 1813. [25] _ibid._ (chronicle), 342. [26] see the letter of the princess of wales, "annual register," 1813 (chronicle), 342. [27] see speech of mr. whitbread, "annual register," 1813 (20). [28] "annual register," 1813 (chronicle), 345. [29] "annual register," 1813, p. 24. [30] whitbread. [31] sir john and lady douglas. [32] letter from the queen to the princess of wales of 23rd may, 1814.--"annual register," 1814, p. 349. [33] so called because he carried home with him, in sundry bags, the cases pending his judgments. [34] wade's, "british history," p. 765. [35] see "greville memoirs," vol. i. p. 24 (february 24th). [36] "annual register," 1820, p. 135. [37] _ibid._, pp. 131, 132. [38] "greville memoirs," vol. i. p. 28. [39] "fifty years of my life," by george thomas, earl of albemarle, vol. ii. p. 123. [40] "annual register," 1820, p. 986. [41] see caricatures of robert cruikshank, 1820. [42] "annual register," 1820, p. 1149; see also the impartial opinion of the duke of portland, "greville memoirs," vol. i. p. 56. [43] see "annual register," 1820, p. 1139 _et seq._ [44] this of course may not be the case. the duke of kent, we know, was dead at the time, and wood, we believe, was not lord mayor. he had been lord mayor some time before, and the satire may possibly allude to some order made at that time. at the same time, i find the caricature amongst those assigned (in the large but badly arranged collection to which i have present access) to this particular period. [45] "annual register," 1820 [190]. [46] there is a custom in the manor of torre devon, that when a copyhold tenant dies, his widow has her free-bench in his land, but forfeits her estate on committing the offence with which the queen was charged; on her coming however into court riding backward on a black ram, and repeating the formula mentioned in the design, the steward is bound to reinstate her. without this explanation the meaning of this telling satire would not be understood. for the formula (which cannot be repeated here) i must refer the reader to jacob's law dictionary, ed. 1756, title, "free bench." [47] "greville memoirs," vol. i. p. 27. [48] _ibid._, p. 43. [49] unlike george cruikshank, rowlandson seldom dropped caricature in his book illustration. when he does so, as in his designs to "naples and the compagna felice," he shows (as in his water colour drawings) his wonderful graphic powers. his illustrated books are rare, and command good prices. william coombe's english "dance of death" and "dance of life" (i refer of course to first editions) can only now be purchased at £14. chapter v. _the caricatures of isaac robert cruikshank._ the brothers cruikshank. it was the misfortune of the brothers cruikshank that they outlived their popularity: in the case of the younger brother, this result (as we shall presently see) must be attributed in a certain measure to his own fault; but as regards robert, his efforts as a caricaturist were destined to be eclipsed by the greater novelty and attractions of hb, whilst a tendency to carelessness, and the absence of actual genius, prevented him from attaining lasting celebrity in the line of book illustration which george made so peculiarly his own. the final result, however, was the same in both cases; and the brothers might have said with truth, that, in suffering both to die poor and neglected, the british public treated both with the strictest impartiality. here, however, the impartiality ended; for whilst over two hundred articles have been penned in praise of the brilliant man of genius, poor robert transit[50] (a name strictly appropriate to his memory) reposes in his nameless grave still unregarded and still forgotten. few writers indeed have wasted pen and ink about robert cruikshank or his work: robert william buss, in his book on "english graphic satire" (a work published for private circulation only), devotes exactly a line and a half to his memory; his friend, george daniel, gives him a few kindly words _in memoriam_; professor bates's essay on his brother george contains several pages of valuable information in relation to some of his book illustrations; whilst mr. hamilton presents us with a dozen specimens of work of this kind which are nothing less than libels on his graphic powers. to the general public of to-day the name of robert cruikshank is so little known, that comparatively few are cognizant of the fact that he was one of the most popular and successful graphic satirists of his time. it is the misfortune of the caricaturist that his wares attain only a transitory popularity, whilst it is their peculiarity that after he is dead their value is increased fourfold. it is by no means uncommon for five and even seven shillings to be demanded and obtained for one of the impressions of robert's plates, which in his lifetime could have been purchased at the cost of a shilling. it is the design of this chapter to rescue the memory of a clever artist from undeserved oblivion, and restore him to that place in comic art which he once occupied, and which it seems to us he deserved to fill not only on account of his own merits, but by reason of being associated in illustrations of a different character with such men as his brother george, robert seymour, thomas rowlandson, john leech, and other artists of genius and reputation. isaac robert, or rather robert cruikshank (as he usually styled himself), was born in 1790. he had as a boy acquired the groundwork of his technical education as an artist and etcher under the direction of old isaac his father; but we personally have met with little of his work prior to 1816, which is accounted for by the fact that he followed for a short time a sea life in the service of the east india company, and after having thrown this up in favour of a calling more congenial to his tastes, he devoted himself for some years almost exclusively to miniature and portrait painting, by which he earned not only a fair livelihood, but a certain amount of fashionable patronage. gradually, however (george tells us), he abandoned this occupation, and took almost exclusively to designing and etching. he occasionally alternated his work with water-colour drawing, in which he is said to have greatly excelled. his works in this line are extremely rare, for robert had neither the means nor the patience to wait for the tardy patronage to be commanded by a higher walk in art; there was a demand for caricatures and comic etching in his day, which afforded a present means of livelihood, and robert's water colours were executed more by way of relaxation than in the way of actual artistic pursuit. among his early caricatures we may mention a rough and coarsely coloured affair engraved by him after the design of an amateur, published by fores on the 28th of april, 1816, entitled, _the mother's girl plucking a crow, or german flesh and english spirit_. the princess charlotte, as we have seen, had an undoubted will of her own, and could, as we have also seen, assert it when occasion demanded. here she is presented to us at the moment when a hideous german duenna, catching her in the act of writing to her mother abroad, orders her at once to desist. the princess, however, in plain terms, enforced with a clenched fist, gives her clearly to understand that she fully intends to have her own way. another caricature, published by t. sidebotham, in 1817, bearing the title of _the horse marine and his trumpeter in a squall_, is dedicated to the united service club. strange french fashions. subjects for the pencil of a clever graphic satirist were not wanting sixty years ago. france in those days set the fashion both in male and female attire, and the strangest eccentricities had marked the emancipation of that country from the thraldom of the terror. there were the _incroyables_, a set of young dandies who affected royalist sympathies, and paraded the streets of paris when young napoleon was yet a general in the service of the directory. they wore short-waisted coats with tails of preposterous length, cocked hats of ponderous dimensions, green cravats, powdered hair plaited and turned up with a comb, while on each side of the face hung down two long curls called dogs' ears (_oreilles de chien_). these charming fellows carried twisted sticks of enormous size, as weapons of offence and defence, and spoke in a peculiarly affected manner.[51] some fourteen or fifteen years later on, when we had driven joseph bonaparte and his brother's legions out of spain, the fashions had not improved. the biographer of victor hugo gives us the picture of one gilé, a parisian dandy of that period, whose coat of olive brown was cut in the shape of a fish's tail, and dotted all over with metal buttons even to the shoulders. young men who went to moderate lengths in fashion were content to wear the waists of their coats in the middle of their backs, but the waist of this gilé intruded on the nape of his neck. his hat was stuck on the right side of his head, bringing into prominent notice on the left a thick tuft of hair frizzed out with curling irons. his trousers were ornamented with stripes which looked like bars of gold lace; they were pinched in at the knees and wide at the bottom, giving his feet the appearance of elephant's hoofs. our own costume had been strange enough, in all conscience; but when napoleon's continental system had been broken up after leipzig, and a free market had been once more opened out between this country and foreign nations, fashions more strange and eccentric, if possible, found their way into england. thackeray, when writing his "vanity fair," the scenes of which are laid prior and subsequent to the battle of waterloo, was fain to confess that he had intended to depict his characters in their proper costumes; "but when he remembered the appearance of people in those days, he had not the heart to disfigure his heroes and heroines by costumes so hideous," and thenceforth he habited these men and women of 1815 in the costume of the men and women of 1848. george cruikshank's "monstrosities" are familiar to all acquainted with his works; and his brother robert and his contemporaries were equally fond of ridiculing the preposterous fashions of their time. we find in the year 1818 a pictorial satire by robert, which shows us a pair of _dandies at tea_, habited in the short-waisted, long-tailed coats, tight breeches, terrific stocks, shirt collars, and top boots of the period. "my dear fellow, mr. sim," one of them, asks, "is your tea agreeable?" to which the other answers, "charming, my dear lollena; where do you buy it?" they are seated in an attic, which, like that of the cobbler, serves "for parlour and bedroom and all," and the washing of the tenant hangs suspended on a line above the heads of the interesting pair. we find another the same year, entitled, _dandies having a treat_, wherein we are shown a couple of eccentricities in a confectioner's shop; one of them, who eyes himself with much complacency in the glass, has his back to us, and is habited, _à la gilé_, in a very tight coat, whose tail commences just below its collar and narrows to a very fine point when it reaches its extremity; short wide trousers terminate at the knees, at which points they are met by a pair of wellington boots. he entreats his equally strangely dressed companion to pay no attention to the uncomplimentary remarks of certain rude people who stand at the door and seem strongly inclined to subject them to the discipline of the pump. the pretty girl in attendance expresses to herself a hope that "the creatures will leave the shop," as she fears the exasperated people will do some mischief. another caricature of the same year shows us _a dandy shoemaker in a fright, or the effects of tight-lacing_. in stooping to measure a lady's foot, the fellow's stays have given way, and he evidently fears he shall tumble to pieces. in another subject, robert shows us a couple of _dandies diving_ into a countryman's pockets, in the neighbourhood of st. james's palace; others are entitled respectively, _a dandy put to his last chemisette, or preparing for a bond street lounge_; _a dandy cock in stays_; and _the hen-pecked dandy_. besides those already mentioned, i find four or five other coarse caricatures of robert's, published by fores in 1818. robert cruikshank was "a man about town" in those days, and the "dandies" whom he and his fellow caricaturists satirized and ridiculed were the sham "corinthians" of his time. apart from the idea of caricature they must have been queer fellows--these men with the large eye-glasses, squat broad-brimmed hats, huge cravats and collars, cauliflower frills, tight coats, short bell-shaped trousers, and well-spurred wellington boots! in one of the satires of the time (which i take to be robert's) we see five of them preparing for conquest in a hairdresser's shop; and the "make up" comprises, in addition to the tremendous neckties, cauliflower frills, and top-boots of the period, false calves and stays, a pair of which the frenchman hairdresser is lacing for one of his customers. another of the party, who has completed the upper part of his toilet, is so hampered with the voluminous folds and stiffening of his cravat that he cannot wriggle into his unmentionables. the caricaturists take us into the garrets of these fellows, abodes of squalor and wretchedness, and show us that beneath their exterior magnificence there is nothing, or next to nothing. in a pair of rough anonymous satires--_the dandy dressing at home_ and _the dandy dressed abroad_--the former shows us how the completed figure is built up. the absence of a shirt is concealed by an amply frilled "dickey," the dirty feet protrude from the well-nigh footless stockings, the bare arms are clothed at the extremities only by the cuffs, while a pair of huge seals dangling from a ribbon guard form pendants to a latch-key instead of a gold watch. the fellow's washing bill, which lies on the dressing-table before him, comprises four items--all of them collars. on the ground, side by side with the wellington boots, which he himself has just been cleaning, lie the open pages of "the beau's stratagem." in a sketch by the always coarse satirist williams, two of these fellows have been decoyed into an infamous house and drugged, and the indignation of the bully and his female assistants is intense when they find that their watches are not even pinchbeck, but only pincushions. the "corinthian kates" who figure in the satirical sketches of this period are members of the _demi monde_. an excellent undated sketch, signed "j. l. m. fect.," entitled, _a dandyess_, is divided into two compartments. the first scene shows us the completed figure (a most absurd one), and the second (which is laid in the lady's garret) how the magnificent result has been attained. we find her engaged in ironing her chemisette; over the fire are suspended her stockings; on a stool near her stand her bottles of cosmetic and a pot of rouge; on the floor her "artificial hump"; while her preposterous bonnet and other articles of costume hang from different articles of the scanty furniture. 1819. robert cruikshank continues his attacks upon the fops in 1819. in that year we meet with _a dandy sick_; _dandies on their hobbies_, and _female lancers, or a scene in st. james's street_, chiefly remarkable on account of the costume of the two men who figure therein. besides these we meet with a sort of pictorial allegory, entitled, _the mysterious fair one, or the royal introduction to the circassian beauty_, in which a foreign fair one is supposed to be introduced to the regent's harem. the veil being removed discovers to him the well-known features of his neglected wife, from whom he recoils in abhorrence. the bulky figure of the regent who, under the influence of copious port wine libations and general good living, had grown preposterously fat, is admirably preserved by both the cruikshanks. the head and wig, tapering to an apex, remind one somewhat of the french _poire_ caricatures which disturbed the serenity of louis philippe, and preceded the revolutionary period of 1848. other caricatures by robert of this year (1819) are labelled respectively, _the political champion turned resurrection man_, having reference to cobbett and "orator hunt"; _the master of the ordnance exercising his hobby_; _a steward at sea in a vain tempest, or gaining the point of matrimony in spite of squalls_; _a new chancery suit removed to the scotch bar_; _the ladies' accelerator_ (two women on hobbies); _collegians at their exercises, or brazen nose hobbies_; _a new irish jaunting car_; and a satire entitled _landing at dover and overhauling the baggage_, which would appear to refer to some incivilities on the part of the custom house authorities to the persian ambassador and his suite. the subject was probably only etched by the artist from the design of another, and is so grossly treated that in spite of the admirable workmanship we cannot further describe it. besides these we have the now well-known _going to hobby fair_ (the only caricature of robert which would seem to be known to those who have troubled themselves about him), and a far better one of contemporary date, entitled, _cruising on land, or going to hobby horse fair_. 1820. the queen's trial. among the caricatures on the popular side in connection with the queen's trial in 1820, we find one by robert, entitled, _the secret insult, or bribery and corruption rejected_, which has reference to the overtures which, as we have seen in the previous chapter, were made to her by the ministers in the hope of avoiding, if possible, a public exposure; and here lord liverpool is represented in the act of offering to her majesty a purse. "abandon," he says, "your claim to the throne, change your name and the livery, and retire to some distant part of the earth, where you may never be seen or heard of any more; and if £50,000 per annum will not satisfy you--what will?" to which the queen (who assumes an appearance of virtuous indignation) replies, "nothing but a crown." brougham turns his back, saying, "i turn my back on such dirty work as this," the fact being, as we have seen, that he had really entered into negotiations with the ministers on the queen's behalf, which she afterwards angrily repudiated. the devil pats him on the back. "well done, broom," he says; "you have done your business well." by the side of the queen stands a figure, possibly meant for alderman wood, carrying "a shield for the innocent," and "a sword for the guilty"; behind her in the distance is a ship, bearing the title of "the wooden walls of old england." in our last chapter we mentioned the estimation in which the witnesses against caroline of brunswick were held by her sympathizers and the general public, and robert's political views naturally inclined him to take the popular side. those who saw them before they were housed in cotton garden, describe them as swarthy, dirty looking fellows, in scanty ragged jackets and greasy leathern caps; at the bar of the house, however, they looked as respectable as fine clothes and soap and water could make them. to this a caricature of robert's, entitled, _preparing the witnesses--a view in cotton garden_, refers. three dirty foreigners are being washed, with no satisfactory result, in a bath labelled, "waters of oblivion," "non mi ricordo," and "ministerial washing tub." one of the operators (probably the attorney-general, sir robert gifford) remarks that "he never had such a dirty job in his life"; seated around are a number of equally dirty foreigners awaiting their turn. on the same theme and in the same year we find _the milan commission_ (a very rough affair); _the master cook and his black scullion composing a royal hash_; and a satire on the alderman, who, in spite of his carolinian and popular sympathies, figures therein under the familiar title of "mother wood." 1821. the following year gives us _all my eye_ (a skit upon hone's "eulogium on the radical press"), representing a large eye, within the pupil of which we see a printing press, whereon rests a portrait of queen caroline; and also an admirable work, divided into two compartments, bearing respectively the titles of _the morning after marriage_, and _coke upon albemarle--not coke upon littleton_. 1822. duel between the dukes of buckingham and bedford. a somewhat ludicrous affair of honour took place in 1822. in consequence of some words used by the duke of bedford in reference to the duke of buckingham at the bedfordshire county meeting, a hostile meeting took place in kensington gardens between the two noblemen on the 2nd of may. the seconds were lord lynedock and sir watkin williams wynn. both parties fired together at a distance of twelve paces, but without effect; when the duke of buckingham, observing that the duke of bedford fired into the air, advanced to his grace, and remarking that for that reason the affair could go no farther, said: "my lord duke, you are the last man i wish to quarrel with; but you must be aware that a public man's life is not worth preserving unless with honour." the duke of bedford replied, that "upon his honour he meant no personal offence to the duke of buckingham, nor to impute to him any bad or corrupt motive whatever"; and here this somewhat absurd event terminated. robert commemorates it in a caricature, entitled, _a shot from buckingham to bedford_, which cannot be said to be complimentary to either of the principals, one of the walls bearing the inscription in very large letters of "rubbish may be shot here." another admirable caricature of the year is entitled, _the treadmill, or stage-struck heroes, blacklegs, and cadgers stepping it to the tune of mill, mill o!_ a sort of general satire; card-sharpers, decayed "corinthians," and other vagabonds, are undergoing a course of hard labour upon the wheel, which was then a comparatively new invention,[52] their movements being accelerated by a gaoler armed with a heavy whip, who bears some resemblance to, and is probably intended for, the artist himself. a third excellent pictorial satire of the same year bears the title of _pope mistaken_. 1823. french interposition in spain. the year 1823 is remarkable for the interposition of the french bourbon king into spanish politics. the spanish military, under the influence of riego and other officers, and encouraged by the discontent of the middle classes, had revolted in 1820 against the despotism of ferdinand, and succeeded in establishing a constitution, which, in spite of its imperfections, was preferable to the absolute and irresponsible government of the spanish monarchy. this state of things was peculiarly distasteful to louis xviii., on account of the evil example it afforded to his subjects; and, fortified by the sympathy of the "holy alliance" (which may be shortly described as a sort of trades union of sovereigns to resist all political changes not originating with themselves), he determined to put it down. in his speech to the chambers on the 28th of january, he announced that, "the infatuation with which the representations made at madrid had been rejected, left little hope of preserving peace. i have ordered," he said, "the recall of my minister; one hundred thousand frenchmen, commanded by a prince of my family [the duc d'angoulème]--by him whom my heart delights to call my son--are ready to march, invoking the god of st. louis, for the sake of preserving the throne of spain to a descendant of henry the fourth, of saving that fine kingdom from its ruin, and of reconciling it with europe." the real cause of interposition, however, is indicated a few sentences afterwards: "_let ferdinand the seventh be free to give to his people institutions which they cannot hold but from him_, and which, by securing their tranquillity, would dissipate the just inquietudes of france, [and] hostilities shall cease from that moment." we have neither time, space, nor inclination to relate the events of this invasion; suffice it to say that, owing to the cowardice of the spaniards, it was a complete "walk over" for the french, who, in five months after they had crossed the bidassoa, had penetrated to cadiz, dispersed the cortes, and restored the despotism of ferdinand. [illustration: r. cruikshank _fecit_. a. g.--_published may, 1823._ "john bull flourishing in a dignified attitude of strict neutrality!!!!" _face p. 99._] the contemplated crusade had aroused a certain amount of sympathy in favour of spain in england, but it did not go farther than the giving of a splendid entertainment to the spanish and portuguese ambassadors at the london tavern on the 7th of march, under the presidentship of lord william bentinck. the truth was that john bull had not forgotten the ungrateful and cowardly conduct of the spaniards when we drove the french out of their country in napoleon's time; added to which england was saddled with a heavy national debt, which made us still less inclined to intermeddle with the affairs of our neighbours. robert cruikshank produced a caricature in reference to our position, called, _john bull flourishing in an attitude of strict neutrality_, wherein he shows us spain in the act of imploring his assistance, which, however, poor john is in no position to render, seeing that he wants help himself, being placed in the stocks and heavily burdened with the weight of "last war's taxes." in the distance appears fat louis, mounted on a cannon, driven by the pope, russia, austria, and prussia, in allusion, of course, to the "holy alliance" (the three latter powers had recalled their ambassadors from madrid on the 5th of january), while the devil condescends to lend his assistance by pushing on behind. this caricature is probably the best that robert ever designed. another satire on the same subject bears the title of _king gourmand xviii. and prince posterior in a fright_. hughes ball. one of robert's satires of this year, entitled _the golden football_, has obvious reference to hughes ball, known at eton by his surname of hughes only, but who took the further name of _ball_ on coming into a fortune of forty thousand a year left him by his uncle, admiral sir alexander ball, and thenceforth received his appropriate nickname of the "golden ball." he was considered a great catch by all the mothers in london; but, notwithstanding his money, was unfortunate in love, being jilted by lady jane paget, rejected by miss floyd (afterwards the wife of sir robert peel), and then by lady caroline churchill. the young ladies hearing of his numerous disappointments, were disinclined to encourage a man so proverbially unfortunate. by way, perhaps, of revenge, hughes ball this year ran off with and married mademoiselle mercandotti, _première danseuse_ at his majesty's theatre, a beautiful girl of sixteen, reported in the scandal of the day to be a natural daughter of the earl of fife. the incident of lady jane paget we have mentioned is thus referred to by charles molloy westmacott, the ishmael of the press of his day, in the _english spy_, a work which, as we shall presently see, was also illustrated by the artist:- "now, by my faith, it gives me pain to see thee, cruel lady j----, regret the _golden ball_. 'tis useless now: 'the fox and grapes' remember, and avoid the apes which wait an old maids' fall." other of robert's satires of the same year bear the title of _the commons versus the crown of martyrdom, or king abraham's coronation deferred_; and _a view in cumberland_, that is the royal duke of that name--a most unpopular personage, and of course proportionately fertile subject of satire in his time. 1824. the tenth hussars. among robert's pictorial satires of 1824, i find one entitled _arrogance or nonchalance? of the tenth reported_,--the "tenth" here referred to being the tenth hussars. this distinguished regiment set the pencils of the brothers cruikshank and their fellow caricaturists in motion at this period, and i find an amazing number of caricatures of the date of 1824, of which they form the subject. the officers would seem to have acquired considerable unpopularity by the exclusive airs they gave themselves in society, refusing to dance, declining introductions at public and private balls, and otherwise assuming an arrogant and exclusive tone which made them supremely ridiculous. so far did they carry these absurdities, that they even declined to associate with an officer of their own regiment unless he previously submitted to them the particulars of his birth, parentage, and education, and general claim to be admitted to the privilege of their august society. a certain mr. battier, who seems to have been ignorant of the peculiar arrangement they had established in opposition to the rules and policy of the service, had obtained from the duke of york a cornetcy in the regiment, but not having submitted himself to the examination referred to, or possibly not answering to the exclusive requirements of the regiment, was forthwith sent to coventry by his courteous brother officers. the result, of course, was that the unlucky gentleman, finding no one to speak to him, was forced to retire on half pay, which he was unfortunate enough afterwards to forfeit by not unnaturally sending a challenge to the colonel of the regiment.[53] miss foote. maria foote at this time was one of the most popular actresses in london. some years before she had come on a starring tour to cheltenham, a town much affected by the notorious colonel berkeley, who being passionately devoted to the stage, and possessed moreover of some histrionic ability, gallantly offered to perform for her benefit. the colonel was notorious for his gallantries; under a promise of marriage--which could not then, he said, be carried into effect, inasmuch as he was then petitioning the crown to grant him the dormant peerage, which a marriage with an actress could not fail to prejudice--he succeeded in accomplishing her seduction, and she continued to live under his "protection" till, on the birth of her second child, she arrived at the true conviction that he never had any intention of fulfilling his promise. there was at this time a silly fellow about town, mr. joseph hayne, of burderop park, wiltshire, familiarly known (in reference to the colour of his coat) as "pea green hayne," who fell in love with and proposed to the fascinating actress. there was no attempt at concealment on her part: it was stated at the trial which followed that she herself wished to communicate to him the circumstance of her connexion with colonel berkeley, when this gallant gentleman saved her the trouble of doing so, and one night when they were in the pit of the opera together, took the characteristic course of making hayne acquainted with the liaison, and the fact that it still existed. hayne immediately broke off the engagement; but soon afterwards not only renewed it, but fixed the day of marriage. again he broke it off, again yielded to the fascinations of his enslaver, and this time not only was the wedding-day fixed and the license obtained, but "pea green hayne" took a solemn vow that nothing should separate him from the object of his affections. believing that all was safe, miss foote now threw up her engagement and disposed of her theatrical wardrobe, but the weak-minded, vacillating creature, who could not summon up resolution either to have or to leave her, let matters go on to the very day, and again failed to put in an appearance. some preliminary letters having passed between the parties, maria then issued a writ, and recovered £3,000 damages in the action which followed. the plaintiff, who seven years afterwards became countess of harrington, died in 1867. "pea green" hayne was also known as the "silver ball," in allusion to his large income, which was smaller however than that enjoyed by his friend and contemporary, hughes ball. after his exposure in the action foote _v._ hayne, he received the far more appropriate nickname of "foote-ball." the opportunity of course was improved by the caricaturists, and robert's contributions on the subject (1824 and 1825) are labelled respectively, _miss foote in the king's bench battery_; _miss foote putting her foot in it_; and _a foot on the stage and asses in the pit, or a new year's piece for 1825_. other pictorial satires of robert's bearing the date of 1824, are: _a civic louse in the state bed_; _a cut at the city cauliflower_; _the corinthian auctioneer_; two very coarse but well drawn subjects--_moments of prattle and pleasure_ and _moments of parting with treasure_; and an exquisitely drawn sketch bearing the title of _madame catalani and the bishop of limbrig_, having reference to some musical festival at cambridge, the point of which has been lost, but which is remarkable for the admirable likeness of the popular singer. 1825. the conduct of colonel berkeley in reference to the case foote _v._ hayne, called forth, as might have been expected, some severe strictures from the press, and in particular mr. judge, editor of the _cheltenham journal_, which place the colonel honoured with his patronage and society, had occasionally indulged in animadversions on his conduct. in one of the numbers of his paper an article appeared, in which some satirical observations were made with reference to the annual "berkeley hunt" ball. on the afternoon of that day colonel berkeley accompanied, by two of his friends, called at mr. judge's residence, and being invited to walk in, the colonel asked mr. judge if he would name the author of the papers which had appeared in the _journal_. mr. judge said he did not know whom he had the honour of addressing, and on learning who he was, proposed that he should call at the office of the paper, "where he would give him every satisfaction." colonel berkeley replied, "no, sir! now, sir! now, sir!" and without further notice commenced a cowardly attack on the unarmed man by beating him _over the head_ and face with the butt-end of a heavy hunting whip. to make the dastardly affair more dastardly if possible, one of the two fellows with him stood at the door, and the other near the fire place, so as to prevent judge from seizing any weapon or calling any one to his assistance. for this ruffianly assault, which placed poor judge for some time in considerable danger of his life, he subsequently recovered substantial damages against his cowardly antagonist. the colonel got a far worse dressing from robert cruikshank who, in a severe contemporary skit, named (in allusion to the colonel's notorious illegitimacy) _colonel fitz bastard_, depicted him and his friends in the act of assaulting the editor of the _cheltenham journal_. edmund kean. the artist's tastes and sympathies threw him much in the society of actors. the following year his thoroughly bohemian friend, edmund kean, was mulcted in £800 damages, in consequence of a disgraceful liaison with the wife of alderman cox; and while audiences thronged the one theatre to testify their sympathy for a favourite and popular actress, they crowded the other to howl and hiss at the thoroughly disreputable and disgraced tragedian. the episode is referred to by the artist in three of his contemporary caricatures, labelled respectively, _wolves triumphant, or a fig for public opinion_; _a scene from the pantomime of cock-a-doodle-doo, lately performed at drury lane with unbounded applause_; and the _hostile press, or shakespeare in danger_, all of which contain perhaps the best theatrical portraits of the popular tragedian which are extant. sir walter scott also figures in one of robert's satires of this year entitled, _the great unknown lately discovered in ireland_, wherein he is represented in highland costume, with the waverley novels on his head, holding by the hand a small figure in hussar uniform, intended for his son, captain scott of the 18th hussars, who this year had married miss jobson, of lochore. the pair after their marriage returned to ireland, where the captain was quartered, and where he and his wife were visited by sir walter in august of this year. although the fact was pretty well known, the authorship of the novels was not avowed until february of the following year, when with sir walter's consent it was proclaimed by lord meadowbank at a theatrical dinner on the 27th of february. the living skeleton. a very curious personage makes his appearance in robert's sketches of this year, who would seem at first sight to be the most outrageously caricatured of any of his subjects, and yet this in truth is not the case. this person was the celebrated claude ambroise seurat, "the living skeleton," who was exhibited at the chinese saloon in pall mall, and whose portrait from three different points of view was taken by robert cruikshank, and afterwards appeared in the first volume of hone's "every-day book," where a full account of this very singular personage will be found. the repulsive object, who (with the exception of his face) presented all the appearance of an attenuated skeleton, was exhibited in a state of complete nudity with the exception of a fringe of silk about his middle, from which (out of two holes cut for the purpose) protruded his dreadful hip bones. seurat, as might have been expected, forms the subject of numerous contemporary caricatures; and in one of these, by way of comical contrast, the worthy but corpulent alderman, sir william curtis, distinguished by a similar scantiness of attire, figures with the living skeleton in a lively _pas de deux_. william heath, in another of contemporary date, represents the fat alderman standing on a map of england, and seurat on a map of france. says sir william: "i say, friend, did you ever eat turtle soup?" to which claude ambroise replies, "no, sare; but i did eat de soupe maigre." in another (also i think by the same artist), labelled, _foreign rivals for british patronage_, the living skeleton and a favourite male italian singer of the time are represented in the act of preparing for mortal combat.[54] a number of the caricatures of 1825 (and among them many by robert) are singularly illustrative of the morals of the time. about this year had been published a work professing to contain the memoirs of an apt disciple of mrs. mary anne clarke, which was made the vehicle of extorting money. the _modus operandi_ appears to have been as follows. in the month of march, 1825, a well-known m.p. of that day received a letter from this creature in the following terms:- "no. 111, rue du faubourg st. honoré, à paris. sir,--people are buying themselves so fast out of my book, ...[55] that i have no time to attend to them; should be sorry not to give each _a chance_, if they _chuse to be out_. you are quizzed most _unmercifully_. two noble dukes have lately taken my word, and i have never named them. i am sure ---would say you might trust me never to publish, or _cause_ to be published, aught about you, if you like to forward £200 directly to me, else it will be too late, as the last volume, in which you _shine_, will be the property of the editor, and in his hands. lord ---says he will answer for aught i agree to; so will my husband. do _just as you like_--consult only yourself. i get as much by a small _book_ as you will give me for taking you out, or more. i attack no poor men, because they cannot help themselves. "adieu. mind, i have no time to write again, as what with writing books, and then altering them for those who _buy out_, i am done up--_frappé en mort_. "don't trust to bag[56] with your answer." that this extraordinary communication was no idle threat was proved by the fact that a respectable statuary, carrying on business in piccadilly, who had refused to pay _black-mail_, brought an action for libel in the king's bench on the 1st of july against a man named stockdale, publisher of the infamous production referred to, and recovered £300 damages. the same year popple, the printer, brought his action against this fellow; but mr. justice best directed him to be nonsuited, on the ground that he was not entitled to remuneration for printing a work of such a character. the catholic relief bill, which was thrown out this year, is the subject of several of robert's satires, bearing the titles of _john bull versus pope bull_; _defenders of the faith_; _the hare presumptuous, or a catholic game trap_; _a political shaver, or the crown in danger_. _the catholic association, or paddy coming it too strong_, has reference to mr. goulburn's motion to suppress the catholic association of ireland, which was carried by 278 to 123, and the third reading by a majority of 130. the language used by mr. o'connell on the occasion was so strong that an indictment was subsequently preferred against him, which, however, was thrown out by the grand jury. _matheworama_ for 1825 depicts that celebrated impersonator in thirteen of his characters. _duelling_ deserves particular mention by reason of the admirably designed landscape and figures. it represents one of the principals (who looks very far from comfortable) waiting, with his second and a doctor, the advent of the other parties. _the bubble burst, or the ghost of an old act of parliament_, has reference to the speculation mania of 1825. others of his satires for the year are labelled respectively, _frank and free, or clerical characters in 1825_; _a beau clerk for a banking concern_; _the flat catcher and the rat catcher_; and _a pair of spectacles, or the london stage in 1824-5_, which, although unsigned and bearing no initials, i have no hesitation in assigning to robert cruikshank. i am unable to indicate the dates of the following: _football_, very clever, and probably earlier than any of those already mentioned; _waltzing_, "dedicated with propriety to the lord chamberlain," a very coarse and severe satire upon the immoralities of the prince regent. besides those we have already mentioned, we have others with which the volume miscalled "cruikshankiana" (so often republished) has made the general public probably more familiar, such as the _monstrosities of 1827_; _a dandy fainting, or an exquisite in fits_; _the broom sold_ (lord brougham); _household troops_ (a skit on domestic servants); and _a tea-party, or english manners and french politeness_, all of which may be dismissed with the remark that they are the worst specimens of robert's work which could probably have been selected. scarcity of robert's satires. with the year 1825, our record of isaac robert cruikshank's caricature work somewhat abruptly terminates. we cannot assert that after that date it wholly ceased, but, inasmuch as we have selected those we have named from a mass of some of the rarest pictorial satires published between the years 1800 and 1830, i think we are fairly justified in assuming that after this period his contributions to this branch of comic art became fewer. if this be the fact, it confirms the conclusion at which we have arrived, that at this time caricature had begun its somewhat hasty decline. those i have named comprise over seventy examples; and their value, which is great on account of their scarcity, will be increased by the possibility that in the conception and execution of some of them the mind and hand of robert might have been assisted by those of the more celebrated brother. "when my dear brother robert," says george in writing to the compiler of the famous catalogue of his own works, "when my dear brother robert (who in his latter days omitted the isaac) left off portrait painting, and took almost entirely to designing and etching, i assisted him at first to a great extent in some of his drawings on wood and his etchings." if this be the case, it is at least possible that he lent the assistance of his cunning hand and original fancy to the preparation of some of these contributions to pictorial satire. it appears to us, therefore, that a just idea of george's own work as an artist can scarcely be arrived at (especially his share of the famous "life in london") until we have first considered the early work of himself and his brother robert as graphic satirists and caricaturists. they were closely associated in artistic work during their early career; and it was not until both had given up social and political satire, and devoted themselves to the then comparatively new field of book illustration and etching on copper, that the superiority, originality, and genius of the younger brother became so manifest and incontrovertible. footnotes: [50] the name given him by bernard blackmantle. [51] further particulars of them will be found in the "memoirs of the duchess d'abrantes" (madame junot). the fashions of the years which immediately preceded the revolution appear to have been almost as funny. i have somewhere seen a french semi-caricature depicting fashionables of the palais royal in 1786, and the people who had their heads cut off in '93 were almost as queer as the dandies of the directory and the consulate. [52] the treadmill was the invention of mr. (afterwards sir william) cubitt, of ipswich. it was erected at brixton gaol in 1817, and was afterwards gradually introduced into other prisons. [53] the marquis of londonderry. [54] what became of seurat we do not know, but we lately came across the following: "the siamese twins married; the _living skeleton_ was crossed in love, but afterwards consoled himself with a corpulent widow." the authority is george augustus sala in "twice round the clock." we strongly suspect that the wit extracted the information out of his own "inner consciousness." [55] we purposely omit the title. [56] presumably post "bag." chapter vi. _robert cruikshank_ (_continued_). _"life in london" and other book work._ in perusing various articles on george cruikshank in which reference is made to the "life in london," we have been struck with the almost utter absence of robert cruikshank's name; further than this, it seems to have been the almost universal impression that it was his association with george on this memorable book which secured such reputation as robert himself enjoyed. so far, however, was this from being the case, that not only was robert, in 1821, a caricaturist and satirist of acknowledged reputation, but he was believed at this very time by the general public to be the cleverer artist of the two. robert, indeed, has been treated with curious injustice in relation to this famous book, which owes its very existence (as we shall presently see) to him alone. while according to george (as in effect they do) the whole merit of the performance, many of the writers of the articles referred to acknowledge that they find it impossible to assign to him his share of the illustrations; and that difficulty will be largely increased to any one who has studied robert cruikshank's caricature work. the fact is that few of these famous plates will bear comparison with the best of robert's pictorial satires; while the kindred book of the "english spy," which was illustrated (with the exception of one plate) by robert alone, contains designs quite equal to those which adorn the "life in london." when it is admitted that robert executed three parts of these illustrations, while those who have written upon him say that they are unable to identify george's share of the work,[57] it seems unjust (to say the least of it) that the credit of the _whole_ performance should be assigned to him alone. let us be just to robert, even though his merit as a draughtsman has been lost sight of in the fame which the younger brother achieved by virtue of his greater genius. popularity of "life in london." the reader need not be told--and we are not going to tell him what he knows already--that the "life" was dramatized by four writers for different theatrical houses. the most successful version was the one produced at the adelphi, previously known as the _sans pareil_ theatre. the first season of this house, which messrs jones and rodwell had recently purchased for £25,000, was only moderately successful; but the fortune of the second was made by "tom and jerry." night after night immediately after the opening of the doors, the theatre was crowded to the very ceiling; the rush was tremendous. by three o'clock in the afternoon of every day the pavement of the strand had become impassable, and the dense mass which occupied it had extended by six o'clock far across the roadway. peers and provincials, dukes and dustmen, all grades and classes of people swelled the tide which night after night rolled its wave up the passage of the adelphi. it was a compact wedge; on it moved, slowly, laboriously, amid the shouts and shrieks, the justling and jostling of the crowd which composed it, leavened by the intermixture of numbers of the swell mob, who plied their vocation with indefatigable industry and impunity. nevertheless, the reader will be surprised to learn (and it is probably little known) that in spite of this amazing popularity, the first night of "tom and jerry" met with such unexpected opposition that mr. rodwell declared it should never be played again. luckily for himself and his partner he was induced to reconsider this decision. the tide was taken at the flood, and it led--as the poet assures us that it will lead when so taken--to an assured fortune. [illustration: robert cruikshank. _from "the universal songster."_ "by this take a warning, for noon, night, or morning, the devil's in search of attorneys."] [illustration: robert cruikshank. _from "the universal songster."_ "with her flames and darts, and apple tarts, her ices, trifles, cherry-brandy, o, she knew not which to choose, for she thought them both the dandy." _face p. 110._] one night a stranger entered the private box of the duke of york at the adelphi, and seated himself immediately behind his royal highness, who took but little notice of the intruder. the mysterious stranger had been brought in and was fetched by a plain green chariot; and the few that saw him said that he was a portly gentleman, wrapped in a long great coat and muffled up to the eyes. keeping himself well behind his royal highness, the portly stranger took a deep but unostentatious interest in the performance. in his haroun al-raschid character he had been present, with his friend lord coleraine (then major george hanger), at some of the actual scenes represented; and in particular, by virtue of the fact of his wearing "a clean shirt," had been called upon by the ragged chairman at a convivial meeting of the "cadgers" to favour them with a song, which had been sung for him by his friend and proxy the major. the mysterious stranger in fact, as the reader has already guessed, was his gracious majesty king george the fourth, and his visit _incognito_ having been made by previous notice and arrangement, the passages were kept as clear of the general public as possible. the scenery of the adelphi version was superintended by robert cruikshank himself. "tom and jerry" brought a strange mixture of visitors to attend the rehearsals. corinthians (men of fashion)--members of the turf and the prize ring, who found a common medium of conversation in the sporting slang which mr. egan has made so familiar to us. naturally there was a mixture. tom cribb, whom the cruikshanks had temporarily elevated into the position of a hero, was indispensable; and the silver cup which figures in robert's sketch was every night made use of in the scene depicting the champion's pot-house sanctum. among the frequenters at these rehearsals was a quiet man of unusually unobtrusive deportment and conversation,--this man was thurtell, the cold-blooded murderer of mr. weare. since the days of the "beggars' opera," a success equal to that which attended the "life in london," and its several dramatized versions by barrymore, charles dibdin, moncrieff, and pierce egan, had been unknown. the exhausted exchequers of four or five theatres were replenished; and as in the days of the "beggars' opera" the favourite songs of that piece were transferred to the ladies' fans, and highwaymen and abandoned women became the heroes and heroines of the hour, so, in like manner, the cruikshanks' designs were now transferred to tea-trays, snuff-boxes, pocket-handkerchiefs, screens, and ladies' fans, and the popular favourites of 1821 and 1822 were "corinthian tom," "jerry hawthorn," "bob logic," "bob the dustman," and "corinthian kate." the success of "life in london" was not regarded with equal satisfaction by all classes of the community; the serious world was horribly scandalized. zealous, honest, fervid, and terribly in earnest, these good folks, in their ignorance of the world and of human nature, only added to the mischief which it was their honest wish to abate. they proclaimed the immorality of the drama; denounced "tom and jerry" from the pulpit; and besieged the doors of the play houses with a perfect army of tract droppers. anything more injudicious, anything less calculated to achieve the end which these good people had in view, i can scarcely imagine; for it is a well-known fact that the best method of making a book or a play a "commercial success," in england, is to throw doubts on its moral tendency.[58] the more respectable portion of the press did better service to their cause by showing that, in spite of their popularity, "tom and jerry" were doing mischief, and that the theatres lent their aid to disseminate the evil, by nightly regaling the female part of society "with vivid representations of the blackest sinks of iniquity to be found in the metropolis." called on to defend his drama, moncrieff, strange to say, proved himself no wiser than his assailants. all he could allege in its behalf was that "the obnoxious scenes of life were only shown that they might be avoided; the danger of mixing in them was strikingly exemplified; and every incident tended to prove"--what? why,--"_that happiness was only to be found in the domestic circle_"! this was special pleading with a vengeance! of course all that the theatres really cared to do was to fill their exhausted exchequers; while as for bohemian robert and his friend egan, the idea of making the "life in london" a moral lesson never once entered their heads. the artist however was shrewd enough to take note of the observation for future use; and seven years later on, when he and egan produced their "finish to the adventures of tom, jerry, and logic in their pursuits through life in and out of london," endeavoured to profit by the storm which had been raised by the good people of 1821, by tagging a clumsy moral to the sequel. by this time, however, the excitement which had attended the original work had evaporated; by this time, too, the public had learnt to discriminate between the pencils of the brothers cruikshank; and the "finish," as compared with the original "life," fell comparatively flat. it made however some sort of sensation in its day, but has become not only a scarce book, but one that is little sought after. the genius and reputation of george and the pen of thackeray have kept alive the popularity of the "life,"[59] while the "finish"--left to the unaided but clever hand of robert--has like himself been almost forgotten. and yet it scarcely merits this fate. it contains thirty-six etchings by robert cruikshank, some of them of singular merit. among them may be mentioned, _the duchess of dogood_; _splendid jim_; _logic visiting his old acquaintance on board the fleet_; _corinthian kate in the last stage of consumption, disease, and inebriety_; and if not the production of a genius, the hand of an artist of singular merit, ability, and power is manifest in the etchings entitled, _the hounds at a standstill_; _logic's upper storey_; and _the end of corinthian kate_. pierce egan. although modestly claiming for himself the merits of this book, pierce egan stands in relation to it in the position of a showman, and nothing more. he is not even entitled to the credit of being the originator,--for the originator and suggestor was robert cruikshank, who informs us of the fact (after his own characteristic fashion) by way of footnote to his frontispiece to the "finish."[60] but egan is undoubtedly a clever showman; if he displays rather more vulgarity than we altogether like, we must not forget the audience to whom he addresses himself, and for whom indeed his show is specially intended. we cannot admit that the popularity of this book was _entirely_ due to the merit of the artists whose canvas he elucidates and (after his own fashion) explains. in common fairness some credit should be conceeded to egan himself. of literary talents he had not a particle; and if he lacked taste and refinement, it may at least be urged in his behalf that the age was not one of refinement, and that sixty years ago we had scarcely emancipated ourselves from the barbarism and vulgarity some remnants of which had descended to us from the time of george the second. the bent of his taste and the scope of his abilities may be guessed from the fact that his "account of the trial of john thurtell, the murderer," passed into at least _thirteen_ editions. a man of this stamp could scarcely be expected to recognise the true value of the work with which he had the honour to be associated; he never looked beyond his patrons of the day, and as a natural consequence posterity has troubled itself little about him. you will search the biographical dictionaries in vain for any account of him;[61] and this oblivion he scarcely deserves, for not only was he one of the most popular men of sixty years ago, but he would scarcely have attained that position without a fair share of merit. he was not deficient in energy, and his talent is shown by the fact that he understood and (in a measure) led the taste of his day, taking advantage of his knowledge to raise himself to a position unattainable had such taste been of a more elevated and refined character. his descriptive powers (such as they were) were sufficient to procure him the post of recorder of the "doings of the ring" on the staff of the _weekly dispatch_, which post he occupied at the time he officiated as literary showman to "tom and jerry." he had however tried many trades,--had been in turn a compositor, bookseller, sporting writer, newspaper reporter, and even secretary to an irish theatrical manager. the success of "life in london," which he arrogated to himself, raised up a crop of enemies as well as friends, and he soon afterwards received his _congé_ from the proprietors of the _dispatch_. pierce egan, however, was not a man to be daunted by any such discouragement; he was found equal to the occasion, meeting his employers' _coup d'état_ by starting a sporting paper of his own, to which he gave the name of his successful book,--_pierce egan's life in london, and sporting guide_. this counter movement proved the germ of a great enterprise. probably his venture was no very great success; it ran only for three years from its commencement on the 1st of february, 1824. on the 28th of october, 1827, _egan's life in london_ was sold by auction to a mr. bell, and thenceforth assumed its well known and now time honoured title of _bell's life in london_. charles molloy westmacott. another friend of the artist was charles molloy westmacott, as he called himself, but who is supposed to have been--_filius nullius_ or _filius populi_--the child of mrs. molloy, a pretty widow who kept a tavern at kensington. westmacott was one of a class of writers who not only existed but thrived in the early part of our century by the levying of literary black-mail. the _modus operandi_ (as given by mr. william bates, from whom we derive our information respecting this man) appears to have been as follows: "sometimes a vague rumour or hint of scandal, accompanied perchance by a suggestive newspaper paragraph, was conveyed to one or more of the parties implicated, with a threat of further inquiry into its truth, and a full exposure of the circumstances which excited the sender's virtuous indignation. this, if the selected victim was a man of nervous, timid temperament, often produced the desired effect; and although possibly entirely innocent of the allegation, he preferred to purchase silence, and escape the suspicion which publicity does not fail to attach to a name. if, on the other hand, no notice was taken of the communication, the screw received some further turns. a narrative was drawn up, and printed off, in the form of a newspaper paragraph, and was transmitted to the parties concerned, with a letter, intimating that it had been 'received from a correspondent,' and that the publisher thought fit, prior to publication, to ascertain whether those whose names were mentioned desired to correct, modify, or cancel any part of the statement. there is no doubt that very large sums have been extorted by these scoundrelly means, and a vast amount of anxiety and misery occasioned."[62] this was "the sort of man" that charles molloy westmacott appears to have been; and i learn on the same authority that by these means he was enabled in one instance alone to net not much less than a sum of £5,000. "pulls" of this kind enabled this fellow to live at his ease in a suburban retreat situated somewhere between barnes and richmond, which he fitted up (for he considered himself, as some others of his more modern class appear to do, a "man of letters") with books and pictures. "the english spy." in 1825 this man brought out, under his pseudonym of "bernard blackmantle," a veritable _chronique scandaleuse_ of the time, entitled, "the english spy," the title page of which describes it as "an original work, characteristic, satirical, and humorous, containing scenes and sketches in every rank of society; being portraits of the illustrious eminent, eccentric and notorious, drawn from the life by bernard blackmantle." this extraordinary work presents us with pictures of "life" at eton, at oxford, and in fashionable society in london, brighton, cheltenham, bath, and elsewhere; and the seventy-two admirable copperplate aqua-tinted etchings, with one exception (which is by the veteran rowlandson), are the work of isaac robert cruikshank. this is a far rarer and more valuable book than the "life in london." in place of "corinthian" hook-nosed tom, rosy-cheeked jerry, and the vulgar _gobemouche_ logic, we find figuring amongst the interesting groups, scenes, and characters all the notabilities of the day: celebrities such as george the fourth and his favourite sultana the marchioness of conyngham, the princess augusta, charles kemble, matthews, fawcett, farren, grimaldi, macready, young, t. p. cooke, elliston, dowton, harley, munden, liston, wallack, madame vestris, townsend (the bow street "runner"), "pea green" hayne, lord william lennox, colonel berkeley, hughes ball, and others. the etchings are singularly clear and distinct, and the colouring bright and pleasing. among the illustrations which specially deserve notice are: _the oppidans' museum_; _the eton montem_ (an admirable design); _the first bow to alma mater_; _college comforts_ (a freshman taking possession of his rooms); _kensington gardens sunday evenings, singularities of 1824_ (woodcut); _the opera green-room, or noble amateurs viewing foreign curiosities_; _oxford transports, or albanians doing penance for past offences_; _the king at home, or mathews at carlton house_; _a visit to billingsgate_; _characters on the steyne, brighton_; _the cogged dice, interior of a modern hell_; _city ball at the mansion house_; _the wake_; _the cyprians' ball at the argyle rooms_; _the post office bristol, arrival of the london mail_; _the fancy ball at the upper rooms, bath_; and _milsom street and bond street_, containing portraits of bath fashionables. the so-called _oppidans'[63] museum_ is composed of the signs stolen by eton scapegraces from the local tradesmen; a mock court is in progress, at which the injured parties attend and either claim or receive compensation for their stolen property. the tradesmen in the plate before us look anything but injured persons, and as a matter of fact the award is sufficiently ample to make amends for all damage. the two persons officiating as assessors and apportioning compensation to the various claimants, are westmacott and "robert transit" (the artist himself). the illustration is full of life and character. among the groups may be noticed a young fellow holding a bull-terrier suspended by its teeth from a handkerchief; a bet depends on the dog's patience and strength of jaw, and an interested companion watches the result, chronometer in hand. _the king at home_, represents a scene which is said to have actually taken place when mathews was giving his entertainment at carlton house. the performer was imitating kemble, when the king started up, and to the surprise of every one, particularly of mathews, interrupted the performance by a personal and very clever imitation of the actor, who, by the way, had taught him elocution. this, indeed, was one of george's strong points, who, if not a good king, was at least an admirable mimic. says old dr. burney (writing to his daughter on the 12th of july, 1805), "he is a most excellent mimic of well-known characters; had we been in the dark, any one would have sworn that dr. parr and _kemble_ were in the room."[64] in this plate we find likenesses not only of the king and of mathews, but also of the princess augusta and the too celebrated marchioness of conyngham. thomas rowlandson's single pictorial contribution to the "english spy," _r---a----ys of genius reflecting on the true line of beauty at the life academy_, is described by mr. grego under date of 1825. this is not the only time in which the artist was associated in work with rowlandson. there is a rare work (one of an annual series)--"the spirit of the public journals," for the year 1824, with explanatory notes by c. m. westmacott, a collection of whimsical extracts from the press, which appeared in print in the previous season, which has illustrations on wood by four distinguished coadjutors: thomas rowlandson, george cruikshank, isaac robert cruikshank, and theodore lane. "fitzalleyne of berkeley." the foote _v._ hayne affair mentioned in our last chapter afforded grist for the kind of mill driven by literary blacklegs of the class of "bernard blackmantle." the black-mail system was tried at first, and when that failed he produced the now rare _fitzalleyne of berkeley: a romance of the present times_, a pair of libellous volumes, the _dramatis personæ_ of which comprise the persons whose names were mentioned in connection with the case. "maria pous" was of course maria foote; samuel pous, her father; lord a----y, alvanley; major h----r, major george hanger, afterwards lord coleraine; optimus, mr. tom best (who shot lord camelford in a duel); the pea-green count and fitzalleyne of berkeley speak for themselves; while "mary carbon" is the butcher's daughter of gloucester, mother of the colonel, and afterwards countess of berkeley. such a character as molloy, otherwise westmacott, was bound to get sometimes into trouble (in these days he would probably receive his reward for "endeavouring to extort money by threats"); and if he did not get exactly what he deserved, he did get, on the tenth of october, 1830, a tremendous thrashing from charles kemble. references to the memorandum books of this ishmaelite of the press, in which he entered (for future use) some of the scandalous chronicles of his time, and which were offered for sale at his death in 1868, will be found in mr. bates's interesting book, from which we have already quoted. "points of humour." returning to his friend and coadjutor, robert cruikshank, the best of the artist's coloured illustrations to the "english spy" are contained in the first volume; in the second he falls into those habits of carelessness which, with all his ability and artistic talent, were a besetting weakness. robert lacked the genius, the fine fancy, the careful, delicate handling of george. up to the publication of the "life," the brothers as we have seen had worked together frequently, but after this period they separated. george had already achieved one of his earliest triumphs in book illustration--"the points of humour," which provoked the universal admiration of the critics, and proclaimed him one of the most original geniuses of the time. the "life," however, had made both brothers famous, and the general public had scarcely yet learnt to distinguish between the pencils of george and robert. this confusion was taken advantage of by unscrupulous publishers (a practice at which robert himself seems to have connived) to trade upon the popularity of the cruikshank name. we frequently find, for instance, in literary advertisements of the time, that a forthcoming book is illustrated by "cruikshank," and the work we have just named is a case in point. no sooner had the "points of humour" appeared and made their mark, than they were followed by an announcement by sherwood, jones & co., of the "points of misery," the letterpress by charles molloy westmacott, and the designs by "cruikshank," that is to say--robert. although this publication is marred by the slovenliness of execution which characterised the artist in his careless moods, a few of the designs are excellent, and the tailpieces--_a six inside_, at page 36; _cleaned out_, at page 88; and the _pawn shop_, at page 87--suffice to show of how much better work robert cruikshank was capable. george, as was usual with him on these occasions, was horribly annoyed, and loudly and (as it seems to us) unnecessarily proclaimed to the world that he had no connection with the work. probably this manifesto did no good to a book little calculated either by its literary or pictorial merits to command success; and as the copy before us remained uncut from the date of the publication until the present, the inference is that the speculation of messrs. sherwood, jones & co., proved scarcely a remunerative one. among the forgotten books of half a century ago, we meet with one whose title reminds us of the "life in london." it is called, "doings in london; or, day and night scenes of the frauds, frolics, manners, and depravities of the metropolis." it came out in threepenny numbers, in 1828, and its professed object (in the queer language of george smeeton, its compiler and publisher) was to "show vice and deception in all their real deformity, and not by painting in glowing colours the fascinating allurements, the mischievous frolics and vicious habits of the profligate, the heedless, and the debauchee, tempt youth to commit those irregularities which often lead to dangerous consequences, not only to themselves but also to the public." this shot of course was aimed at pierce egan, who, engaged at that time in bringing out the "finish," not unnaturally considered these "doings" an attempt to derive profit by an indirect infringement of his own title. the title in fact _was_ a misleading one, and the book a specimen of a class of useless literature of the time, by which paste-and-scissors information compiled from books, newspapers, and statistics by some one at best imperfectly acquainted with his subject, was attempted to be conveyed by means of questions and answers, supplemented by dreary and unnecessary remarks of a moralizing tendency. the persons in whose company smeeton would send us round, in order that we may form a just conception of the "vice and deception in all their real deformity," of which he speaks, are a couple of idiots, one peregrine wilson, and an attendant mentor, whom we drop at the earliest convenient opportunity. information combined with morality is all very well. the "history of sandford and merton" may have been, as lord houghton assures us it was, "the delight of the youth of the first generation of the present century." as one of the youth of the generation referred to, we refuse to admit it, and we are perfectly certain that the youth of the present generation would have nothing whatever to do with it. we resign ourselves preferentially to the guidance of isaac robert and george cruikshank, sensible that they at least, while conversant with the scenes they so graphically describe, will not bore us with unnecessary moral reflections. we prefer, if the truth must be told, to "sport a toe among the corinthians at almack's" with hooked-nosed tom and rosy-cheeked jerry; to visit with these merry and by no means strait-laced persons, mr. o'shaunessy's rooms in the haymarket; the back parlour of the respected thomas cribb, ex-champion of england; to take wine with them "in the wood" at the london docks; to enjoy with them, if they will, "the humours of a masquerade supper at the opera house." the work which smeeton designed with such indifferent success was subsequently carried out in a far more efficient manner by mr. james grant, in his "sketches in london,"[65] and at a later date by mr. mayhew, in his well-known "london labour and the london poor." the "doings in london" owe whatever value they possess to the thirty-nine curious designs on wood of isaac robert cruikshank, engraved by w. c. bonner, which, on the whole fair examples of his workmanship in this style, strongly remind us of the smaller woodcuts in hone's "every-day book." the best specimens, however, of robert's designs on wood are those which will be found in two small volumes, known indifferently as "facetiæ" and "cruikshank's comic album," which contain a series of _jeux d'esprits_, published between the years 1830 and 1832, and comprising _old bootey's ghost_ and _the man of intellect_, by w. f. moncrieff; _the high-mettled racer_ and _monsieur nongtongpaw_, by charles dibdin; _margate and brighton_; _the devil's visit_; _steamers and stages_; _monsieur touson_; _monsieur mallet_, by h. w. montague; _mathew's comic annual_ (a miserable _mélange_ by our friend pierce egan); the famous _devil's walk_, by coleridge and southey, etc., etc. these little volumes, which are now rare, contain nearly one hundred excellent examples of robert cruikshank's workmanship, the woodcuts being executed after the artist's designs by w. c. bonner and other wood engravers of eminence. we can stay only to describe one, which illustrates one of the many experiences of john bull in his memorable visit to france. struck with the appearance of a french lady, "young and gay," the stanza tells us- "struck by her charms he ask'd her name of the first man he saw; from whom, with shrugs, no answer came but, '_je vous n'entends pas._'" three other books (two of them exceedingly rare) must suffice to complete our survey of robert's merits as a designer and book illustrator. these are "colburn's kalendar of amusements" (1840), "job crithannah's original fables" (1834), and eugene sue's "orphan." there is an irishman sitting on a barrel in one of the woodcuts to the "kalendar," who quite equals any of the hibernians of george. the eighty-four designs to the "fables" are admirable specimens of the artist's best manner, and george himself rarely executed better illustrations than those of the _farmer and the pointer_, at page 110, _the cow and the farmer_, at page 163, and _the old woman and her cat_, at page 219. this rare and choice book abounds with admirable tailpieces; one of which exhibits a sufferer down in the agonies of gout, the treatment of which subject may even be compared with the more elaborate and admirable design by the brother described by thackeray. sue's "orphan" has numerous carefully executed etchings by the artist, after the style and manner of his brother; in the very signature, "robert cruikshank," we trace a distinct copy of george's peculiar trademark or sign-manual. mr. walter hamilton, in his essay on the brother, presents us with a dozen copies of robert's designs, eight of which, although unacknowledged, are taken from crithannah's "fables," and will bear as much comparison with the original and beautiful woodcuts as the work of a common sign-painter with a finished painting by landseer. a detailed but probably imperfect list of the artist's book work will be found in the _appendix_. the name of robert cruikshank has slipped out of the place it once occupied in public estimation; and his good work and his poor work being equally scarce, his name and his claims to rank high among the number of english caricaturists and comic artists have been forgotten even by the survivors of the generation to which he himself belonged. in bringing to the remembrance of those who do know, and to the knowledge of those who do not know, some of the work which entitled him in our judgment to occupy a leading place amongst the number of those of whom we write, we have endeavoured to brush away the dust of oblivion which for so many years has obscured the name and reputation of an artist, who, in spite of much slovenliness and carelessness of execution, was both an able caricaturist and a skilful draughtsman. george writes of his dead brother in terms of affection, and describes him as "a very clever miniature and portrait painter, and also a designer and etcher;" his friend and coadjutor, the late george daniel, gives him credit for genius, of which however (in the sense in which we use and understand the word) he did not possess a particle. he tells us that "he was apt to conceive and prompt to execute; he had a quick eye and a ready hand; with all his extravagant drollery, his drawing is anatomically correct; his details are minute, expressive, and of careful finish, and his colouring is bright and delicate." in the early part of his career, as we have seen, the two brothers had been so closely associated in life and in art, that the history of robert is, to some extent, the history of george; but when they separated, when each was left to his own individual resources, george then struck into a path which neither robert nor any of his contemporaries might hope to follow. by the time robert had realized this fact, hb had appeared, and the art of caricaturing, as theretofore practised, received a blow from which it will never rally. besides being an able water colour artist, he had at one time achieved some reputation as a portrait painter; but the latter pursuit he had long practically abandoned, while success in the former required a closer application and the exercise of a greater amount of patience than a man of his age and temperament could afford to bestow. he was, in fact, too old to commence life afresh; and so it came inevitably to pass that, as his brother did in after life (but from causes, as we shall see, widely different), robert gradually dropped behind and was forgotten. he had not the genius or pride in his art of his brother, and looked rather to that art as a means of present livelihood than of acquiring a permanent and enduring reputation. if george--with all his pride in his art, with all his genius, with all his rare gifts of imagination and fancy--was destined to be left behind in the race of life, what could poor robert hope for? it is sad to think that in later life, poor easy-going, thriftless, careless, bohemian robert sank into neglect and consequent poverty. he died (of bronchitis) on the 13th of march, 1856, in his sixty-sixth year. footnotes: [57] in this i cannot agree. george designed about a third of the plates, and those who know his workmanship thoroughly will not fail to identify it. [58] a fact which testifies to the curiosity and _not_ the immorality of our people. [59] i have known as much as £10 asked for a copy; but _a first edition_ (a rarity) may be purchased sometimes of a respectable bookseller for £8. [60] "fair play! robt. cruikshank, invt. et fect., original suggestor and artist of the 2 vols. adieu!" [61] a list of his works will be found in dr. brewer's "handbook." [62] "the maclise portrait gallery," by william bates (ed. 1883), p. 236. [63] the name given to the students of eton school who board in the town. [64] diary of madam d'arblay. [65] w. s. orr & co., 1838. chapter vii. _the caricatures of george cruikshank._ sixty years ago. just sixty years ago, a writer in _blackwood_ spoke of the subject of the present chapter (then a young man who had already acquired an artistic reputation) in the following terms:-"it is high time that the public should think more than they have hitherto done of george cruikshank; and it is also high time that george cruikshank should begin to think more than he seems to have done hitherto of himself. generally speaking, people consider him as a clever, sharp _caricaturist_, and nothing more; a free-handed, comical young fellow, who will do anything he is paid for, and who is quite contented to dine off the proceeds of a 'george iv.' to-day, and those of a 'hone,' or a 'cobbett' to-morrow. he himself, indeed, appears to be the most careless creature alive, as touching his reputation. he seems to have no plan--almost no ambition--and, i apprehend, not much industry. he does just what is suggested or thrown in his way, pockets the cash, orders his beef-steak and bowl, and chaunts, like one of his own heroes,- 'life is all a variorium, we regard not how it goes.' now, for a year or two to begin with, this is just what it should be. cruikshank was resolved to see _life_,[66] and his sketches show that he has seen it, in some of its walks, to purpose. but life is short, and art is long; and our gay friend must pull up. "perhaps he is not aware of the fact himself--but a fact it undoubtedly is--that he possesses genius--genius in its truest sense--strong, original, english genius. look round the world of art, and ask, how many are there of whom anything like this can be said? why, there are not half a dozen names that could bear being mentioned at all; and certainly there is not one, the pretensions of which will endure sifting, more securely and more triumphantly than that of george cruikshank. in the first place, he is--what no living _caricaturist_ but himself has the least pretensions to be, and what, indeed, scarcely one of their predecessors was--he is a thoroughbred _artist_.[67] he draws with the ease and freedom and fearlessness of a master; he understands the figure completely; and appears, so far as one can guess from the trifling sort of things he has done, to have a capital notion of the principles of grouping. now these things are valuable in themselves, but they are doubly, trebly valuable as possessed by a person of real comic humour; and a total despiser of that venerable humbug which almost all the artists of our day seem, in one shape or other, to revere as the prime god of their idolatry. nobody, that has the least of an eye for art, can doubt that cruikshank, if he chose, might design as many annunciations, beatifications, apotheoses, metamorphoses, and so forth, as would cover york cathedral from end to end. it is still more impossible to doubt that he might be a famous portrait painter. now, these are fine lines both of them, and yet it is precisely the chief merit of cruikshank that he cuts them both; that he will have nothing to do with them; that he has chosen a walk of his own, and that he has made his own walk popular. here lies genius; but let him do himself justice; let him persevere and _rise_ in his own path, and then, ladies and gentlemen, _then_ the day will come when his name will be a name indeed, not a name puffed and paraded in the newspapers, but a living, a substantial, perhaps even an illustrious, english name. let him, in one word, proceed, and, as he proceeds, let him think of hogarth."[68] now, although amused (and surely he cannot fail to be amused) at the curious incapacity of an art critic so strangely ignorant of his subject as to conceive _george cruikshank_ an artist capable of designing _annunciations_, _beatifications_, _apotheoses_, and subjects so completely out of the range of his sympathies and abilities, the reader will, at the same time, be struck with the prescience of the intelligent writer who discerned in him the possession of true genius, and predicted for him, even at this early period of his career, the reputation--"living, substantial," and "illustrious"--which he afterwards so justly achieved for himself. in everything save the power to realize an annunciation, a beatification, or an apotheosis, george cruikshank was, at the time this article was penned, exactly what mr. lockhart describes him. the most able and accomplished of the caricaturists of his time, he was nevertheless willing to etch the works of an amateur or of an artist inferior to himself, to whose work he has frequently imparted a vitality of which it would have been destitute but for the interposition of his hand. he was ready, moreover, to execute woodcuts for a song-book or the political skits of any scribbler of his time, whether on the ministerial or the popular side mattered little to him. it was therefore not unnatural that doing "just what was suggested or thrown in his way," lockhart should come to the erroneous conclusion that the artist had "no plan," "no ambition," and "not much industry." the assertion that he had "no ambition" has been amply disproved by his subsequent life, whilst so far from having "no plan," the sequel shows that all this time, unsuspected by the critic, he had been gradually developing the style of illustration by which he made his mark and reputation,--a style first displayed in the celebrated "points of humour," the publication of which served as the occasion for lockhart's criticism. on this account, if for no other reason, the caricatures of george cruikshank possess so remarkable an interest, that it is singular that this field of artistic labour has been left almost unexplored by the essayists, many of whom, with a somewhat imperfect knowledge of their subject, have essayed to give us information on the subject of this artist and his works. it is just this early period of his life, in which he first followed and then gradually emancipated himself from the artistic control and influence of gillray, which seems to us to afford the most interesting study of the man's career. nevertheless, nearly all the articles we have read on george cruikshank would give us the idea that, with the exception of certain designs for woodcuts for hone--such as the celebrated _non mi ricordo_ and others--certain rough coloured engravings for "the meteor," "the scourge," and other periodicals of a kindred stamp, the artist executed but few caricatures properly so called. this at least is the impression which these articles have left on our own minds; and we can only account for the little notice taken of him as a caricaturist by the fact that, unlike the etchings which he produced when in the prime of his career, his caricatures are not only exceedingly scarce, but being in many cases unsigned, are capable only of being recognised by those intimately acquainted with his early handiwork. the caricatures of george cruikshank may be divided into three classes: first, those which are wholly designed and etched by himself; secondly, those which he designed after the sketches or suggestions of his friends; and thirdly, those merely etched from the designs of other artists. we find the first, although frequently unsigned, more usually signed (on the left hand), "geo. cruik^k. fect." or "invt. & fect."; the second--"invt. g. cruik^k. fect.;" while the third are indicated as merely _etched_ by him. of the second class it may be remarked that with the exception of the mere sketch or suggestion, the drawing and the workmanship are oftentimes unmistakably george's own. in the description of his caricatures which follow, we shall indicate the designs which belong to _this_ class with an asterisk. publications such as "the scourge," although containing many caricature designs by george cruikshank, are scarcely among those to which the present chapter was intended to be devoted. there are, however, two satirical compositions of his in this scurrilous publication,[69] which appear to us so exceptionally good, that we feel justified in drawing special attention to them. as the publication itself affords little or no clue to the subject of the illustrations, it seems necessary in order that the first may be understood, to explain the circumstances which appear to us to have led up to it. 1811. for several years prior to 1811, the established clergy had manifested considerable uneasiness on account of the rapid spread of methodism. the readiness with which licenses for preaching could be obtained according to the usual interpretation of the toleration act, had tended to the multiplication of a class of preachers whose manners and language peculiarly fitted them for acquiring influence over the inferior ranks of the people; and by this means a great diminution had taken place in the congregations of parish churches. it is affirmed--with what truth we know not--that lord sidmouth in the measure (presently to be noticed) was encouraged to proceed in his design by letters from persons of high position in the church. lord sidmouth's motion. on the 9th of may, 1811, lord sidmouth moved in the house of lords for leave to bring in a bill for amending and explaining the acts of william and mary and 17th george iii., so far as applied to dissenting ministers. according to the statement of his lordship, at most of the quarter sessions, when the oaths were taken and the declarations made requisite for enabling a person to officiate in a chapel or meeting-house, any person, however ignorant or profligate, was able to obtain a certificate which authorized him to preach. his lordship proposed that, in order to entitle any person to a qualification as a preacher, he should have the recommendation of at least six respectable householders of the congregation to which he belonged. lord holland, in opposing the bill, observed that he held it to be the inalienable right of every man who thought himself able to instruct others to do so, provided his doctrines were not incompatible with the peace of society. when the nature and provisions of the proposed measure were made known to the public, an alarm was excited among all those whom it was likely to affect. the nonconformists generally regarded it as intended, not so much to add to the respectability of the dissenting ministers, as to contract the limits of toleration, and subject the licensing of preachers to the control of the magistracy. when therefore, on the 21st of may, the bill was to be read a second time, such a deluge of petitions was poured in against it, that the mover was left totally unsupported. the archbishop of canterbury said with truth, that the dissenters were the best judges of their own concerns; and as it appeared from the great number of petitions against it, that they were hostile to the bill, he thought it unwise to press the measure against their manifest wishes. under these circumstances the bill was, we need not say, thrown out. this would appear to be the subject which produced george cruikshank's graphic satire of the _interior view of the house of god_, in the first volume of "the scourge." the pulpit is occupied by two fanatics, one of whom rants, while the other snuffs the candles; the devil, in the gallery above, ridicules the proceedings by rasping, _à la_ fiddle, the bars of a gridiron with a poker; among the numerous congregation present we notice some attentive and interested listeners, whilst others evidently attend from mere motives of curiosity. above the composition appears the quotation, "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of god: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." the satire, _the examination of a young surgeon_, which appears in the same volume, is aimed at the medical profession. one of the examiners is deaf, another has the gout, a third is asleep, while two others (unmistakable scotchmen) discuss the merits of their respective snuff-mulls. the deaf man calls upon the frightened candidate to "describe the organs of hearing." the table is garnished with "the cow pox chronicle," and a skull and bones, while the walls are decorated with pictures depicting a fight between death and a pugilist, the hottentot venus, a group of various nations worshipping the golden calf, and the lady without arms or legs. the hand of the clock points to the hour of eleven. judging by the pile of money-bags lying at the foot of the president's chair, and the two members of the court who are busily engaged in counting coin, george would seem to insinuate that the fellows of the college of his time were a decidedly mercenary set. "the satirist." of character akin to "the scourge" (the ten volumes of which were published between 1811 and 1815 inclusive); is "the satirist, or monthly meteor," the thirteen volumes of which made their appearance between the years 1808 and 1813. both publications, which now command prices very far beyond what they are intrinsically worth, contain a number of satires, of more or less merit (generally _less_), by various satirists, including george cruikshank; so far as "the satirist" is concerned, the designs of the latter are confined to the thirteenth and last volume, and his caricature contributions are of a vastly superior order of merit to any of those by which they are preceded. besides those in "the scourge" and "the satirist," may be mentioned george cruikshank's comic designs in "fashion," printed for j. j. stockdale, of pall mall, in 1818; and his very admirable series of untinted etchings in "the loyalist magazine; or, anti-radical," a publication exclusively devoted to the ministerial side of the carolinian scandal, and published by james wright, of fleet street, in 1820. one of the earliest caricatures i have met with by george is entitled, _apollyon_ [_i.e._, napoleon]_, the devil's generalissimo, addressing his legions_; it is signed (contrary to his usual custom), "cruikshank del.," and was executed (if i am right in assigning it to him) when he was sixteen years of age. 1813. discovery of the remains of charles i. the attention of the public in 1813 was, as we have seen, attracted by the regent's treatment of his miserable wife; and in april the sympathy of the livery and corporation of london, and other public bodies, found expression in an address which was presented to her royal highness. on the 28th of march of that year, the remains of charles the first had been discovered in the vault of henry the eighth, at windsor, a circumstance which suggested to george cruikshank his admirable satire entitled, _meditations amongst the tombs_. it shows us his royal highness gazing at the recovered bodies, and regretting that while henry had managed to dispose of many wives, _he_ found it impossible to get rid of one. a figure behind him points to the headless corpse, and significantly remarks, "how rum king charley looks without his head!" the battle of vitoria (fought this year) forms the subject of a pair of roughly executed caricatures, entitled respectively, _the battle of vitoria_, and _a scene after the battle, or more trophies for whitehall_. other satires of the year, are _double bass_, and _a venomous viper poisoning the r--l mind_, the latter as coarsely and indelicately handled a subject as any caricaturist of the old school might possibly desire. 1814. _little boney gone to pot_ (thomas tegg, may 12th, 1814), is one of the artist's contributions to the series of caricatures which followed the fall of napoleon bonaparte. here the satirist has seated the emperor (a lean, ragged, forlorn, miserable, diseased object) on a huge article of bedroom furniture, labelled, "imperial throne." he is in a forlorn condition, suffering from itch, with large excrescences growing on his toes. he is all alone in his island prison (elba), and tempted by a fiend, who tenders him a pistol--"if you have one spark of courage left," it says, "take this." "perhaps i may," replies napoleon, "if you'll take the flint out." by his side we find a pot of brimstone, numerous medicine bottles, and "a treatise on the itch, by dr. scratch."[70] one of the imperial boots, mounted on a tiny carriage, forms a dummy cannon. his back leans against a tree, to which is nailed the "imperial crow," while from the branches depends a ragged pair of breeches and stockings. it was a sorry libel on the unfortunate emperor, whose courage was undoubted, and who, at this time, instead of being the scarecrow the artist has represented him, had grown extremely corpulent. _snuffing out boney_ follows up the same subject, and represents a cossack snuffing out napoleon, who figures as a candle; another caricature on the great subject of the year bears the title of _broken gingerbread_ (napoleon selling images). [illustration: george cruikshank. _published july 11th, 1814, by_ s. w. fores, _piccadilly_. russian condescension, or the blessings of universal peace. _face page 133._] visit of the allied sovereigns. on the 8th of june, 1814, the emperor of russia, with his sister the duchess oldenburg, the king of prussia, and his two sons, with prince metternich, marshal blucher, general barclay de tolly, the hetman platoff, and other persons of distinction, arrived in london. the strangers were splendidly entertained by the merchants and bankers of london at merchant taylors' hall, and by the corporation of london at guildhall. on the 20th there was a grand review of regulars and metropolitan volunteers in hyde park; the ceremony of announcing to the inhabitants of the metropolis the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace with france took place with all its ancient and accustomed solemnities. on the 25th of july a grand naval review was held at portsmouth, and on the 27th the illustrious visitors embarked at dover for the continent. the handsome russian emperor and his handsome sister acquired great popularity by the condescension and affability they displayed during their short visit. this is commemorated by george cruikshank in a satire published by fores on the 11th of july, entitled, _russian condescension, or the blessings of peace_, in which a coarse woman is represented as kissing the emperor, who is habited in english military uniform. "there, sal," says she to her companion, "i can boast of what none of the ----s at billingsgate can, having kissed the king's emperor of all the russian bears, and he is the sweetest, modestest, mildest gentleman i ever kissed in all my life." on the other side a huge country gawky shakes hands with the duchess, whose vast bonnet is a study. "dang it," he says, "when i goes back and tells the folks in our village of this, law! how they will envy i!" in the distance we see another female in pursuit of the frightened hetman platoff. the reader will remember, that from the state ceremonies and festivities which took place on this memorable occasion the miserable caroline had been excluded, nor did she of course receive recognition or visits from any of her husband's illustrious visitors. the state of social isolation to which she was thus consigned is referred to by george cruikshank in a very roughly executed caricature entitled, _the british spread eagle_, "presented to the northern monarchs as a model for their national banner in consequence of the general peace." the regent, holding in his hand a bottle of port wine, turns away from his neglected wife: "i'll go," he says, "to my bottle, my marchioness [of conyngham], my countess" [of jersey], who may be seen close at hand in an adjoining thicket; "and i," answers caroline, "to my child, my only comfort." the "only comfort" is seen coming to her mother's assistance in the distance, uttering the trite quotation, "the child that feels not for a mother's woes, can ne'er be called a briton." _the impostor, or obstetric dispute_, a still more roughly executed satire (published by tegg in september, 1814), refers to the wretched impostor southcott. doctors called in to report on her condition "differed" according to their proverbial custom. three of these learned pundits may be seen in consultation in the right-hand corner. a blatant and irascible cobbler, standing on a stool, loudly proclaims the woman to be "a cheat!" "a faggot!" "a bag of deceit!" "a blasphemous old hag!" the indignant joanna, far advanced in her dropsical condition, rushes at him, brandishing a broom in one hand and her book of prophecies in the other, to the delight of certain members of the "great unwashed." the buildings at the back appropriately include "new bethlehem," and the house which the reader may remember was engaged for the purposes of her miraculous _accouchement_. a rougher and coarser piece of workmanship, if possible, will be found in _gambols on the river thames, february, 1814_ (published also by tegg), which commemorates the memorable frost of that year. 1815. the corn laws. on the 17th of february, 1815, mr. frederick robinson, vice-president of the board of trade, moved for the house of commons to resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, for the purpose of considering the state of the corn laws. this having been done, he proceeded to lay before the house certain resolutions, three of which related to the free importation of grain to be warehoused and afterwards exported, or to be taken for home consumption when importation for that purpose was allowable. the fourth and most important stated the average price of british corn at which free importation was to be allowed, and _below which it was to be prohibited_, and this for wheat was fixed at eighty shillings per quarter. an exception was made in favour of grain produced in the british colonies, which might be imported when british grown wheat was at sixty-seven shillings. all the resolutions were read and agreed to, with the exception of the fourth, and this in the end also passed in the face of every amendment. on the 1st of march, mr. robinson brought in his bill "to amend the laws now in force for regulating the importation of corn." by this time very numerous petitions against the bill were coming in from the commercial and manufacturing districts; riotous proceedings also took place on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of march, in the course of which the mob cut to pieces many valuable pictures belonging to mr. robinson, destroyed and pitched his furniture into the street, and did a variety of mischief to the property of other well-known supporters of the measure. the riots (which were of a most formidable character) were only quelled by the number and determined attitude of the military and constables. in spite, however, of the unmistakable unpopularity of the measure, and of the strenuous opposition to it both in and out of parliament, the bill passed the house on the 10th of march, and the upper house on the 20th. the consequences of this measure were not such as were expected either by its promoters or opposers. former importations, or more probably the effect of two abundant harvests, combined with the greatly extended cultivation of grain, produced a gradual and steady reduction in prices; so that instead of approaching the limits at which alone importation was allowable by the act, it sunk to a level below that of several years past. the farmers, who were labouring under exorbitant rents in addition to other increased expenses, were general sufferers, and the landlords found it necessary in many instances to make great abatements in their dues. in the result many leases were voided and farms left without tenants. to this most unpopular measure a satire, published by fores on the 3rd of march, 1815, has reference. it is entitled, _the blessings of peace, or the curse of the corn bill_, a very rough affair, etched by george (as it appears to me) from the design of an amateur whose hand may be recognised in more than one of his caricatures. a foreign vessel is approaching our shores laden with best wheat at 50_s._ a quarter. a figure with a star on his breast, emblematical of course of the aristocratic influence which was supposed to have dictated the unpopular corn law, forbids the sailors to land it: "we won't have it," he says, "_at any price_. we are determined to keep up our own to 80_s._, and if the poor can't buy at that price, why, they must starve. we love money too well to lower our rents again, tho' the income tax _is_ taken off." his sentiments are re-echoed by companions belonging to the same class as himself. a farmer and his starving family, however, come forward. "no, no, masters," he remonstrates; "i'll not starve, but quit my native country, where the poor are crushed by those they labour to support, and retire to one more hospitable, and where threats of the rich do not interpose to defeat the providence of god!" behind the starving family is a warehouse absolutely bursting with sacks of grain at 80_s._ "by gar!" says the foreign captain, "if they won't have [the wheat] at all, we must throw it overboard," which they accordingly are depicted as doing. the subject is followed up by a still more slovenly affair by the artist himself, bearing the title of _the scale of justice reversed_, published by fores on the 29th of march. an eighteenpenny loaf in one scale is overmatched by the accumulated weight of taxes in the other. the overbalanced scale in its descent knocks down and crushes john bull under its weight. "the bread," he cries, "is out of my reach, and those cursed taxes will break my back. that large one ['duty on manufactories,' which the chancellor is just putting into the scale] will do for me." beyond, a usurer and four large landowners are seen rejoicing at the flight of the "property tax," an alleviation which is calculated to do no good to any one but themselves. napoleon returns from elba. john bull's trials, however, were in reality just commencing. only seven months before he had held a grand "jubilee" in the parks, to celebrate the return of peace, treating his little difficulty with the americans as a _bagatelle_ not worth serious consideration. four months before that celebration, "his majesty the emperor napoleon" had formally "renounced for himself, his successors, etc., all right of sovereignty and dominion, as well to the french empire and the kingdom of italy, as over every other country." in return for this concession, as if in absolute mockery, "the isle of elba, adopted by his majesty the emperor ... as the place of his residence," was formed during his life into a separate principality, to "be possessed by him in full _sovereignty and property_," besides a certain annual revenue mentioned in the articles of treaty of the 18th of april, 1814. here the regent and his very good friends the allied sovereigns had been content to leave him, dreaming apparently, that the man whose military genius had held europe at defiance, was disposed of "for ever and a day;" disregarding the feeble capacity of the bourbon who succeeded him; the magic influence wielded by the man who thought the world too small for his ambition over a soldiery he had created and trained into perfection, and who regarded him in the light of a demi-god. on the 26th of february, 1815, bonaparte embarked at porto ferrago on board a brig, followed by four small vessels conveying about 1,000 men--french, poles, corsicans, neapolitans, and natives of elba. on the 1st of march the expedition anchored off the town of cannes, in provence, where these heterogeneous forces were landed. the small and motley force of filibusters was forthwith marched on grenoble, which was reached on the 8th. the seventh regiment of the line, under colonel labedoyère, had meanwhile joined the adventurer; the rest of the garrison opened their gates, delivered their arsenal and magazine, and thus placed him at the head of a body of regular troops with a train of artillery. only five short months afterwards, while the unfortunate emperor was on his way to st. helena, poor labedoyère was shot on the plain of grenelle, for the "treason" of re-swearing fealty to the original master he had loved so well. on the 9th of march, bonaparte appeared before lyons, which he entered without resistance. once in possession of this important city, and hailed emperor by his beloved soldiery, bonaparte assumed the "sovereignty and dominion" which he had "renounced" for ever. "frenchmen!" he said, after his sententious but stirring manner, "there is no nation, however small it may be, which has not had the right, and which may not withdraw itself from the disgrace of obeying a prince imposed on it by an enemy momentarily victorious. when charles vii. re-entered paris, and overthrew the ephemeral throne of henry v., he acknowledged that he held his throne from the valour of his heroes, and _not from a prince regent of england_." although the troops assembled around him were comparatively a handful, bonaparte had unquestionably obtained sufficient assurance of the general disposition of the army in his favour. preparations indeed had been made for collecting a large body of troops at melun for the immediate protection of paris, while another was posted at fontainebleau, so as to place the adventurer as it were between two fires. the greatest hopes were derived from the professed loyalty to the bourbon cause of marshal ney, who had spontaneously presented himself at the tuileries and proffered his services to the king. with the marshal, 12,000 or 15,000 men were posted at lons-le-saulnier, whence it was understood that he would fall on the rear of bonaparte. instead of doing so, he joined him at auxerre with his whole division, which had already hoisted (under his orders) the tri-coloured flag. this defection practically decided the contest; and bonaparte entered paris on the evening of the 20th as a conqueror, received everywhere by the military in triumph. meanwhile, on the 13th of march, the powers who had signed the treaty of paris assembled in congress at vienna, "being informed of the escape of napoleon bonaparte, and of his entrance into france with an armed force," issued a formal declaration, in which they stated that, "by thus breaking the convention which established him on the island of elba, bonaparte had destroyed the only legal title on which his existence depended; ... deprived himself of the protection of the law; and manifested to the universe that there could be neither peace nor truce with him. the powers consequently declared that he had placed himself without the pale of civil and social relations, and as an enemy and disturber of the tranquility of the world, rendered himself liable to public vengeance;" and, by a treaty concluded at vienna on the 25th of march, great britain, austria, russia, and prussia bound themselves to maintain the treaty of paris of 30th may, 1814, and for that purpose each was to keep constantly in the field a force of 150,000 men, and not lay down their arms until bonaparte should have been rendered absolutely unable to create disturbance, and "renew his attempts for possessing himself of the supreme power in france." reappearance of bonaparte. the excitement which this portentous event occasioned amongst the nations of europe is admirably realized by a caricature of george cruikshank's, published by fores on the 6th of april, and entitled, _the congress dissolved before the cake was cut up_. alexander, engaged in cutting up the cake (_i.e._ europe), and apportioning to each nationality a share of the whole, drops the knife as napoleon rushes in among them, with the tremendous cocked hat, huge sword, and boots assigned to him on the authority of james gillray. crushing under his feet the "decrees of the congress," "an account of the deliverance of europe," "a plan for the security of europe," and other documents of a similar character, he shouts to the affrighted company, "avast! ye bunglers; the cake you have been these six months disputing about the cutting up, i will do in as many hours." holland in his fright has dropped off his stool to the ground. "o donner and blixen!" he exclaims, "_my_ hollands is all gone!" "i thought england had promised to guard him," says saxony, alluding to the kind of naval supervision of elba by english armed cruisers, which appears to have been exercised, so far as we can see, without any _direct_ claim on our part to control the movements of bonaparte. "hold him! seize him!" cries austria. "seize him! kill him!" re-echoes prussia.[71] "who'll begin?--there's the rub!" is the sensible observation of sweden. "oh dear! oh dear!" groans his holiness the pope, crowned with a composite hat, the crown of which is composed of his mitre; "what will become of me?" the only one who says nothing, but seems prepared to act with determination and promptitude, is the representative of england, who is shown in the act of drawing his sword. napoleon (we need not say) did not exactly act as the caricaturist describes: he endeavoured to re-establish relations with the foreign powers. on the 14th of april, however, coulaincourt, the minister of foreign affairs, published his report to the emperor, giving an account of the result of the applications which had been made to foreign courts. from this it appeared that while no communication was permitted with the actual government of france, all the allied powers were diligently making preparation for war. "in all parts of europe at once," said the minister, "they are arming, or marching, or ready to march." the powers, of course, were acting strictly within the terms of their expressed declaration to make "neither peace nor truce with bonaparte." the emperor's practical reply to this declaration was made in the champ de mars on the 1st of june. descending from his throne, he distributed the imperial eagles to the troops of the line and the national guards as they marched past, and swore to defend them at the hazard of their lives, and to suffer no foreigners to dictate laws to their country. all this time reinforcements were being despatched from england without intermission, and the duke of wellington had arrived to take command of the troops, native and foreign, in belgium. there was nothing left for napoleon except to fight. in the latter end of may, the headquarters of the french army of the north was established at avesnes, in french flanders; while, in the apprehension of an invasion by the allied armies on that part, laon and the castle of guise were put in a defensive condition. on the 12th of june bonaparte left paris, accompanied by marshal bertrand and general drouet, and proceeded to laon. tri-coloured "eagles." at this point we meet with a piece of george cruikshank's handiwork which is curious as indicative of the spirit which pervaded england at this momentous period. i am not at present in a position to refer to a newspaper of the period; but it would appear from the sketch referred to that, on or about the very day that napoleon left paris to join the splendid army which six days afterwards was so disastrously routed at waterloo, a city fête was held at the mansion house, at which that eccentric and sturdy nationalist, sir william curtis, whose face and figure were a fortune to the caricaturists of the period, covered the floor of the mansion house with the tri-coloured eagles captured from the french in peninsular battle-fields, while the banners of england domineered from the walls above. the exceedingly rare sketch which illustrates this incident is labelled appropriately by the artist, _opening of sir william curtis's campaign against the french colours_. six days afterwards, the star of napoleon bonaparte had set for ever in the lurid and ensanguined battle clouds of waterloo. scarcely one month later on--that is to say, on the 15th of july, 1815--he had surrendered to captain maitland, of his majesty's ship _bellerophon_, under circumstances which, while they reflect no discredit on the honour of that gallant officer, seem to us, so far as england was herself concerned, scarcely to have justified her subsequent treatment of the great but unfortunate emperor. with this, however, we have nothing to do. the _bellerophon_ on the evening of the 23rd, brought the distinguished exile within sight of the coast of england, a circumstance to which a subsequent caricature (_etched_ by the artist) has reference. on the 6th of september was published by fores, _boney's threatened invasion brought to bear, or taking a view of the english coast from ye poop of the bellerophon_. the little emperor, confined to the mast by a chain fastened to his leg, leaps on the breech of one of the _bellerophon's_ guns, spy-glass in hand. "by gar, mon empereur," says count bertrand, "dey have erect von prospect for you." the "prospect" is far from encouraging--a fort with the english flag flying from the central tower, and a gibbet erected in front of it. no wonder that the emperor expresses himself dissatisfied with a "prospect" of so lugubrious a character. an english sailor seated on a neighbouring gun, delivers the sentiments of the day after the plain-spoken fashion of his countrymen. this design, which is by no means in the artist's usual style, was etched by him from the design of some one whose name or initials are not recorded. the actual circumstance to which the foregoing sketch refers is related to us by the commander of the _bellerophon_:-"at daybreak on the 24th of july, we were close off dartmouth. count bertrand went into the cabin and informed bonaparte of it, who came upon deck about half-past four, and remained on the poop until the ship anchored in torbay. he talked with admiration of the coast, saying, 'you have in that respect a great advantage over france, which is surrounded by rocks and dangers.' on opening torbay, he was much struck with the beauty of the scenery, and exclaimed, 'what a beautiful country! it very, very much resembles the bay of porto ferrago, in elba.'"[72] the same year, and on the same subject, the artist gives us _boney's meditations on the island of st. helena, or the devil addressing the sun_, in which the idea is manifestly borrowed from a design by james gillray; _the corsican's last trip under the guidance of his good angel_ [the devil]; _the genius of france expounding her laws to the sublime people_; and a very admirable and original design, _the pedigree of corporal violet_; all of which are etched from the designs of other artists. hardly was napoleon despatched to the island prison which was so shortly to prove his grave, and replaced by the unwieldly louis, than the latter came in for his full share of satire. in another of george cruikshank's caricatures of the same year, he shows us _the royal laundress_ [louis the eighteenth] _washing boney's court dresses_, napoleon watching the process the while from st. helena. "ha, ha!" he laughs, "such an old woman as _you_ might rub a long while before they'll be all white, for they are tri-coloured in _grain_." another shows us fat louis climbing the _mât de cocagne_ (soaped pole) and clutching the crown of france; he clambers up on the shoulders of austria, russia, and prussia, his immediate supporter being england. napoleon watches his progress from across the sea; "_i_ climbed up," he says, "twice, without _any_ help." other subjects of the year are: _friends in need_, and _john's dream, or the prince and old england for ever!_ 1816. aversion of the regent to retrenchment. the repugnance of the regent to the economical measures which were forced upon the ministry in 1816 is well-known. the people complained with every just reason of the pressure of taxes, which were levied, as they said, upon the industrious, to be squandered in extravagant salaries, sinecures, and unmerited pensions. they complained of the large standing army, which the regent insisted to be necessary for the maintenance of "our position and high character among the european powers." the prince's aversion to the popular cry for retrenchment and reform is shown by one of george's caricatures entitled, _sick of the property tax, or ministerial influenza_, published by fores on the 8th of march, 1816, where we see the ministers vomiting into a huge receptacle labelled "budget," the matter voided consisting of "standing armies," "property tax," "increase of salaries," and so on. the gouty, self-indulgent prince hobbles up to his ministers on a pair of crutches marked respectively, "more economy" and "increase of income." under his arms he carries bundles of accounts, most of which relate to his own private expenditure, and are labelled, "expenses of [brighton] pavilion," of "furniture," "drinking expenses." "aye, this comes," he exclaims, "of your cursed pill economy, which you forced me to take a month back; no one knows what i have suffered from this economical spasm. i am afraid we shall all be laid up together." on the table behind him lie the medicines which have been prescribed for him, certain pills labelled "petitions against the property tax," and a huge bolus ticketed "economy," "to be taken immediately." on the same subject a month later on is a sketch by an amateur, etched by the artist, bearing the title of _economical humbug of 1816, or saving at the spiggot and letting out at the bunghole_. from a series of small vats, "assessed taxes," "property tax," "customs," "excise," and other streams of "supply," are pouring into a huge vat labelled "the treasury of j. bull's vital spirits." vansittart, chancellor of the exchequer, is carefully drawing off what he requires into a small bucket for the "public service." "you see," he says to mr. bull, who looks admiringly on, "i am not a quibbling pettifogger, i am a man of my word; for you see i have thrown away the great _war_ spiggot, and have substituted a small _peace_ one in its stead, which will cause an unknown saving to you." this is all very well; but the gouty regent has also tapped the vat on the other side, and draws off the supplies in a copious stream into a receptacle labelled, "deficiencies of the civil list." his friends and boon companions are bringing up a fresh supply of empty vessels to be filled in their turn; one carries a barrel marked, "for household troops and standing army"; another is labelled, "sinecures, places, and pensions"; a third, "for cottages and pavilions"; and a fourth, "£60,000 for fun." "come, my friends," says the prince, "make haste and fill your buckets, whilst van is keeping noisy johnny quiet with fine speeches and promises of economy, which i am determined not to practise as long as i can get anything to expend; and while he is saving at the spiggot, we will have it out of the bunghole."[73] _preparing for the match, or the 2nd of may, 1816_, has reference to the marriage of the princess charlotte of wales, who, as we have already seen, was on that day united to prince leopold of saxe-coburg. it had been preceded by a well-designed but most indelicate satire, labelled _royal nuptials_, published by j. johnstone on the 1st of april, in which the prince is seen landing on our shores in a state of destitution, with a pitiable lack of certain necessary articles of clothing, which are being handed to him by john bull in the guise of a countryman. the _dramatis personæ_ are seven in number: prince leopold, john bull, the chancellor of the exchequer, the gouty regent, the princess charlotte, old queen charlotte, with her snuff-box, and, behind her, an old woman intended, i believe, for the poor old king himself. the same year we find two other indelicate subjects: _a bazaar_, a skit upon the immorality and costume of the period, comprising thirty figures; and another, in allusion to the marriage of the princess mary with her cousin, the duke of gloucester, on the 22nd of july, 1816. to those who have asserted that george cruikshank "never pandered to sensuality ... or raised a laugh at the expense of decency," that "satire in his hands never degenerated into savagery or scurrility," i would commend the serious consideration of the three satires i have last named. the elgin marbles. at the time egypt was in the power of the french, during the early part of the century, lord elgin had quitted england upon a mission to the ottoman porte. a great change has taken place in the attitude and bearing of the turks towards other european nations during the last half century; but even at this time the contempt and dislike which had characterized them in their behaviour towards every denomination of christians still prevailed in full force. the success, however, of the british arms in egypt, and the expected restitution of that province to the porte, seem to have wrought a wonderful and instantaneous change in the disposition of that power and its people towards ourselves;[74] and lord elgin, availing himself of these favourable circumstances, obtained in the summer of 1801, access to the acropolis of athens for general purposes, with a concession to "make excavations and to take away any stones that might appear interesting to himself." the result (shortly stated) was the excavation of the once celebrated "elgin marbles," about which, if we are to credit the report from which we glean this information, his lordship would seem to have expended (including the interest of capital) some £74,000. the committee recommend the house, under these circumstances, coupled with the valuations which they had obtained from competent authorities, that £35,000 was "a reasonable and sufficient price to be paid for the collection," and their purchase appears to have been completed on the basis of these figures, a fact which forms the subject of the artist's undated and admirable satire of _john bull buying stones at the time his numerous family want bread_. unsigned, and under date of 25th of november, 1816, i find a caricature published by fores, which seems to me due to the hand of george cruikshank. it is entitled, _the nightmayor_, "painted by fuzeley," and represents a debased woman in the stertorous sleep of drunkenness, whose muddled dream-thoughts revert to the experiences with which her evil habits have made her so frequently familiar. the gin drinker has been brought before the lord mayor any number of times for being "drunk and disorderly," and accordingly her _nightmare_ assumes the form of the city official, who sits upon the body clothed in his robes and invested with the insignia of his office. appended to the satire are the following lines:- "the night mayor flitting through the evening fogs, traverses alleys, streets, courts, lanes, and bogs, seeking some love-bewilder'd maid by gin oppress'd, alights--and sits upon her downy breast." the only other caricature of george i have to notice under date of 1816 is entitled, _state physicians bleeding john bull to death_. (*) 1817. in our third chapter we referred to the distress which prevailed amongst the industrial classes during the two years which followed the fall of bonaparte.[75] we meet with an exceedingly rare pictorial satire by george cruikshank, which relates to this state of things; it bears the title of, _john bull brought up for a discharge, but remanded on account of extravagance and false schedule_, and was published by fores on the 29th of march, 1817. john bull, a bankrupt, is being publicly examined as to the causes of his failure: "being desired by the court to give some explanation [on the subject of the prodigious difference between his debts and his assets], he said that he had been persuaded originally to join with some of the parishioners in indicting his neighbour, mr. frog, for keeping a disorderly house; that they had engaged to bear their part of the expenses, but had all sneaked off one by one, and left him to pay the whole, and carry on the proceedings. it had at last, after being moved from one court to another, become a suit in chancery; and he had been advised by the gentleman whom he had always consulted on these matters, and who was now dead, to go on and persevere, for that he would be sure to get a final decree in his favour, and all the costs. he had at last, in fact, got a decree in his favour, about two years since, before lord chancellor wellington, and for the costs; but not a farthing had ever been paid, nor was it likely to be; on the contrary, mr. frog had surrendered himself, and gone to prison, where he was now living at this moment, at his [mr. bull's] expense. besides, the house in question was now opened again under a new license, granted by the magistrates of the district ... or rather, a renewal of the old one, in favour of the brother of the person who had kept it formerly, ... and the new landlord had taken down the late sign of the bee hive, and put up the old one of the _fleur-de-lis_; but it was nearly as disorderly as ever, and the magistrates were obliged to keep up a great number of special constables to preserve the peace of the neighbourhood."[76] john bull, in his best blue coat and white waistcoat, and suffering under an attack of gout is going through the ordeal of his public examination before the judge. in front of this functionary is the bankrupt's schedule, on which we read the following items:- "amount of income £24,000,000 expenditure 80,000,000 dr. nick frog 10,000,000 paul bruin 1,000,000 frank force-child 8,000,000 will eagle eye 6,000,000 ferd. faithless 30,000,000." in the body of the court, and separated from the commissioner by a wooden enclosure, the upper edge of which is lined with bayonets pointing inwards, are a number of the bankrupt's wretched creditors, whom death, clothed in a red coat and armed with a mace, vainly strives to keep quiet. "ck. fect." in such faint letters that they might easily escape detection, is appended to this remarkable composition. in our third chapter we also referred to the serious disturbances which followed and were the consequences of the public discontents of 1817, and the fact that the names of four informers, castle, oliver, edwards, and franklin were identified with those of the chief fomenters of sedition in the metropolis and the northern counties.[77] in further illustration of the satires in which these fellows put in an appearance, we have one by george cruikshank (published by fores on the 1st of july), and labelled, _conspirators, or delegates in council_. we may here mention that on the 9th of june, one watson, a surgeon, was tried for high treason at westminster hall, and acquitted on the 16th, whereupon the attorney general abandoned the prosecution against thistlewood, preston, and hooper, who were also indicted under a like charge. all the accused were in indigent or humble circumstances, and the chief witness against them appears to have been castle. among the five persons sitting round the table, we recognise castle (whose villainous face is turned towards us) and oliver. the others we cannot identify. the aristocratic looking gentleman receiving them so blandly is my lord castlereagh. "don't you think, my lord," says the person next him, "don't you think that our friends castle and oliver should be sent to lisbon or somewhere, as consul-generals or envoys?" "can't you," says his lordship to the beetle-browed ruffians by way of rejoinder, "can't you _negotiate_ for some boroughs?" john bull, looking through the window at these negotiations, with much indignation, and recognising in these fellows the rascals by whom he has been "ensnared into [committing] criminal acts," hints in very plain terms that the conduct pursued by such men was the high road to political favour in 1817. among the papers on the table we notice a "plan for the attack on the regent's carriage;"[78] a bundle of "treasonable papers to be slipped into the pockets of some duped artisans;" another, indicating the "means to be taken to implicate sir francis burdett, lord cochrane," and other popular agitators of that day; "a list of victims in ireland," and so on. on the floor at his lordship's feet lie some of the tri-coloured flags unfurled at the spafields meeting; the obvious inference intended to be conveyed being of course that the government were really at the bottom of the popular disturbances. _r-y-l condescension, or a foreign minister astonished_, published by fores on the 15th of september, 1817, is one of george cruikshank's most finished but at the same time indelicate compositions. it refers to the rumours affecting the princess caroline's reputation which preceded the "bill of pains and penalties," to which we have already alluded. it appears to us to have originated out of the following circumstance. it was asserted that at a masked ball which the princess had given shortly after she left england to the then king of naples, joachim murat, she appeared in three different disguises; that in one of these, "the genius of history," she had appeared in so unclothed a state as to call for particular observation; her third disguise was a turkish costume. it was further asserted that in her changes of dress she had been assisted, not by her female attendants, but by the person with whom her name was so familiarly associated. in the sketch before us, her royal highness's corpulent and redundant figure is clothed in a tight-fitting turkish dress and trousers, her head being covered by a ponderous turban. the five figures composing her "suite" are the courier bartolomeo bergami, his brothers louis and vollotti bergami, his sister, and william austin, the youth she had adopted,[79] and who, it was proved, slept in her bed-chamber. the whole are decorated with the crosses and ribbons of the absurd order which she was said to have instituted. the courtly, well dressed foreign gentleman to whom she is introducing these vulgar persons appears to be intended for metternich, who, while thanking her royal highness for her "condescension," looks the very picture of unfeigned but well-bred astonishment. death of princess charlotte. in the evening of the 18th of november, 1817, a mournful procession, at which all the great officers of state attended, quitted claremont house _en route_ for windsor. at the impressive ceremony which followed, garter king at arms proclaimed its melancholy purport in the following words: "thus it has pleased almighty god to take out of this transitory life, unto his divine mercy, the late most illustrious princess charlotte augusta, daughter of his royal highness, george, prince of wales, regent of the united kingdom." it was even so. the pride and hope of the nation, the heiress of the crown, was on the 6th of november delivered of a still-born child, and within a very few hours afterwards had succumbed to the unlooked-for and fatal exhaustion which followed. the grief which this occasioned was so universal that every one seemed to realize the fact that he or she had sustained an individual loss; scarcely perhaps in english history had the death of a member of a royal family been more sincerely and truly regretted. the mournful event is referred to by the artist in a more than usually touching sketch, entitled, _england's hope departing_. among the medical attendants of her royal highness who followed her to the grave, was the accoucheur, sir richard croft, bart. this distinguished gentleman was so deeply affected with the unlooked-for result, that his mind refused to recover its tone, and within a month afterwards he committed self-destruction. other pictorial satires of george cruikshank, bearing the date of 1817, are: _fashionables of 1817_, two figures--a male and female--outrageously caricatured, a rough affair, altogether differing from his usual style; the well-known _double entendre_, _a view of the regent's bomb_, which, with our knowledge of his sensitiveness on the subject of his personal appearance, must have given the exalted personage thus outrageously satirized the greatest possible mortification; _the spa fields orator hunting for popularity to do good_, (*) a punning satire on "orator" hunt; _a patriot luminary extinguishing noxious gas_ (etched from the design of another artist); and two admirable designs bearing the titles of _vis-à-vis_ and _les graces_. the same year we meet with one of the earliest of his alliterative satires, afterwards so frequently to be seen among the famous illustrations to the "comic almanack": _la belle assemblée, or sketches of characteristic dancing_, miscellaneous groups, comprising in all thirty figures (exclusive of the orchestra), engaged in a country dance, a scotch reel, an irish jig, a minuet, the german waltz, a french quadrille, the spanish bolero, and a ballet "italienne." the walls are hung with pictures of dancing dogs, a dancing bear, a dancing horse, rope dancing, the dance of st. vitus, and "dancing mad." besides this, we find the same year two large sheets showing the _striking effects produced by lines and dots, for the assistance of every draughtsman_, suggested by, but a very vast improvement on, g. m. woodward's _multum in parvo, or liliputian sketches, showing what may be done by lines and dots_. 1818. adulteration of tea. a report of the house of commons, showing how four million pounds weight of sloe, liquorice, and ash-tree leaves were annually mixed with chinese teas in england, was supplemented by a trial in the court of exchequer, in which a grocer named palmer was fined in £840 penalties, for the fabrication of spurious tea. it appeared that there was a regular manufactory of imitation tea in goldstone street, which was composed of thorn leaves, which, after passing through a peculiar process, were coloured with logwood; the same leaves, after being pressed and dried, were laid upon sheets of copper, coloured with verdigris and dutch pink, and sold as _green_ tea. these revelations led, in 1818, to the artist's admirable caricature of _the t trade in hot-water, or a pretty kettle of fish: dedicated to j. canister and t. spoon, esquires_. besides these, we have the same year: _an interesting scene on board an east indian_, a very coarse but admirable performance; _introduction to the gout_ (a fiend dropping a hot coal on the toe of a _bon vivant_); _a fine lady, or the incomparable_, in which it appears to us that robert had a hand; _les savoyards_ and _le palais royal de paris_; _comparative anatomy, or the dandy trio_; and _the art of walking the streets of london_, eight subjects, etched by the artist after the design of george moutard woodward. [illustration: _designed, etched and published by_ george cruikshank. _november 1st, 1829._ "a scene in kensington gardens, or fashions and frights of 1829." _face p. 152._] on the 4th of december, 1818, the number of convicts lying under sentence of death in his majesty's gaol of newgate, amounted to no less than sixty, of whom ten were females; probably not three of these unfortunate beings would have been hung now-a-days. under the draconian laws, however, then in force, people were hung in scores for passing forged one-pound bank of england notes; and this barbarous state of things, disgraceful to a christian country, led to the famous and telling satire of the _bank restriction note_, one of the very few which seem to have escaped oblivion, and which, having been repeated and reproduced in all the latest essays which have been written on him, calls for no extra description from ourselves. it is said to have had the effect desired, and that "no man or woman was ever hanged after this for passing forged one-pound bank of england notes." 1819. in 1819 we have one of george cruikshank's severe and telling attacks upon the prince regent, in _sales by auction, or provident children disposing of their deceased mother's effects for the benefit of the creditors_ (*), in which he shows us the prince knocking down (in his character of auctioneer) his dead mother's old hats, gowns, and clothing, and begging the bystanders to bid liberally. at the foot of the rostrum lie sundry snuff-boxes and pots, labelled "queen's mixture" and "prince's mixture" (in allusion to the old queen's habits), "strasburg" (in reference to her german tastes and nationality), together with her old china tea-set. this year is remarkable for producing perhaps the most ambitious and admirable allegory which the artist ever designed; it bears the title of _old thirty-nine shaking hands with his good brother the pope of italy, or covering up_ versus _sealing the bible_. old thirty-nine (an english bishop) stands on a pile of volumes labelled, "never-out-ism," "ante-biblism," "never-the-same-ism," etc., whilst the pope, standing on the opposite side on a mass of books bearing similar suggestive titles, shakes hands with his "good brother." by the pope's side we find the devil busily engaged in sealing up the bible. behind him stands the temple of mammon, surrounded by a crowd of reverend worshippers. two fiends standing by the side of "old thirty-nine" make preparations for a bonfire, to which sundry bundles labelled, "articles of faith," "athanasian creed," "catechism," "liturgies," "nicene creed," and so on, will contribute materials. out of a building in the rear, inscribed, "national school for thirty-niners only," issues a procession of ecclesiastics and beadles carrying banners. in the foreground stands the figure of "divine truth," surrounded by little children, and perusing the pages of the "holy bible," held for that purpose by an angel. a roughly executed affair in two compartments, _preachee and floggee too_, satirizes certain clerical magistrates who, while preaching mercy and forgiveness in the pulpit, distinguish themselves by the severity of their sentences for minor offences on the magisterial bench. the titles of other subjects of the year are: _the hobby horse dealer_; _johnny bull and his forged notes, or rags and ruin in the paper currency_; _smoke jack, the alarmist, extinguishing the second great fire of london_; _love, law, and physic_ (*); _the sailor's progress_ (six subjects); _dandies in france, or le restorateur_ (*); _a match for the king's plate_; _the belle alliance, or the female reformers of blackburn_ (*); _voila t'on mort_; and _royal red bengal tiger_ (etched from the designs of other artists); _irish decency_ (two caricatures); _giant grumbo and the black dwarf, or lord g---and the printers devil_; and _our tough old ship steered safely into harbour maugre sharks of the day_ (*). an unsigned caricature, published by fores on the 15th of may, 1819, appears to me to be due to the hand of george cruikshank. it bears the title of _the dandy tailor planning a new hungry dress_, and would appear to have reference to some contemplated introduction of foreign mercenaries into the english service. the tailor, while stitching a military jacket, sings a song of which the following is a verse,- "a tailor there was, and he lived in a stall, which served him for palace, for kitchen, and hall. no coin in his pocket, no nous in his pate, no ambition has he, nor no wish to be great. derry down, down, down, derry down!" a foreigner enters in military costume, introducing two foreign mercenaries. "dese men," he says, "will teach you de proper vay to make de hungarian soldats. i did bring dem expres'. observe des grands mustaches. no more english soldats." a military figure in jack boots, standing by the side of the tailor, holds the "goose" in readiness for his master's use. the prince regent, especially as george the fourth, was fond of inventing new military costumes, and mr. greville describes him in 1829 (the year before his death) as "employed in devising a new dress for the guards;" but by the mitre at his back, and the reference to his impecunious position, i should take this "tailor" to be intended for the duke of york. 1820. _ah! sure such a pair was never seen, so justly formed to meet by nature!_ (*) represents a couple of pears, in which we recognise likenesses of george the fourth and queen caroline, the features of the king being expressive of strong disgust. after lord liverpool had decided not to send the "bill of pains and penalties" to the commons, for the reason stated in a previous chapter, the lord mayor, aldermen, and common council of the city of london distinguished themselves by presenting, on the 10th of december, an address to their "most gracious sovereign," complaining of things in general, and of public expenditure in particular, the real cause of complaint, however, being "the alleged criminality" which, as the petitioners stated, had been "falsely ascribed" to the queen. this address, which was conceived in the worst possible taste, concluded with the following outrageous prayer: "we therefore humbly pray your majesty to dismiss from your presence and councils for ever those ministers whose pernicious measures have so long endangered the throne, undermined the constitution, and blighted the prosperity of the nation." now, only fancy any corporation of london in our time signalizing itself by presenting a petition to "her most gracious majesty," complaining of the measures of lord beaconsfield or mr. gladstone, and praying her to dismiss them from her councils! the king returned the following answer: "it has been with the most painful feelings that i have heard the sentiments contained in the address and petition now presented to me by the lord mayor, aldermen, and common council of the city of london. whatever may be the motives of those by whom it is brought forward, its evident tendency is to inflame the passions and mislead the judgment of the unwary and less enlightened part of my subjects, and thus to aggravate all the difficulties with which we have to contend." this episode suggested to george one of the most admirable of his caricatures: _a scene in the new farce as performed at the royalty theatre_. the corpulent monarch, in the character and costume of henry the eighth, is receiving a number of deputations from all parts of england, scotland, and ireland, bearing petitions praying him to dismiss his ministry, the members of which stand on each side of the throne, one of the number being habited as a jester. this exceedingly rare plate carries on it the following explanation: "king henry viii. being petitioned to dismiss his ministers and council by the citizens of london and many boroughs, to relieve his oppressed subjects, made the citizens this sagacious reply: 'we, with all our cabinet, think it strange that ye who be but _brutes_ and inexpert folk, should tell us who be and who be not fit for our council.'" 1821. another of george cruikshank's rare and valuable contributions to the queen caroline series of pictorial satires is labelled _the royal rushlight_, which many people (among them the chancellor and corpulent george) are vainly endeavouring to blow out. by way (it may be) of contrast, this excellent satire has appended to it the following miserable doggerel,- "cook, coachee, men and maids, very nearly all in buff, came and swore in their lives they never met with such a light; and each of the _family_ by turns had a puff at the little farthing rushlight. but none of the family could blow out the rushlight." death of queen caroline. with the year 1821 came the closing scene in the drama of caroline's unhappy but singularly undignified career. on the occasion of the king's coronation she had applied to lord liverpool, desiring to be informed what arrangements had been made for her convenience, and who were appointed her attendants at the approaching ceremony. an answer was returned that, "it was a right of the crown to give or withhold the order for her majesty's coronation, and that his majesty would be advised not to give any directions for her participation in the arrangements;" but with the obstinacy of purpose which was so fatal a blemish in her character, and which seems to have been the primary cause of all her misfortunes, she insisted on her right, and declared moreover her firm intention of attending the ceremony. a respectful but peremptory reply was returned, reasserting the legal prerogative of the crown, and announcing that the former intimation must be understood as amounting to a _prohibition_ of her attendance. she was however so ill-advised as to present herself early on the morning of the day (the 19th of july) at the doors of the abbey of westminster. the door-keepers refused to allow her to enter as queen; and she was forced to submit to the mortification of having to retire without having succeeded (as it was her evident intention to have done) in marring the arrangements for the splendid ceremony. by this time the enthusiasm in her favour had greatly evaporated, and she was received even coldly by her friends the assembled mob. the mortification proved fatal to her; very shortly afterwards she was taken ill, and died in less than three weeks after the unnecessary mortification to which she had thus insisted on exposing herself. it is probable that if the wishes of her executors had been allowed to be carried out, the unfortunate woman would have been carried to her grave in peace. she had directed that her remains should, three days after her death, be carried to brunswick for interment; and had lord liverpool been wise, he would have left the executors to carry out the arrangements after their own fashion. unfortunately, the government decided to take the arrangements into their own hands, and to lay down the route (the shortest) by which the mournful procession should proceed to harwich. no fault can be found with the arrangements themselves, which were intended to pay the greatest respect to the memory of the deceased; but the cautions they took brought about the very result they were anxious to avoid, and at once revived all the slumbering sympathies of the mob in favour of the unhappy queen. a squabble took place at the outset, dr. lushington, as one of the executors, protesting against the removal of the corpse; but, escorted by squadrons of horse-guards blue, the procession left brandenburg house at eight o'clock in the morning of the 15th of august, in a drizzling rain. the cavalcade reached kensington in solemn order; but on arriving at the gravel pits, and attempting to turn off to the left, its progress was instantly blocked by wagons and carts placed across the road, while a body of men formed across the streets twenty deep and evinced every disposition to dispute the passage. a severe conflict took place between them and the constables, several on both sides being hurt. for an hour and a half the procession waited for orders, and at length it moved towards london. on reaching kensington gore a squadron of the life guards, with a magistrate at their head, tried in vain to open the park gates, the crowd vociferating in the meantime, "to the city! the city!" on reaching hyde park corner, the gate there was found barricaded with carts, and the procession then moved on to park lane, which being also blocked up, it turned back hastily and entered hyde park, through which it proceeded at a trot, the soldiers having cleared away the obstacles at the gate. on reaching cumberland gate, it was found closed by the populace, and in the conflict which ensued the park wall was thrown down by the pressure of the crowd, who hurled the stones at the soldiers, in return for the use the latter had made of their sabres in clearing the passage. many of the military and their horses were hurt; and some of the soldiers, irritated by their rough usage, resorted to their pistols and carbines, and two persons (richard honey, a carpenter, and george francis, a bricklayer) were unfortunately killed, and others wounded. the edgeware road was blockaded, but quickly cleared, and the procession moved on till it arrived at the turnpike gate near the top of tottenham court road. there the mob made so determined a stand that further opposition was deemed unadvisable, and the popular will being at length acceded to, the cavalcade forthwith took its way into the city. every street through which a turn could have been made in order to enter the new road or the city road was found barricaded. as the funeral passed through the city, the oxford blues doing duty there, who had not participated in the outrage, were cordially greeted by the populace on either side of the street. the inquests on the bodies of the dead men lasted for a considerable period. in the case of francis, a verdict of "wilful murder against a life guardsman unknown" was returned; whilst in that of honey, the verdict was manslaughter against the officers and men of the first regiment of life guards on duty at the time. this event is recorded by george in a caricature entitled, _the manslaughter men, or a horse laugh at the law of the land_,--two ghostly gory figures rising from their graves, which are respectively inscribed, "verdict, wilful murder," and "verdict, manslaughter"; a group of life guardsmen grin and point at the body, and one of them jeeringly remarks, "shake not thy bloody locks at me; ye cannot say who did it." another satire on the same subject bears the title of _the horse chancellor obtaining a verdict, or killing no murder_. other subjects of this year are the following: _and when ahitophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose and went and hanged himself_; _o! o! there's a minister of the gospel_; _the royal extinguisher, or the king of brobdingnag and the liliputians_ (etched after the design of isaac robert). six subjects, _la diligence_ and _la doriane_, _venus de medici and mer de glace_, _visit to vesuvius_ and _forum boarium_, and _nosing the nob at ramsgate_, a coarsely executed satire aimed at his majesty and his eccentric subject, alderman sir william curtis. 1822. sir william curtis. sir william curtis, alderman, trader, and formerly member for the city, is one of the most prominent figures in the satires of his time. making every allowance for caricature drawing, the likeness must have been on the whole a faithful though an exaggerated one; for in all the numerous comical sketches in which he makes an appearance, we never fail to recognise his ruby nose and ponderous figure. we have already seen him figuring by way of ludicrous contrast with claude ambroise seurat, the "living skeleton," and we shall now find him associated by the caricaturists with no less a person than the king himself. when his majesty, in 1822, paid his visit to scotland, and by way of compliment to the country and her traditions assumed the "garb of old gael," alderman sir william curtis, who followed his sovereign at a respectful distance, out of compliment to the country, her traditions, "his most gracious majesty," and himself, put his own corpulent form into fancy costume, and likewise donned the highland garb. the absurdly ludicrous result is told us by lockhart. "the king at his first levee diverted many, and delighted scott by appearing in the full highland garb--the same brilliant _stewart tartans_, so-called, in which certainly no stewart, except prince charles, had ever before presented himself in the saloons of holyrood. his majesty's celtic toilette had been carefully watched and assisted by the gallant laird of garth, who was not a little proud of the result of his dexterous manipulations of the rough plaid, and pronounced the king 'a vara pretty man.' and he did look a most stately and imposing person in that beautiful dress; but his satisfaction therein was cruelly disturbed when he discovered, towering and blazing among and above the genuine glengarries and macleods and macgregors, a figure even more portly than his own, equipped from a sudden impulse of loyal ardour in an equally complete set of the self-same conspicuous stewart tartans:- 'he caught sir william curtis in a kilt- while throng'd the chiefs of every highland clan to hail their brother, vich ian alderman.'[80] in truth this portentous apparition cast an air of ridicule and caricature over the whole of sir walter's celtified pageantry. a sharp little bailie from aberdeen, who had previously made acquaintance with the worthy guildhall baronet, and tasted the turtle soup of his voluptuous yacht, tortured him as he sailed down the long gallery of holyrood, by suggesting that after all his costume was not quite perfect. sir william, who had been rigged out, as the auctioneer's advertisements say, 'regardless of expense,' exclaimed that he must be mistaken, begged he would explain his criticism, and, as he spoke, threw a glance of admiration on his _skene dhu_ (black knife), which, like a true 'warrior and hunter of deer,' he wore stuck into one of his garters. 'oo ay! oo ay!' quoth the aberdonian; 'the knife's a' right, mon--but faar's your speen?' (where's your spoon?) such was scott's story; but whether he 'gave it a cocked hat and walking cane,' in the hope of restoring the king's good humour, so grievously shaken by this heroical _doppel ganger_, it is not very necessary to inquire."[81] which indeed of the absurd pair looked the most ridiculous it would be hard to say: a great-grandson of george the second in the highland garb of "bonnie prince charlie," was perhaps as absurd an anachronism as a fat cockney alderman in the same fancy costume. our friends the caricaturists were fully alive to these puerilities. an anonymous caricature of the day celebrates the ludicrous event in a satire entitled, _equipt for a northern visit_, which represents the fat king and the fat alderman in kilts, the point of the pictorial epigram lying in the fact that the corpulent king recommends his corpulent subject to lay aside the costume as unbecoming to a man of _his_ proportions. george has several pictorial satires on the same fertile theme; one of these, _bonnie willie_, depicts the huge man in highland garb. a rare and most amusing caricature shows us the supposed unfortunate _results of this northern excursion_. the fat king and his fat subject have caught the northern complaint vulgarly termed the "scottish fiddle," and are vigorously going through the traditionary process of rubbing themselves against the post, blessing the while his grace the duke of argyle. an english acquaintance, not unnaturally afraid of infection, refuses the alderman's proffered hand. a caricature of altogether another kind commemorates a raid made by the bow street officers on the numerous gaming establishments of 1822. it is called, _cribbage, shuffling, whist, and a round game_, is divided into six compartments, and is most humorously and admirably treated. the principal performers are the knaves of cards. one of the compartments shows us the knaves on the treadmill, which is marked "fortune's wheel;" while in another a knave is undergoing the discipline of the "cat," and calling out at every stroke "e. o.! e. o.! e. o.!"[82] statue of achilles. sir richard westmacott's statue of achilles was executed in 1822. the nude, undraped colossal figure, which was subscribed for by the ladies of england in honour of the duke of wellington and his soldiers, was the occasion of numerous contemporary satires--most of them (in those plain-spoken days) of the broadest possible character. one of the most indelicate (*) (drawn by the artist from the sketch or suggestion of another) gives a burlesque front and back view of the figure, which is surrounded by a number of people (principally ladies), among whom we recognise a caricature likeness of the "dook." the inscription runs as follows: "to arthur à bradley, and his jolly companions every one, this brazen image of patrick o'killus, esq., is inscribed by their countrywomen."[83] besides the foregoing, we meet this year with _a lollipop-ally campagne and brandy ball_ (*); _premium, par, and discount_; _showing-off--bang up--prime_ (*); and _a sailor's description of a chase and capture_ (*). 1823. a large proportion of his satires for 1823 are aimed at louis the eighteenth's spanish expedition, the object of which we have already related. one of these shows us _france the great nation driven by the north into the south_; in another, ferdinand the seventh and the duc d'angoulème figure respectively as a _spanish mule and a french jackass_; _a french hilt on a spanish rapier_, is likewise dedicated to the duc d'angoulème; another shows us _old bumblehead the 18th trying on napoleon's boots_; a fifth is entitled, _a hint to the blind and foolish, or the bourbon dynasty in danger_; while a sixth shows us _louis the fat troubled with nightmare and dreams of terror_. in all these caricatures, the figure of napoleon, already sleeping his last sleep at st. helena--the place of his exile and of his grave--is represented by way of contrast to the unwieldly and incompetent bourbon. another caricature, the point of which i fail to see, bears the title of _the tables turn'd, or the devil outwitted and cruelly punished,--a scene on the portsmouth treadmill_; this last, though said to be "designed by an amateur," and "etched by g. ck.," is unquestionably all his own. 1824. _drilling one-tenth of the military in the manual exercise_, and _saint shela_ (two subjects), have reference to the tenth hussars and battier scandal, mentioned in a previous chapter;[84] other subjects of 1824 are: _parisian luxury_ (a man being shaved in a bath); _preparing for a duel_; and _the ostend packet in a squall_; all etched by george from the designs of other artists. the mania for joint-stock companies in 1825, was scarcely equalled by the speculation mania which inaugurated the passing in our own time of the "limited liability act." in 1824 and the beginning of 1825, two hundred and seventy-six companies had been projected, of which the aggregate capital (on paper only) represented £174,114,050. thirty-three of these were established for the construction of canals and docks, forty-eight of railroads, forty-two for the supply of gas, six of milk, and eight of water, four for the working of coal, and thirty-four of metal mines; twenty new insurance companies were started, twenty-three banks, twelve navigation and packet companies, three fisheries, two for boring tunnels under the thames, three for the embellishment and improvement of the metropolis, two for sea-water baths, and the rest for miscellaneous purposes; it is a somewhat significant fact that two only had for their object the establishment of newspapers. notwithstanding the manifest absurdity of many of these projects, the shares of several--especially of the mining adventurers in south america--rose to enormous premiums. among the last may be mentioned those of the real del monte, the price of which, between the 10th of december and the 11th of january, rose from £550 to £1350, and the united mexican during the same period from £35 to £1550. on these last shares only £10 had been paid, and on the former only £70. speaking of this mania, the rev. t. f. dibdin (in his "reminiscences") says, "if it did not partake of the name, it had certainly all the wild characteristics of the south sea bubble. to-day you had only to put your name down to a share or shares in the rio de la plata or other south american mines, and to-morrow a supplicant purchaser would give you fifty per cent. for every share taken. the old were bewitched ... the young were in ecstasies. everybody made a rush for the city. a new world of wealth had been discovered. it was only to ask and have." george cruikshank refers to this state of things in a caricature called, _a scene in the farce of lofty projects, as performed with great success for the benefit and amusement of john bull_. besides these, he gives us _the four mr. prices_ (high price, low price, full price, and half price). i can assign no date to _waiting on the ladies_; _the death of the property tax, or thirty-seven mortal wounds for ministers and the inquisitorial commissioners_; or to _the court at brighton, à la chinese_, one of the most admirable of the whole series. in this last, the fat prince habited as a mandarin, is seated on a sofa between the princess charlotte and an enormously fat woman, probably intended for the marchioness of conyngham. he is handing to a chinese official a paper inscribed "instructions for lord amhurst, to get fresh patterns of chinese deformities to finish the decorations of pavilion g. p. r." a specimen of regency taste and sympathies stands on a pedestal in the form of the hottentot venus, while a statuette of the fat prince himself, habited in a red coat, white waistcoat, yellow inexpressibles, and silk stockings, is labelled the "british adonis." the princess recommends her papa to order the officer to bring her over "a chinaman, instead of getting her a husband among our german cousins." a variety of miscellaneous articles are strewn about the floor, among them a box containing the regent's wigs and whiskers, a treatise on "the art of making punch," the indispensable hamper of champagne, and a pair of curling irons; while no one will fail to recognise the interior of the brighton pavilion as the scene where this admirable satire is laid. another undated satire remains to be noticed: it represents a young man in a boat with three young women, one of them of considerable personal attractions, that is to say from a cruikshankian point of view, and evidently a likeness. on the shore stands another young woman and her child, whom the young spark has evidently left behind him. in the stern of the boat is a hamper of wine and a goblet fashioned out of a skull; a noseless man rows the boat, while three sailors in an adjoining vessel make ribald observations in reference to the young man's female companions. by the star on his coat, the turned-down collar, profile, and the arrangement of the hair, we take it that the person thus satirized is lord byron. any doubts we may have on the subject seem removed by the words of the song he is supposed to be singing while waving his hat to the disconsolate woman on the shore:- "all my faults perchance thou knowest, all my _madness_ none can know." and the concluding stanza:- "fare thee well! thus disunited, torn from every nearer tie, seared in heart, and lone, and blighted, more than this i scarce can die"!! the foregoing contains a list and description of some of george cruikshank's graphic satires, many of which we have reason to believe will be entirely new to the great majority of our readers. they support the description given of him by lockhart at the opening of our chapter: "people consider him as a clever, sharp caricaturist, and nothing more--a free-handed, comical young fellow, who will do anything he is paid for, and who is quite content to dine off the proceeds of a 'george iv.' to-day, and those of a 'hone,' or a 'cobbett,' to-morrow." it must be remembered that these represent but a branch of his work; and that while content to design a satire as elaborate and as admirable as any which owe their origin to the hand of gillray, or to dash off a rough and carelessly executed caricature, he was equally ready to etch the work of an inferior artist, or even of an amateur; to execute a drawing on wood for a ballad, or for one of the numerous political hits of the day, whether on the loyal or the popular side mattered but little to him; to do anything, in fact (to use the words of lockhart), that "was suggested or thrown in his way." it is barely possible that the very imperfect series we have given may astonish those who have hitherto regarded george cruikshank only as an illustrator of books, and supposed that, with the exception of the woodcuts for hone's various _jeux d'esprits_, and the rough work which appears in "the satirist," "the scourge," and publications of a similar character, he executed but few pictorial satires. a perfect set of impressions from his caricatures probably does not exist; if it did it would command a high price indeed. we have seen a set of about seventy plates advertised by one enterprising bookseller at the price of seventy pounds. the specimens we have cited (exclusive of two from "the scourge") 128 in number, were published between the years 1808 and 1825, by g. and h. humphrey, s. fairburn, thomas tegg, ackermann, m. jones, j. fairburn, j. dolby, w. hone, s. w. fores, a. bengo, j. sidebotham, s. knight, and j. johnstone. if to the foregoing we add the plates in "cruikshankiana"--twenty-six in number, thirty in "the scourge," six in "fashion," nine in "the satirist," and eight in the "loyalists' magazine," we get seventy-nine more, making a sum total of over two hundred in all. how many more have escaped notice--how many have disappeared for ever from public notice without a chance of recovery or revival--it would be, perhaps, impossible to say; for even george himself was sometimes at fault, when the long-forgotten work of his early years was presented to him for recognition or acknowledgment. footnotes: [66] alluding to the "life in london." [67] this certainly was not true; both gillray and rowlandson were draughtsmen and artists of exceptionable ability. [68] the article from which this is quoted is variously assigned to professor wilson and lockhart; it matters little which. meanwhile, we must have a name, let it be lockhart's. [69] the editor of "the scourge" was one jack mitford. he received a classical education, was originally in the navy, and fought under hood and nelson. besides "the scourge," he edited "the bon ton" magazine, and "quizzical gazette," and was author of a sea song once popular, "the king is a true british sailor." he was an irreclaimable drunkard, thought only of the necessities of the hour, and slept in the fields when his finances would not admit of payment of a twopenny lodging in st. giles's. his largest work was "johnny newcome in the navy," for which the publisher gave him the generous remuneration of a shilling a day till he finished it. he died in st. giles's workhouse in 1831. [70] the reader may remember that napoleon once contracted a skin disease from taking up a weapon which had been wielded by a dead artilleryman, which gave him trouble at various periods of his life. it may be that this suggested the subject. [71] see the "declaration of the powers," from which we have already quoted. [72] "narrative of captain maitland," p. 109. [73] the regent's selfish nature and expensive habits may be judged by the following extract from the greville memoirs. under date of 1830, mr. greville writes: "sefton gave me an account of the dinner in st. george's hall on the king's [william iv.] birthday, which was magnificent, excellent, and well served. bridge came down with the plate, and was hid during the dinner behind the great wine-cooler, which weighs 7,000 ounces, and he told sefton afterwards that the plate in the room was worth £200,000. there is another service of plate which was not used at all. the king has made it all over to the crown. _all this plate was ordered by the late king, and never used; his delight was ordering what the public had to pay for._"--_greville memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 42. [74] see report of the select committee of the house of commons on the earl of elgin's collection ... of marbles ("annual reg.," 1816, p. 447). [75] see chapter iii. (1817). [76] the idea of the letterpress description (a very long one), from which the above is an extract, is borrowed of course from dr. arbuthnot. [77] see chapter iii. (1817). [78] see chapter iii. (1817). [79] she was fond of adopting children, and it was proved that she had adopted a daughter of the man bergami. [80] byron's "age of bronze." [81] lockhart's "life of scott," vol. v. p. 203. [82] "e. o." was another name for roulette, and forms the subject of one of rowlandson's early and best caricatures. [83] the following are the words of the original inscription: "to arthur, duke of wellington, and his brave companions in arms, this statue of achilles, cast from cannon taken in the battles of salamanca, vitoria, toulouse, and waterloo, is inscribed by their countrywomen." [84] see chapter iv. chapter viii. _george cruikshank at his prime._ alterations in cruikshank's style. those who have studied the work of george cruikshank from its commencement to its close (and those only can be said to have done so who are familiar with the satires described in the previous chapter), cannot fail to be struck with the alterations which took place in his style at different periods of the career we have already been considering. george cruikshank's peculiar style and manner, which enable us to recognise his work at a glance, was the outcome of a very slow and gradual process of development. in the first instance he closely copied gillray, but soon acquired a manner of his own, blending the two styles after a fashion which is both interesting and amusing to follow. soon, however, the style of the master was discontinued, and gradually the artist began to discover that the bent of his genius lay in altogether another direction. unlike thomas rowlandson, the moment cruikshank became an illustrator of books, he realized the fact that the style adapted to graphic satire was unsuitable for the purposes of this branch of art, and thenceforth he adopted a style differing from anything which had gone before. the revolution thus accomplished (a singular proof of the genius of the man) was effected without effort, and is strikingly manifest in an early book illustration representing the execution of madame tiquet and her accomplice, in 1699. the design to which we refer, which we believe is rare and little known, was engraved by h. r. cook, from a design by the artist for the frontispiece to a collection of narratives by cecil, "printed for hone," in 1819, and stands by virtue of its force and character apart from most of the book illustrations of the period. from the moment that the new style was adopted, the artist's services were brought into requisition for the purposes of book illustration; and from the time work of this kind began to come in, he relaxed and afterwards discontinued the practice of caricature. it is as an etcher and designer of book illustrations we shall henceforth have to consider him, and in this character one of his famous illustrations to "greenwich hospital" will be found superior to the whole series of rowlandson's careless overdrawn designs to the three "tours" of syntax put together. this alteration in the man's style after he took to book illustration is known only to those familiar with his early caricatures. if you take, for instance, the etching of _st. swithin's chapel_, of the "sketch book," or _the gin shop_ in the "scraps and sketches"[85] (we are speaking of course of the early _coloured_ impressions), and show them together with any two of the caricatures we have named to a person who had never before seen either, we will venture to say that he would pronounce them without hesitation to be executed by entirely different hands. george's ideas of female beauty. after lockhart's statement that george cruikshank was capable of designing an _annunciation_, a _beatification_, or an _apotheosis_, we must accept his assertion that he "understood the [human] figure completely" with a certain amount of reservation. perhaps he did; and if he did, he certainly played some extraordinary tricks with the "figure" aforesaid. the truth is, that we forget the artist's weaknesses, many and glaring as they are, in the lustre of his unexampled _genius_. _the times_, in an otherwise laudatory article which it published after his death, remarked that "there was not a single beautiful face or figure probably in the whole range of cruikshank's work." now, although this is not entirely true, there is at least so much of truth in it that we may admit that the cases in which he has produced a pretty face or figure are very few and far between, and even those cases seem rather to have been the result of accident than of design. there is no getting over the fact that george's ideas of female beauty were, to say the least of them, peculiar: his women are fearfully and wonderfully made; they are horse-faced; their eyebrows are black and strongly marked; their hair is plastered to the sides of their faces, and meet bobs of hair at the back of their heads; their waists are as thin as their necks; and they all bear a strong family likeness to one another. _the times_ assertion is happily, however, so broad that it is easy to traverse and contradict it. george's handsome women are so few, that it is difficult at the moment to say where any of them may be found. i know at least of one amazingly handsome one--the _london barrow woman_ in hone's "every-day book." some pretty servant girls will be found in the etching of _the sergeant introducing his dutch wife to his friends_ in "st. james's, or the court of queen anne," and i will undertake to point out at least half a dozen pretty faces in the course of illustrations to "the miser's daughter"; but after all, these are only exceptions to the general rule; and it may be safely conceded that as a delineator of female beauty, george could not hold a candle to john leech, to john tenniel, or even to his own brother, isaac robert. the cruikshankian steed. as for the celebrated cruikshankian steed, i give him up at once as an utterly irreclaimable and unmanageable brute. thackeray, writing in 1840, said, that "though our artist does not draw horses very scientifically, to use the phrase of the _atelier_; he feels them very keenly, and his queer animals, after one is used to them, answer quite as well as better." even on this subject, however, the ablest critics have contradicted each other. george augustus sala tells us that the artist "could draw the ordinary nag of real life well enough," and cites by way of example the very horses of the celebrated _deaf postilion_, in "three courses and a dessert," which thackeray had previously held up to well-merited execration. he goes on to tell us that when george "essayed to portray a charger or a hunter, or a lady's hack, or even a pair of carriage horses, the result was the most grotesque of failures. the noble animal has, i apprehend, forty-four 'points,' technically speaking, and from the muzzle to the spavin-place, from the crest to the withers, from the root of the dock to the fetlock, george was wrong in them all. his fiery steed bore an equal resemblance to a suffolk punch with the head of a griffin and the legs of an antelope, and that traditionary cockhorse on which the lady was supposed to ride to banbury cross with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes."[86] his peculiarities notwithstanding, george himself was in no wise conscious of them, and never hesitated to introduce "the fiery untamed" into any scene--battle or otherwise--in which the services of the eccentric animal might be turned to account. we find him assisting washington in his triumphal journey to the capitol; astonishing the french squares in the character of a mameluke charger at the battle of the pyramids; and leaping into the lake along with "herne the hunter," that peculiar creation of the late mr. harrison ainsworth, on which supernatural occasion he comes out, as might have been expected, with peculiar force and vigour. thackeray, moreover, says of his trees, that they were decidedly original, "being decidedly of his own make and composition, not imitated from any master;" another and a minor difficulty with the artist was a boot, which he invariably drew half a foot too long. george lived in the days of straps, and being strictly conservative in principle, when he met with a pair of trousers, his idea of the "fitness of things" was not satisfied until he pinned them to the wearer's feet with a pair of these most uncomfortable appendages. against these shortcomings, which are a sufficient answer to those who would give him credit for possessing the faculty of designing "annunciations, beatifications, apotheoses," and the like, we must set his excellencies, the power and brilliancy of his imaginative faculties, his extraordinary talents of conception and realization, the delicacy of his manipulation and execution: in a word, the strong original "genius" with which lockhart credited him from the moment he had seen his "points of humour." examples of this "genius" might be cited by the thousand. look only at the famous "sketch book;" its recent republication has placed it within the reach of every one of our readers. look at the _sprig of shelalegh_, the rollicking, whiskey drinking, fighting, devil-may-care _expression_ he has thrown into that _piece of wood_; turn to the sheet wherein he has recorded his _recollections of the court of common pleas_, and study the group of lawyers' and witnesses' faces therein contained. there is "genius" for you, if you will. if you are overworked, turn to them; they will do you good, for they will not only make you merry, but force upon you the conviction that the conception which created them was essentially original. it is this delightful originality of george cruikshank which constitutes his _genius_. [illustration: george cruikshank. "_three courses and a dessert._" the deaf postilion. (_see p. 169._)] [illustration: george cruikshank. "_three courses and a dessert._" the braintrees. "i doan't want to hurt thee, zo i leaves thee wi' un, but, mind--he'll hold thy droat a little tighter than i did, if thee wags a hair." _face p. 171._] "no plan!" "no ambition!" "not much industry!" so at least said lockhart. we may doubt whether even at the time it was spoken this charge had any foundation of truth to rest upon; an answer to it at least will be found in the fact that, before the mysterious spell had fallen upon him we shall presently have to describe, this sterling and indefatigable genius had already produced thousands upon thousands of miraculous little drawings. from the mass of these wonderful creations we propose now to select a few examples, choosing them in the first instance from a graver type than some we shall presently have to consider. "greenwich hospital" gives us one of the very best drawings which cruikshank ever designed. the scene of the _point of honour_ is laid on board the _triumph_, at spithead, at the time of the famous mutiny. a detachment of marines with shouldered arms are drawn up on the quarter deck, their drummer is beating to quarters, while all hands are assembled to witness a degrading and demoralizing spectacle,--a sailor, with his shoulders bare and his hands tied to the triangles, about to receive punishment for disobedience to orders. conspicuous amongst the figures are two little middies, habited in the strange naval uniform of sixty years ago. the illustration to _the braintrees_, at page 90 of the "three courses and a dessert" is a marvellous specimen, not only of the graphic power of the artist, but a triumph of the wood-engraver's craft. in _the gin shop_ ("sketches by boz"), the artist selected a subject which invariably enlisted his sympathy and called into action the full power of his graphic satire. mark the flaming gas, the huge spirit vats, the gaudily painted pillars and mouldings; above all, the strange people: the young man with his hat on one side who chaffs the young ladies behind the bar, the gin-drinking female by his side, the gin-loving cripple, the small boy who brings the family bottle to be filled with gin, whose head barely reaches the counter, the gin-drinking charwoman to the left, and the quarrelsome gin-drinking irish customers at the back. everything in this picture reeks of _gin_; the only persons not imbibing it are the proprietor and his dowdy barmaids, whom i have no manner of doubt the artist intended to look captivating. "what a fine touching picture of melancholy desolation," remarks thackeray, "is that of 'sikes and the dog.' the poor cur is not too well drawn, the landscape is stiff and formal; but in this case the faults, if faults they be, of execution rather add to than diminish the effect of the picture: it has a strange, wild, dreary, broken-hearted look; we fancy we see the landscape as it must have appeared to sikes, when ghastly and with bloodshot eyes he looked at it." the etching of _jonathan wild discovering darrell in the loft_ ["jack sheppard"] reminds one, in its treatment, of rembrandt, for the work of cruikshank, be it observed, distinctly shows in its results that he studied both hogarth and rembrandt. the effect the artist has produced is wonderful; the ray of light thrown through the gloom upon the figure of darrell as he stands against the wall, sword in hand, is capitally managed, "while the intricacies of the tile-work, and the mysterious twinkling of light among the beams are excellently felt and rendered."[87] _simon renard and winwike on the roof of the white tower_ ["tower of london"] is another admirable drawing. the scene is laid on the platform of one of the antique guns which frown from the embrasures of the river face of the fortress. the head of renard is not well drawn. the character of the ambassador gives one the idea of a spanish iago, a clever, calculating knave, whom we should credit with the possession of a broad and lofty forehead, indicative of deep and concentrated thought; in the etching, however, before us, he has none at all, a deficiency compensated by puffy cheeks and a preposterous beak. these imperfections, which in another artist would mar the drawing, serve only to throw its excellencies into prominent notice. the lights and shadows are most effectively rendered, and the setting sun throws a broad light upon the features of the warder, who has laid aside his arquebus while conversing with the wily spaniard. of the many who have noticed the well-known etching of _born a genius and born a dwarf_ ["comic almanack, 1847"], not one (so far at least as we know) has ever mentioned its origin. the subject was prompted by one of the last entries in the diary of poor benjamin robert haydon, who died by his own hand on the 22nd of june, 1846, his corpse being found at the foot of his colossal picture of _alfred the great and the first british jury_. the entry runs as follows:--"tom thumb had 12,000 people last week, b. r. haydon 133-1/2 (the 1/2 a little girl). exquisite taste of the english people!" in the etching which shows us _randulph and hilda dancing in the rotunda at ranelagh_ ["miser's daughter"], he brings us face to face with our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers; wherever he got his authority from, the huge circular hall with galleries and arches running round it, illuminated by a thousand lamps, and the curious orchestra with the old-fashioned sounding-board above, are no freak of the artist's imagination. the etching possesses a wondrous charm of reality. we find ourselves assisting, as it were, at one of the masquerades described in "sir charles grandison"; many of the company are in fancy dresses, and we find it difficult to realize, in these broad-cloth days, that the gentlemen in the velvet coats, with gold-bound embroidered waistcoats, silk stockings, silver gilt rapiers, and laced hats, dancing minuets with chinamen, harlequins, scaramouches, templars, and other fancifully-dressed persons, are simply wearing the every-day costume of men of fashion of the day. mannerism. perhaps more than any other comic artist of past or present time, george is distinguished by his mannerisms. his horses, his women, the costumes of his male and female characters, the cut of their garments and of their boots, the arrangement of their hair, will proclaim his individuality anywhere; and yet, if you look at any of the designs which he executed in his best and brightest days, before he took up with the mania which contributed, as we shall presently see, so largely to the ruin of his artistic genius, fame, and fortunes, we cannot fail to be impressed with the quaintness of his imagination. in this quaintness and originality lie the charm and freshness which is the peculiar characteristic of his designs. unlike those of other artists, you may turn over volume after volume of his sketches, and be conscious of no sense of weariness. much of this no doubt is due to their constant variety. unlike the generality of modern illustrators, he is not limited to the costumes and incidents of the every-day commonplace life of the nineteenth century; he does not confine himself to humour; his fancy takes a wider range, and revels in subjects of wonder, diablery, and romance. gnomes and fairies, devils and goblins, knights, giants, jesters, and morris dancers are continually passing before us; there is an endless succession of novelties, treated with a quaintness of fancy which distinguishes it above all others; there is a ceaseless variety in his _dramatis personæ_, while the characters are as various as the subjects. in these characteristics seem to lie the secret of the pleasure which his illustrations, whether they be drawn on wood or etched on the copper, never fail to inspire. the sale and purchase of peter schlemihl's _shadow_ has been noticed by thackeray. we see the old gentleman neatly packing up his purchase after the manner of an "old clo'" dealer; he has just "lifted the _shadow of one leg_; he is going to fold it back neatly, as one does the tails of a coat, and will stow it, without any creases or crumples, along with the other black garments that lie in that immense pocket of his."[88] another illustration in the same book shows us peter, after he has repented of his bargain (as vendors invariably do who indulge in mercantile transactions of this character) in ardent pursuit of his shadow, which the tantilizing purchaser has let out for the occasion. can anything more ludicrous be imagined than this scampering piece of intangibility? the etching of _sailors carousing_ ["greenwich hospital"], executed in 1826, before the artist had altogether discontinued the style and manner of gillray, would have delighted the heart of that accomplished caricaturist. an old one-eyed salt presides over a vast bowl of punch, the contents of which he is engaged in distributing to the company. one enthusiastic tar foots it with such vigour that he cannons against a potman, upsetting him and the measure of scalding liquor he carries over another angry, blaspheming sailor man; another sea worthy, snoring drunk, has converted his quart pot into an impromptu pillow, his own recumbent form serving the purposes of a footstool to a companion. the females are a combination of the styles of gillray and cruikshank, and, with one exception, are old, ugly, and preposterously fat. a comical illustration in the same book is called, _paying off a jew pedlar_. the unhappy man (who had cheated the sailors), innocent of danger, is seated on a grating with his combs, spy-glasses, necklaces, ribbons, and all the rest of his "brummagem" trumpery, spread out before him. the men, who have slily hitched a rope to the grating, suddenly give it a hoist, and away slides moses, with all his wares and trumpery, into the hold together! how poor seymour would have revelled in that admirable tailpiece in "three courses and a dessert," where an unhappy wight, pursued by a bull, manages to scramble atop of a gate-post (the only part free from spikes), to find his escape cut off on one side by a couple of bull-dogs, and on the other by a _chevaux-de-frise_ terminating in a horse pond! we meet with a solemn piece of fun in _simpkin dancing to the musicians_, one of the illustrations to the celebrated "new bath guide" of christopher anstey- "and i thought it was right, as the music was come, to foot it a little in tabitha's room." [illustration: "the witch's switch." "absent-mindedness." "the tête-à-tête." "the dentist." "bat boroo." sketches from george cruikshank's "three courses and a dessert." _face p. 175._] _the last cab driver_ ["sketches by boz"] deserves a passing notice, because it has preserved from oblivion a class of vehicles which has long since disappeared from the london streets. it looked for all the world like the section of a coffin set on end, the seat (which was intended to accommodate only one person besides the driver) occupying the centre. the cabman being a very _mauvais sujet_, we find the surroundings (after the artist's practice) in strict keeping with his character. the building past which he drives is marked "old bailey"; whilst a snuff manufacturer in the street at the back advertises himself as the vendor of "real irish blackguard." waverley novels. the dry, quaint humour of the author of "waverley" exactly suited the quaint imaginings of our artist. both scott and cruikshank delighted in the supernatural and the marvellous, and this is why some of the most characteristic of the artist's designs are to be found in his illustrations to the "waverley novels." in one of these he shows us the illustrious dominie at the moment, when reaching over to gather a water-lily, he falls souse into the slough of lochend, in which he forthwith became bogged up to the middle, his plight drawing from him of course his favourite ejaculation of amazement. by the assistance of some women the luckless dominie was extracted from his position, justifying the remark of one of his assistants, that "the laird might as weel trust the care of his bairn to a potato-bogle." which was the most helpless of the two men--the laird of dumbiedikes, or the illustrious dominie--it would be difficult to say; both these most original characters took a powerful hold on the artist's imagination, and as a natural consequence the ideas of scott were completely realized. a very comical design is that in which he shows us the worthy but witless laird with his laced cocked hat and empty tobacco pipe,[89] and his hand extended "like the claw of a heraldic griffin," when he managed to utter something beyond his usual morning greeting, and frightened jeannie into the belief that he had so far "screwed his courage to the sticking place" as to venture on a matrimonial proposal, to which unwonted effort of imagination his intelligence, however, proved altogether unequal. alliterative designs. in the "comic almanack" will be found many examples of george's tendency to graphic alliteration. _the fall of the leaf_ affords a capital specimen of the kind of design to which we allude. the leaf of the dinner-table has been so insecurely fastened that it falls, burying with it the mistress of the house, the fish, the champagne, a sherry decanter, a vase of flowers,--everything, in fact, to which it formed a treacherous and unreliable support; gibbon's "decline and fall" lies in a corner of the room, and the walls are hung with appropriate subjects, such as the fall of foyers, the falls of niagara, falls of the clyde, and so on. an illustration of a similar kind will be found in _taurus--a literary bull_. the animal has rushed into a printing office and scattered the compositors right and left; some seek shelter beneath their frames, one clambers wildly up the shelves of a paper case, while others scuttle over the frames, and one man, too wholly dismayed and bewildered to run, brandishes a stool in helpless imbecility. the bull is perhaps the most astonished of the _dramatis personæ_, and evidently wonders into what manner of place fate has brought him. the walls are pasted with appropriate advertisements: "some account of the pope's bull," "a cock and bull story," "theatre royal, haymarket--john bull" "to be sold by auction, the bull inn," "abstract of the act against bull-baiting," and so on. in _libra striking the balance_ (same year), a dishonest tradesman has been detected in using false weights and measures. the beadle holds up a pair of scales, one of which weighs very much heavier than the other. the wretched culprit, conscious, all too late, that honesty would have proved "the best policy" for himself, leans against his shelves the picture of sullen and detected guilt. the window of the shop bears on it the painted _legend_ of "the cheapest shop in london." leaning against the counter we find a programme of the "city theatre," announcing the performance of "measure for measure": to conclude with "honest thieves"; an officer outside (surrounded by a deeply interested crowd) is engaged in breaking up a second pair of dishonest scales. chronology, difference in politics, character, tastes, and disposition, are most amusingly set at defiance in the etching entitled _the revolution at madame tussaud's_ [1847]: mary queen of scots "treads a measure" with william penn the quaker; fox and pitt make long noses at each other from opposite sides of the room; o'connell shakes hands with freschi, to whom our old friend the elderly country gentleman offers a friendly pinch of snuff; william shakespeare flirts with an almond-eyed chinese woman; henry the eighth smokes a long churchwarden with judge jefferys; lord byron (with greater propriety) exchanges friendly greetings with jean jacques rousseau; whilst the great napoleon unbends, as chroniclers assert that he was wont to do, and waltzes round the room with madame tussaud, and britannia (to the uproarious delight of sir william wallace) rasps her trident across her shield, by way of accompaniment to the fiddle of the saturnine paganini. the fun of these side splitting designs is only equalled by their variety. the "almanack" of 1838 introduces us to the inevitable row which forms the wind-up of a hibernian _festa_; chairs, sticks, shovels,--anything that comes to hand is used without fear or favour; men, women, children struggle together in inextricable confusion amidst the _débris_ of wrecked furniture, broken glass, and battered pewter; high above the din drone the nasal tones of the piper; while amidst the infernal clatter "the praist" vainly endeavours to re-establish order and make himself heard. _theatrical fun dinner_ (1841) represents the close of the banquet. hamlet is already too far gone to know what he is doing; othello belabours iago with a bottle; shylock and antonio fraternize; whilst a reconciliation is established between macbeth and macduff, who chink glasses by way of cementing their friendship; sir john falstaff lights his pipe at bardolph's nose; whilst romeo hands up a glass of something short and strong to his juliet in the balcony. 1842 gives us the celebrated etching of "_gone!_" an auctioneer "knocking down" a bust of socrates; at the word "_gone_" the flooring gives way, and auctioneer, buyers, and socrates, with all their surroundings, descend with a simultaneous crash into the cellars below. drowning men catch at straws, and the spectacled visage of the auctioneer, as he clings wildly to his rostrum, is a perfect study of terrified imbecility. in looking at these quaint designs, the mind of any one possessed of any imagination at all cannot fail to be impressed with a sense of the original train of thought which must have characterized the man who could conceive and realize them. how appropriately and admirably, even in trivial matters, the details of the design are worked out! if the reader will refer to the etching in "st. james'," where the sergeant places the boot of his master, the duke of marlborough, on a map of flanders, he will at once see what we mean. the action is accidental; and yet where could the boot have been placed with greater propriety? for surely if any country was under the heel of the great english captain, it was flanders. nothing to equal these designs are ever seen in these days, perhaps nothing like them will ever be seen again. there are many excellent comic designs produced by our artists of to-day; but with the exception, perhaps, of mr. caldicott and colonel seccombe, they lack _character_. you pass them by, and straightway forget them. not so with these admirable little designs; you turn to them again and again, and each time with a refreshing sense of pleasure. herein seems to lie the power of true genius--that its productions give not only a sense of freshness and delight, but that the sensation so conveyed will not die. there are people, i believe, on whom they produce no such impression; such people, as regards comic art, are for all practical purposes "dry bones," and to dry bones such as these the pencil of "honest george" will appeal in vain. some writers on the subject of cruikshank and his work would have us believe that he developed his highest powers of imagination and fancy, and achieved his highest reputation, when depicting subjects of a fairy or supernatural order. whether these scribes be right or whether they be wrong, there is no doubt that he discovered for himself an enchanted land of mountain and streamlet, of meadow and waterfall, of gnomes and fairies, of demons, witches, and of giants. the process by which he attained his excellence as an illustrator of fairy lore and legend has been related by himself in his own simple, unpolished words in the (so-called) "fairy library." unquestionably the opportunity which these subjects afforded of exercising untrammelled his marvellous gifts of imagination and fancy, and of realizing objects which owe their being to the creative faculties of his mind, were eagerly embraced by the artist; but, although the results were singularly weird and often very beautiful, i find myself obliged to differ from those who would have us believe that in realizing subjects of this kind he attained his highest excellence. the charm of george cruikshank's talent lies in the fact that notwithstanding his defects in drawing, _everything_ he took in hand is impressed with the stamp of a strong and original genius; it is like nothing we have seen before; every one of his designs is marked with distinctive features of beauty, quaintness, or originality peculiar to himself. [illustration: "the elves and the cobbler." "the waits of bremen and the robbers." from george cruikshank's edition of "german popular stories." _face p. 180._] the "german popular stories" probably contain the most striking specimens of cruikshank's power as a designer of _fairy_ subjects. in reference to these illustrations, our great critic, mr. ruskin, says: "they are of quite sterling and admirable art, in a class precisely parallel in elevation to the character of the tales which they illustrate; and the original etchings, as i have before said in the appendix to my 'elements of drawing,' were unrivalled in masterfulness of touch since rembrandt, in some qualities of delineation unrivalled even by him." "_the two elves_," says hamerton, "especially the nearer one, who is putting on his breeches, are drawn with a point at once so precise and vivacious, so full of keen fun and inimitably happy invention, that i have not found their equal in comic etching anywhere ... the picturesque details of the room are etched with the same felicitous intelligence; but the marvel of the work is in the expression of the strange little faces, and the energy of the comical wee limbs."[90] in _the witches' frolic_ ["letters on demonology and witchcraft"], we find a happy blending of the terrible and the grotesque. look at the old hags floating out to sea in their tubs; and the strange, uncanny thing with dreadful eyes bobbing up and down midway between the foremost old woman and the distant vessel. the _thing_ may be a ship, it may be a fish, or it may be a fiend,--in the dim half light we cannot tell what,--but it is horribly suggestive of nightmare, and makes one laugh as well as shudder. some ghostly goblins, the creations of george's weird fancy, will be found in "the omnibus"; we see them following a ghostly ship manned by ghostly mariners, and we find in the same book ghostly dutchmen playing a game of diabolical leap-frog with australian kangaroos. in one illustration he introduces us to a cheerful assembly of ancestral ghosts: there is the ghostly saucer-eyed head of the family, with a ghostly hound peeping beneath his chair, a ghostly grandmother, half a dozen ghostly spinster aunts, a ghostly butler, a ghostly cook, a ghostly small boy, two ghostly candles; and lastly, a ghostly cat. small wonder that under the influence of such ghostly surroundings the hair of the affrighted ghost-seer stands erect in the extremity of his terror. this same book contains, too, the celebrated etching of _jack o'lantern_, probably the best illustration of the supernatural which we owe to the pencil and weird imagination of the artist. "talk of fuseli and his wind-bag, there is real vivid imagination enough in this to make a whole academy of fuselis. it is just an egyptian darkness, with breaking through it, above a bog-hole, some black bulrushes, and above them a bending, leathery goblin exulting over some drowned traveller, the meteor lamp he carries casting a downward flicker on the dark water. such darkness, such wicked speed, such bad, puck-like malice, such devilry, hoffman and poe together could not have better devised. many a may exhibition has not half the genius in all its pictures that focuses in that gem of jet." the description is admirable; but walter thornbury has altogether misconceived the artist's idea. _jack o'lantern_ is simply misguiding a belated traveller into a bog, and the elfin grin which pervades his countenance testifies to the delight he takes in his mischievous employment. the words of the song in dryden's _king arthur_ convey the best possible description of this wondrous conception:- "hither this way, this way bend, trust not that malicious fiend; those are false, deluding lights, wafted far and near by sprights; trust 'em not, for they'll deceive ye, and in bog and marshes leave ye, if you step no danger thinking, down you fall, a furlong sinking; 'tis a fiend who has annoyed ye, name but heav'n, and he'll avoid ye." by way of contrast to all these, i would turn to the celebrated and much-too-often-described _triumph of cupid_, of the "table book"; but as the praises of this remarkable composition may already be counted by the ream, i have no intention whatever of contributing a further addition. [illustration: george cruikshank. _from "the universal songster."_ "the old commodore."] [illustration: george cruikshank. _from "the universal songster._" "a tall figure her sight engross'd, and it cried, 'i beez giles scroggin's ghost.'" _face p. 182._] a notice, however, of george cruikshank's supernatural work would be incomplete without some reference to his _devils_. from time immemorial our idea of his satanic majesty has been associated with the distinguishing appendages of horns, hoofs, and a cow's tail. "a conceit there is," says old sir thomas browne, "that the devil commonly appeareth with a cloven hoof, wherein, although it seems excessively ridiculous, there may be somewhat of truth, and the ground thereof at first might be his frequent appearing in the shape of a goat, which answers the description." george cruikshank too well apprehended the cunning nature of his satanic majesty to suppose him idiotic enough to introduce his hoofs, his horns, or his tail into the company of all sorts and conditions of men. it will be remembered that fitz dottrel takes leave to doubt the identity of the devil who waits upon him in the character of a body servant. "you cannot," he says, "cozen _me_. your shoe's not cloven, sir; you are whole hoofed." but "pug" simply and unaffectedly assures him, "sir, that's a popular error,--deceives many."[91] like "pug," george cruikshank's devils accommodate themselves, their appearance, and their costume to the prejudices of the persons they design to serve. with saints and perverse sinners it is obvious that any attempt at disguise would be futile; but with so respectable a person as a dutch burgher, or so suspicious an individual as an english lawyer, the case is altogether different. we have specimens of the respectable devil in the "long-legged bondholder" who appears to his unfortunate dutch debtor; the portly, well-dressed little man in the "gentleman in black"; and the seedy looking old clothes dealer of "peter schlemihl." quite a different devil to any of these is the devil that interviews st. nicholas, the devil whom st. medard circumvented, or the simple-minded and unfortunate devil that fell into the clutches of st. dunstan. this last is probably the most comical _diabolique_ that cruikshank ever designed. in an evil hour this miserable fiend had irritated the saint by mimicking his musical powers; and growing bolder with impunity, even ventured to challenge his skill as a mechanic, by doubting his ability to fit a shoe to his own diabolical hoof. the saint promptly whipped up the leg, and it was not until this simple devil found himself in the clutches of the saint, that he fully comprehended the prodigious powers of the holy personage he had ventured to chaff. in spite of his howls and frantic efforts to escape, the iron shoe is remorselessly fitted, and nail after nail driven into the quick. imagine the sufferings of that poor devil; observe his comically distorted countenance as he bellows with agony and impotent rage; how his tail curls round his leg in the extremity of his anguish! the worst perhaps has to follow, for in spite of the agony of his crippled hoof, a deed will have to be "signed, sealed, and delivered," by which his claim to a legion of sinful souls has to be for ever released and extinguished. it is worthy of remark that george cruikshank's devils--simple-minded, weak creatures, more mischievous than really wicked, in all their contests with the saints (saint anthony excepted) invariably come off second best. in estimating his merits, the genius of george cruikshank may not inaptly be compared to a diamond. one facet often emits more brilliant coruscations than any other; and if we may be permitted to compare his powers of realizing the grave, the comical, the supernatural, and the terrible to the facets of a diamond, we think the one which would be found to emit the most brilliant flashes of light would be the last. thackeray, one of the most friendly and most competent of his critics, would seem to have considered that much of his power was shown in depicting subjects of this kind. "what a fine eye," he tells us, in his famous article which has supplied the backbone--the muscles--the very integuments of so many others,--"what a fine eye the artist has, what a skilful hand, and what a sympathy for the wild and dreadful!" [illustration: _designed, etched and published by_ george cruikshank._november 1st, 1829._ the gin shop. "--now, oh dear, how shocking the thought is, they makes the gin from aquafortis: they do it on purpose folks' lives to shorten, and tickets it up at two-pence a quartern."--_new ballad._ _face p. 184._] from an early period of his career as an etcher and designer, george had waged a deadly war with gin,--that potent, insidious, and evil spirit of london; the most priceless services he rendered to the cause of temperance being unquestionably given long before he had any notion of joining the ranks of the total abstainers. like the _triumph of cupid_, the well-known _gin juggernaut_ of the "sketch book" requires nothing more than a passing allusion. an example less known but quite as admirable will be found in the "scraps and sketches." it is called _the gin shop_,[92] and shows us the interior of a london gin palace. in place of the usual barrels, around the walls are ranged coffins, labelled respectively: "deady's cordial;" "blue ruin;" "gin and bitters;" the largest (a huge one) being marked "old tom." death, habited as a watchman, has baited a huge gin trap, wherein stand five persons (two of them children, besides a baby in arms), _all_ imbibing the deadly liquid. the wretched woman with the infant has actually placed her foot on the spring, and so great is the artist's power of realization, that we momentarily expect to see the horrible thing close with a snap! a skeleton, whose fleshless skull is masked with a pleasant female countenance, officiates as barmaid, and behind her yawns a pit, on the further side of which a circle of evil spirits curvet around a huge still. just such a weird scene as would strike a sympathetic chord in the artist's fancy was found for him in scott's novel of "red gauntlet." the episode selected for illustration is the frightful adventure of hutcheon and dougal maccallum. "when midnight came, and the house was quiet as the grave, the silver whistle sounded as sharp and shrill as if sir robert was blowing it, and up got the two old serving-men and tottered into the room where the dead man lay. hutcheon saw enough at the first glance; for there were torches in the room, which showed him the foul fiend in his ain shape, sitting on the laird's coffin! ower he couped, as if he had been dead. he could not tell how long he lay in a trance at the door; but when he gathered himself, he cried on his neighbour, and getting nae answer, raised the house, when dougal was found lying dead within twa steps of the bed where his master's coffin was placed. as for the whistle, it was lost ance and aye, but mony a time it was heard at the top of the house on the bartizan and among the auld chimneys and turrets, where the howlets have their nests." the coffin of the dead laird lies in state on a table covered with black cloth, richly ornamented with his armorial bearings; at the foot of the bier stands his black plumed helmet; while atop of the coffin crouches the grinning ape with the laird's whistle in his paw; on the ground, as they have been tossed about by the mischievous beast, lie his rapier, gauntlet, and other military trappings. the furniture, the fittings, the sombre hangings, the gloomy ancestral portraits, all are in keeping with the weird scene and its surroundings. _the death of sikes_, and _fagin in the condemned cell_ (especially the latter) have been described any number of times, and the circumstances, moreover, under which the latter design was conceived, told invariably wrong. in the _murder of sir rowland trenchard_ ["jack sheppard"], we have a rembrandtish etching, quite equalling in power and intensity that of _fagin in the condemned cell_. the gloomy depths of the well hole are illumined only by the pine torch of the frightened jew, as wild hammers with his bludgeon on the fingers of the doomed wretch who, maimed and faint from loss of blood, clings with desperate tenacity to the bannister, from which his relaxing grip will presently plunge him into the black abyss below. the "tower of london" introduces us to two scenes of a dismal and terrible character in the etching entitled _xit wedded to the scavenger's daughter_, the artist carries us to a gloomy torture chamber, dimly lighted by a solitary lantern. on the framework of the rack sits the dwarf xit, his limbs compressed in the grip of the frightful instrument called the "scavenger's daughter," while simon renard, scarcely able to repress a smile, interrogates the comical little figure at his leisure. behind him stands sorrocold, the surgeon; and in the farther corner mauger (the headsman), nightgall, and an assistant torturer, recline against the wall. the feeble rays of the lantern throw an obscure light upon the gloomy walls decorated with the stock in trade of the torturers, thumb-screws, gauntlets, collars, pinchers, saws, chains, and other horrible and suggestive implements. affixed to the ceiling is a steel pulley, the rope which traverses it terminating with an iron hook and two leathern shoulder straps. facing the gloomy door stands a brazier filled with blazing coals, in which a huge pair of pinchers are suggestively heating. reared against the side of a deep dark recess is a ponderous wheel--broad as that of a wagon, and twice the circumference; and next it the iron bar with which the bones of those condemned to die by this most horrible torture were broken while alive. the etching of _mauger sharpening his axe_ is nearly as celebrated as that of _fagin in the condemned cell_. "a wonderful weird dusk, with no light but that which glimmers on the bald scalp of the hideous headsman, who, feeling the edge of his axe with his thumb, grins with a devilish foretaste of his pleasure on the morrow. i need scarcely say that all the poetry, dramatic force, mystery, and terror of the design is attributable to cruikshank, and not to ainsworth."[93] scenes still more realistically terrible even than these, such as the _massacre at tullabogue_, _the rebel camp on vinegar hill_, and the _executions at wexford bridge_, will be found in maxwell's "history of the irish rebellion." mr. lockhart, we may remember, advised the artist in the early part of his career to "think of hogarth," and throughout the whole of george cruikshank's designs of the graver caste the influence of the study of rembrandt and of hogarth will be apparent to those acquainted with the characteristics of these great artists. in the case of rembrandt it is manifest in the deep shadows, penetrated by broad but skilfully treated rays of light, throwing the salient parts of the design into prominent but pleasing relief; in the case of hogarth it is shown in minute attention to details of a character singularly appropriate to the designs. delineators of subjects of greater pretension are frequently content to throw all their sympathies, their energies, into the elaboration of their leading figure or figures: the attitude, the face, the features, the hands, the costume, leave nothing to be desired, while the rest of the composition is slurred or neglected. this is not the case with cruikshank, every part of his work bears witness to his careful attention to detail; no part of it is elaborated at the expense of the rest; from the tenants of the room down to the smallest and most insignificant ornament on the chimney-piece, everything appears as distinct as it would appear in actual every-day life. but this study of rembrandt and of hogarth, this minute attention to detail, this careful and conscientious elaboration, would have done little for george cruikshank if he had not possessed in an eminent degree that faculty of creation, otherwise of originality, which men call _genius_. various descriptions of this gift have been attempted by eminent men, but the most felicitous seems to us to be that given by robert william elliston: "a true actor," says this distinguished comedian, "must possess the power of _creation_, which is _genius_, as well as the faculty of imitation, which is only _talent_." substitute the word "artist" for the word "actor," and the remark will apply with equal felicity to the subject of our present chapter. it was this same gift of genius which, whilst it enabled the artist to lend a sentient expression to such unpromising subjects as a barrel, a wig-block, a jug of beer, a pair of bellows, or an oyster, imparted to his drawings a piquancy which has elevated these apparently insignificant designs into perfectly sterling works of art. the reader who is fortunate enough to number amongst his books the first half-dozen volumes of "bentley's miscellany" and "ainsworth's magazine," "the omnibus," "the table book," "the comic almanack," possesses a series of designs, drawn and etched by the hand of the master himself, the value of which is yearly increasing, not only because they are becoming scarcer and scarcer every day, but because nothing like them--under the conditions in which book illustration is now produced--will ever be seen again. footnotes: [85] the "sketch book" and "scraps and sketches" have recently been republished; but the impressions from the sadly worn plates give but little idea of the exquisite originals. [86] sala, in _gentleman's magazine_, may, 1878. [87] thackeray, _westminster review_. [88] thackeray, in the _westminster review_, june, 1840. [89] this idea of the empty pipe is splendid, there never is any tobacco in it; a better notion of absolute forgetfulness--of inability to exercise the most trifling effort of memory--could not be conveyed. [90] "etching and etchers." [91] ben jonson's "the devil is an ass." [92] this was written, of course, before the recent republication, which lacks the colour and crispness of the early issue. [93] "british artists from hogarth to turner." chapter ix. _george cruikshank_ (_continued_). _the sleep of thirty years._ the artistic career of george cruikshank presents probably one of the most singular problems to be met with in the history of satirical art. it may be divided into three portions, two of which we have already considered: the first represents that section wherein we have seen him described by lockhart as "one of the most careless creatures alive," having "no plan, almost no ambition," doing "just what was suggested or thrown in his way," "quite contented to dine off the proceeds of a 'george the fourth' to day, and those of a 'hone' or a 'cobbett' to morrow!" the second may be said to be embraced between the years 1822 and 1848, during which period we find this man without plan, ambition, or industry (to complete the charge of lockhart), busily engaged in building up the reputation which the critic had so confidently and so truly predicted of him; the third and last section, the strangest surely of all, shows us this man of genius--in the full enjoyment of an assured and well-merited reputation, in the midst of his artistic vigour, at the height of a success altogether unexampled--deliberately throwing away his opportunities, and consigning himself to a slumber of thirty years, which might almost justify us in terming him the "rip van winkle" of british art. the causes of this strange decadence, this singular mental inactivity, which seem to us to have been hitherto very little or at best very imperfectly understood, we now propose to consider. professor bates' theory. professor bates, one of the ablest of the essayists who have written on george cruikshank since the time when thackeray penned his famous article, would have us believe that the causes which led up to his retirement from active life whilst yet in the enjoyment of his vigorous intellect, are due partly to the change which has befallen "the literature of fiction during the last thirty years," but principally to the fact of his embracing the temperance movement with more zeal than discretion. as a matter of fact, however, long before this step had been taken, there had been causes equally potent at work which seem to have escaped mr. bates' attention, and these causes, which appear to us the leading factors in the unfortunate final result, lay, as we shall endeavour to explain, in an entirely different direction. people who knew and judged of george cruikshank (as the majority of his contemporaries necessarily did) by his work alone, formed altogether an erroneous judgment of the character and disposition of the man. because his later designs showed or seemed to show a love of little children, a liking for home and homely subjects, a delight in fairy lore and legend, it seems therefore to have been assumed that the artist was almost child-like in simplicity, innocence, and guilelessness of heart. some even of those who have written upon him, acting apparently upon this impression, have given us to understand that "he never raised a laugh at the expense of decency"; that "satire _never_, in his hands, descended into scurrility"; that "a moral purpose ever underlaid his humour"; that "he sought to instruct and improve whenever he amused." the absurdity of this statement we have already exposed. in reference to a supposed singleness of heart and honesty of purpose, some writers have termed him "honest george." all this was very well. we all know, of course, that he "never pandered to sensuality" or "glorified vice"; but in spite of these facts, "honest george" himself, so far at least as we personally know, never assumed or set up, or even aimed at assuming, that he was one whit better than his neighbours. in order that the reader may grasp the causes of his sudden decadence, it is important that he should understand the position and the peculiarities of the artist. as an illustrator of books he was dependent on a _clientèle_ composed exclusively of authors and publishers. "honest george," however, laboured under a disadvantage common perhaps more or less to all men possessed of true genius. hasty and hot-tempered, particularly in matters connected with his artistic labours, he was more than usually prone and ready to take offence. almost invariably at war with some one or another of his employers, the story of george cruikshank's skirmishes and quarrels with the authors and publishers with whom he was thrown in contact forms a most curious and interesting chapter in the history of artistic and literary squabbles. at the time when charles dickens began to write, george cruikshank had already achieved his reputation; and so well assured was this reputation, that the young novelist in his preface to his "sketches by boz," speaks of the nervousness he should have experienced in venturing _alone_ before the public, and of his delight in securing the co-operation of an artist so distinguished as george cruikshank. in 1838, however, the author like the artist had made his mark: "pickwick" and "nicholas nickleby," and "oliver twist" had been written; and every vestige of the nervousness of which he speaks in the preface to his "sketches" had disappeared for ever. mr. sala has somewhere happily remarked that charles dickens wanted rather a scene painter for his novels than a mere illustrator of books, and the very last person to answer his requirements was george cruikshank; for, while ready and willing to execute designs illustrative of mr. dickens's writings, he made it an implied condition of his retainer, that he should be free to design them in his own way and after his own fashion. it was an _essential_ condition of george cruikshank's success as a draughtsman, not only that he should feel a sympathy for any subject he was called upon to design, but also that his genius should be left unfettered and untrammelled in his method of treatment. hence it was that he found it impossible to co-operate with so exacting an employer of artistic labour as charles dickens. the latter argued, with some show of reason, that knowing what he intended to describe, he was the fittest and most competent person to explain how his meaning should be pictorially carried out. this sort of arrangement, however, did not suit the independent and somewhat impracticable spirit of the artist, and the result was almost a foregone conclusion. these two men of genius inevitably clashed; and the connection between charles dickens and cruikshank was abruptly severed. a singular memorial of the quarrel between dickens and cruikshank will be found in the last illustration to the author's novel of "oliver twist," one of the worst that the artist ever executed. although mr. forster does not say so--and possibly would not admit it,--charles dickens is directly responsible for this result, as the reader will agree when he learns the whole of the facts, which are only partly given in forster's "life," and in every other work which professes to tell the story. the reader will not require to be told that "oliver twist" made its appearance in the pages of "bentley's miscellany." the story of course had been written in anticipation of the magazine; and according to mr. forster, cruikshank's designs for the portion which forms the third volume "having to be executed 'in a lump,' were necessarily done somewhat hastily." how far this statement is correct, the reader will be enabled to judge when we tell him that these so-called "hastily" prepared illustrations include the famous designs of _sikes and his dog_ and _fagin in the condemned cell_. "none of these illustrations," mr. forster goes on to tell us, "dickens had seen until he saw them in the book on the eve of its publication [we assume in the three-volume form], when he so strongly objected to one of them that it had to be cancelled." "my dear cruikshank," he at once wrote off to the artist, "i returned suddenly to town yesterday afternoon [october, 1838] to look at the latter pages of 'oliver twist' before it was delivered to the booksellers, when i saw the majority of the plates for the first time. with reference to the last one, _rose maylie and oliver_, without entering into the question of great haste or any other cause which may have led to its being what it is, i am quite sure there can be little difference of opinion between us with respect to the result. may i ask you whether you will object to designing this plate afresh, and doing so _at once_, in order that as few impressions as possible of the present one may go forth. i feel confident you know me too well to feel hurt by this inquiry, and with equal confidence in you, i have lost no time in preferring it." at this point mr. forster leaves the story. the quarrel with dickens. probably very few of our readers have seen this despised and rejected plate of _rose maylie and oliver_, for it is not the one which bears that title among the ordinary illustrations to the novel of "oliver twist." it is very rare, and we wish we could reproduce it here. if not one of the very best of the series, it is entirely in keeping with the rest; and so far from displaying "great haste," is in every respect a carefully finished book etching. four figures are represented in it as sitting round the fire, among them the well known form of oliver, with his turn-down collar and elaborately brushed hair. on the mantle-shelf, with other ornaments, are two hyacinths in glasses, thus fixing january as the date of the scene depicted. it would have been better for the book if charles dickens had left it alone. the artist did as he was requested, with anger at his heart; and as a consequence, rose maylie will go down to posterity as the ugliest of george cruikshank's very ugly women, in an outrageous bonnet, with her hand resting on the shoulder of a youth wearing the singular coatee or boy's jacket of forty years ago. differing altogether from the admirable designs which preceded it, there is an incongruity about the etching which cannot fail to impress the observer. the unfortunate letter and still more unfortunate result occasioned a coolness between the men which was never wholly removed. from that time forth george cruikshank executed no more designs for charles dickens, and the illustrations to the long series of novels which afterwards followed from the pen of the talented but distinctly autocratic author were entrusted to other hands. however much this result must be deplored so far as the artist himself is concerned, the coolness between charles dickens and george cruikshank is scarcely to be viewed in the light of a misfortune for english illustrative art. only consider for one moment what might have followed had the artist executed the designs to the rest of dickens's novels! dick swiveller would have suited him, and so would quilp, or sampson brass, the yorkshire schoolmaster, newman noggs, lord frederick verisopht, captain bunsby, or even mr. pecksniff himself; but only fancy, on the other hand, the _horrors_ which would have been made of dolly varden, of edith dombey, of "little em'ly," of dear, gentle, loving little nell! happily for the fame of george cruikshank, his imagination was not called into requisition for any one of these creations, and like the "annunciations," the "beatifications," and the "apotheoses" of lockhart, they remain (we are thankful to say it) still unrealized! the feud with bentley. the quarrel with dickens was followed by a very bitter and very singular feud between the artist and bentley. into the causes of that quarrel we need not enter; suffice it to say that to the misunderstanding we owe some of the very worst etchings which cruikshank ever designed, the series of illustrations to harrison ainsworth's novel of "guy fawkes." the worst of all is the _vision of guy fawkes at saint winifred's well_, and a very singular "vision" it is. the saint has all the appearance, with all the grace, expression, and symmetry of a dutch doll arrayed in a pocket handkerchief; the sky is "machine ruled;" the pillars and tracery of the ruined chapel are architectural impossibilities; while at the very first snort, the slumbering figure of guy fawkes must roll inevitably into the well towards the brink of which he lies in dangerous propinquity. these illustrations provoked the ire of the publisher and the remonstrances of the author, both of which were disregarded with strict impartiality. in 1842, harrison ainsworth retired from the conduct of the "miscellany," and set up a rival magazine of somewhat similar plan and conception, which he christened after his own surname. this opposition venture appears to have been the result of a misunderstanding between the editor and publisher, the most serious outcome of which was, that when ainsworth left he carried with him george cruikshank. the secession of george caused mr. bentley the greatest possible inconvenience. the straits to which he was reduced may be imagined by the fact that a. hervieu (an artist of considerable ability), and the clever, well-known amateur, alfred crowquill (alfred henry forrester), had to be pressed into the service, and contributed leading etchings. meanwhile, the cover of the "miscellany" showed that george cruikshank was nominally retained on the pictorial staff; and before the quality of his illustrations became so villainously bad that the object he had in view--that of _forcing_ bentley to cancel his engagement--had been attained, a draughtsman of unusual graphic power and versatility had come to the assistance of the magazine. this was a young man who had already executed many comic designs of a somewhat novel and original character, and was already forcing his way to the front: his name--familiar afterwards "in our mouths as household words"--was john leech. the "guy fawkes" illustrations were the outcome of the first campaign between bentley and cruikshank; and as the history of the quarrel between the publisher and his unmanageable artist is a somewhat amusing one, we may be pardoned for describing it at length. the engagement from which he sought to free himself, and which he stigmatized as "a one-sided one," obliged cruikshank to supply mr. bentley with at least one etching every month; and as bentley continued to advertise him as the illustrator of the "miscellany," george commenced the second campaign by issuing in the opening pages of the opposition venture the following characteristic manifesto:--"mr. bentley, the publisher," says the indignant george, "evidently wishes to create the supposition that _i_ illustrate his 'miscellany.' on the contrary, i wish the public to understand that i do no such thing. it is true that, according to a one-sided agreement (of which more may be heard hereafter), i supply a single etching per month. but i supply _only that single etching_. and even that can hardly be called my design, since _the subject of it_ is regularly furnished to me by mr. bentley, and i have never even read a page of any of the stories thus '_illustrated_.' "yet mr. bentley not only advertises me as the illustrator of his 'miscellany,' but he has lately shaped his advertisement thus, in the papers as well as on the wrapper of his magazine: 'illustrated by geo. cruikshank, etc.' are his other artists worthy only of being merged in an etc.? this is, indeed, paying them but a poor compliment; and one which i should hardly think they would submit to. in certain other announcements i observe mentioned, in addition to my own name, a 'cruikshank the younger.' who is he? the only cruikshank the younger i ever heard of as a designer, is myself. would it not be supposed that there must be a third cruikshank, etching, drawing, and 'illustrating,' as his two predecessors have done? yet there is no such person! there is indeed a nephew of mine, who, as a _wood-engraver_, and a wood-engraver _only_, has been employed by mr. bentley to engrave 'crowquill's designs;' just as in my 'omnibus' he engraved my own drawings upon wood, and still does engrave them in 'ainsworth's magazine.' now, can any one imagine it possible for any respectable publisher, especially 'her majesty's publisher in ordinary,' to be guilty of so miserable a trick, so wretched an expedient, as that of putting off the _engraver_ of a few of the drawings as the designer himself--as one of the 'illustrators' of the 'miscellany'? let mr. bentley but produce a single design for the 'miscellany,' by 'cruikshank the younger' (by him so-called), and i will retract this indignant disclaimer and apologise. if mr. bentley cannot do this, he stands self-convicted of an attempt to impose upon the public by a mystification, for purposes as apparent as the trick itself." what this strange declaration of war proposed to effect is not altogether manifest; if its author imagined it would produce the result of releasing him from his engagement, he was signally mistaken, for mr. bentley, as might have been expected, held him all the tighter to the _letter_ of his bond. what the artist thought and what he did are told us in the plainest language by the etchings which followed this singular manifesto. they tell us as plainly as could be expressed in words, that george reasoned after the following fashion:--"it is clear that under the terms of my engagement i am bound to supply 'bentley's miscellany' with one etching a month; but our agreement says nothing as to the _quality_ of the etchings, nor am i bound to see that they shall be strictly relevant to the subjects which i am called upon to illustrate." from that time, so long as he continued to design for the "miscellany," george tried to do his worst, and it must be admitted that he succeeded to admiration. anything more outrageous than these wretched drawings--taking into account the talent, power, and skill of the artist, and the quality of the work which he was at this very time executing for harrison ainsworth--can scarcely be conceived. they are so ashamed of themselves, that his signature--usually so distinct, so characteristic, and so clear on other occasions--is illegible, in many cases wholly wanting. at length, in vol. xiii. (1843) appeared a story called "the exile of louisiana," "with an illustration by george cruikshank" (for bentley, probably by way of retaliation, was determined the public should know that these performances were due to the hand which had produced the famous etchings to "oliver twist," "jack sheppard," and the contemporaneous story of the "miser's daughter"). we should like to have seen the face of the author when this extraordinary conception dawned upon him. the tale (a serious and pathetic one) was burlesqued with one of the most grotesque caricatures the mind of comic artist ever conceived. it represents marshal saxe recognising the widow of a late czaaravitch in the gardens of the tuileries. the marshal, a most extraordinary personage, would make in actual life the fortune of any enterprising showman. he possesses a nose of slawkenbergian proportions; his pig-tail reaches below his waist; and his sword, sticking out at right angles, gives him the appearance of a fly with a pin through its middle. near him stands a courtier, with ankles of such fearful and wonderful construction that his legs will snap the moment he attempts to use them. as for the distinguished relict of the czaaravitch, she is one of the most wonderful of the many wonderful people who figure in the sketch. her figure is an anatomical impossibility; while her mouth reaches from ear to ear (the letterpress, by the way, informs us that her deceased husband had married her for her beauty!). the statue of mercury, posed like a scaramouch at a masquerade, is matched by that of neptune, who whirls his trident round his head in a state of the wildest hilarity, cutting at the same time a caper over the body of an attendant dolphin, who is so overcome with the whimsicality of the proceeding that he is making the most violent efforts to restrain his laughter. this last shot probably hit the mark, for only three etchings appear in vol. xiv., and not one afterwards. george was victorious; but there are victories and victories, and a triumph won at the cost of an artistic reputation is as disastrous as a defeat. the misunderstanding with ainsworth. harrison ainsworth's long connection with the artist had taught him that he was one who would be neither driven nor led, and he was wise enough to accommodate himself to circumstances. the admirable woodcut design at the head of that division of the magazine which was known as "our library table," shows us the artist and the handsome editor in consultation, and the attitude of the two men is indicative of the fact that ainsworth is attentively listening to the advice or suggestions of his coadjutor, a fact to which cruikshank himself has been particular to draw our attention. to the free and unfettered conditions under which cruikshank co-operated with ainsworth we owe a series of the most justly celebrated and valuable of his designs. in matters, however, connected with art, cruikshank was, as we have seen, a difficult man to get on with, and it was fairly safe to predict that a quarrel between the author and artist was a mere question of time. the artist remained on the staff of "ainsworth's magazine" for three years, enriching its pages with some of the choicest efforts of his pencil. at the end of that period came the unfortunate but almost unavoidable misunderstanding; and george cruikshank, as he had done with bentley, withdrew from the concern. unlike bentley, however, ainsworth appears not only to have foreseen, but to have made preparations for the inevitable; and accordingly, when george cruikshank retired, his place was immediately taken by an artist of talent, destined to win for himself a considerable position among the ranks of designers and etchers: this was hablot knight browne, then and now known to us under his monosyllabic _nom-de-guerre_ of _phiz_. it seems to us fitting in this place to say a few words on the subject of george's pretension to be the originator of two of ainsworth's stories, because the truth of his assertion has been questioned by a late commentator.[94] george's statements simply amount to this: that so far as the illustrations to the "miser's daughter" and "the tower of london" are concerned, the author wrote up to _his_ designs. we have considered ainsworth's answers to this statement, and find that although he fences with, he does not deny it. it was one essential condition of cruikshank's success that his fancy should be free and untrammelled, and the truth of his statement appears to us to be proved by the illustrations to these works, which are certainly the finest which he ever designed; that he was therefore (as he stated) the originator of these tales in the sense in which he used the word, we can entertain no manner of doubt. most of the cruikshank commentators, whilst writing on the subject of the harrison ainsworth etchings, have thought fit to decry the author's share of the performance; but the fact that the pictures are so much better than the letterpress should not prevent us from dealing fairly with the veteran author, who, like the distinguished artist with whom he so long co-operated, has now gone to his rest. even mr. ainsworth's detractors will, we think, admit that without him we should have lost the admirable illustrations to "windsor castle," "jack sheppard," and "st. james's"; it may even be doubted whether without him we should have had the still better series of etchings which adorn the "tower of london" and the "miser's daughter." if this be the fact, it seems to us we owe a lasting debt of gratitude to this venerable writer, who experienced the vicissitudes which inevitably befall mere talent when allied with genius. he was a writer of the george payne ransford james school, dispensing, however, with the inevitable setting sun and two travellers, and received a price for his productions which many a better author might well envy. for his novel of "old st. paul's" (1841) he was paid by the proprietors of the _sunday times_ one thousand pounds; "the miser's daughter" attained an extraordinary success; and the same remark applies to "windsor castle." for "the lancashire witches" he received from the proprietors of the _sunday times_ one thousand pounds. several of the works named had not the benefit of cruikshank's illustrations; but in 1850-1, cheap editions of all such of mr. ainsworth's romances and tales as had appeared up to that period, were published by messrs. chapman and hall without any illustrations at all. "windsor castle" was the first of the series, and upwards of thirty thousand copies were disposed of in a short time; while all the other works enjoyed a very large sale, and popular favour was so far from being exhausted, that another edition of his novels was called for in 1864-1868. he was a veritable literary rolling stone. in 1845 he disposed of his magazine to the publishers, and purchased the "new monthly," previously edited by theodore hook and (after his death) by thomas hood; in 1854 he bought the far-famed "miscellany" itself, becoming its proprietor and editor; in that year he seems also to have re-purchased "ainsworth's magazine," which as a separate and rival publication thenceforth ceased to exist. the only work which cruikshank illustrated for charles lever was "arthur o'leary," and the reason of this has been explained by himself in a letter which he wrote to mr. fitzpatrick, the author of charles lever's life: "i had the honour and the pleasure," he says, "of being personally acquainted with the late charles lever, and i regret that i was only able to illustrate one of his works, 'arthur o'leary,' my engagements on 'jack sheppard,' etc., at that time prevented me from illustrating his other works, which he wished me to have done, but i do not remember ever having any written correspondence with him, as the ms. or printed matter was placed in my hands for illustration; and then i had entirely to deal with the publisher. mr. charles lever was an author whom i held in high estimation." lever himself was highly gratified with these illustrations. the final leap in the dark. by 1845, that is to say, at least two years before he had taken his final leap in the dark, cruikshank had contrived to pick quarrels with the very class of men whom it was his special interest to conciliate, and had been driven to set up an opposition serial of his own--the celebrated "table book"--which, notwithstanding the superlative excellence of his own illustrations and the talent of his literary contributors, comprising such names as john oxenford, horace mayhew, shirley brooks, mark lemon, w. m. thackeray, and others, could not manage to prolong its existence beyond its first volume. in matters connected with his own interests he was not only impracticable, but seems to have been remarkably destitute of tact and even of discernment. it cannot be doubted that the estrangement from bentley was unwise and impolitic, for as one of the greatest publishers of fiction of the day, his influence was both far-reaching and comprehensive. in quarrelling with dickens, ainsworth, and bentley, three of the great artistic employers of labour of his time, and in face of the growing popularity of john leech and hablot knight browne, he was literally quarrelling with his bread and butter, and few men, even of genius, may afford to do that. he was essentially impulsive, and frequently acted under the influence of first impressions. although fond of his pipe and his glass, as his famous _reverie_,--_the triumph of cupid_, in the "table book," will show, he had always evinced a horror of drink, and had, as we have seen, done his best at various times to expose its insidious and baneful influences. at last, in 1847, came a sudden and extraordinary impulse of enthusiasm, under the influence of which he not only produced his _bottle_, but laid aside for ever his pipe and his bowl. to do any real good, he said he must practise what he preached: he joined the "teetotallers," and not being one of those who did things by halves, entered heart and soul into the crusade against drink by becoming a temperance advocate. this last was the one step needed to fill up the measure of the artist's folly, and to secure for him the reputation of being an incurably eccentric, self-willed man. those who would charge the author with blaming george cruikshank for joining the ranks of the teetotallers will do him grave injustice. although very much of the opinion of robert burton, author of the "anatomy of melancholy," that, "no verses can please men or live long that are written by water-drinkers," and disposed to undervalue the tact and discretion of some of the advocates of total abstinence, for its abstract principles he can say and think nothing but what is good. but he is writing, be it remembered, of a great artist--one whose mission was that of an artist, not that of a _temperance orator_,--of one who had served the righteous and good cause of temperance _best_ when he remembered that genius had made him an artist and not a temperance orator,--of one who had rendered that cause yeoman's service long before he joined the total abstainers, in designing _the gin juggernaut_, _the gin trap_, and work of a kindred nature. the cause, too, so far as mere verbal advocacy was concerned, was better served by men of vastly inferior mark and ability. before this fatal plunge was taken his genius had roamed in an absolutely uncontrolled range of freedom. he had travelled into the land of chivalry and romance, into the realms of fairy fancy, magic, and diablery; he had brought back with him pictures of the wondrous people, lands, and scenes which his fancy had visited. all this was at an end; this wonderful genius was now forced into a narrow groove, where it could no longer have the freedom of action which was essential to its very existence. from the moment that george cruikshank turned temperance _orator_, the world of english art lost one of its brightest ornaments, and he himself both fame and fortune; for, as mr. bates observes, "some of his earliest friends were alienated, and remunerative work that might have been his was diverted, from sheer prejudice, into other hands." his style, too, as mr. bates further remarks, "suffered by the contraction of his ideas and sympathies, and his art became associated with that vulgarity and want of æstheticism which perhaps necessarily characterizes the movement." _the bottle_ and _the drunkard's children_, although successful in a pecuniary point of view--compared with what had gone before,--can scarcely be called _art_ at all; in these too he unconsciously put himself in competition with hogarth, and as a matter of necessity failed. he had been a king among designers and etchers; he had been and was still an admirable water-colour artist, but knew comparatively little of the manipulation or management of oils. a new crusade had however to be preached, to be preached by means of an oil painting; and for this purpose george was to be inspired off hand (so to speak) with a new art, and to paint a picture in oils. we know the result--the lamentable result--in that most preposterous _worship of bacchus_. his motive was good, his ideas were vast, but the _genius_ which in his unregenerate days had enabled him to design _the gin trap_ and the _the gin juggernaut_, was no longer there. unhappy rip! there is more poetry--more fancy--more romance--more art--fire--genius in one of the little "bits," nine inches by six, executed in the days of his pipe and his glass, than in any one part or portion of this most gigantic failure. the mere fact of his joining the ranks of the total abstainers would have done him perhaps little professional mischief, had he been content simply to join them, and aid their cause, as he had once so graphically done by depicting the evils of gin drinking and intemperance; but it was one of the failings as well as one of the virtues of this impulsive, earnest man's character, that whatever his hand found to do, "he did it with his might." desiring to aid them to the best of his power, he mistook the means by which that aid might best be applied, and forgot that his talents lay not in the tongue but in his hand and his head. we look upon george cruikshank after 1849, no longer as an artist, but as a very indifferent temperance lecturer. the reign of fancy was over. thenceforth no "reveries," no "jack o' lanterns," no "gin juggernauts," would come from that indefatigable hand, that fertile brain, that wondrous and facile pencil. george cruikshank took his _worship of bacchus_, and went out into the world (heaven save the mark!) as a temperance lecturer. his literary abilities were, however, small; he lacked even that "gentle dulness"[95] which characterizes the leading advocates of the movement, and kindles a certain amount of sympathetic enthusiasm in kindred breasts. the dull people who went to hear him, knew little about and cared less for art and genius than they did for the abstract doctrines of total abstinence. the result, so far as he personally was concerned, was curious, lamentable, and almost instantaneous. the work which had hitherto crowded upon him fell away like water from a leaking vessel; nay, on the authority of mr. william bates, when work was offered him he refused to take it. "when pressed by the late mark lemon to draw on his own terms for _punch_," this man who had designed some of the broadest, coarsest, most personal of the satires of the nineteenth century, had grown so extremely particular that "he definitely refused to have anything to do with it on account of what he termed its personalities."[96] what could be done for such a man as this? authors and publishers wholly ceased to employ him; and he was left without work in the very pride of his artistic career. he turned to oil painting; was taken by the hand by the influential few who appreciated, pitied, and loved him; but from the moment that he became a temperance advocate, to the literary world and to the general public this most singular and original genius was to all practical intents and purposes--dead. these observations, i repeat, are made in no spirit of hostility to the sincere and earnest men who would seek to reduce the crime and misery which owe their origin to the immoderate use of ardent spirits. so far from this being the case, i hold their cause to be so righteous, so sensible, that it seems to me as effectually advocated by a plain, simple, earnest man as by a great artist and man of genius. i say advisedly, that the cause of temperance had been better served had cruikshank stuck to his pencil and his etching needle, instead of seeking the position of a temperance advocate, and stumping the provinces with his absurd panorama of _the worship of bacchus_. thirty years of quite sterling and admirable work were now to be followed by thirty years of artistic sterility, for from this rip van winkle slumber of thirty years' duration his reputation never once awoke. out of the dreary desert of mental and artistic inactivity came forth at long distant intervals specimens of his handiwork, which served, it is true, to remind us of what he once was capable, but failed to restore him to the place he had for ever lost in public estimation; such were the illustrations to angus bethune reach's "clement lorymer," to robert brough's "life of sir john falstaff," to smedley's "frank fairleigh," to george raymond's "life and enterprises of elliston," to his own _so-called_ "fairy library." good and excellent as this work was, it utterly failed to lend even a passing vitality to his departed reputation, a fact sufficiently and vexatiously proved when he essayed once more to start a magazine of his own, which met with such little encouragement that _only two parts were issued_. nevertheless, the designs of the "life of falstaff" and his own "fairy library" showed that, when the subject took hold of his fancy, the hand of cruikshank had not altogether lost the cunning which characterized it in days of yore. to illustrate the so-called fairy stories, he had to read them,--no longer, alas! with his former love of fairy lore and legend,--no longer with the mind of a man free, vigorous, elastic, but with a mind warped and prejudiced with the study of a theme which was intellectually depressing and uninspiring. no one knows the origin of these fairy stories, they come to us from our danish and saxon ancestors, but are interwoven with the literature of every civilized nation under the sun, and are altogether beyond the sphere of modern criticism. their primitive style is singularly adapted to enlist the sympathies of the little folk to whom they specially address themselves: their highest aim and object is not to instruct, but to amuse. all this the artist, in the ardour of his new crusade, lost sight of, and so dead had he become to the fairy fancies and reveries of his youth, that he placed sacrilegious hands on these time-honoured and favourite legends of our childhood, and converted them (with most indifferent literary ability) into something little better than temperance _tracts_! but happily not without protest. charles dickens, the champion of the injured fairies, set his lance in rest, and speedily rolled hapless van winkle in the dust. into the details of this very absurd and very unequal contest there is no necessity for us to enter. george was at home with his pencil, his etching needle, or his tubes of water colour; but put a pen in his hand, and he forthwith would cut the funniest of capers. he argued (with every appearance of comical gravity and earnestness), that because shakespeare might alter an italian story, or sir walter scott use history for the purposes of the drama, poetry, or romance, therefore, "any one might take the liberty of altering a common fairy story to suit his purpose and convey his opinions." aye, and so he might, honest rip; but he would set about his task in a very different fashion to shakespeare or sir walter scott, and i fear too that the literary results and value would be vastly different. it never seemed to occur to the mind of the honest but simple casuist that in putting "any one" on a par with william shakespeare and sir walter scott, he was writing simple nonsense. it is clear, therefore, that the change which had come over the literature of fiction during the past quarter of a century, and which professor bates would assign as one of the principal causes of the sterility which befell the genius of cruikshank, had really very little to do with it. this calamity--for a national calamity it undoubtedly was--did not fall upon him, be it remembered, when he was old, but in the very acme and pride of artistic success. his fall was distinctly due to causes which were within his own control, and might have been avoided by the exercise of qualities which (it seems to me) he did not possess,--forethought, tact, and judgment. during the rest of his long life, the place which george cruikshank deliberately ceded to others he never once regained; when he dropped behind, he became as completely forgotten as if he had ceased any longer to exist; men whose childhood he had delighted with his quaint imaginings, his own friends and contemporaries, died off; and so it came to pass, that before he knew it, for time moves quickly after youth is over, the old man was left standing alone amongst the ranks of a generation that did not know him. so little was he known or regarded, that when his works were _first_ exhibited, no one took the trouble to see them; and when a small circle of admirers, with the great english critic, john ruskin, at their head, started a subscription for the forgotten artist, "the attempt was a failure--hundreds being received when thousands were expected." it will be remembered that in his best days the artist had executed a memorable etching, _born a genius and born a dwarf_: i wonder whether, in the bitterness of his spirit and the righteousness of his anger, george cruikshank ever thought of that etching? footnotes: [94] mr. blanchard jerrold. [95] "and gentle dulness ever loves a joke."--_dunciad._ [96] "the maclise portrait gallery," 1883, p. 195. chapter x. _robert seymour._ decidedly next in order of merit to george cruikshank, amongst his own contemporaries, if we except only theodore lane, comes robert seymour. with a style and manner peculiar to himself, and a power of invention and realization which amounted almost to genius, seymour was superior in every respect to robert cruikshank, with whom we find him not unfrequently associated in comic design. this style and manner were clearly founded on those of george cruikshank; and when he selected (as he not unfrequently did) subjects which had been treated by the latter, the work of this most able draughtsman will bear even favourable comparison with that of the great original whom he chose as his master. that he drew his inspiration from and sought even to emulate cruikshank, is shown by the fact that to some of his earlier caricatures he affixed the name of "shortshanks," a practice which he discontinued on receiving a remonstrance from the irritable george. robert seymour was born in 1798. henry seymour, his father, a gentleman of good family in somersetshire, meeting with misfortune, removed to london, and apprenticed him to mr. vaughan, a pattern designer of duke street, smithfield. this vaughan seems to deserve a passing notice here by reason of the fact that his father is said to have received proposals for partnership from the father of the late sir robert peel, which were rejected, on the ground that the fortunes of the peel family were not then considered particularly flourishing. how far this statement may be correct we know not. assuming it to be true, the fortunes of the peel family afterwards took a turn which probably frequently gave vaughan _père_ (if he lived to ruminate thereon) some serious cause for reflection as well as of repentance. like hogarth, with whom this artist, like all other comic designers, has been frequently and improperly compared, young robert seymour declined to waste his abilities as a mere mechanical draughtsman, and used his technical education as a means of cultivating the artistic gifts with which nature and inclination had endowed him. he seems at first to have selected a walk in art which required for its ultimate success a larger amount of application and patience than he could well spare for the purpose. shortly after the expiration of his indentures, he started as a painter in oils, and executed several pictures, one of which (a biblical subject) included, it is said, no less than one hundred figures, whilst a no less ambitious subject than tasso's "jerusalem delivered" was deemed of sufficient merit to be exhibited on the walls of the royal academy. other pictorial subjects were taken from "don quixote," "waverley," "the tempest," etc., besides which he executed numerous portraits and miniatures. these efforts, however, do not appear to have been sufficiently remunerative to encourage him to continue them, and after a time he resigned them to follow a branch of art more congenial, perhaps, to his abilities, and thenceforth very rapidly acquired fame as a social satirist and caricaturist. the coloured caricatures of robert seymour, besides being comparatively scarce and little known, seem hardly to call for any particular description; the titles of some of them will be found mentioned in our appendix. one which has survived, and with which the public are probably most familiar, is one of the worst of the series. it is entitled, _going it by steam_, is signed "short shanks," and was published by king. among rarer and better ones may be named two very excellent specimens, without date, published by creed, of chancery lane, labelled respectively, _a musical genius_ (a butcher boy playing on the pandean pipes and accompanying himself with marrow bone and cleaver), and _a man of taste and feeling_ (a tramp caught in a trap while helping himself in a butler's pantry). among the best of his coloured political caricatures, we may mention, _greece and her rough lovers_ (_i.e._ russia and turkey), published by maclean, in 1828. lithography afforded greater facilities of execution than the old process, and much of seymour's work in political as well as social satire was executed by himself on stone. death of george iv. the year 1830 brought the life and reign of george the fourth to a close. he had been breaking up for a long time past. the first entry of any moment occurs in mr. greville's diary, of 25th august, 1828: "the king has not been well; he goes fishing and dining at virginia water, stays out late, and catches cold." a year later, the diarist relates that the king had nearly lost his eyesight, and would be "couched" as soon as his eyes were in a proper state for the operation. on the 7th of december he attended a chapter of the bath, "looked well," but was so blind that "he could not see to read the list, and begged [mr. greville] to read it for him." the sangrado treatment was then in full force; and we find that in january, 1830, the king, being very ill, "lost forty ounces of blood." he grew at last so much worse that the preparations for the festivities with which the royal birthday was to have been celebrated were obliged to be postponed _sine die_. a victim to dropsy, the operation of puncturing the legs was resorted to, with the result of giving him temporary relief. the patient, however, became liable to violent fits of coughing, in one of which he ruptured a blood vessel, and expired early on the morning of saturday the 26th of june, 1830. a more contemptible, selfish, unfeeling being as a _man_ than this king could scarcely have been found, "a mixture of narrow-mindedness, selfishness, truckling, blustering, and duplicity, with no object but self, his own ease, and the gratification of his own fancies and prejudices."[97] "a more despicable scene," continues mr. greville, "cannot be exhibited than that which the interior of our court presents--every base, low, and unmanly propensity, with selfishness, avarice, and a life of petty intrigue and mystery."[98] george the fourth as king and regent was recklessly extravagant, but his expenditure was always upon self or the gratification of self. a hundred examples of his selfish nature might be given, but _cui bono_? everything he could get hold of, which could minister to his own personal gratification, he _grasped_ with avidity. in this spirit he appropriated the jewels and spent on himself the whole of the money belonging to his late father's estate, amounting to £120,000. his ministers did not dare to oppose his greed, or tell him that this money belonged to the crown, and not to himself as an individual. he acted precisely in the same manner with regard to his mother's jewels, of which she possessed a large quantity. those she received from george iii. she left by will to the king; the rest she gave to her daughters; in spite of which bequest, her selfish son appropriated the whole to himself as his own personal private property. portrait of the king. an admirable likeness of this most selfish of royal or private personages has been drawn by a master hand. "to make a portrait of him," says thackeray, "at first seemed a matter of small difficulty. there is his coat, his star, his wig, his countenance simpering under it: with a slate and a piece of chalk, i could at this very desk perform a recognisable likeness of him. and yet after reading of him in scores of volumes, hunting him through old magazines and newspapers, having him here at a ball, there at a public dinner, there at races, and so forth, you find you have nothing--nothing but a coat and wig, and a mask smiling below it--nothing but a great simulacrum. his sire and grandsires were men. one knew what they were like: what they would do in given circumstances: that on occasion they fought and demeaned themselves like tough, good soldiers. they had friends whom they liked according to their natures; enemies whom they hated firmly; passions and actions and individualities of their own. the sailor king who came after george was a man; the duke of york was a man, big, burly, loud, jolly, cursing, courageous. but this george, what was he? i look through all his life, and recognise but a bow and a grin. i try and take him to pieces, and find silk stockings, padding, stays, a coat with frogs and a fur collar, a star and blue ribbon, a pocket-handkerchief prodigiously scented, one of truefitt's best nutty brown wigs reeking with oil, a set of teeth, and a huge black stock, under-waistcoats, more under-waistcoats, and then nothing." "under-waistcoats, more under-waistcoats--and then nothing!" yes, there was something besides the silk stockings--the padding--the stays--the coat with frogs and a fur collar, the star and the blue ribbon, although there might be nothing underneath which resembled a heart or which was capable of being inspired by a feeling which had not its origin in _self_. the wardrobe of this royal professor of deportment, who ten years before had been described to his own great personal annoyance as- "the dandy of sixty, who bows with a grace, and has taste in wigs, collars, cuirasses, and lace," was sold on the 2nd of august, 1830, and is said to have been sufficiently numerous to fill monmouth street, and sufficiently various and splendid for the wardrobe of drury lane theatre. the meanness of his disposition was exhibited even in the matter of his clothes, scarcely any of which he gave away except his linen, which was distributed every year. here were all the coats which this monarch had had for fifty years before, three hundred whips, canes without number, every sort of uniform, the costumes of all the order of europe, splendid fur pelisses, hunting coats and breeches; among other etcetera, a dozen pair of corduroy breeches made to hunt in when don miguel was in london. his profusion in these articles was explained by the fact that he never paid for them; but his memory in relation to them was nevertheless so accurate that he recollected every article of dress, no matter how old, and his pages were liable to be called on at any moment to produce some particular coat or other article of apparel of years gone by. the demise of this treasurer of royal antique raiment was followed by an order for general _mourning_, to which a caricature drawing by seymour has reference, the satirical meaning of which will be apparent after the explanation previously given. a colossal military figure armed with a baton, on which is inscribed the word "fashion," encounters at dusk, in hyde park, a solitary pedestrian habited in a suit of grey clothing. "how dare you appear," says the apparition, "without a black coat?" to which the frightened pedestrian replies, "the _tailor_ would not trust me, sir." in august, 1830, he gives likenesses of the new king and queen, william the fourth and adelaide, surrounded by a halo of glory. the new king, in reference to his profession, and by way of obvious contrast to his predecessor, is subsequently depicted as an anchor labelled, "england's best bower not _a maker of bows_." from other contemporary pictorial skits by seymour we learn that various changes were made in the royal establishment, and the new queen seems to have addressed herself specially to a reform in the dresses of the court domestics. on the 1st of october, 1830, seymour represents her grinding an enormous machine, called the "adelaide mill," into which the women servants, dressed in the outrageous head-gear and leg-of-mutton sleeves of the period, are perforce ascending, and issuing from the other side attired in plain and more suitable apparel. "no silk gowns," says her majesty as she turns the handle. "no french curls; and i'll have you all wear aprons." the new queen seems also to have shown a disposition to encourage native manufactures and produce at the expense of french and continental importations. these changes were not particularly pleasing to the conservative lady patronesses of almack's, who were celebrated at this time for their capricious exclusiveness. one of robert seymour's satires, bearing date the 1st of november, 1830, shows us a conference of these haughty dames, who seriously discuss the propriety of admitting some lady (probably the queen) who proposed appearing at one of the balls "in some vulgar stuff made by the _canaille_ at a place called kittlefields" [spitalfields]. [illustration: robert seymour. _october 1st, 1830._ "the adelaide mill." _face p. 213._] french revolution of 1830. whilst england was thus peacefully passing through the excitement of a succession to a vacant throne, france was convulsed with one of her ever-recurring revolutions. charles the tenth, driven from his throne, had been replaced by one who in his turn, some three and twenty years afterwards, was doomed to give place to the bonaparte whose sun we ourselves have seen set in the defeat and disaster of sedan. we find portraits in september, 1830, of louis philippe, king of the french, of the queen, general lafayette, the ex-king charles the tenth, and the duc d'angoulème. besides these, we meet with several clever illustrations by the artist, on stone, of the stirring events of the time, which are interesting and valuable specimens of his versatile powers. some of our readers may remember a passage in peter pindar, where the merciless satirist ridicules george the third's german band, telling us (in allusion to his majesty's well-known penurious habits) that, although they displaced native talent and expected "to feast upon the coldstream regiments fat," their experience was altogether of another character:- "but ah, their knives no veal nor mutton carved! to feasts they went indeed, but went and starved!" the services of these foreign musical mercenaries had been retained by george the fourth, but one of the very earliest acts of his successor was to dismiss them in favour of the guards' bands, "who," however, if we are to believe mr. greville, had no great reason to be thankful, but were on the contrary "ready to die of it," as they had to play every night without pay, and were moreover "prevented" from earning money elsewhere. this act of the new king is referred to in a sketch by seymour, which shows us his majesty in the act of "discharging the german band," who may be seen marching off headed by their ancient and crestfallen drum-major. st. john long. the month of october, 1830, witnessed the trial of the notorious impostor, john st. john long (whose real name was o'driscoll) for the manslaughter of miss cushin. the success of this ignorant and notorious quack, who managed for a series of years to extract a magnificent income of some £10,000 or £12,000 per annum by trading on the credulity of his fellow-creatures, forms a curious commentary on the weakness of contemporary "society." it is said that he commenced life as a house-painter, and afterwards acquired some slight knowledge of art in the humble capacity of colour grinder to sir thomas lawrence, and while colouring (on his own account) some anatomical drawings for a medical london school, picked up a slight and imperfect knowledge of anatomy. this stimulated him to further superficial research; and after a few months' probation, his confidence enabled him to pretend that he possessed a cure for every disease under the sun--more especially consumption.[99] the origin and pretensions of this learned practitioner are thus referred to in one of the rhymes of the day:- "you may talk of your celsus, machaons, and galens, physicians who cured all incurable ailings, but ne'er yet was doctor applauded in song like that erudite phoenix, the great doctor long. such astonishing cures he performs, i assure ye, some think him a god--all a _lusus naturæ_: the whole animal system, no matter how wrong, is set right in a moment by great doctor long. through all regions his vast reputation has flown, through the torrid, the frigid, and temperate zone; the wretch, just expiring, springs healthy and strong from his bed at one touch of the great doctor long. his skill to experience, what potentates ran- the pope, the grand llama, the king of japan! the great chinese autocrat, mighty fon whong, was cured of the 'doldrums' by famed doctor long! in each serious case he considers as well as doctor horace, '_naturam cum furcâ expellas_'; 'dame nature' (_i.e._) 'you must poke with a prong.' pretty poking she gets from the great doctor long. he cures folks _à merveille_, the french people cry; the greeks all pronounce him [greek: theztagon tz] dutch and germans adore him; the irish among, 'to be sure he's the dandy!' go bragh, doctor long! king chabert has proved, since restored from his panic, there's small harm in quaffing pure hydrocyanic; but he never found out it was good for the throng, when scrubbed on their stomachs by great doctor long. a machine he's invented, stupendous as new, to sweep one's inside as you'd sweep out a flue; no climbing boy, urged by the sound of the thong, can brush out your vitals like great doctor long.[100] * * * * * garter king has assigned, like a sad 'fleering jack,' a duck for a crest, with the motto, '_quack, quack_' to the proud name of st. john (it should be _st. johng_, which would rhyme with the surname of great doctor long). great house-painting, sign-painting, face-painting sage! thou raffaelle of physic!--thou pride of our age! alas! when thou diest, and the bell goes ding-dong, sure hygeia herself will expire with her long! then fill every glass, drink in grand coalition, _long life_, _long_ await this _long_-headed physician; _long_, _long_ may fame sound, with her trumpet and song, through each nation the name of the great doctor long!"[101] "dr. long's" remedy ("the prong" referred to in the foregoing ballad) was of the simplest possible character, and--his dupes in nine cases out of ten being women--his success complete. he invented a wonderful liniment or lotion, by means of which he professed to diagnose and eradicate the virus of consumption. with many patients an inflammation followed its application, which (according to the quack) discovered the presence of disease, and which, after a plentiful crop of guineas had been extracted, nature was allowed to heal: the patient was then pronounced out of danger. with some persons the liniment was perfectly innocuous, and when this was the case the patient was informed that no disease need be feared. the secret of course lay in the fact that the quack used two liniments, apparently identical, one of which only contained the irritating medium. many actually consumptive persons of course consulted him; but when this was the case he refused his assistance, on the ground that it had been invoked too late. he carried the imposition, as might have been anticipated, once too far, and, in the case of the beautiful and unfortunate miss cushin (a lady of highly nervous temperament), maintained the inflammation for so long a time that nature for once refused to assist him, and when sir benjamin brodie was summoned, mortification had already set in. the trial resulted in a verdict of guilty, but the judge (baron parke), who summed up scandalously in his favour, instead of sending the fellow to hard labour, imposed a fine of £250, which was immediately paid. seymour alludes to this event in a pictorial satire, in which he shows us st. john long, with a vulture's head and beak, kneeling on the floor of a dungeon with a bottle by his side labelled "lotion," and (beneath) the words,--"lost, £12,000 per annum, _medical practice_. whoever will restore the same to mr. st. j. l--g, shall receive the benefit of his advice." miss cushin's death was quickly followed by another fatal case, that of mrs. colin campbell lloyd, who also died from the effects of the corrosive lotion, and st. john long the following year was again put on his trial for manslaughter; in this case the fellow was acquitted. seymour's prediction was not destined to be verified. the _soi-disant_ st. john long, _alias_ o'driscoll, in spite of these "mistakes," which in our day would receive a harsher term, retained his large "practice" to the last, and died--still a young man--of the very disease to which he professed to be superior, thus conclusively proving better than anything else could have done the utter impotency of his preparation. anstey (son of the once celebrated author of the "new bath guide") amusingly describes the administration of an oath to a witness in a court of law:- "here, simon, you shall (silence there!) the truth and all the truth declare, and nothing but the truth be willing to speak, so help you g--d (a shilling)."[102] the artist possibly had this quotation in his mind when he designed the following:--the deponent is a country bumpkin, to whom an official tenders the testament, at the same time extending his disengaged palm. "pleas zur," says hodge, "wot be i to zay?" (to him the officer), "say, this is the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me god one and sixpence." the open and notorious bribery, corruption, and intimidation which prevailed in those days at parliamentary elections; sir robert peel's "new police act" (which was received with extraordinary suspicion and dislike); the reform bill; the universal distress and consequent bread riots of 1830-31, form the subjects of other pictorial satires by robert seymour, which seem, however, to call for little notice. the artist's talent and services were constantly in demand as a designer on wood; but finding that the productions of his pencil suffered at the hands of the wood-engravers to whom they were entrusted, and the very inferior paper upon which the impressions were taken, he, in or about the year 1827, began to learn the art of etching on copper. we believe his earliest attempts in this direction will be found in a work now exceedingly rare, bearing the title of "assisting, resisting, and desisting." a volume called "vagaries, in quest of the wild and wonderful," which appeared in 1827, was embellished with six clever plates after the manner of george cruikshank, and ran through no less than three editions. the "humorous sketches," several times republished, perhaps the only work by which seymour is now known to the general public, appeared between the years 1834 and 1836. they were first published at threepence each by richard carlisle, of fleet street, who is said to have paid the artist fifteen shillings for each drawing on the stone. carlisle falling into difficulties shortly before seymour's death, sold the copyright and lithographic stones to henry wallis, who in turn parted with the latter to mr. tregear, of cheapside, but retaining his property in the copyright, transferred the drawings to steel, and published them in 1838, with letterpress by alfred crowquill. mr. henry g. bohn issued an edition in 1842, and another some twenty-three years later, with plates so sadly worn and blurred by over use that the best part of this last edition (issued by the routledges in 1878) is the binding. the "humorous sketches" (we refer, of course, only to the early impressions), although affording fair examples of the artist's comic style and manner, are in truth of very unequal merit. they comprise some eighty subjects, which, owing to the frequent republications, are so well known that it would be superfluous to attempt a detailed description of them here. the best is unquestionably the one numbered xxv., "this is a werry lonely spot, sir; i wonder you arn't afeard of being rob'd." the inevitable sequel is amusingly related by crowquill:- "poor timmins trembled as he gazed upon the stranger's face; for cut-purse! robber! all too plain, his eye could therein trace. 'them's werry handsome boots o' yourn,' the ruffian smiling cried; 'jist draw your trotters out, my pal, and we'll swop tiles beside. that coat, too, is a pretty fit,- don't tremble so--for i vont rob you of a single fish, i've other fish to fry.'" the "sketches," with other detached works by the artist, reappeared in an edition published by the late john camden hotten, entitled "sketches by seymour," comprising in all 186 subjects, for the most part sadly worn impressions. although there is nothing whatever "hogarthian" about the originals, as the amiable publisher would have us (as usual) believe, we may admit that the faces in no. 24, _at a concert_, are a perfect study, and that this sketch, with nos. 45 and 46 (_snuffing_ and _smoking_), afford excellent examples of the artist's ability as a draughtsman. "the book of christmas." but the work which contains probably some of the best specimens of the artist's style is one now exceedingly scarce. christmas books, like christmas cards, are practically unsaleable after the great christian festival has come and gone; and this was the experience of mr. t. k. hervey's "book of christmas," which, owing to the author's dilatoriness, came out "a day after the fair," and despite its attractions proved unmarketable. this circumstance, we need not say, by no means detracts from its value, and as a matter of fact, the collector will now deem himself fortunate if he succeeds in securing a copy at a price exceeding by one half the original cost. those who have formed their ideas of seymour's powers from the oft republished and irretrievably damaged impressions of the "humorous sketches," will be astonished at the unaccustomed style, vigour, and beauty of these illustrations. a few of the earlier _etchings_ are somewhat faint and indistinct, as if the artist, even at that time, was scarcely accustomed to work on copper. they, however, improve as he proceeds with his work; the larger number are really beautiful, and are characterised by a vigour of conception and execution, of which no possible idea can be formed by those who have seen only the "humorous sketches." noteworthy among the illustrations may be mentioned the finely executed head of _old christmas_, facing page 23; the _baronial hall_ (a picture highly realistic of the christmas comfort and good cheer which is little better than a myth to many of us); _the mummers_; _christmas pantomime_; _market, christmas eve_; _boxing day_; and _twelfth night in the london streets_. the cheery seasonable book shows us the _norfolk coach_ with its spanking team rattling into london on a foggy christmas eve, heaped with fat turkeys, poultry, christmas hampers and parcels. william congreve tells us- "music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." the irritable personage awoke from his slumbers by the music of the waits, certainly does not belong to any of the order of animate or inanimate subjects so softened, soothed, or bent, as aforesaid, for he opens his window and prepares to discharge the contents of his jug on the heads of the devoted minstrels. if the ancient ophicleide player, with the brandy bottle protruding from his great coat pocket, might but know of the impending cataract which more immediately threatens himself, he would convey himself from the dangerous neighbourhood with all the alacrity of which his spindle shanks are capable. a younger neighbour on the opposite side of the street awaits the catastrophe with amused interest, whilst a drunken "unfortunate" executes--under the elevating influences of music and drink--a _pas seul_ on the pavement below. in the etching of _story telling_, the deep shadows of an old baronial hall are illuminated solely by the moonbeams and the flickering flame of the firelight; a door opens into a gallery beyond, and one of the listeners, fascinated by the ghost story to which she is listening, glances fearfully over her shoulder as if apprehensive that something uncanny will presently issue out of the black recesses. the ghostly surroundings have their influences on the very cat, who looks uneasily about her as if afraid of her shadow. besides the thirty-six etchings on copper, the book contains several charming woodcuts, impressed on paper of a very different quality to that on which the artist was accustomed to behold impressions from his wood blocks. of a class entirely different to the foregoing may be mentioned the still rarer series of comicalities executed by the artist under the title of "new readings of old authors," of which we may notice the following: _moved in good time_ (_taming of the shrew_, act 2, sc. 1), a tax-gatherer and other creditors bemoaning themselves outside the premises of a levanted debtor; _i am to get a man, whate'er he be_ (act 3, sc. 2), disciples of burke and hare providing themselves with a living subject; _i do remember when the fight was done, when i was dry_ (king henry iv., part 1, act 1, sc. 3), a victorious prize-fighter recruiting his exhausted frame by imbibing many quarts of strong ale; _he was much feared by his physicians_ (act 4, sc. 1), an irascible gouty patient flinging medicine bottles and nostrums at one of his doctors, and stamping a prostrate one under foot; _you are too great to be by me gainsaid_ (_king henry_ iv., part 2, act 1, sc. 1), a huge woman administering chastisement to a small and probably (in more senses than one) _frail_ husband; _my lord, i over rode him on the way_ (act 1, sc. 1), a miserable huntsman who has ridden over and killed one of the master's fox-hounds; _he came, saw, and overcame_ (act 4, sc. 2), a wretched frenchman, who, overbalancing himself, falls over the rails of a bear-pit amongst the hungry animals below; _never was such a sudden scholar made_, (_king henry_ v., act 1, sc. 1), in allusion to the installation of the duke of wellington as chancellor of oxford university; _a midsummer night's dream_, a fat sleeper suffering under the agonies of nightmare, under the influence of whose delusion he fancies himself roasting before a vast fire, with a huge hook stuck through his stomach; and, _i beg the ancient privilege of athens: as she is mine, i may dispose of her_ (act 1, sc. 1), an englishman attempting to dispose of his ugly, wooden-legged old harridan of a wife by auction. the lithographic stones on which the drawings to these "new readings" were made, and which comprised no less than three hundred drawings, were effaced before the artist's death, and impressions from them are now, of course, more than difficult to procure. the shakespeare series were collected and republished in four volumes, in 1841-2, by tilt & bogue, of fleet street, and even these last are very seldom met with. on the 10th of december, 1831, there started into life a periodical of decidedly pronounced political bias and opinions, entitled "figaro in london." politics ran high in those days; it was the time of the great agitation for "reform," which in those days, as we shall presently see, was both loudly called for and imperatively necessary. a mob of boys and degraded women had taken complete possession of bristol,--had driven its deformed little mayor over a stone wall in ignominious flight,--had burnt down the gaol and the mansion-house, and laid queen square in ashes, whilst the military and its very strangely incompetent officer looked on while the city was burning.[103] every one in those days was either a rabid tory or an ultra radical. it was just the period for an enthusiastic youth to plunge into the excitement of political life; but the crude, unformed opinions of a young man scarcely of age are of little value, and the political creed of the proprietor and originator of this literary (?) venture does not appear to have been clearly defined even to himself. in his valedictory addresses written three years afterwards, when things were not altogether so rosy with him as when he started his periodical, he confesses that he belongs to no party, for "we have had," he says, "such a thorough sickener of the whigs, that we do expect something better from the new government, _although it be a tory one_." the price of "figaro in london," one of the immediate predecessors of the comic publications of our day, was a penny, quite an experiment in times when the price of paper was dear, and periodical literature was heavily handicapped with an absurdly heavy duty. "figaro" consisted of four weekly pages of letterpress illustrated by robert seymour. the projector, proprietor, and editor, was mr. gilbert à beckett, whose name--with those of men of vastly superior literary attainments--was associated in after years with the early fortunes of _punch_. the literary part of the performance was indeed sorry stuff,--the main stay and prop of the paper from its very commencement was seymour, whose drawings however suffered severely at the hands of the engraver and paper maker. an eccentricity of the publication perhaps deserves notice. it professed to look with sovereign contempt upon advertisements, as occupying a quantity of unnecessary space--considering, however, that exception was made in favour of one particularly persevering hatter of the period, we are driven to the conclusion that the projector's contempt for a source of revenue which modern newspaper proprietors can by no means afford to despise, was nearly akin to that expressed by the fox after he had come to the melancholy conclusion that the grapes he longed for were absolutely beyond his reach. the new periodical assumed from the outset a position which cannot fail to amuse the journalist and reader of the present day. it professed to look down upon all other publications (with certain exceptions of magnitude, whom the editor deemed it prudent to conciliate) with supercilious contempt. the absurdity of these pretensions will strike any one who turns over its forgotten pages, and compares his pretensions with mr. à beckett's own share of the performance. the mode in which this young gentleman's editorial duties were conducted, gathered from extracts taken at random from the "notices to correspondents," were, to say the least, peculiar: "a. b., who has written to us, is a fool of the very lowest order. his communication is rejected." poor mr. cox of bath is told he "is a rogue and a fool for sending us a letter without paying the postage. if he wants his title page, let him order it of his bookseller, when it will be got as a matter of course from our publisher," and so on. the aristocracy are regarded with a disfavour which must have given them serious disquietude. the "coming out" of the daughter of the late lord byron, or a _soirée_ at the duchess of northumberland's town house, serve as occasions for indulging in splenetic abuse of what mr. à beckett was pleased to term "the beastly aristocracy." authors, even of position, were not spared by this young ishmael of the press, the respected mrs. trollope, for instance, being unceremoniously referred to as "mother trollope." the only excuse of course for this sort of thing is to be found in the fact that comic journalism being then in its infancy, personal abuse was mistaken for satire; while, so far as the bad taste of the editor is concerned, allowance must be made for an inexperienced young man who imagined that the editorship of a paper, wholly destitute of merit except that which seymour brought to its aid, conferred upon himself a position which rendered him superior to the rules of literary courtesy. with all these pretensions, however, à beckett was conscious of the powerful assistance he was receiving from the artist; and we find him, after his own peculiar fashion and more than questionable taste, constantly alluding to the fact; describing him at various times as "that highly gifted and popular artist, mr. seymour;" "our illustrious artist seymour;" and so on. in the preface to his second volume, he indulges in the following flight of fancy, which will suffice to give us an idea of the literary merits of the editor himself: "in this our annual address," he says, "we cannot omit a puff for the rampant seymour, in whom the public continue to _see-more_ and more every time he puts his pencil to the block for the illustration of our periodical." this was the sort of stuff which passed for wit in 1832.[104] as for seymour himself, he was annoyed at these fulsome and foolish compliments, and in a letter which he wrote to à beckett after the quarrel to be presently related, told him in the plainest terms that, "the engraving, bad printing, and extravagant puffing of his designs were calculated to do him more harm than good as an artist." but artist and editor jogged on together in perfect good will until the 16th of august, 1834, when, for the first and only time, "figaro in london" made its appearance without any illustrations at all. the two succeeding weekly issues contained each a single woodcut after seymour's drawing, but from that time until the end of the year, when à beckett himself retired from the proprietorship and disposed of his interest in the concern, the paper was illustrated by isaac robert cruikshank; this change was due to the following circumstance. a special feature of "figaro in london" was its theatrical leader. à beckett had always taken an interest in dramatic matters, and was himself author of some thirty plays, the very titles of which are now forgotten. not content with being proprietor and editor of a newspaper, he was concerned at this time in another venture, being proprietor and manager of a theatre in tottenham court road, known at different times under the various designations of the tottenham street or west london theatre, the queen's, and latterly as the prince of wales' theatre. the result was almost a foregone conclusion. a newspaper is a sufficiently hazardous speculation, but a theatre in the hands of an inexperienced manager is one of the most risky of all possible experiments; and the result in this case was so unfortunate, that à beckett in the end had to seek the uncomfortable protection of the insolvent court. he was considerably indebted to seymour for the illustrations to "figaro," half of the debt thus incurred being money actually paid away by the artist to the engraver who executed the cuts from his drawings on the wood. finding that à beckett was in no position to discharge this debt or to remunerate him for his future services, seymour did--what every man of business must have done who, like the artist, was dependent on his pencil for _bread_, refused any longer to continue his assistance. apart from the bad paper and bad impressions of which he complained, and above all the bad taste displayed in fulsome adulation of his own merits, supremely distasteful to a man of real ability, seymour appears hitherto to have entertained no bad feeling towards à beckett personally. the result however was a feud. à beckett was not unnaturally angry, and an angry man in his passion is apt to lose both his head and his memory. forgetting the manner in which he had shortly before acknowledged the services and talent of the artist, he now attacked him and his abilities with a malice which would be unintelligible if we had not seen something of his nature and disposition. in his favourite "notices to correspondents" in the number of 13th september, 1834, he professes to account for the employment of isaac robert cruikshank after the following disingenuous fashion: "mr. seymour, our ex-artist, is much to be pitied for his extreme anguish at our having come to terms with the celebrated robert cruikshank in the supplying the designs of the caricatures in 'figaro.' seymour has been venting his rage in a manner as pointless as it is splenetic, and we are sorry for him. he ought, however, to feel, that notwithstanding our friendly wish to bring him forward, which we have done in an eminent degree, we must engage _first-rate_ ability when public patronage is bestowed so liberally, as it now is upon this periodical. he ought therefore not to be nettled at our having obtained a superior artist." the public, however, were not to be _gulled_; they perfectly well knew that isaac robert cruikshank was an inferior artist in every respect to seymour, and had not forgotten the tribute which the foolish editor had previously paid to the talents and ability of the latter. conduct like this could only recoil on the head of the person who was injudicious and spiteful enough to be guilty of it. the "notices to correspondents" in subsequent numbers continued to be filled with references and allusions to seymour, dictated by a malice which was alike silly and childish. they are not worthy of repetition here, and we must refer the reader for them to the numbers of "figaro in london" of 20th september and 15th november, 1834, or (if he have not access to its pages) to the short biographical notice prefixed to the latest edition of the "sketches" by mr. henry g. bohn. we have no doubt whatever that the interval between these dates was employed in fruitless endeavours on the part of à beckett to arrange terms with the artist, who, however, steadily refused to give the failing publication the indispensable benefit of his assistance. left as it were to its own resources, the circulation, in spite of the graphic help accorded by robert cruikshank, steadily declined, and à beckett finally retired from the editorship and proprietorship on the 27th of december, 1834. seymour wielded a far more effectual weapon of offence than any which à beckett possessed, and dealt him blows which at this time and in his then circumstances must have been keenly felt. one of seymour's satires is aimed specially at the "notices to correspondents" already mentioned, and shows us a heavy, vulgar fellow seated at his desk, habited in a barber's striped dressing-gown _à la figaro_. his features are distorted with passion, for he has received a letter the contents of which are anything but flattering, addressed "to the editor of the nastiest thing in london." this sketch bears the following descriptive title: "an editor in a _small way_, after pretending a great deal about his correspondents, is here supposed to have received _a_ letter." a second skit shows us a critic examining a picture representing "the death of à beckett, archbishop of cant." a figure in armour, with its vizor down (obviously intended for the artist) is depicted in the act of cutting at the "archbishop" with a sword, the blade of which is inscribed "debts due." his first blow has severed the mitre labelled "assumption," and the pastoral staff, inscribed "impudence," with which the victim vainly endeavours to defend himself. "don't," says à beckett, as he falls prostrate amid a heap of "spoilt paper," among which we recognise, "figaro," "the thief," "the wag," and other periodicals with which his name was associated. "don't cut at me 'our own inimitable, our illustrious, our talented;' pray don't give me any more cuts; think how many i have had and not paid you for already:" a hand indicates the way "to the insolvent court." "figaro," after the retirement of à beckett, passed into the editorial hands of mr. h. mayhew, and conscious of the injury which the defection of seymour had done to the undertaking, he lost no time in opening negotiations with a view to his return. in this he experienced little difficulty, for seymour was glad to avail himself of the opportunity of giving to the public the most convincing proof which could have been adduced of the falsity of the libels which had been published by the retiring and discomfited editor. the fourth volume commenced 3rd of january, and from that time until his death (in 1836) he continued to illustrate the paper. mayhew announces his return after the following curious fashion: "the generous seymour, with a patriotic ardour unequalled since the days of curtius, has abandoned all selfish considerations, and yielded to our request for his country's sake. again he wields the satiric pencil, and corruption trembles to its very base. his first peace-offering to 'figaro in london,' is the rich etching [woodcut] our readers now gaze upon with laughing eyes." constant references of a laudatory kind are made to him in succeeding numbers. the woodcuts after seymour's designs, which appear in "figaro in london," are too small and unimportant to justify the title which the editor gives them of "caricatures;" and relating to political matters which at that time were far more efficiently chronicled by the pencil of h. b., they have lost any interest which they once might have commanded. the most interesting illustrations which seymour contributed to "figaro," are the brief series of theatrical portraits, which are not only clever but evidently excellent likenesses. it was not only in the case of "figaro in london" that the slanders of à beckett recoiled upon his own head. that gentleman in 1832 had started a sort of rival to hood's "comic annual," under the title of the "comic magazine." it was cheaper in price than the former publication, and contained an amazing number of amusing cuts of the punning order, after seymour's designs. after the quarrel with à beckett, the artist withdrew his assistance from its pages, and the illustrations show a fearful falling off after 1833. many of the wretched designs which follow bear the signature of "dank," and so destitute are they of merit that the "embellishments" (as they are termed) for 1834, are altogether below criticism. at the opening of the present chapter we said that robert seymour was _almost_ a genius. genius, however, he never absolutely touched; he was destitute of the inventive faculties which distinguished john leech, and lacked the vivid imagination which enabled george cruikshank to realize any idea which occurred to him, whether comical, grave, realistic, or terrible. his talents as an artist, though undoubtedly great, ran in a narrow groove, and their bent is shown by the well-known "humorous sketches," and the less known but far more admirable designs which he executed for the "comic magazine." he always had a fancy for depicting and satirizing cockneys and cockney subjects, and had conceived the by no means new or ambitious idea of producing a series of such pictures with an appropriate letterpress to be furnished by a literary coadjutor, whose work, however, was to be subservient to his own. the idea was not perhaps a very definite one, but the pictorial part of the work was commenced, and four plates actually etched at the time the artist was retained to execute the illustrations to the "book of christmas." out of this undeveloped idea, and out of the four apparently unimportant drawings to which we have alluded, was destined to evolve the strange and melancholy story which will be associated for all time with the mirth-inspiring novel of the "pickwick papers." origin of "pickwick." the difficulty at the outset was to find an author to carry out the artist's idea, indefinite as it was. in this direction there was in 1836, a very _embarras de richesses_, for, if comic artists were few, there was on the other hand no lack of humourists of the highest order of merit. theodore hook, clark (the author of "three courses and a dessert")--probably many others were suggested by the publishers who were taken into consultation by seymour; but all were rejected. he himself seems to have inclined towards mayhew, with whom it will be recollected he was associated at this time on "figaro in london." the man of all others most fitted to carry out the artist's _own_ idea seems to us to have been john poole, one of the most original of english humourists, whose productions, now forgotten, are worth searching for in the pages of the "new monthly" and other periodical publications of a past day. it is a singular fact, too, that on the first appearance of the "pickwick papers," the authorship was by many ascribed to this very man. in the end, mr. chapman, of the firm of chapman & hall, introduced the artist to one of the most unlikely men for his own purpose that could possibly have been selected,--the man, as we have already seen, of all others the least fitted and the least disposed to act the part of william coombe to seymour's character of thomas rowlandson. at this time charles dickens was reporter on the staff of a newspaper; he had written a book which, although successful, had created no very intense excitement; he was moreover a young man, and consequently plastic, and fifteen pounds a month would be a small fortune to him; so at least argued the artist and his friends. how little they understood the resolute, self-reliant character of this unknown writer! the result was altogether different from anything they expected. author and artist differed at the outset as to the form the narrative should take; but the man with the strongest power of mind and will took his stand from the first, and charles dickens made it a condition of his retainer that the illustrations should grow out of the text, instead of the latter being suggested (as seymour desired) by the illustrations, and the artist had reluctantly to give way. no one can doubt that the author was right. by way however of a concession, and of meeting seymour's original idea as far as practicable, he introduced the absurd character of winkle, the cockney sportsman. the mode of publication followed was the artist's own suggestion, who, desiring the widest possible circulation, insisted on the work being published in monthly numbers at a shilling. thus it was that "pickwick" came to be written. we are not called on in this place to discuss the merits of "pickwick"; to compare charles dickens with the writers who had immediately preceded him; to enlarge upon the comic vein which he discovered and made so peculiarly his own; to show the influence which his humour exercised upon the literature of the next quarter of a century; to contrast such humour with his wonderful power of pathos; to marshal the shades of true-hearted, noble nell, unhappy smike, little paul dombey, world abandoned joe, and compare them with the wellers--father and son, mr. jingle, tracy tupman, bob sawyer, and the spectacled but essentially owlish founder of the "pickwick club." all this we fancy has been done in another place; our task is altogether of a simpler character. we have to trace the connection which subsisted between the artist and author; to show how this book--the creation of a writer in the spring-time of his genius--the essence of fun, the unfailing source of merriment to countless readers past, present, and to come, came to be associated with the memory of a terrible and still incomprehensible tragedy. we have seen that, contrary to his own wishes, seymour had yielded to charles dickens' suggestion, or rather condition, that the illustrations should grow out of the text; but he does not seem to have abandoned (so far as we can judge) all idea of having a hand in the management of the story, and he never for one instant contemplated interference on the part of the author with any one of his own designs. if we are to believe his friends (and their testimony seems to us distinctly valuable in this place), he was extremely angry at the introduction into the plot of the "stroller's tale," and we may therefore fancy the spirit in which he would receive charles dickens' intimation, conveyed to him in the same manner that he afterwards communicated to cruikshank his disapproval of the last etching in "oliver twist," that he objected to that etching "as not quite _his_ [dickens'] idea;" that he wished "to have it as complete as possible, and would feel personally obliged if he would make another drawing." the letter (on the whole a kindly one) has been set out elsewhere,[105] and there is no occasion to repeat it here. what other causes of irritation existed will never be known. all that is still known is, that he executed a fresh design and handed it over to dickens at the time appointed; that he went home and destroyed nearly all the correspondence relating to the subject of "pickwick"; that he executed a drawing for a wood-engraver named john jackson,[106] and delivered it himself on the evening of the 20th of april, 1836; that he then returned to his house in king street, islington, and committed self-destruction. he left behind him an unfinished drawing for "figaro in london," which afterwards appeared (in the state in which it was found) in the pages of that periodical. various reasons have been assigned for this rash act, all more or less contradictory. according to some he was a man of equable temperament; while others, who knew him personally, have told us that he was nervous and subject to terrible fits of depression. some would trace the act to his quarrel with à beckett; but this is simply absurd, seeing that it had occurred some two years before. we need not, as it seems to us, travel out of our course to seek the real cause, which was probably due to over-work. his energies had been tasked to the utmost to keep pace with the supply which his ever-increasing popularity brought him. the state of his mind appears to us clearly indicated by his design of _the dying clown_, one of the last drawings which he etched for the "pickwick papers," and for which we must refer the reader to the _original_ edition only; anything more truly melancholy we can scarcely imagine. entirely appropriate to the story, it seems to tell its own tale of the morbid state of mind of the man who designed it; it is a pictorial commentary on the sad story we have attempted to tell. [illustration: robert seymour. "_pickwick papers._" "the dying clown." _face p. 233._] a too zealous application to work has destroyed many men both of talent and genius; it produces different effects in different individuals, according to their respective temperaments: while it drove robert seymour to frenzy, it killed john leech--a man of far finer imaginative faculties--with the terrible pangs of _angina pectoris_. differently endowed as they were, both belonged to the order of men so touchingly described by _manfred_:- "there is an order of mortals on the earth, who do become old in their youth, and die ere middle age without the violence of warlike death; some perishing of pleasure, some of study, some worn with toil, some of mere weariness, some of disease, and some insanity, and some of wither'd or of broken hearts; for this last is a malady which slays more than are numbered in the lists of fate."[107] the coadjutorship of distinguished artists and authors has led to more than one strange controversy. those who have read forster's "life of dickens" will remember the curious claim which george cruikshank preferred after dickens' death to be the suggester of the story of "oliver twist," and the unceremonious mode in which mr. forster disposed of that pretension. we have referred elsewhere to the edifying controversy between george cruikshank and harrison ainsworth, in relation to the origin of the latter's novels of the "miser's daughter" and "the tower of london." the republication of seymour's "humorous sketches" in 1866, led to a very curious claim on the part of his friends, in which they sought to establish the fact that he was the originator and inventor of the incidents of "pickwick." this claim happily was made while dickens was yet alive, and was very promptly and satisfactorily disposed of by himself in a letter which he wrote to the _athenæum_ on the 20th of march, 1866. author and artist have long since gone to their rest; and the plan which the author of this work proposed when he sat down to write the story of robert seymour, was to place that artist in the position which he believes him to occupy in the ranks of british graphic humourists, and not to rake up or revive the memory of a somewhat painful controversy. of the claim itself we would simply remark, that not only was it made in all sincerity by those who loved and cherished the memory of robert seymour, but that to a certain extent the claim has a foundation of fact to rest upon; for who will deny that had not seymour communicated his idea to chapman, and chapman introduced the artist to dickens, the "pickwick papers" themselves would have remained unwritten. in this sense, but in this sense only, therefore, robert seymour was the undoubted originator of "pickwick." he was an artist of great power, talent, and ability; and it seems to us that those only detract from his fame who, in a kind but mistaken spirit of zeal, would claim for him any other position than that which he so justly and honestly earned for himself, as one of the most talented of english graphic satirists. footnotes: [97] "greville memoirs." vol. i. p. 180. [98] _ibid._, p. 207. [99] his theory, as stated in a book which he published, was this: that as all men are born in moral sin, so they have about them a physical depravity in the form of an acrid humour, which, flying about the system, at length finds vent in diseases which afflict or terminate existence. he professed by the means afterwards explained to bring this acrid humour to the surface, and having thus expelled the cause of disease, to put an end to every bodily ailment. [100] in allusion to a complex piece of machinery he said (in his book) he had invented, which when complete would cost him two thousand guineas. this machine, said long, _alias_ o'driscoll, "will search all the body, and cut away all the diseased parts, leaving the patient perfectly sound and well." [101] we found a curtailed copy of these amusing verses in one of the _jeux d'esprit_ of the time, called "valpurgis; or, the devil's festival" (william kidd, 6, old bond street, 1831), illustrated by seymour. with the exception of one immaterial verse, we now give the complete poem; in the ring of the verses the reader will have no difficulty in recognising the hand of the rev. richard harris barham, subsequently author of the "ingoldsby legends." [102] anstey's "pleader's guide," bk. 2nd (1810). [103] colonel brereton. his conduct afterwards formed the subject of a court-martial, but the unhappy man forestalled the "finding" by committing suicide. [104] mr. à beckett's strong point was puns; in later days he found a vehicle for these in the well-known "comic histories" of england and rome, illustrated by john leech. it was his peculiar good fortune always to be associated with artists of the highest ability. [105] see forster's "life of dickens." [106] in one account of seymour's death the name of the engraver is given as _starling_. this is a mistake. the engraving (probably one of the best the unfortunate artist ever executed) represents a sailor captain of charles the first's time, showing a casket of pearls to a lady of remarkable beauty. [107] act 3, scene 1. chapter xi. _the political sketches of_ hb. the years 1830-32 were full of political trouble; men's minds were unsettled; progress was the order of the day, and a reform in the election of the members who represented or who were supposed to represent the political opinions of the english constituencies was not only loudly called for, but had (as we have seen) for a very long time past been imperatively demanded. the question was shelved from time to time, but sooner or later it must be settled, and as liberals and conservatives alike will be amused and astounded at the state of english parliamentary representation half a century ago, we propose just to glance at matters as they existed in 1830. the marquis of blandford was a somewhat notable character in those days. he had been a violent opponent of the catholic relief bill; but from the moment that measure was carried had become as fiery and reckless a reformer.[108] on the 18th of february, 1830, he proposed that a committee should be chosen by ballot to take a review of all boroughs and cities in the kingdom, and report to the secretary of state for the home department those among them which had fallen into decay, or had in any manner forfeited their right to representation on the principles of the english constitution as anciently recognised by national and parliamentary usage. the home secretary was to be bound immediately to act on this report, and to relieve all such places from the burthen of sending members to parliament in future, and the vacancies were to be supplied by towns which had hitherto been unrepresented. all parliamentary representatives were to be elected by persons "paying scot and lot." he further proposed to extend the right of voting to all copyholders and leaseholders, and to place the representation of scotland on an equal footing with that of england. the members were to be chosen from the inhabitants of the places for which they were returned, and were to be paid for their services according as they were borough or county members. the former were to receive two guineas a day each, and county members four guineas; why the latter were to be estimated at double the value of the former does not seem clear. mr. brougham, although ready to vote for this somewhat extraordinary measure, "because much of what it proposed to do was good," recommended that a merely general resolution that reform was necessary should be substituted in its place. lord althorp moved an amendment accordingly on the terms suggested; but both the amendment and the original motion were negatived. on the third reading of what was then known as the "east retford" bill, the first attempt was made in parliament by o'connell to introduce a new principle into the representative system of the country, viz., that the votes of the electors should be taken by ballot. only twenty-one members voted for o'connell's motion, among whom the names now most familiar to us are those of lord althorp, sir francis burdett, and mr. hume. the most ultra-conservative, however, of our day, who thinks that the representation of the people has already been carried far enough, will scarcely credit the fact, that in those days constituencies such as leeds, manchester, and birmingham were absolutely unrepresented. yet such was the case. the motion for transferring the franchise of east retford to birmingham having been lost, lord john russell, on the 23rd of february, brought the matter of the great unrepresented constituencies before parliament by moving for leave to bring in a bill "to enable leeds, manchester, and birmingham to return members to the house of commons." it seems scarcely credible to us now-a-days, that this reasonable motion was _negatived_ by 188 to 140. on the 28th of may, o'connell brought in a wilder scheme. he moved for leave to bring in a bill to establish triennial parliaments, universal suffrage, and vote by ballot; the simple foundation of his system being that every man who pays a tax or is liable to serve in the militia is entitled to have a voice in the representation of the country. only thirteen members were found to join him in a house of 332. lord john russell, who took advantage of this motion to introduce certain resolutions of his own, embracing a wider scheme of reform than that included in his former programme, could not consent to any part of o'connell's scheme. dismissing the subject of triennial parliaments as a subject of comparative unimportance, and passing on to the other propositions, universal suffrage and vote by ballot, he contended that both were incompatible with the principles of the english constitution. mr. brougham, while he thought that the duration of parliaments might be shortened with considerable advantage, provided that other measures for removing improper influence were adopted, declared himself both against universal suffrage and against vote by ballot; and he entered into a full statement of the grounds on which he held that the secresy of voting supposed to be attained by the ballot would produce most mischievous consequences without securing the object which it professed to have in view. the resolutions moved by lord john russell (after o'connell's motion had been negatived) were as follows: (1) "that it was expedient the number of representatives in the house should be increased;" (2) "that it was expedient to give members to the large and manufacturing towns, and additional members to counties of great wealth and population." under the second of the resolutions, it was proposed to divide large and populous counties, such as yorkshire for instance, into two divisions, and to give to each of them two members. among the towns proposed to be benefited were such important centres as macclesfield, stockport, cheltenham, birmingham, brighton, whitehaven, wolverhampton, sunderland, manchester, bury, bolton, dudley, leeds, halifax, sheffield, north and south shields; while it was stated that the same principle would apply to extend the representation to cities of such importance as edinburgh, glasgow, and belfast. all the resolutions, however (comprising a third which we have considered it unnecessary to refer to), were negatived by the amazing majority of 213 to 117. the fact that this was a much larger majority than that which had thrown out the previous and more limited proposal for extending the franchise to three only of the manufacturing towns, will suffice to show the spirit in which the unreformed parliament of 1830 was accustomed to receive any suggestion of improvement and reform, reasonable or otherwise. it may perhaps seem strange that at this stirring period there was an absolute dearth of political caricaturists, but the fact we have already attempted to account for. george cruikshank, the finest caricaturist of his day, as well as his brother robert, neither of whom can be described as purely political satirists, had now practically retired from the practice of the art, and were employed on work of a totally different character. political caricature languished; indeed, if we perhaps except william heath, oftentimes better known by his artistic pseudonym of "paul pry," there was not a political caricaturist of any note in 1829-30. at this juncture there arose a graphic satirist--if indeed we are justified in so terming him--of genuine originality. before 1829, he had been known only as a miniature painter of some celebrity; but he possessed a taste for satiric art, and had essayed several subjects of political character which he treated in a style and manner differing altogether from the mode in which satirical pictures had hitherto been treated. these he showed to maclean, one of the great caricature publishers of the day, who had sufficient discernment and prescience to recognise in them the work of a man of unquestionable original ability. he prevailed on the artist to publish these specimens, and their success was so genuine and unmistakable that both publisher and artist decided to continue them. thus commenced a series of political pictures which ultimately numbered almost a thousand, and ran an uninterrupted course of prosperity for a period of upwards of two and twenty years. the enormous success and reputation which the "sketches," as they were called, achieved, was due not only to the cleverness and originality of the artist himself, but also in a great measure to the mystery which attended their publication and appearance. both parties concerned in their production preserved an inviolable secrecy on the subject of the identity of the artist and the place whence the "sketches" originated. mr. buss tells us,[109] "the drawings were called for in a mysterious hackney coach, mysteriously deposited in a mysterious lithographic printing office, and as mysteriously printed and mysteriously stored until the right day of publication." the hb mystery was most religiously preserved for a great number of years, both by the artist and the publisher. the initials afforded no clue to those not immediately concerned in preserving the secret; and yet in this very original monogram lay the key to the whole of the mystery. the origin of this signature was simply the junction of two i's and two d's (one above the other), thus converting the double initials into hb. the single initials were those of john doyle, father of the late richard doyle, who afterwards made his own mark as a comic artist in the pages of _punch_ and elsewhere. the "sketches" of hb were a complete innovation upon pictorial satire. the idea of satirizing political subjects and public men without the exaggeration or vulgarity which the caricaturists had more or less inherited from gillray, was entirely new to the public, and took with them immensely; and herein lies their peculiarity, that whilst the subjects are treated with a distinctly sarcastic humour, there is an absence of anything approaching to exaggeration, and the likenesses of the persons represented are most faithfully preserved. whilst claiming for himself the character of a pictorial satirist, the artist is all throughout anxious to impress upon you the fact that he repudiates the notion of being considered a caricaturist in the johnsonian meaning of the word. this _idea_ seems also to have struck thackeray, who, writing at the time when the sketches were appearing, says of him, "you never hear any laughing at 'h.b.'; his pictures are a great deal too genteel for that,--polite points of wit, which strike one as exceedingly clever and pretty, and cause one to smile in a quiet, gentlemanlike kind of way."[110] throughout the series of sketches we know but of one instance where the artist suffers any comparison to be established between himself and the political caricaturists who had preceded him, and that is the one entitled _bombardment extraordinary_ (having reference to the indictment for libel against the _morning journal_, which was shortly followed by the collapse of that paper), which is treated to the full as coarsely as gillray himself might desire. the fact of this being among the earliest sketches would seem to show that the artist had not then quite made up his mind whether to follow in the footsteps of his great predecessor or not. we think the result must have convinced him that, whilst having distinct merits of his own as a satirist, and indeed as an artist, he was very far behind gillray; and the rest of the sketches seem to show that their designer had made up his mind that no middle course was possible;--in other words, that he must be hb or nothing. the faithfulness of the likenesses of the persons who appear in these "sketches" is simply marvellous. not only has the artist preserved the features of the subjects of his satires, but he has caught their attitude--their manner, almost their tricks and habits,--and the drawings being, as we have said, wholly free from exaggeration, the very men stand before you, often, it is true, in absurd and ridiculous positions. the persons who figure in these lithographs comprise among names of note many whose reputations were too ephemeral to preserve them from oblivion. on the other hand, amongst the various groups we recognise prince talleyrand, the dukes of cumberland, gloucester, wellington, and sussex, george the fourth, william the fourth, louis philippe, her present majesty, lord brougham, colonel sibthorpe, count pozzo di borgo, daniel o'connell, lord john russell, sir robert peel, mr. hume, lord melbourne, lord palmerston, sir francis burdett, mr. roebuck, sir james graham. persons with no political reputation or connection are occasionally introduced to serve the purposes of the artist: doing duty for him in this manner we find the rev. edward irving; townsend the "runner," of bow street notoriety; george robins, the auctioneer; liston, the comedian; and others. ever on the alert for comic subjects, john doyle was remarkably prompt and ready to catch an idea. frequently these ideas were suggested to him by a phrase--a sentence--a few words in a speech; occasionally he takes a hint from his lempriére; whilst not unfrequently his happiest conceptions are derived from a character or scene in one of the popular operas or farces of the time. thus, in one of the debates on the reform bill in the house of lords, some very high words passed between lords grey and kenyon, the latter applying the words "abandoned" and "atrocious" to the conduct of the former, who on his part declared in reply that he threw back the expressions with scorn and indignation. in the midst of the confusion the duke of cumberland rose, and implored their lordships to tranquillize themselves and proceed with the debate in a temperate and orderly manner, advice which, after taking time to cool, they thought it prudent to follow. the farce of "i'll be your second" was then running at the olympic, mr. liston taking the part of "placid," who, having a pecuniary interest in one of the characters who has a weakness for duelling, is kept in a state of nervous anxiety, and constantly interposes with the question, "can't this affair be arranged?" in one of his "sketches," hb gives us _a scene from the farce of "i'll be your second,"_ in which the duke of cumberland is represented as placid, endeavouring to arrange matters amicably between my lords kenyon and grey. duke of cumberland. the duke himself was one of the most unpopular personages of his time, and evinced on his part a contempt for public opinion which did nothing to lessen the prejudice with which he was generally regarded. we dislike a man none the less for knowing that he is conscious of and indifferent to our good or bad opinion; and so it was with the duke of cumberland. he followed his pleasure (field sports amongst the rest) with a serene and happy indifference to all that the world might think or say about him. this characteristic of his royal highness is satirized in another of the "sketches," where he is supposed to sing "my dog and my gun," as "hawthorn," in the then popular opera of "love in a village." his royal highness made himself a remarkable character in those smooth-faced days by wearing a profusion of whisker and moustache perfectly white. a rumour somehow got abroad and was circulated in the tittle-tattle newspapers of the time, that at the instance of some fair lady he had shaved off these martial appendages. the cavalry for some unexplained reason were the only branch of the service who were then permitted to wear moustaches, and in one of his sketches, the artist places the smooth-shaved duke in the midst of his brother officers, who regard him with the greatest horror and amazement. the ministry which succeeded that of the duke of wellington had entered office under express declaration that they would forthwith apply themselves to the reform of the representation of the people; and accordingly, on the 1st of march, 1831, a bill for that purpose was actually introduced by lord john russell; but the strength and violence of the opposition which could still be mustered against it may be judged by the fact, that the second reading was carried by the hopeless majority of _one_ in the fullest house that had ever been assembled. a dissolution took place shortly afterwards, and the avowed intention of such dissolution had been to obtain from the people at the general election (which followed) a house of commons pledged to support the reform bill; indeed, the only test by which candidates were tried, was their expressed pledge to support this particular measure. on the 24th of june, 1831, lord john russell again moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the representation of england, and the difference in the result obtained by the election is conclusively shown by the fact, that the votes for the second reading were 367 against 231. on the 13th of july it passed into committee, and on the 7th of september, the bill as amended in committee was reported to the house; the majority in favour of the motion for passing it was found to be 109, the ayes being 345, and the noes 236. the reform bill thrown out by the lords. the reform bill next day was carried up to the lords by lord john russell, attended by about a hundred of its staunchest supporters in the lower house. these gentlemen appear to have adopted the unusual mode of exciting the attention of the peers and giving to the function they were performing a striking and theatrical character, by accompanying the delivery of the bill to the lord chancellor with their own characteristic "hear, hear." a cry of "order" recalled them to a sense of the presence in which they stood. in doyle's contemporary sketch of _bringing up our bill_, this incident is referred to. lord chancellor brougham stands at the bar of the house to receive it from the hands of the member who leads the deputation (lord john russell); behind him we see lord althorp, the marquis of chandos, and the right hon. john wilson croker, who exchange signs with their fingers, showing that the proceeding does not altogether meet with their approval. in the background may be seen sir charles wetherell, hated of the reformers of bristol, looking as opposed to the measure as ever; the bill, as we know, was thrown out by the lords in october, by a majority of 41. the same month, its enthusiastic advocate, the rev. sydney smith, at a reform meeting at taunton, compared the attempt of the house of lords to stop the progress of reform to a certain fictitious dame partington of sidmouth, who had essayed during the progress of the great storm to arrest the progress of the atlantic with her broom. "the atlantic was roused," said the wit; "mrs. partington's spirit was up; but i need not tell you that the contest was unequal. the atlantic ocean beat mrs. partington." immediately after this speech appeared the sketch of _dame partington and the ocean of reform_, in which the character of the apocryphal and obstinate dame is sustained by that vigorous opponent of the reform bill, his grace the duke of wellington. a dead lock. as the lords had thrown out the reform bill, it was necessary to begin _de novo_. accordingly, on the 12th of december, lord john russell again moved for leave to bring in a new reform bill, which passed the third reading by a majority of 116 on the 23rd of march, 1832, and its second reading in the house of peers, by a majority of nine, on the 14th of april. then the fighting and opposition became once more as strenuous and as sustained as ever. on a subsequent division the ministry were left in a minority of thirty-five, whereupon earl grey proceeded to the king, and tendered to his majesty the alternative either of arming the ministers with the powers they deemed necessary to carry through their bill (which really meant a power to create whatever new peers they might deem requisite for the purpose), or of accepting their own immediate resignation. in the course of the following day the king informed his lordship that he had determined to accept his resignation rather than have recourse to the only alternative which had been proposed to him; and accordingly, on the 9th, earl grey announced in the house of lords, and lord althorp in the commons, that the ministry was at an end, and simply held office till their successors should be appointed. the duke of wellington attempted to form an administration, and failed--and his failure left matters, the ministers, and the perplexed monarch, of course exactly "as they were." the excitement occasioned by the lords was tremendous. at london, birmingham, manchester, and other large centres, simultaneous meetings were held to petition the commons to stop the supplies. in the metropolis placards were everywhere posted, recommending the union of all friends of the cause; the enforcement of the public rights at all hazards; and a universal resistance to the payment of taxes, rates, tithes, and assessments; the country in fact was on the brink of revolution. at the meetings of the political societies, even in the leading journals, projects were openly discussed and recommended for _organizing_ and _arming_ the people; the population of the large towns was ready to be launched on the metropolis. "what was to be done--peers or no peers? a cabinet sat nearly all day, and lord grey went once or twice to the king. he, poor man, was at his wits' end, and tried an experiment (not a very constitutional one) of his own by writing to a number of peers, entreating them to withdraw their opposition to the bill."[111] the letter to which mr. charles greville refers is evidently the following circular:- "st. james's palace, _may 17th, 1832_. "my dear lord,--i am honoured with his majesty's command to acquaint your lordship, that all difficulties to the arrangements in progress will be obviated by a declaration in the house to-night from a sufficient number of peers, that in _consequence of the present state of affairs_, they have come to the resolution of dropping their further opposition to the reform bill, so that it may pass without delay, and as nearly as possible in its present shape. "i have the honour to be yours sincerely, "herbert taylor." such a request, coming from such a quarter, was not only weighty in itself, but necessarily implied after all that had taken place, that his majesty suggested this course as the only means of avoiding the creation of a large number of additional peers. the majority of the house were thus placed in the unenviable position of being compelled to choose whether they would see a hundred members added to the number of their opponents to carry a measure which was hateful to them, or to abandon for a time their rights, privileges, and duties as legislators. they chose the latter alternative, and during the remainder of the discussion on the bill, not more than between thirty and forty attended at any one time. by this means, and this only, the bill was eventually carried. on these grounds john doyle appears to have founded his theory that william the fourth was a sincere convert to reform.[112] in one of the "sketches" he shows us his majesty in the character of johnny gilpin carried along at headlong speed by his unmanageable _grey_ steed "reform." he flies past the famous hostelry at edmonton, where his wife and her friends (represented by the duke of wellington and a party of tories) are anxiously awaiting his arrival. the turnpike-keeper (john bull) throws open the gate to let him pass, too delighted with the fun to think of any personal expense to himself, and conscious that if the gate is shut the inexpert horseman must come to unutterable grief. the bottles dangling at gilpin's waist are filled with "birmingham froth" and "rotunda pop," in allusion to the stump oratory of the birmingham political union and the rotunda in blackfriars road. hume and o'connell, the ardent supporters of the bill, cheering with might and main, closely follow john on horseback; while sir francis burdett and sir t. c. hobhouse, equally ardent advocates of reform, join the cry on foot. the frightened geese with coroneted heads represent, of course, the peers, who had offered such determined opposition to the measure, while the old apple woman rolling in the mud is no other than poor lord eldon. the bird of ill-omen foretelling disaster is mr. croker, secretary to the admiralty. later on the same year (1832), we find his majesty represented as mazeppa bound to the _grey_ steed reform, several of the conservative members of either houses of parliament doing duty as the wolves and "fearful wild fowl" that accompany the rider in his perilous course. in another satire, the king, supposed to have discovered his mistake, figures as sinbad the sailor, vainly endeavouring to shake himself free of the old man of the sea (earl grey), who however is too firmly seated on his shoulders to be dislodged. unpopularity of the duke of wellington. the duke of wellington's political convictions having prompted him to be among one of the leading opponents to the reform bill, he narrowly escaped serious injury at the hands of the london rabble. on the 18th of june, 1832, having occasion to pay a visit to the mint, a crowd of several hundred roughs collected on tower hill to await his return; and on making his appearance at the gate he was hissed and hooted by the crowd, who followed him along the minories yelling, hooting, and using abusive language, their numbers and threatening demeanour momentarily increasing. about half-way up the minories he was met by mr. ballantine, the thames police magistrate, who asked him if he could render him any assistance; but the cool, courageous soldier simply replied that he did not mind what was going on. when his grace had got to about the middle of fenchurch street, one of the cowardly ruffians rushed out of the crowd, and seizing the bridle with one hand attempted to dismount the duke with the other, in which he would have succeeded but for the courageous conduct of the groom and a body of city police, who opportunely made their appearance at the time. the mob had now grown as numerous as it was cowardly; but by the exertions of the police, his grace was escorted through it and along cheapside without sustaining personal injury. in holborn, however, the rabble, growing bolder, began to throw stones and filth, and the duke, followed by the _canaille_, rode to the chambers of sir charles wetherell, in stone buildings, lincoln's inn, where he remained, till a body of police arrived from bow street, by whom he was escorted in safety to apsley house. to make the outrage more disgraceful, if possible, it happened on the anniversary of the crowning victory of waterloo; the mob, forgetting in their unreasoning wrath the priceless services the great soldier had rendered to the nation, whilst the cowardly rascals who composed it were the very persons who could by no possibility be benefited by the provisions of the bill in which they professed to take so great an interest. on the night of the illumination which followed the passing of the act, they broke the windows of his grace and other opponents of the measure; and in one of the contemporary hb sketches, _taking an airing in hyde park_, the duke is seen looking out of one of his broken window-panes. before the end of the year he was visited by serious illness, and the angry feelings his opposition to the measure had provoked, and which had been gradually subsiding, were suddenly followed by a complete reaction in his favour. hb commemorates this in his sketch of _auld lang syne_, which shows the happy reconciliation between john bull and the hero of waterloo. duel between the duke of wellington and lord winchelsea. consistently and conscientiously as the great duke had opposed what he considered the revolutionary tendency of the reform bill, it must not be forgotten that it is to him that the catholics owe the benefits of the act of 1829, which relieved them of the disabilities under which they had so long suffered; and it must not be forgotten too, that in this measure he had not only to contend with his own repugnance to catholic emancipation, but also with that of his chief colleagues,--of the great majority of the house of lords, and of the king himself. with the latter indeed his task had been a very difficult one; and it was only a few days before the meeting of parliament in the early part of 1829, that the consent of george the fourth had been obtained. among the most strenuous of the duke's opponents to the catholic relief bill was the earl of winchelsea, who, in the unreasoning bitterness of his anger, shut his eyes to the injustice under which the catholics had so long suffered, and most unwarrantably charged his grace with an intention "to introduce popery into every department of the state." these words led to a hostile meeting in battersea fields on the 21st of march, 1829. lord winchelsea, after receiving the duke's fire, discharged his pistol in the air, and there the affair ended, his second delivering a written acknowledgment expressing his lordship's regret for having imputed disgraceful motives to the conduct of the duke, in his pro-catholic exertions. twelve months afterwards, on the 2nd of april, 1830, richard william lambrecht was indicted at kingston assizes for the murder of oliver clayton, whom he had shot in a duel in battersea fields on the preceding 8th of january. lambrecht had a narrow escape, for the judge in his summing up told the jury that if they were of opinion that the accused met clayton "on the ground with the intention, if the difference could not be settled, of putting his life against clayton's, and mr. clayton's against his," the prisoner was guilty of wilful murder; and the jury, finding on application to the learned judge that there were no circumstances in the case to reduce the crime to manslaughter, by way apparently of getting out of the difficulty, returned a verdict of _not guilty_. this incident suggested the sketch entitled _a hint to_ _duellists_, in which the unsparing satirist places the duke in lambrecht's unenviable position before mr. justice bailey, from whose lips are proceeding a portion of the charge which he actually delivered to the jury at the trial at kingston assizes. even the duke, impassive as he appeared, must have felt the justice of this unsparing but admirable sarcasm. another member of the royal family who frequently figures in the "sketches" is the duke of sussex. he was a man of large frame, and as remarkable for the blackness of his whiskers as the duke of cumberland was conspicuous for the bleached appearance of these hirsute adornments. at a meeting of the council of the london university, he is reported to have said that for the promotion of anatomical science he should have no personal objection to dedicate his own body after death to the college of surgeons for the purposes of dissection. this hint was enough of course for hb, and his royal highness accordingly figures in a contemporary satire as _a great subject_ "_dedicated to the royal college of surgeons_." sir francis burdett. another prominent personage of hb's time, and a singular instance of the change which frequently takes place in the political convictions of public men, was sir francis burdett. commencing his career as an ardent radical and reformer intolerant of abuses, he finished it and astonished his former supporters by being returned for westminster in the conservative interest. the political conduct of this once celebrated man is of so unusual a character that a short recapitulation of his career seems necessary, in order that the reader may understand the satires we are about to describe. notwithstanding his expressed views in support of absolute purity of election, his own election for middlesex in 1802-4, is said--what with the expenses and subsequent litigation--to have cost him upwards of one hundred thousand pounds. on the 5th of may, 1807, he was challenged by and fought a duel with mr. james paull, on wimbledon common, the cause of quarrel being sir francis's refusal to act as chairman at a gathering of paull's supporters at the crown and anchor tavern, westminster, in april. the duel terminated in both the principals being seriously wounded. the same year he was returned to parliament to serve as member for westminster, which constituency he continued to represent for nearly thirty years. perhaps the greatest event of his life was his committal to the tower under the speaker's warrant for a libellous letter published in _cobbett's political register_, of 24th march, 1810, in which he questioned the power of the house to imprison delinquents. he at first resisted the execution of the warrant, and being a favourite with the mob, a street contest ensued between the military and the people, in which some lives were lost. in 1818, we find him moving for annual parliaments and universal suffrage, when the house divided with the result of 100 to 2, the minority being composed of the mover and seconder--that is to say, himself and lord cochrane. in 1820, he was found guilty at leicester of a libel on government in a letter to his constituents reflecting on the manchester outrage of the preceding year; a new trial was moved for by himself, but this was refused, and he was sentenced the following february to three months' imprisonment, and to pay a fine of £2,000. in march, 1825, his resolutions for the relief of the irish catholics were carried by a majority of 247 to 234; but in later life his restless spirit gradually calmed down, and after the appointment of the melbourne ministry in 1835, he surprised and disgusted his party by going into opposition, principally (as he alleged) on account of the court which they paid to o'connell and his followers in their agitation against the irish established church. for some time previous to the sketch we are about to describe he had absented himself from the house, and otherwise shown his distaste for the persons and principles of the leading men of the party to which he had formerly belonged. the busy-bodies who professed to be the exponents of public opinion in westminster, pressed him for an explicit statement of his views, and eventually called upon him to resign, and he took them directly at their word. the person brought forward to oppose him was john temple leader, then member for bridgwater, a name which suggested to the artist the pictorial pun of _following the leader_, the "followers" being lord melbourne, lord john russell, lord palmerston, mr. o'connell, sir j. hobhouse, mr. hume, and sir william molesworth. notwithstanding the exertions of the ministers and their friends to secure the election of mr. leader, that gentleman was not only beaten by a very considerable majority, but lost as a natural consequence his seat for bridgwater, a fact which suggested to the artist another able sketch, _the dog and the shadow_. the election itself forms the subject of _a race for the westminster stakes_, in which the aged thoroughbred (sir francis), ridden by lord castlereagh, beats the young horse leader, jockey mr. roebuck. among the backers of the losing horse, daniel o'connell and joseph hume may be easily detected by the lugubrious expression of their faces. the sketch of _a fine old english gentleman_ was suggested by a remark made by the _times_ during the progress of the contest, in which it described sir francis as "a fine specimen of the old english gentleman." in the left-hand corner of this sketch the artist has placed a picture of the tower of london, by way of reminder of the days when the baronet was regarded not so much in the light of "a fine old english gentleman" as a radical of the most advanced type, and as a martyr in the cause of public liberty. changes in political opinion. a change of opinion however is obviously a necessary incident of political life, and we have ourselves witnessed some remarkable instances of such versatility in our own days. in some cases these changes are only temporary or partial, in others they are radical and complete; sometimes they are dictated by conviction, at others by necessity; occasionally they seem to be the result of absolute caprice; while in not a few instances, i fear, we should not be very far wrong in assigning them to feelings of disappointment or personal or political pique. this tergiversation in public men forms the subject of one of hb's happiest inspirations. in 1837 there appeared at the adelphi theatre an american comedian named rice, the forerunner of the christies and other "original" minstrels of our day, who sang in his character of a nigger a comic (?) song, which, being wholly destitute of melody, and even more idiotic than compositions of that kind usually are, forthwith became exceedingly popular, being groaned by every organ, and whistled by all the street urchins of the day. this peculiar production, which was known as "jim crow," was accompanied by a characteristic double shuffle, while every verse concluded with this intellectual chorus:- "turn about, and wheel about, and do just _so_; and every time i turn about, i jump jim crow." in _jim crow dance and chorus_ (the title of the sketch referred to), we find the leading men of all parties assembled at a ball, engaged in the new saltatory performance initiated by mr. rice. in the left-hand corner we notice lord abinger, formerly sir james scarlett, a whig, who growing tired of waiting for the advent of his own party to power, changed his political opinions--that is to say "jumped jim crow,"--and was made attorney general by the duke of wellington. next him is lord stanley, who commenced life as a whig and was a member of lord grey's reform administration, but unprepared to go the lengths which his party seemed disposed to take, he too "jumped jim crow," deserted them, and joined the ranks of the opposition. lord stanley's _vis-à-vis_ is sir james graham; in his early days he had distinguished himself by the strength of his radical opinions, but as a member of lord grey's cabinet, he suppressed these sentiments, and "jumped jim crow" by confining himself more strictly within whig limits. conspicuous amongst the performers is lord melbourne! when in office under mr. canning he had made several anti-reform speeches, but afterwards became a member of the government of lord grey by which reform was carried;--as prime minister he went far nearer to the principles of absolute democracy than either lord grey or lord althorp. lord melbourne's face, however, shows unmistakable repugnance at finding that his numerous "wheels about" have brought him face to face with o'connell, and he turns in disgust from the famous agitator, who, with his thumb to his nose and his left arm stuck in his side, shows that he has no intention of permitting him to enjoy a _pas_ all to himself. o'connell of course shows himself complete master of the figure which he had danced so frequently; one of the most shifty, unstable men of his day, he can scarcely be called a politician, for like all agitators, the person he really sought to serve was himself alone. he chopped and changed just as it suited his purpose, and is properly introduced by the artist amongst the most adroit and vigorous of the political double shufflers. the duke of wellington and sir robert peel find themselves _vis-à-vis_, in allusion to their conduct with reference to catholic emancipation. both had originally been consistent opposers of the measure, which was at last carried by the influence of the very men who before had been its most persistent adversaries. but, if any one had "turned about and wheeled about," it was sir francis burdett, and accordingly the artist introduces him as indulging in a very flourishing _pas seul_; he wears a self-satisfied smirk, and carries his thumbs in his waistcoat, in allusion to his own contention that he had been always consistent. yet this self-satisfied aristocratic-looking personage not many years before had distinguished himself as the most prominent of radical malcontents, and had been drawn by his enthusiastic dupes through the city of westminster in a triumphal car, decorated with the symbols of liberty, and preceded by a banner bearing the inscription, "westminster's pride and england's glory." the queer figure in the cocked hat is sir de lacy evans, who figures as one of the dancers in allusion to his practice as compared with his professions. in 1833 he obtained a seat for westminster, triumphing over his opponent sir j. c. hobhouse, who for fifteen years had represented that constituency, both candidates professing to be zealous advocates for the abolition of flogging in the army. sir de lacy nevertheless, when commanding the british legion at st. sebastian, "jumped jim crow" by flogging his soldiers without mercy. lord john russell once sneered at every project of reform, but his lordship, as we have seen, "jumped jim crow" by repeatedly introducing the reform bill into the house of commons, which was mainly passed by his persistent exertions; very properly, therefore, lord john figures in hb's clever sketch among the most prominent of "jim crow" double shufflers. footnotes: [108] these political changes, as we shall presently see, are by no means uncommon. william cobbett, for instance, in 1801 supported the principles of pitt, but in 1805, from a "church and king" man, he became and continued an ardent liberal. [109] "english graphic satire," by r. w. buss. [110] _westminster review_, june, 1840. [111] greville's "memoirs," ii. p. 303. [112] this was the idea of all tories of the day. the terrible effects of the reform bill were amusingly predicted by john wilson croker to the king himself; they have not of course been fulfilled. see "journal of julian charles young" (memoir of charles mayne young, vol. i. p. 231). chapter xii. _the political sketches of_ hb (_continued_). lord john russell. sydney smith said of little lord john russell, that he was "ready to undertake _any_thing and _every_thing--to build st. paul's,--cut for the stone,--or command the channel fleet," and this satire of the wit was true. he tried politics and he tried literature, and few people will say that he was entirely successful at either. as a politician, for instance, his general capacity for getting himself and his party into a mess, earned from the most intellectually powerful of his political opponents the enduring title of "lord meddle and muddle." he has not been dead very long, yet what reputation has he left behind him as a dramatist--novelist--historian--biographer--editor--pamphleteer, all of which _rôles_ he essayed at some time or other of his long and eventful career? his _nun of arronca_ (1822) fetches it is true an exceedingly high price, because having been rigidly suppressed by its author it is now exceedingly rare. the best that can be said of lord john--and that is saying a great deal--is, that he was a consistent liberal according to his lights, and that to him belongs the honour and glory of bringing about the great measure of reform, which, as we have seen, was, mainly through his instrumentality, accomplished in 1832. lord john, as might have been expected, frequently appears in the "political sketches" of hb. he cuts an amusing figure in one where _jonah_ (lord minto) is about to be thrown overboard by lords lansdowne, palmerston, and duncannon, by order of the captain (lord melbourne), to appease the storm raised by lords brougham and lyndhurst in reference to a rumour that lord minto (first lord of the admiralty), had instructed british cruisers to stop all sardinian vessels carrying warlike stores for don carlos. lord john, while clinging to the mast behind, and viewing with terror the impending fate of his colleague, evidently solaces himself with the conviction that his own weight is too insignificant to have any material effect upon the safety of the ship. minto owed his safety to the duke of wellington, who therefore figures in the sketch as the whale; for, although convinced that his lordship had been imprudent, he successfully resisted brougham's motion for a copy of the instructions, and thereby succeeded in lodging poor jonah on dry land. stamp duty on newspapers. one of the "sketches" in which lord john russell figures reminds us of a remarkable discussion which possesses considerable interest for every reader of the cheap newspapers of to-day. the chancellor of the exchequer (the right hon. thomas spring rice) in opening his budget on the 6th of may, 1836, showed a disposable surplus of £662,000 only, which he proposed (in the usual way) to apply towards the reduction of taxation. he proposed, in the first place, to consolidate the paper duties and to reduce their amount in a manner which he proceeded to explain; and after accounting for £200,000, the balance of the surplus he intended to apply to the reduction of the stamp on newspapers. the duty minus the discount was fourpence, which he proposed to reduce to a penny, and to give of course no discount. the reader must not suppose from the foregoing, however, that all the proprietors of newspapers of that day paid the duty; on the contrary, the large majority evaded it in every possible way. the measure in fact was intended as much as a protection to the revenue as anything else, for the sale of unstamped newspapers throughout the country had become so extensive that no series of prosecutions was found effectual to put them down. every sheet, it is true, professed to bear on it the printer's name; but the name so appended was in six cases out of eight a false one. exchequer processes were issued; all the power of the law was set in motion; in the course of three weeks three hundred persons had been imprisoned for selling unstamped papers in the streets, but without in the slightest degree repressing the illegal sale. the chancellor argued that the loss which the revenue would sustain in the first instance would be more than compensated by the enormous increase of duty to be obtained from the enlarged circulation; from the additional duty arising from the greater consumption of paper; and from the very large increase which might be expected from the produce of the duty on advertisements. the opponents of the measure were of three classes: first, those who looked upon the proposal as radical and subversive; secondly, those who because a reduction is suggested in one quarter invariably consider it the correct thing to propose it in another; and lastly, the owners of the established newspapers of the day. the arguments of the first class assumed the following form: "in proportion as any political party approaches more or less towards pure democracy and the right divine of mere numbers, its interests will require that the means should be increased of disseminating among the lower classes, and as nearly gratuitously as possible, the exciting and poisonous food which is at last to end in the revolutionary fever."[113] the second class, strange to say, rested their hopes in this instance on the singularly slippery basis of _soap_. sir c. keightley moved (on the 20th of june) that instead of diminishing the stamp duty on newspapers, the duty on hard and soft soap should be reduced. the reduction of such duty would, he argued, by aiding cleanliness, promote the health and comfort of the people, while the lowering of newspaper stamps would do nothing of the kind, but would tend rather to introduce a cheap and profligate press, "one of the greatest curses which could be inflicted on humanity." he contended, moreover, that it was absurd to argue that the poor were debarred from reading the public prints, when in a coffee shop, for three-halfpence, they could obtain a cup of coffee and a sight of every newspaper published in london. mr. barclay, one of the members for surrey, thought it impossible for any reasonable being to hesitate between the relative virtues of newspapers and soap; and as for the chancellor of the exchequer, he could not believe for one moment that if left to his own unaided judgment he would hesitate to give his preference to the latter. the chancellor nevertheless avowed in the plainest terms his preference for newspapers, and his conviction of the advisability of an immediate reduction in the stamp duty; the result, after the lapse of less than forty years, has conclusively proved the wisdom of the measure which he succeeded in carrying. curious arguments of the newspaper proprietors. newspaper proprietorship was then a monopoly; and the argument by which the rich proprietor, the representative of the third class of opponents, sought to maintain his monopoly cannot fail to amuse the newspaper reader of to-day. the monopoliser who, to maintain the character of his paper and to supply the public with the best and earliest information, incurred the expense of procuring parliamentary reports, obtaining foreign intelligence, anticipating the arrival of the post by expresses, and by having correspondents in every quarter of the world where matters of interest were going forward, said, that should the measure pass, he must thenceforth either be content to lower the tone of the public press by not giving the same amount of accurate intelligence, or must carry on the contest with those who went to no expense at all. "the result would be not only the ruin of the property of the newspaper proprietors and the destruction of their property, but it would be something much more fatal to the general interests of the country, for the editors of the present respectable papers would not be able to compete with these predatory publications, and would be compelled to forego that extent of information which was then so accurately given. we should have the newspaper press"--mark this, ye omnivorous readers of to-day, who commence with _the times_, adjourn to the _telegraph_, peruse the pages of the _morning post_, wander through the columns of the _daily news_, and finish off with the express edition of the _globe_ or _evening standard_, reserving your _saturday review_, your _truth_, and your _vanity fair_ for sunday solatium--"we should have the newspaper press simply reduced to this state: that no longer would there be a regular and correct supply of information to the public respecting the debates of parliament or _other important matters, but there would be only such an amount and such a description of information as could be furnished upon the inaccurate data of a man who would not go to any expense in the use of the means at present employed_." these were the views of the newspaper proprietors of 1836, as expounded by that respectable but distinctly tory authority, "the annual register."[114] the measure of the chancellor of the exchequer, of which we have attempted the foregoing explanation, appears to have suggested to john doyle his sketch of _the rival newsmongers_, in which the leading men of all parties are represented in the act of endeavouring to force the sale of their own journals. the scene is supposed to be enacted in front of the elephant and castle, where we find the "union coach" waiting to take up passengers,--the three who occupy the roof being a scotchman, indicated by his bonnet and plaid, paddy by his shocking bad hat, while in the portly, jolly-looking party next him we have no difficulty whatever in recognising honest john bull. the three are listening to the appeals of o'connell, close to whom is mr. roebuck, and behind him again mr. hume. sir roger gresley addresses himself to the insides, and the person holding up his paper to the special notice of john bull is the marquis of londonderry. the driver of the coach is lord melbourne, and the ostler little lord john russell. lord brougham. the public man who perhaps of all others earned and deserved his place in the pictorial satires of the nineteenth century was emphatically brougham. the verdict of posterity on this restless but unquestionably brilliant man of genius must of necessity be a somewhat disappointing one; he aimed at being nothing less than an admirable crichton, and such a character in the nineteenth century, when every public man must be more or less talented, more or less brilliant, would be an impossibility even to a genius. a rival lawyer and political opponent, sir charles wetherell is reported to have said of him that he knew a little of everything but law; and although this statement was spiteful and untrue, there is no doubt of the truth of mr. greville's remarks, that his duty as chancellor was confined to appeals which _must_ come before him, lunacy and other matters over which he had sole jurisdiction, and that "nobody ever thought of bringing an original cause into his court."[115] we think we may even go farther than this, and say that no lawyer of the present day would dream of relying on lord brougham's decisions. o'connell said of him, "i pay very little attention to anything lord brougham says. he makes a greater number of foolish speeches than any other man of the present generation. there may be more nonsense in some one speech of another person, but in the number, the multitude of foolish speeches, lord brougham has it hollow. i would start him ten to one--ay, fifty to one--in talking nonsense against any prattler now living." some amusing examples of his restless anxiety to figure on all occasions in the character of an admirable crichton are given by mr. charles greville, whose "memoirs" stand in much the same relation to the graphic satires of the nineteenth century as the "odes" of dr. walcot do towards the caricatures of james gillray. "dined," says mr. greville (under date of 7th june, 1831), "with sefton yesterday, who gave me an account of a dinner at fowell buxton's on saturday to see the brewery, at which brougham was the _magnus apollo_. sefton is excellent as a commentator on brougham; he says that he watches him incessantly, never listens to anybody else when he is there, and _rows_ him unmercifully afterwards for all the humbug, nonsense, and palaver he hears him talk to people.... they dined in the brewhouse and visited the whole establishment. lord grey was there in star, garter, and ribbons. there were people ready to show and explain everything. but not a bit. brougham took the explanation of everything into his own hands; the mode of brewing, the machinery, down to the feeding of the cart-horses. after dinner the account books were brought, and the young buxtons were beckoned up to the top of the table by their father to hear the words of wisdom which flowed from the lips of my lord chancellor. he affected to study the ledger, and made various pertinent remarks on the manner of book-keeping. there was a man whom brougham called 'cornelius' (sefton did not know who he was), with whom he seemed very familiar. while brougham was talking he dropped his voice, on which 'cornelius' said, 'earl grey is listening,' that he might speak louder and nothing be lost. he was talking of paley, and said that 'although he did not always understand his own meaning, he always made it intelligible to others,' on which 'cornelius' said, 'my good friend, if he made it so clear to others, he must have some comprehension of it himself;' on which sefton attacked him afterwards, and swore that 'he was a mere child in the hands of "cornelius;" that he never saw anybody so put down.' these people are all subscribers to the london university,[116] and sefton swears he overheard brougham tell them that 'sir isaac newton was nothing compared to some of the present professors,' or something to that effect. i put down all this nonsense because it amused me in the recital, and is excessively characteristic of the man, one of the most remarkable that ever existed. lady sefton told me that he went with them to the british museum, where all the officers of the museum were in attendance to receive them. he would not let anybody explain anything, but did all the honours himself. at last they came to the collection of minerals, when she thought he must be brought to a standstill. their conductor began to describe them, when brougham took the words out of his mouth, and dashed off with as much ease and familiarity as if he had been a buckland or a cuvier. such is the man, a grand mixture of moral, political, and intellectual incongruities."[117] if the part which brougham's position as attorney-general to queen caroline obliged him to take at the memorable period of the "bill of pains and penalties" had not closed the door of professional advancement against him, he had most effectually locked it against himself so long as her husband lived by the intemperate and ill-judged language in which he alluded to that event in the speech which he delivered at edinburgh on the 5th of april, 1825.[118] but brougham was constantly on the watch for its being opened, and on the very day when george the fourth died, that is to say on the 20th of june, 1830, he spoke in the house of commons in eulogistic terms of the new sovereign, praising him for allowing the speaker to take the oaths at an unusually early hour in order to suit the convenience of members, a graceful act, which mr. brougham declared he hailed as a happy omen of the commencement of an auspicious reign. the astute k. c.'s object did not escape the penetrating eye of hb, who forthwith represented him as _the gheber worshipping the rising sun_, in whose smiling face we recognise the unmistakable lineaments of william the fourth. the sun proved not unmindful of the attention; for, on the formation of earl grey's ministry in 1830, mr. brougham was made lord chancellor, with the title of baron brougham and vaux. the appointment took the nation by surprise; for although a consistent upholder of whig principles, he had always maintained a peculiar and independent position with his party, and was expected to prove rather an embarrassment than otherwise. these expectations were fully realized, and there can be no doubt that the sentiments which lord brougham's bearing as chancellor excited among his colleagues and contemporaries, excluded him for the remainder of his life from all official life and employment. with all his wonderful powers, however, lord brougham could make, as o'connell asserted of him, as inconsiderate a speech as any man. one of these speeches, which was delivered on the 14th of august, 1833, in a debate on the bill for the abolition of slavery in the west indies, suggested to hb a happy subject. his lordship is reported to have said that, "the object of the clause [then under discussion] was to make the black, from the moment that he arrived on the shores of this country, a free man in all respects: to make him eligible to sit in parliament, either in the house of lords, if it should be his majesty's pleasure to give him a title to a seat, or in the other house if he should be elected." hb, with his usual facility for seizing an idea, took his lordship at his word, and forthwith elevated the emancipated "nigger" to the woolsack, clothing him in the wig and gown of lord chancellor brougham, and giving him the features of the noble and learned lord himself: this sketch bears the title of _a select specimen of the black style_. the house of lords was a lively place whilst my lord chancellor brougham was in office, and in the "scenes" in which he figured, and which drew down upon him the hatred and resentment of his contemporaries, he not unfrequently displayed a want of judgment which was nothing less than lamentable. we might give many instances of these regrettable scenes, but one shall suffice. on the 29th of september, 1831, the lord chancellor made the following answer to a question put by the marquis of londonderry:--"my lords," he said, "i beg to state to you once for all, that i will not sit here to be _bothered_ with questions which emanate from the ridiculous ideas of certain absurd individuals who cannot or will not see anything, however clear, and seem lamentably incapacitated by nature from comprehending what is going on. moreover, i beg to state to the noble marquis, that for the future i will answer no question of his,--will give him no information whatever." the amazed patrician said in reply, "as to the language which the noble and learned lord has ventured to apply to me here, i will only say that i shall wish those words to be repeated in another place." the lord chancellor rejoined that he had said nothing which he was not prepared to repeat elsewhere; and here the matter appears to have ended, for strange to say it was the marquis of londonderry and not the irascible brougham who subsequently apologised, a circumstance which occasioned the artist's satirical and telling sketch of _the duel that did not take place_. these scenes do not appear to have been the result of any mere ebullition of temper; on the contrary, brougham would seem to have delighted in these undignified exhibitions. "the chancellor, who loves to unbosom himself to sefton, because he knows the latter thinks him the finest fellow breathing, tells him that it is nuts to him to be attacked by noble lords in the upper house, and that they had better leave him alone if they care for their own hides. since he loves these assaults, last night," continues mr. greville, "he got his bellyful, for he was baited by a dozen at least, and he did not come out of the _mêlée_ so chuckling and happy as usual."[119] parliament was dissolved on the 15th of august, 1834, and by that time his party, the king, and everybody else, had grown pretty well tired of lord chancellor brougham. his head would seem to have been almost turned by his success; for he employed the recess which followed the prorogation in making a sort of royal progress through scotland, parading the great seal on his way, to the great disgust of the king, who seriously thought he had taken leave of his senses, and protested against it being carried across the border. in the course of this strange progress he reached inverness in the beginning of september, 1834, and was presented by the magistrates with the freedom of their city. in returning thanks for this honour, lord brougham said he was conscious "that it was not owing to any personal merits that he had received this mark of distinction at their hands. first of all he owed it to the circumstance that he had the honour of serving a monarch who lived in the hearts of his subjects. he had enjoyed the honour of serving that prince for nearly four years, and during that time he had experienced from his majesty only one series of gracious condescension, confidence, and favour. to find that he lived in the hearts of his loyal subjects in the ancient and important capital of the highlands, as it had afforded him (lord brougham) only pure and unmixed satisfaction, would, he was confident, be so received by his majesty, when he (lord brougham) told him, _as he would by that night's post_ (cheers), of the gratifying circumstances."[120] so far, however, from being gratified, the bluff sailor king was tremendously annoyed. these fulsome adulations, and the ridiculous manner in which his eccentric and embarrassing chancellor tortured any personal attention to himself (brougham) into a personal compliment to his royal master, thoroughly disgusted him. for some weeks previously _the times_ had attacked the eccentric chancellor with a constancy and vigour of satire quite unexampled; the tide of ridicule was swelled by contributions from the london and provincial press; brougham made some foolish speeches at aberdeen and dundee, which excited the laughter of his enemies and the alarm of his friends. "those who are charitably disposed," remarks the unfriendly greville, "express their humane conviction that he is mad, and it probably is not very remote from the truth." intellectually strong as he was, a chancellor so eccentric as this was an _incubus_ to be got rid of at the first convenient opportunity. in may, 1834, mr. stanley, sir james graham, the earl of ripon, and the duke of richmond, seceded from the ministry; but the whig party, in spite of these resignations and the subsequent one of lord grey in july, continued in office under lord althorp till the following november, when the latter being called (by the death of his father) to the upper house as earl spencer, the king seized the opportunity which he had so long desired of placing a less embarrassing and self-willed chancellor on the woolsack. this circumstance prompted the clever sketch of the _fall of icarus_. icarus in this instance is of course brougham, who, flying in defiance of the injunctions of dædalus too near the sun--that is to say, william the fourth--the wax of his mechanical wings melted and he fell into the sea. that there may be no mistake as to the artist's meaning, the wings aforesaid are labelled with the titles of various publications which were loudest in sounding the praises of the king and of the "noble and learned lord," and to which he himself, with the questionable taste which distinguished him, was reputed (with justice) to be a contributor. whether my lord chancellor brougham caught the infection from his client, queen caroline, we know not; but his conduct, whether in or out of office, appears to have been of the most undignified character. ignoring the fact that his party were no longer in power, there is no doubt whatever that he wrote a letter to his successor, lord lyndhurst, actually suggesting his own nomination to lyndhurst's vacant office of chief baron of the exchequer, thereby (as he pointed out) saving to the public his own pension of ex-chancellor. what his real motive may have been is of little consequence; it was certainly a most undignified proceeding, made the more undignified, if possible, because the proposal was not accepted. it suggested to the artist one of his pictorial puns, _the vaux and the grapes_, and to the rev. richard harris barham the following amusing verses, which we have extracted from a contemporary poetical skit:- "then in great stanhope street the confusion was great in a certain superb habi-tation, where seated at tea, o'er a dish of bohea, brougham was quaffing his 'usual potation' (for you know his indignant ne-gation, when accused once of jollifi-cation), down went saucer and cup, which le marchant picked up, not to hear his lord mutter 'd--n-ation.' but this greatest of men soon caught hold of a pen, and, after slight delibe-ration, no longer he tosses his flexile proboscis about in so much exci-tation;[121] but scribbling with great ani-mation, he sends off a communi-cation:- 'dearest lyndhurst,' says he, 'can't you find room for me when constructing your adminis-tration? though the _times_ says i'm mad, and each rascally rad abuses my tergiversation; though those humbugs, the whigs, swear that my "thimble-rigs" were the cause of all their vacill-ation; the whole story's a base fabri-cation to damage my great reputa-tion; so now to be brief, _only make me lord chief_, and i'll serve without remuner-ation!' when he found 'twas 'no go,' and that lyndhurst and co. were deaf to all solici-tation, as 'twas useless with lyndy to kick up a shindy, he resolved upon peregrin-ation. not waiting for much prepa-ration, he bolted with precipi-tation; a sad loss, i ween, to charles knight's magazine, and to stinkomalee edu-cation." lord brougham, indeed, by his despotic, intractable conduct, had thoroughly shut himself out from all chance of office. sir robert peel's conservative ministry lasted till april, 1835, when a second whig government came into power, under the premiership of lord melbourne, and from the re-constructed cabinet, brougham--much to his own surprise, but to the surprise of no one else--was excluded.[122] irish disaffection. irish disaffection was, unfortunately, as stale a subject in 1833 as in 1883. for what particular sins of her own england has been cursed with a neighbour so bloodthirsty, so unreasonable, and so troublesome as ireland, it would be difficult to say. although we had no irish americans--no cowardly "dynamitards"--in those days, ireland was nevertheless in a state of chronic disaffection, and an "irish coercion bill" was found just as necessary to restrain the excitement of irish political malcontents in 1833 as in 1883. irish history, in this respect at least, has a method of repeating itself which is singularly embarrassing, and the student of the history of irish disaffection cannot fail to be interested in the statement with which lord grey introduced his measure fifty years ago. we learn from this statement that a state of things existed little short of actual rebellion. bodies of men were collected and arrayed by signals, evidently directed by a system of organization in which many were combined, and such system was conducted in a manner which had hitherto set at defiance all the exertions of law and order. the disturbers of the peace prescribed the terms on which land was to be let, and any one who presumed to disobey their orders was subject to have his property destroyed or be put to death. the reign of terror was complete. the organization which supplied the place of the land league of to-day dictated what persons should employ and be employed; and while they forbad labourers from working for obnoxious masters on the one hand, they prevented a master on the other from employing as labourers any but those who were obedient to their orders. they enforced their decrees by acts of cruelty and outrage; by spoliation, murder, attacks on houses in the dead of night; by dragging the inmates from their beds and so maltreating them that death often ensued, or by inflicting cruelties which were sometimes worse than death. the persons belonging to this organization assembled by signals, made concerted movements, watched the movements of the troops, and by information received so avoided them that the military were rendered practically useless. the ordinary tribunals were powerless to arrest this iniquitous organization of murder and terror, which the irish disaffectants and their advisers even in that day appear to have brought to a system of execrable perfection. witnesses and jurors were terrified into silence. in one case the master of a female servant was commanded to dismiss her because her _mother_ had given evidence against a person brought to trial for a capital crime, and similar cases were of almost daily occurrence. five armed men went to the house of patrick lalor, a man of nearly seventy years of age, and shot him through the body. his crime had been disobedience to a mandate to give up some ground which he held contrary to the will of the terrorists. the same system prevented a son of lalor, and an eye-witness of his murder, from giving evidence against his murderers. on the trial of these miscreants at kilkenny assizes, the jury not being able to agree was dismissed. it had been arranged in the jury-room that nothing should transpire as to the opinions of individual jurymen, and yet, in _half an hour_, the names of those in favour of an acquittal or of a conviction were printed--the former in black, and the latter, or as they were designated the "jurors who were for blood," in red ink. the result was that those whose names were printed in red were obliged to leave the country. at the clonmel assizes the previous october (1832), when a person was to be tried for resisting the payment of tithe, only 76 jurors out of 265 who had been summoned made their appearance. a gentleman had been murdered in sight of his own gate in consequence of some dispute in connection with tithes. the answer of his son-in-law, summoned by the coroner to give evidence against the supposed murderer, was this: "that he would submit to any penalty the crown or the law would impose upon him, but he would not appear at the trial, because he knew that if he stood forward as a witness his life would inevitably be forfeited." the irish government received a notice from kilkenny "that many gentlemen who had always" most conscientiously discharged their duties, "would not attend at the next assizes. they cared not what penalty was imposed upon them. they refused to attend, because they knew that death" awaited them if they dared to do their duty. "it is the boast of the prisoners," continued this document, "that they cannot under existing circumstances be found guilty." under such a disgraceful state of things, outrage had become of course triumphant. the sickening catalogue of irish cruelty and crime during the previous year comprised 172 homicides, 465 robberies, 568 burglaries, 455 _acts of houghing of cattle_, 2,095 illegal notices, 425 illegal meetings, 796 _malicious injuries to property_, 753 _attacks on houses_, 280 arsons, 3,156 serious assaults, making an aggregate of crimes of every description during the year, connected with the disturbed state of the country, exceeding 9,000 in number, and the number was evidently still on the increase. effect of the irish coercion bill of 1833. the third reading of the coercion bill was carried in the commons on the 29th of march, by 345 to 86, and the act was to continue in force till the 1st of august, 1834. it led of course to many scenes in the house between english and irish members, although the irish members of that day, to do them simple justice, had not graduated in the aggravated system of obstruction they have since developed, and thereby earned for themselves the character of political nuisances. one of these scenes led to the sketch entitled _prisoners of war_, which has reference to a serio-comic interlude, in which the principal performers were lord althorp and mr. shiel, member for tipperary. on the 5th of february, 1834, lord althorp charged (without naming them) certain irish members who had particularly distinguished themselves by violent opposition to the bill in the house, with using very different language in reference to it in private conversation. up then rose one irish member after another, inquiring if he was the person alluded to. to mr. o'connell and mr. finn the answer was in the negative, while mr. shiel was given directly to understand that _he_ was one of the members intended, his lordship declining at the same time to name his authority, but avowing his belief in the truth of the story, and his willingness to take upon himself the full responsibility. the result of course was a "scene." mr. shiel, after the manner of fire-eating irishmen of that day, having hinted his intention to demand satisfaction elsewhere, sir francis burdett arose and said that, unless the "honourable members pledged themselves to preserve the peace, he should instantly move that they be committed to the custody of the serjeant-at-arms." as neither of the parties would give such assurance, the motion was put from the chair and carried. the _prisoners of war_ portrayed in the sketch are of course mr. shiel and lord althorp. after a brief absence from the house, each having given the required assurance was discharged from custody, and there the matter ended. the benefits of the act were almost immediately made apparent. the association, which called itself, by the way, "the irish volunteers" (the land league of 1833), was promptly suppressed by the lord lieutenant; and the list of offences during the month of march which preceded and the month of may which followed the passing of the act most conclusively proved its efficiency, for, while in the former month the records of crime in eleven counties reached a sum total of 472, they had declined in the latter month to 162.[123] o'connell. irish agitators of the nineteenth century are all more or less "tarred with the same brush," but the conditions under which an irish agitator of 1883-4 must be content to figure in that character are, it must be remembered, widely different from those which influenced the agitators of 1833. the irish "home rulers" have sown the wind and have reaped the whirlwind which carries them along in its progress, and we doubt whether if they wished to stop the hideous frankenstein they have created, it would allow them to do so. the home rulers, however, are not in any way to be pitied. not content with land league terrorism, they sought to force their measures upon john bull himself by an unheard-of system of parliamentary obstruction, which has inevitably recoiled upon themselves. o'connell was far too sharp-sighted--far too intelligent and clever a man to make so grave a mistake as this. by the sheer force of his genius he exercised for many years of his life a most powerful influence on english politics. he figures in one of john doyle's sketches in the character ascribed to him probably by most of his contemporaries. in the sketch referred to, the governor of barataria is represented by the typical irish peasant; o'connell appears in the character of the doctor; and lord john russell as the attendant and amused servitor. pat's eagerness to enjoy the good things he has been led to expect, and his mortification at their being removed out of reach and out of sight are ridiculously rendered. we must not be misunderstood; although o'connell had far greater personal influence over the irish than his successors, he was for all that in political matters eminently unscrupulous.[124] at the general election of 1835, the avowed principles on which he stood forth as a candidate were: repeal of the union,--universal suffrage, vote by ballot,--triennial parliaments,--and the abolition of tithes. "i am," he said, "decidedly for the vote by ballot. whoever votes by ballot votes as he pleases, and no one need know how he votes." yet, in spite of these avowed principles, he controlled the election of irish candidates after the following fashion:--the knight of kerry started as a candidate for his native county, but dared to avow his intention to take an independent course. he had spent all his life in resisting orangemen, and yet o'connell said, "every one who dares to vote for the orange knight of kerry shall have a death's head and cross-bones painted on his door." the voters at the irish elections were collected in the chapels by the priests, and led forth to the poll under threats of being refused all the rites and visited with all the punishments of their church. under these influences, the knight of kerry, supported by nearly all the property, intelligence, and respectability of the county, was defeated. of a candidate for new ross who had refused to enlist under his banner, o'connell said, "whoever shall support him his shop shall be deserted, no man shall pass his threshold; put up his name as a traitor to ireland; let no man speak to him; let the children laugh him to scorn." his example was followed of course by his lieutenants. it says something for irish independence that these unscrupulous "dodges" were not always successful; and o'connell himself, and his colleague, mr. ruthven, secured their own seats by comparatively small majorities. at the previous election o'connell had obtained a majority of 1,549, and mr. ruthven of 1,490 above the highest conservative candidate: at the election in 1835, o'connell's majority had fallen to 217, and mr. ruthven's to 169. the "irish agitator" was manifestly no favourite with hb, who depicted him as the comet of 1835. comets being supposed by the vulgar to portend disaster, it is represented as leaving ireland in a flame, and passing over st. george's channel to exercise a malign influence on peaceful england. the head of course is that of o'connell, while the tail is studded with the countenances of the irish members who made up his "following." in a previous sketch he had figured as the wolf to lord john russell's "little red riding hood," in allusion to a statement made by the opposition journals that the government had made a league with the restless agitator with the view of securing his support in the house of commons. we have heard something very like this lately, in relation to what is now known as the "kilmainham treaty." sir robert peel. the rapidity with which john doyle caught an inspiration from a few chance words in a speech, may be aptly illustrated by the manner in which he served sir robert peel. on the occasion of his being installed lord rector of glasgow university, in november, 1836, the distinguished statesman made a speech to his patrons, in which he meant to tell them that, admiring scotland and scottish scenery, he thought the best mode of seeing both was on horseback instead of travelling in a public or private conveyance. he expressed the idea, however, in the following round-about fashion:--"i wished," he said, "to see something of scotland which i could not have seen from the windows of a luxurious carriage; i wished to see other habits and manners of life than those which the magnificent hospitable castles of the nobility presented. yes," he continued, "in glasgow i hired an _humble but faithful steed_; i travelled partly on horseback and partly on foot through almost every county that lies southern of inverness; i have read the map of scotland upon the great scale of nature, from the summits of ben nevis and ben lomond; i have visited that island whence savage and roaming bands derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion. yes, amid the ruins of iona i have abjured the rigid philosophy which would conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground that has been dignified by wisdom, by bravery, and by virtue. i have stood on the shores of staffa,--i have seen the temple not built with hands,--i have seen the mighty swell of the ocean,--the waves of the great atlantic beating in its inmost recesses, and swelling notes of praise nobler than ever pealed from human organs." well, other tourists besides the statesman have stood on the summit of ben nevis and ben lomond,--have visited staffa and iona,--and yet, the rigid philosophy which sir robert credited himself for abjuring, has unconsciously conducted them comparatively "indifferent and unmoved" over much ground that may have been "dignified by wisdom, by bravery," and even "by virtue." the stilted remarks of sir robert will serve to remind some of us of the very original sentiments we find recorded in "visitors' books" of sundry home and continentals hotels much affected by members of the gushing order of travellers. some such idea seems to have struck the artist; for in his next satire sir robert very deservedly figured as _dr. syntax setting out on his humble but faithful steed in search of the picturesque_. as a rule the titles of these sketches, which reach the amazing number of nine hundred and seventeen, afford no clue whatever to their subject matter. here are the titles of a few, taken at random from the general bulk:--_an affair of honour_; _a group of sporting characters at epsom_; _a nice distinction, or a hume-iliating rejoinder to a warlike ap-peel_; _a political ruse_; _swearing the horatii_; _retaliation_; _goody two shoes turned barber_; _state cricket match_; _taking an airing in hyde park_;--and so on. a description, however short, of the events to which these "political sketches" refer, would occupy probably a couple of volumes; and, following the course which we have hitherto adopted, we have preferred to make selection of a few which seemed to us--either from the persons satirized or the scenes in which they figure--likely to interest the general reader. thackeray said of them at the time they were appearing, "you never hear any laughing at hb, his pictures are a great deal too genteel for that,--polite points of wit which strike one as exceedingly clever and pretty, and cause one to smile in a quiet, gentlemanlike kind of way." forty-two years have elapsed since this was written;--the sketches fail now almost to provoke the "gentlemanlike kind" of smile mentioned by the humourist, for the events and the persons which caused it and to which they relate have alike passed away out of sight and out of memory. faults of the "sketches." the number which they attained is due no doubt in a large measure to the facility with which they were produced. they were all drawn on stone, and exhibit the faults so often to be found in the productions of artists who confine themselves to this material, which, owing to the comparative facility of the process, has a tendency to induce a slovenliness in execution unusual with artists accustomed to the careful discipline under which a successful etching on steel or copper can alone be produced. a writer in _blackwood_[125] says with much truth that hb "would have been a greater artist had he worked on the same material and with the same tools as gillray and cruikshank, but we should probably not have possessed so complete a gallery of portraits, comprising all the men of note who took part in political affairs from before the passing of the catholic relief bill until after the repeal of the corn laws, a period more eventful than any of a similar length since the revolution of 1688." john doyle, too, had no great powers of sarcasm, and he was timid in design, contenting himself with as few figures as were possible for the purposes of his drawings. robert william buss, himself a comic artist of ability, in his brief notice of him charges him with a certain feebleness in the attitude of the persons who figure in his sketches, and gives us to understand that to balance a figure properly requires a knowledge and practice in drawing to which hb was a stranger; and further, that by reason of the absence of such knowledge and practice, he falls far behind hogarth, gillray, bunbury, rowlandson, or the cruikshanks. with these artists indeed, as we have endeavoured to show, john doyle has nothing in common, and he evidently designed that no comparison should ever be instituted between any one of them and himself. his chief merits are to be found in the facility with which he grasped an idea; the harmlessness and playfulness of his satire, which wrought a complete revolution in the style and manner of caricaturists; and above all in the excellence of his likenesses. the best and most graceful of the series was produced just after the wedding of her majesty, and is a transcript (as it were) of stothard's beautiful design of _the procession of the flitch of bacon_, the leading personages being the young queen and the late prince consort, whose portraits are admirably executed. towards the close of the series they show signs of failing power, not unnatural in an artist who during a course of twenty years had produced upwards of a thousand drawings. i have seen it somewhere stated that this deterioration dates from the period when the identity of hb was discovered; but inasmuch as this secret had been practically revealed long before the decadence commences, there is no just ground for any such assumption. the reputation of the "political sketches" was, however, ephemeral, and considering their popularity and the eagerness with which they were bought up at the time, it is surprising how completely they have passed into oblivion. the name of hb, or of john doyle, is now not only "caviare to the general," but it is amazing how little until lately he was known even to men not altogether ignorant on the subject of satirical art. a gentleman to whom i am indebted for some valuable information, tells me that some three or four years since "a large number of _original_ sketches (not the engravings) were catalogued and announced for sale at christies'. i went," he says, "possibly to buy several, but (and it is curious as showing the decadent interest in the pictures) no sale took place, because i was told there was no one to buy. i think," my informant adds, "that i was the only person, or nearly the only person, in the room." distinguished people, however, had been to look at the drawings, and among them the late lord beaconsfield. the success of the artist produced, of course, a number of imitators. their productions were of various degrees of merit; but like most imitations they generally accentuated the faults without reproducing the excellencies of the model. some of them are entitled "political hits," "royal ramblings," "the belgian trip," "parisian trip," and so on; some are signed "philo h. b.," "h. h.," "b. h.," while others have neither initials or signature. they comprise some eighty or a hundred plates at least, many of which were probably suppressed, whilst others no doubt served the useful purposes of the greengrocer, the bookbinder, or the trunk-maker; and if, as we are told- "imperial cæsar, dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away;" there can be nothing after all very dishonourable or very surprising in their ultimate destination. the artist died in 1868. footnotes: [113] annual register, 1836, p. 237. [114] 1836, p. 244. mr. baldwin (one of the proprietors of the _standard_ newspaper) stated that "if the bill passed in its present shape, it would deteriorate his property fifty per cent., and would operate in the same way with all property of that description."--_ibid._, p. 247. [115] greville's "memoirs," pp. 3, 71. [116] in which lord brougham took a special interest. [117] greville's "memoirs," ii., p. 148. [118] for the silly and spiteful observations made in this speech, see "annual register," 1825, p. 43. [119] greville's "memoirs," iii. p. 85. [120] _inverness courier_, sept. 3rd (quoted in "annual register," 1854, p. 129). [121] from a nervous habit he had contracted of twitching his nose lord brougham was known to his contemporaries by the nickname of "jemmy twitcher." [122] on this occasion the great seal was reserved and for the time put in commission, the commissioners being sir charles pepys (master of the rolls), vice chancellor shadwell, and mr. justice bosanquet. eventually it was presented to sir charles pepys (lord cottenham), and the slight produced such a stunning effect on brougham that he retired from active public life for a time, and sought solace in the pursuit and study of literature and philosophy. [123] for this interesting table, see "annual register," 1833, p. 83. [124] "one whose name is unconnected with any honourable action, whose whole life has been one scene of skulking from dangers into which he had drawn others, and who is occupied from one end of the year to the other in devising plans of drawing enormous fortunes from squalid beggary."--_dr. maginn._ [125] vol. xciv., august, 1863. chapter xiii. _john leech._ john leech, "born in bennett street, stamford street, 29th august, 1817, and baptized (son of john leech, vintner) 15th november, at christ church, blackfriars road." such is the entry i find in the manuscript diary of his friend the late shirley brooks, now before me, written a few days after the death of the gifted and lamented artist. the "john leech, vintner," his father, here referred to, was at one time proprietor of the london coffee house on ludgate hill. a late commentator says he "was an irishman, a man of fine culture, a profound shakespearian scholar, and [presumably by way of apology--as if any such were needed] a thorough gentleman." be this as it may, he was not successful as a landlord, and as a matter of fact depended in a great measure for his support upon the talents of his remarkably gifted son. early days. leech was only seven years old when his father sent him to the charterhouse. his arm had been broken by a fall from a pony, and the effects of this accident debarred him from taking an active part in the athletic sports of cricket, hockey, or football; but his nature inclined him nevertheless to manly exercises, and despite his excellence with the pencil, which was manifested at a remarkably early age, he is said to have preferred the lessons of angelo the fencing, to those of burgess the drawing, master. he was not distinguished at school as a classical scholar, and latin verses in particular proved so serious a stumbling-block that he always got a schoolfellow to do them for him. his famous friend and fellow-pupil, thackeray, carried an indelible personal reminiscence of the charterhouse about him in the shape of a broken nose, a mark of distinction which was earned in a pugilistic encounter with another schoolfellow. a reminiscence of john leech's schoolboy days will be found in one of his illustrations to "once a week,"[126] which represents a schoolboy perched in the topmost branches of a tree overlooking the walls of the carthusian playground. as the mail coaches bound to the north passed the charterhouse walls in the old coaching days, the boys not seeing any just reason why they should be debarred from the exhilarating spectacle, notched the trees and drove in spikes at ticklish points, which enabled them to mount to the upper branches, whence they could watch the coaches at their leisure. the illustration referred to is labelled, _a coach tree_, but without this explanation the reader would scarcely suspect (the letterpress being of course silent on the subject) that the schoolboy represented in the illustration is the artist himself. leech always retained a pleasant recollection of his old carthusian school-days, and frequently attended the festivities of the charterhouse. his early aptitude for the pencil was developed when he was only three years of age. one of his early efforts attracted the attention of flaxman the sculptor, who advised that he should "not be cramped with lessons in drawing; let his _genius_," he said, "follow its own bent, and he will astonish the world." this advice was so far followed, that we believe we are justified in saying that beyond the ordinary perfunctory drawing lessons obtained at school, he received no other artistic education during the rest of his life. his father, the "profound shakesperian scholar" and "perfect gentleman," so little encouraged the bent of the boy's genius, that if he had had his way he would have driven this square peg into a very round hole. at sixteen years of age he took his son from the charterhouse, and shortly afterwards apprenticed him to an eccentric person at hoxton, nominally carrying on the profession of a surgeon, and rejoicing in the name of whittle. [illustration: john leech. "_illuminated magazine._" the mayor and corporation of swinestead wait upon mr. bagges. _face p. 278._] this whittle proved a perfect study to the young artist, and it is possible that his connection with this eccentric personage had some influence in deciding him not to follow a profession for which he had but little sympathy. whittle was a man of large frame and muscular development, so far at least as the upper part of his body was concerned, but the development extended no farther, his legs being formed on much more slender proportions. his tastes were decidedly athletic; he had rings let into the wall for the purpose of practising gymnastics, and delighted in posing before his amused pupils in the character of "the dying gladiator," "hercules," and other antique statues. the few patients he possessed had small chance of professional attendance when mr. whittle was in training for a walking or running match, or any other amateur athletic engagement. "when," says shirley brooks, "lady patients, taking a walk, are suddenly surrounded by a hurrying and shouting crowd, in the middle of which, as they escape, they behold their medical adviser, in quaint attire, rushing to pick up stones with his mouth, an early termination of the relations between the healer and his patients is not impossible."[127] a person of this kind was obviously out of his element in a _learned_ profession, and this whittle eventually recognised, and descended to his level by marrying one of his patients, a widow who kept a neighbouring public. he found himself more "at home" behind the bar in his shirt sleeves, and with ready facility adapted himself to circumstances by drawing beer for his former pupils and patients. various stories have been told of this eccentric personage, who is said (with what truth we know not) to have commenced life as a quaker, and ended it eventually as a missionary. "rawkins." whittle the eccentric was afterwards immortalized by leech as "rawkins" in albert smith's "adventures of mr. ledbury," which made their appearance in "bentley's miscellany." we cannot advise those who would enjoy a hearty laugh to do better than refer to leech's comical etchings of _the return of hercules from a fancy ball_ (on a wet night, without his latchkey), and the _last appearance of mr. rawkins in public_, in which the _rencontre_ of mr. whittle and some of his female patients already referred to is superbly realized. when mr. whittle and his practice had finally parted company in the manner we have described, john leech's indentures were transferred to dr. john cockle, afterwards physician to the royal free hospital. during part of his spasmodic medical course, he went through the mystic performance at one time known as "walking the hospitals," and at st. bartholomew's varied his attendance at the anatomical lectures of mr. stanley--where he met other square pegs intended for round holes, albert smith and percival leigh--with sketches of his fellow-pupils and their medical lecturers. many of these, the earliest of his sketches, were in the possession of his friend, the late mark lemon. before his time was out, leech luckily resolved to throw his medical studies to the winds, and to live wholly by the practice of his art. his first work, published when he was eighteen years of age, was entitled "etchings and sketchings by a. pen, esq.," and consisted of four quarto sheets, containing slightly caricature sketches of oddities of london life, such as cabmen, policemen, street musicians, and the like. he next tried his hand at lithography, and produced some political satires not without ability; but these at best were merely the tentative efforts of an artist who had not yet discovered the bent of his genius, in consequence of being compelled to accommodate himself to the standard of his early patrons--the printsellers. having drawn his design, leech has been known in those early times to spend a weary day in search of a buyer, by carrying the heavy stone about with him from publisher to publisher. the style of these tentative efforts may be judged by the work which first brought him into notice, a poor caricature of mulready's envelope in commemoration of the establishment of sir rowland hill's cheap postage system, a reproduction of which will be found in a late "biographical sketch" by mr. kitton.[128] although the pecuniary reward of this early effort was small, people began to ask by whom it was executed; thus it was that his subsequently well-known mark, the leech-bottle, first came into public notice. specimens of these tentative efforts are of course scarce, but occasionally the reader may fall in with odd numbers of the "comicalities," issued some half century ago by the proprietors of "bell's life," in which may be found specimens of his early work among impressions from the designs on wood of kenny meadows, "phiz," and even robert seymour.[129] among these early efforts may also be named "the boys' own series"; "studies from nature"; "amateur originals"; the "ups and downs of life, or the vicissitudes of a swell"; and other etcetera. when poor seymour shot himself in 1836, the artist who was at first selected to fill his place as illustrator of "pickwick" was robert william buss, who, failing however to supply the requirements of charles dickens, was (as we shall afterwards see) quickly discarded. others, however, had applied to supply the place of the deceased artist, and among them were hablot knight browne ("phiz"), w. m. thackeray, and john leech; although the latter failed to secure the appointment, he appears to us of all others the one best fitted to pictorially interpret the author's creations. thackeray was so little conscious of the bent of his own genius that he seems at this time to have had some thoughts of following the profession of an artist, but happily failed so completely that he was induced to follow up his alternative art of authorship, by which he achieved his fame and reputation. notwithstanding his failure, his implicit faith in his own artistic powers remained unshaken to the end, in which belief he has been followed by one or two writers who might have known better. it is not until 1840 that we find leech had matured the style and manner which afterwards made him famous; and accordingly, in this year we find designs which are thoroughly worthy of his reputation. among these may be named "the children of the mobility," seven lithographs (reproduced in 1875) dealing with the humorous and pathetic episodes of the london street arabs; "the comic latin grammar"; "the comic english grammar"; and a now exceedingly rare _jeu d'esprit_, bearing the full title of "the fiddle-faddle fashion book and beau monde a la française, enriched with numerous highly coloured figures of lady-like gentlemen,"[130] a most amusing skit upon the absurd fashion books of the period, containing four coloured plates of gentlemen (more than fifty figures) in male and female costume, posed in the ridiculous and well-known simpering style of those periodicals. all these works were produced in conjunction with percival leigh, one of the artist's fellow-students at st. bartholomew's, and led directly to his engagement on the pages of _punch_, which was started the following year. among the rarer works published in 1840, to which john leech contributed the benefit of his assistance, may be mentioned a publication, entitled "the london magazine, charivari, and courier des dames" (simpkin, marshall & co.), in which we find some portraits and other work altogether out of the range of his usual style of illustration. the tone of this publication was personal in the extreme. charles dickens had produced (among other publications) his "pickwick papers," "oliver twist," "nicholas nickleby," and at this time was engaged on the most touching and pathetic of his stories, "the old curiosity shop," which was, however, so little appreciated by the editor of this scurrilous publication, that we find him perpetrating the following sorry libel on the writer and three of his contemporaries: "to cheesemongers and others! ready for delivery, at a halfpenny per pound, forty tons of foundered literature; viz., mrs. trollope's 'unsatis-factory boy,'[131] 'master humphrey's clock' (refer to the second meaning in 'johnson's dictionary': 'an unsightly crawling thing'!), captain marryat's 'alas, poor jack'! and _turpis_ ainsworth's 'guy _fox_':- 'an animal cunning, unsavoury, small, that will dirty your hands if you touch it at all.'" so little merit had this critical periodical itself, that some rare etchings by hablot knight browne and leech to a novel entitled "the diurnal revolutions of david diddledoff," which appeared in its pages, failed to keep the dreary serial alive, and a quarrel ensuing between the proprietors and himself, browne was dismissed and leech supplied his place. leech's caricature of mulready's postage envelope, already mentioned, appears to have led to others, and among them one by "phiz," a circumstance which is referred to in the following attack: "phiz has found a lower deep in the lowest depths of meanness. when leech's admirable caricature of mulready's postage envelope was pirated by every tenth-rate _sketcher_, phiz steps in to complete the work of injustice, and advertises his caricature of the same subject at _sixpence_, thus both borrowing the design and underselling the artist upon whose brains he is preying as the fly upon the elk's. well might leech exclaim, 'et tu, brute!' (and you, you brute!) leech is a genuine artist, while phiz is only a bad engraver." by way of answer to this vulgar abuse, phiz almost immediately afterwards produced his admirable illustration of _quilp and the dog_, in no. 18 of "master humphrey's clock." in the pages of this defunct periodical we find a long and virulent article on benjamin d'israeli, the late lord beaconsfield, from which we have disinterred the following remarkable prophecy. after referring to his celebrated parliamentary _fiasco_, and his own prophetic words on that memorable occasion: "you won't hear me now; but the time will come when you _shall_ hear me!" the writer goes on to say: "that time has never since arrived. in vain did benjamin parody sheridan's celebrated saying ('it's in me, and by g---it shall be out of me!'). he renewed his efforts repeatedly.... but though, in consequence of his (_sic_) moderating his tone into a semblance of humility, he is sometimes just listened to, he has never made the slightest impression in the house, _and we may fairly predict he never will_." the article is illustrated by a remarkable semi-caricature likeness of the late lord beaconsfield, then in his thirty-second year, which, although unsigned and altogether different from his well-known style, we can assign to no other hand than that of john leech. we found our opinion on the fact that the previous portrait is by him; that none but his etchings appear in the latter portion of the book; and because the bird represented following the footsteps and mimicking the walk of the young statesman, is own brother to the celebrated jackdaw of rheims immortalized by thomas ingoldsby. so remarkable is the likeness, that the shadow of d'israeli's follower and that of saint "jem crow" of the legends are identical. artistic position secured. in 1840 some of john leech's sketches were brought to the notice of the rev thomas harris barham, which led to his engagement on the pages of "bentley's miscellany," from which moment his artistic position was secured. his first illustration was _the black mousquetaire_. barham in describing the scene, regretted, oddly enough, that he had neither the pencil of fuseli or sir joshua reynolds at command, or had himself taken lessons in drawing:- "had i done so, instead of the lines you have read, i'd have given you a sketch should have filled you with dread! françois xavier auguste squatting up in his bed, his hands widely spread, his complexion like lead, ev'ry hair that he had standing up on his head, as when, agnes des moulins first catching his view, now right and now left, rapid glances he threw, then shriek'd with a wild and unearthly halloo, _mon dieu! v'là deux!!_ by the pope there are two!!!" leech continued on the pictorial staff of "bentley's miscellany" ten years; his etchings therein commence with vol. viii. (1840) and (practically) end with vol. xxv. (1849).[132] altogether he contributed to this sterling periodical some one hundred and forty etchings, illustrating (amongst numerous scattered papers) "the ingoldsby legends" (with cruikshank); henry cockton's "stanley thorn"; charles whitehead's "richard savage"; albert smith's "adventures of mr. ledbury," "fortunes of the scattergood family," and "the marchioness of brinvilliers"; w. h. maxwell's "brian o'linn," etc., etc. from the time that he joined the _punch_ staff, in 1841, the life of john leech was one of well-earned prosperity and happiness. his income at first gradually and then rapidly increased, and he moved from the attic which he occupied in the vicinity of tottenham court road, into a house of his own at notting hill. shortly after this he married. miss ann eaton was one of those english beauties that leech delighted to draw; and it is related of him that he first met her walking in london, and, following her home, noted the house in which she lived, ascertained her name, procured an introduction, and straightway married her. the issue of this marriage was two children--a boy and a girl. the former--john george warrington leech, the miniature counterpart of his father in appearance and dress, and inheriting in a marvellous degree his talent for drawing--was unfortunately drowned at south adelaide in 1876. leech's hand appears for the first time in the fourth number of _punch_ (7th august, 1841),[133] to which he contributed the well-known full-page illustration of _foreign affairs_. his first cartoon, _a morning call_, will be found at page 119 of vol. ii., and the reader will find it worth his while to refer to it for the purpose of comparing it with the later and better work with which he afterwards enriched the pages of this famous serial, which mainly through his instrumentality was steered into the current of prosperity which carried it--after a time of considerable doubt and perplexity--[134] steadily onwards. one of _punch's_ most celebrated contributors has borne testimony to the value of his services. "mr. punch," says thackeray in reviewing his friend's contributions in 1854, "has very good reason to smile at the work and be satisfied with the artist. mr. leech, his chief contributor, and some kindred humourists with pencil and pen, have served mr. punch admirably.... there is no blinking the fact that in mr. punch's cabinet john leech is the right-hand man."[135] that this was true is proved by the fact that during his connection with _punch_, extending over a period of three and twenty years, he executed no less than three thousand pictures, of which at least six hundred are cartoons.[136] no wonder that when he lay dead, shirley brooks--another valued contributor, and afterwards editor of _punch_--mournfully acknowledged that the good ship had lost its "mainsail."[137] the "illuminated magazine." most admirable examples of his designs on wood will be found in the first three volumes of "the illuminated magazine," a delightful serial which appeared in 1843-4, which also contains a series of etchings on copper of unusual size and brilliancy. associated with him on the pages of this periodical, which is now seldom met with, were his friends thomas hood and mark lemon, douglas jerrold and laman blanchard, albert smith and angus bethune reach, samuel lover and kenny meadows. the world was young with authors and artists alike in those days; the youngest of the band were william hepworth dixon, then aged twenty-two; john leech, twenty-six; and wilkie collins, literally not "out of his teens," one of whose earliest literary productions we find here under the title of "the last stage coachman," illustrated by hine. in these volumes appeared douglas jerrold's delightful allegory of the "chronicles of clovernook," to which the veteran kenny meadows contributed some of the most quaint and original of his sketches. [illustration: john leech. "_illuminated magazine._" the election. _face p. 286._] john leech's portrait appears in three of the _punch_ sketches--two only of which are due to his own hand; the first in january, 1846, in one wherein a servant maid is depicted as saying, "if you please, sir, here's the printer's boy called again;" again, in january, 1847, where we find him playing the clarionet as one of the orchestra at _mr. punch's fancy ball_. other performers are--mayhew, cornet; percival leigh, double bass; gilbert à beckett, violin; richard doyle, clarionet; thackeray, piccolo; tom taylor, piano; while mark lemon, the conductor, appeals to jerrold to somewhat moderate his assaults on the drum. another hand portrays him seven years later, as armed with a porte crayon he rides his hobbyhorse at an easel which does duty for a hurdle, jerrold is playing skittles, thackeray holds the bat at a game of cricket, and mark lemon is engaged at rackets. douglas jerrold. amongst the early _literary_ contributors to _punch_ were mark lemon, horace mayhew, gilbert à beckett, stirling coyne, w. h. wills, h. p. grattan, douglas jerrold, percival leigh, and dr. maginn. albert smith joined the staff through the introduction of his friend leech; thackeray was a later acquisition, in 1844. it was scarcely to be expected that the brilliant and the lesser wits who shed their lustre on the early volumes of _punch_, and were brought together at the weekly council dinners, would invariably agree;--jerrold and thackeray, for instance, entertained a sort of constitutional antipathy to one another, and the latter, it must not be forgotten, was (in the words of anthony trollope) "still struggling to make good his footing in literature" at the time he joined the ranks of the _punch_ parliament. jerrold could not veil his contempt for albert smith, angrily asking leech at one of the _punch_ gatherings, with reference to the former's free and easy method of addressing his friend, "leech, how long is it necessary for a man to know you before he can call you 'jack'?" when à beckett announced his "comic history of england," in 1846, the strong mind of jerrold recoiled in horror from what he deemed a sacrilege. writing to charles dickens in reference to the announcement, he said, "after all, life has something serious in it. it cannot be _all_ a comic history of humanity. some men would, i believe, write the comic sermon on the mount. think of a comic history of england! the drollery of alfred! the fun of sir thomas more in the tower! the farce of his daughter begging the dead head, and clasping it in her coffin, on her bosom! surely the world will be sick of this blasphemy!" "the comic history of england" appeared, notwithstanding, and was followed afterwards by the "comic history of rome;" and however we may sympathize with the honest indignation of jerrold, and condemn the questionable taste of à beckett, we have at least to thank the latter for some of the drollest and most original designs which ever emanated from the pencil of john leech. the eccentric and original costumes in which he draped the classical characters of rome appear to have been a favourite idea with the artist. shirley brooks relates that he first made his acquaintance at a fancy ball given at the house of their mutual friend, the late john parry. "leech's costume," says the late editor of _punch_, "i well remember. it was something like charles mathews, as chorus to medea. the black trousers and patent leather boots of decorous life were below; but above was the classic tunic. then in addition he wore a fine new hat, round which, instead of around his head, was the laurel wreath; and the greek ideal was brought into further discomfiture by a pair of spectacles and an exceedingly neat umbrella." this comical idea will be found ridiculously amplified in his amazing designs to "the comic history of rome." albert smith. medical student, novelist, dramatist, humourist, and showman--for some of us still remember his diorama of "the overland route"--the most fortunate venture of albert richard smith (to give him his full name) was his ascent of mont blanc, which formed the theme of a well-remembered lecture, in which his perils amid rocky pinnacle, snow-field, and glacier lost nothing by the graphic mode in which they were related. this "ascent," by the way, proved a source of profit to others besides himself; and we should be curious to know the number of chamounix guides and hotel-keepers who were enabled through his indirect means to retire into private life. the memory of albert smith is deservedly cherished by the inhabitants of the distant savoyard valley, for he made the ascent of the "monarch of mountains" popular among his countrymen, and thereby sowed the seed of a succession of golden harvests, of which the primitive but thoroughly wide-awake peasantry were by no means slow to profit. dissimilar in many respects, albert smith and john leech had this bond of sympathy between them, that both were old friends, and both had nominally studied for the medical profession; and whilst leech attained at st. bartholomew's that practical knowledge of anatomical drawing which did him such good service in his artistic career, albert smith at middlesex hospital and the _hotel dieu_ appears to have picked up that intimate acquaintance with london and parisian student life which he displays in the "adventures of mr. ledbury." the "new monthly" for 1844 contains two etchings by leech to "the lord of thoulouse" and "the wedding day," which seem to call for notice, because they are not to be found in the collected edition of the "ingoldsby legends." in the collected edition he shows us little jack ingoldsby _before_ he entered the fatal cellar, while in the "new monthly" we see him lying dead at the feet of the weird buccaneer, who points with grim irony at the little corpse by way of caveat to those who would broach his wine. from the "new monthly" etching george cruikshank borrowed the idea for his illustration of the same subject in the 1864 edition. there is a difference, of course, but the fact will become ridiculously patent to any one who has an opportunity of comparing the two designs. this, by the way, is not the only instance in the '64 edition in which cruikshank borrowed his idea from john leech,[138] which at one time he would have scorned to do, a fact which affords the strongest possible evidence of the decadence of george's once unrivalled powers of invention, imagination, and fancy. leech it will be remembered obtained a footing on the staff of "bentley's miscellany" at the time when george cruikshank was leaving it. cruikshank, however, was an admirer of the genius of leech, and when they laid him in his untimely grave in kensal green cemetery, on the 4th november, 1864, the veteran artist was among the crowd of distinguished men who looked sorrowfully on. the influence which george cruikshank exercised upon the genius of leech will be apparent to any one who has given attention to the early etchings of the latter. this influence will be particularly discernible in the illustrations to "richard savage" and "the marchioness of brinvilliers." both were men of genius, but leech's fancy was of a tamer kind, and little inclined him in the direction of the supernatural or the terrible. leech, for instance, never produced anything which equalled _fagin in the condemned cell_; _the murder of sir rowland trenchard_; _xit wedded to the scavenger's daughter_; _jack o' lantern_; or the reverie of the _triumph of cupid_. we shall find but few diabolicals in his gallery of pictorial subjects, notwithstanding which there is not a fiend in the whole of cruikshank's demon ranks who equals leech's devil in thomas ingoldsby's legend of "the house-warming." it may seem invidious to institute a comparison between the two men. some, indeed, may hold that a comparison is impossible; but we will quickly show that such a comparison is not only possible but unavoidable. george cruikshank, for instance, might or might not have illustrated the "comic histories" of england and of rome better than john leech; we may fancy, however, his hand on the surtees' novels, the odd men, the strange coats, the eccentric women, the podgy "cockhorses," the wonderful dogs that would have put in an appearance in the various sporting scenes and incidents which form the subject of these "horsey" romances; we should like, for instance, to see what he would have made of the pretty serving woman who figures in the frontispiece of "ask mamma;" how he would have treated the fair "de glancey"; how he would have grouped and dressed his figures at _the handley cross ball_; how he would have treated poor old jorrocks when he fell into the shower bath. but, admirable as are leech's book illustrations and etchings, it is in the minor designs which he executed for _punch_ during the short quarter of a century allotted to him that we must seek for leech's _genius_: it is these little drawings which place him in the front rank of nineteenth century graphic satirists. they are characterized by genuine humour and satire, unalloyed with a single trace of ill-humour, exaggeration, or vulgarity. it was in this direction that the artistic instincts of poor robert seymour inclined him; but his imagination and invincible tendency to exaggerate, inherited from the caricaturists who preceded him, failed to bear him beyond the limited sphere of cockney sports and cockney sportsmen in which his soul delighted. here, we have the swells and vulgarians, the flunkies and servants, the old men and maidens, the soldiers, the parsons, the pretty women of english everyday life, placed in situations more or less embarrassing, but presenting nevertheless perfect types of the respective classes thus harmlessly and admirably satirized. in this lies their chief value, and as years roll on and the _punch_ volumes become scarce, this value will necessarily increase. abhorrence for frenchmen. a shy and unobtrusive member of the society in which he moved, and which delighted in the enjoyment of his friendship, john leech was the keenest of observers, noting and satirizing as no one before his time had attempted, or indeed had been able to do, the cant and hypocrisy, the pride and selfishness, the upstart and arrogant exclusiveness, the insular prejudices and weaknesses, which form a part of our national character; but doing this, he loved his countrymen and countrywomen for their finer qualities, and hated the bungling foreigners who presume to caricature them without the barest knowledge of their subject. this is the secret of the hearty abhorrence which leech always testified for frenchmen. the ignorance of his countrymen on the subject of english women has been amusingly ridiculed by one of the most distinguished of their own writers--eugene sue, in his novel of "mathilde":--"_that_ an englishwoman! nonsense; there is nothing more easy to recognise than an englishwoman; you have only to look at her dress; it is simple enough, in all conscience! a straw bonnet all the year through; a pink spencer; a scotch plaid petticoat, and bright green or lemon-coloured boots; you may see the costume any day in _les anglaises pour rire_, at the _variétés_. we all know it is a vaudeville, and it would not be publicly acted unless it were authentic. i repeat it once more, ever since this world has been a world, englishwomen--real genuine englishwomen--have never been differently dressed." m. taine, who devoted himself to the study of our language and literature, and spent much time amongst us, has (if i remember rightly) admitted the errors which prevail amongst his countrymen and women with reference to ourselves; but such observers as m. taine and m. sue are unfortunately rare in france, and many have essayed to depict us, with as much knowledge of their subject as our sir john maundeville possessed when he sat down to write his absurd but quaint and amusing "book of voiage and travaile." john leech resented this deplorable ignorance on the part of our neighbours; and the _punch_ volumes are filled with biting sarcasms on french habits, manners, and sentiments, which were keenly felt, because, unlike the english who figure at the variétés or in french caricatures, in the dirty men who regard with astonishment the english washstand at the exhibition, the cabs full of hirsute monstrosities, the "flowers of the french army," the grimy revolutionists of leicester square--the hundred and one frenchmen who figure in the satires of john leech, the parisian recognises compatriots whose ridiculous lineaments have been too faithfully reproduced to render identification a matter of doubt or difficulty. leech executed very few illustrations for dickens; and the amusing blunder which he perpetrated in "the battle of life," in allowing the lady to elope with the wrong man, and the "horror and agony" of the author in consequence thereof, have been set forth in forster's "life." the mistake was discovered too late for correction, and remains a curious proof of the carelessness with which distinguished artists will sometimes read the manuscript of an author however illustrious. [illustration: john leech. "_illuminated magazine._" "i hope mr. smug, you don't beat your boys?" _face p. 292._] the surtees' novels afford singular evidence of the keenness of john leech's critical observation. an ardent lover of sport himself, and a frequent attendant at the "pytchley," when he went a day's hunting it was his custom to single out some fellow disciple of nimrod that happened to take his fancy, keeping behind him all day, noting his attitudes in the saddle, and marking every item of his turn-out, to the last button and button-hole of his hunting coat. it was in this way that he obtained the correctness of detail which renders his famous sporting etchings so wonderfully true to nature. strange to say, notwithstanding his knowledge of every detail of the huntsman's dress, even to the number of buttons on his coat, he himself, with reference to his own outfit, invariably presented in the hunting field a somewhat incongruous appearance. either he would wear the wrong kind of boots, or would dispense with some detail which on the part of an enthusiast would be considered an unpardonable omission. leech, however, was not what is called a "rough rider," his constitutional nervousness prevented him indeed from making a prominent figure in the hunting field, and his friends attributed this want of attention to detail in dress to his sensitiveness to criticism, and his unwillingness to place himself in any position which would be likely to incur it. footnotes: [126] vol. iii., 1860. [127] shirley brooks in the _illustrated london news_, 19th nov., 1864. [128] george redway, 12, york street, covent garden. [129] they include also some (pirated) impressions from the designs of george cruikshank, which set that irritable genius, as might have been expected, in a fume. [130] chapman & hall, 186, strand, 1st november, 1840. [131] "adventures of michael armstrong, the factory boy." [132] he subsequently returned to it for a short time only. [133] the serial commenced 17th july, 1841. [134] that this was the case, see mr. joseph hatter's "with a show in the north;" see also a remarkable letter of mr. william tegg in the _athenæum_ of 16th october, 1875. [135] thackeray in the _quarterly_. [136] i calculate that the minor drawings number about 2,500; if to these we add 638 cartoons, we get a sum total of over 3,100 illustrations for _punch_ alone. if we say nearly 1,000 for mr. surtees' sporting novels, without taking into account leech's other work, we may form some notion of his untiring industry. [137] ms. diary of shirley brooks (october 31st, 1864). [138] compare, for instance, leech's _black mousquetaire_ in the original edition with cruikshank's reproduction of the same subject in the '64 edition. chapter xiv. _the "punch" cartoons of john leech._ we have seen that at the time john leech commenced work as a comic artist, the art of caricature was practically dead; it was not therefore at all surprising, under the circumstances, that he should reverse, as it were, the order of things: commence as an illustrator of books, and finish his career as a graphic humourist. although his first contribution to _punch_ commences in the fourth number, his cartoons so called (from which, in accordance with the plan of this work we now proceed to select a few examples) seem to us to call for little mention before the year 1843. prince albert. his royal highness prince albert, who held high rank in the british army by virtue of his exalted position, was most unjustly suspected in those early _punch_ days of a desire to interfere unduly with its administration. he took, however, much interest in the dress and comfort of the british soldier; and those who remember what military costume was in 1843, will admit that there was room for improvement. changes were made indeed, but these changes can hardly be said to have been made in the direction of either comfort, convenience, or good taste. the "albert hat" (as it was called), one of the ugliest, most ungainly, and preposterous of military shakoes that was ever invented, made its appearance about this time, and the idea was credited (rightly or wrongly) to the amiable prince. constant reference to this preposterous invention is made in the pages of _punch_, and the prince's questionable taste in the matter of military costume is specially satirized in leech's amusing cartoon entitled _prince albert's studio_. mr. o'connell, at a great repeal meeting held in september, 1843, had expressed a hope that he should be able to give his dupes "as a new year's gift a parliament on college green." no one knew better than himself the absurdity of such a promise. had he named the first of april for the presentation instead of the first of january, it would have been more appropriate, and at least equally veracious. a great repeal meeting was intended to be held in october at clontarf, three miles from dublin, at which certain supporters of the movement were to have attended on horseback and paraded in the character of the "repeal cavalry." this meeting the irish executive prohibited by proclamation, and on the 14th, o'connell and other prominent leaders were arrested, and held to bail on a charge of conspiracy. on the 24th of may, 1844, the irish judges sentenced him to twelve months' imprisonment, and a fine of £2,000. the cartoon of _the probable effects of good living and no exercise_ refers to this result; but _punch_ on this occasion was wrong. o'connell proved "too many" for the irish lawyers. he appealed by writ of error to the lords, and on the 4th of september the judgment was reversed.[139] sir james graham, the home secretary, and the government to which he belonged, had encountered much odium in consequence of the opening of certain letters which had passed through the post office. the result was the appointment of a committee of secrecy by both houses to inquire into the official practice, and it would appear from their report that every administration had been in the habit of exercising this espionage under the authority of a warrant of the secretary of state. the sins of the past as well as of the present were visited on the head of sir james, who sought to throw the responsibility on higher powers; and in reference to this, sir james graham and sir robert peel figure respectively as _sairey gamp_ and _betsey prig_, after phiz's well-known drawing. sir james indeed seemed to have had rather a facility for getting himself into trouble. there was much excitement in and out of the house with reference to the additional grant to maynooth college. in the course of the debates, sir james graham retracted an expression which he said had fallen from him in the heat of debate, viz. that concession in favour of ireland had reached its utmost limit, and hoped that his actions had proved better than his words. among the subsequent cartoons by leech, he figures as _peel's dirty little boy_. "drat the boy," says dame peel (as she chastises him), "he's _always_ in a mess." towards the close of the debate two remarkable speeches were delivered by lord john russell and sir robert peel, both of whom concurred in the necessity of a conciliatory policy towards ireland. this _rapprochement_ between the two leaders of the opposite camps, and the leanings of sir robert in the direction of a liberal policy, are referred to in leech's cartoons of _how do you like the new whig?_ and the _premier's fix_ (peel between free trade and protection), the last borrowed from one of cruikshank's drawings. _the railway juggernaut of 1845_ (also suggested by cruikshank's well-known etching), refers to the then mania for dabbling in railway shares. between the two stools of free trade and protection, sir robert, as might have been anticipated, ultimately fell through; an event which is chronicled in vol. x., the idea in this instance being taken from the celebrated drawing in the late mr. clarke's "three courses and a dessert," the cartoon of peel driving the vehicle of protection, which has broken down, bearing the title of _the deaf postilion_. a change of ministry took place in 1846, little lord john replacing sir robert peel as "first lord of the treasury." he cuts an amazingly queer figure (in vol. xi.) in the ex-premier's huge hat, vast coat, and voluminous waistcoat and inexpressibles. little lord john was an enduring subject of _punch's_ satire during that statesman's somewhat unsatisfactory political career, and leech was never weary of comparing him with his far more brilliant and able contemporary. here we have the pair figuring as _dombey and son_ (dombey being sir robert, and the son lord john), "mr. dombey was in a difficulty. he would like to have given him (_the boy_) some explanation involving the terms circulating medium, currency, depreciation of currency, paper, bullion, rates of exchange, value of precious metals in the market, and so forth." the _portrait of a noble lord in order_ refers to one of those exhibitions of want of tact, taste, and temper in which lord brougham would seem to have delighted.[140] "who calls _me_ to order?" cries the "noble and learned" lord, "who calls _me_ to order? pooh! pooh! fiddle-de-dee! i never was in better order in my life. noble lords don't know what they are about;" a conspicuous and aggressive appurtenance of the "noble and learned," by the way, is his preposterous umbrella. one of the most barbarous and disgraceful of london neighbourhoods in 1847, and for many years afterwards, was smithfield; the present generation can form no idea of the state of things thirty years ago, which is referred to in the cartoon of _punch and the smithfield savages_, the artist borrowing his idea from west's well-known picture of "penn's treaty with the indians." the odious matrimonial swindle perpetrated by louis philippe with the idea of ultimately seating a member of his family on the spanish throne, which has cast an indelible stain on his memory, had now been found out, and attracted universal indignation. we find him, in reference to this shameless piece of business, figuring as the _fagin of france after condemnation_, the idea being suggested of course by cruikshank's famous etching in "oliver twist." retribution overtook the mercenary monarch in the year of disquietude and national unrest--1848; foreign kings and potentates were sent flying in all directions, and louis philippe, who, like the rest of his family had learnt nothing by misfortune, was among the first to go. _put out_, one of the best of the artist's political cartoons, represents an armed _ouvrier_ clapping the cap of _liberté_ by way of extinguisher on the french candle (king louis). uneasy were the heads which wore crowns in that year; and to the throned and unthroned sovereigns, the former of whom watched these untoward events with nervous interest, john leech presented a seasonable gift in the form of _a constitutional plum pudding_, served up by mr. punch on magna charta, and curiously compounded of "liberty of the press," "common sense," "order," "trial by jury," "religion," and "true liberty of the subject." among the sovereigns who had a peculiarly insecure seat at this period was mastai ferretti, better known as pope pius ix. his temporal power was weak, whilst his spiritual dominion, as might have been expected, had never been much stronger. to bolster up the former, and at the same time find employment for his troops, louis, prince president of the french republic, sent an army to rome, thus affording matter for the speculation of his countrymen, who were puzzled to know what possible concern a french republic could have with the affairs of the papacy. allusion to this is made in leech's cartoon of _the french cock and the roman eagle_, in which the bird of higher caste, chained and fettered, is unable to offer anything like fair resistance to his unwilling antagonist. in a _bright idea_, we have the apostle of peace (whose uncompromising arguments in its favour have driven us before now in the direction of war) figuring as a recruiting sergeant, and endeavouring to enlist the "iron dook." general haynau. in no country perhaps are women more cruelly used than among the poorer classes of england, while in no country under the sun is greater sympathy expressed for the weaker sex; a paradox which was strikingly exemplified in 1850. the austrian general haynau in that year paid a visit to this country. some time before he had earned unenviable notoriety by his treatment of the wives and daughters of hungarian insurgents who fell into his hands, and it was reported, probably with much exaggeration, that regardless of sex and condition he had subjected these hapless fugitives to the indignity of corporal punishment. the rising had been however some time repressed, and there was every reason to believe that in this country at least the rumour had been forgotten. among the sights the general had been recommended to visit in london was the celebrated brewery of messrs. barclay & perkins, and no sooner was his presence discovered, than he was simultaneously attacked by the draymen, and narrowly escaped with his life. he got small sympathy from _punch_, who, in vol. xix., presented leech's _sketch of a most remarkable flea found in general haynau's ear_. "_who's dat knocking at de door?_" is a question put by johnny russell to old joe (hume), who once in every session in those days stood knocking at the door with his banjo labelled, "extension of the suffrage." the "papal aggression." macaulay, writing in 1840,[141] referred to the progress of what he happily termed "the catholic revival of the nineteenth century." this revival was never more clearly exemplified than at the very time the temporal power was most seriously endangered. such of the temporal power, indeed, as was left to it has gone, probably for ever; while the spiritual power of the papacy, at least in protestant england, as must be patent to any one who has given the subject the smallest attention, has unostentatiously but enormously increased, especially within the last twenty years. the year 1850 was remarkable for what was then known among us as the "papal aggression," and _punch_ and his "right-hand man" were exceedingly angry. among the cartoons which they fulminated on the occasion were the following: _the guy fawkes of 1850_ [_i.e._ the pope] _preparing to blow up all england_; _the thin end of the wedge_ [the pope trying with his jemmy, labelled "roman archbishopric of westminster," to force the doors of the english church]. it is both a singular and significant circumstance, that at this time the ritualists, or rather puseyites, were helping on the work of rome by promoting, if not schism, at least dissension in the church of england by advocating the strictest attention to the letter instead of the spirit of the rubric and liturgy. we find, in special reference to the assistance thus, in some cases we believe unconsciously, rendered to the romish church, _the puseyite moth_ flying into the roman catholic candle; and _fashion in 1850, or a page for the puseyites_, in which we see the bishops of lincoln, oxford, and exeter dropping the hot poker of puseyism, and the pope, as monkey, making a _catspaw_ of _poor pus(s)ey_ [the doctor lately deceased]; again, in vol. xx., punch (a boy) inquires of an episcopal showman, who holds the model of a church on his stand, "please, mr. bishop, which is popery and which is puseyism?" to which the episcopal showman replies, "whichever you like, my little dear"; another cartoon represents a puseyite parson who has received "warning" from his cook. inquiring the reason of her dissatisfaction, he receives the following reply: "well, sir, the fact is i aint equal to them fast days; for what with a hegg here, and a hegg there, and little bits of fish for breakfastes, and little bits of fish for dinners, and the sweet omelicks, and the fried and stewed hoysters, and the bashawed lobsterses, and one think and the hother, there's so much cooking that i aint even time to make up a cap!" another influential person besides mr. punch was terribly indignant at this aggressive movement on the part of the papacy, and loudly avowed his determination to go any length to put a stop to it. this was my lord john russell, who, after vapouring like "ancient pistol," quietly sneaked off after his usual fashion, and did nothing. he got, however, a well-merited dressing from leech, who showed him up in his true character in a contemporary number as _the boy who chalked up "no popery," and then ran away_. it was these papal satires (as we shall afterwards see) which led to the secession from _punch_, and the consequent loss to satiric art, of one of its most genial and capable professors, the late richard doyle;[142] a loss followed (if we may so term it) by a compensating gain. richard doyle's place was almost immediately taken by an artist of great and exceptional power, for more than twelve years the friend and coadjutor of john leech--mr. tenniel, who makes his first appearance in _punch's_ twentieth volume. the long peace which followed the national and european struggle with napoleon had produced a curious effect upon ourselves. while russia took advantage of the lull to recruit her colossal forces, and prussia to perfect the military system which took us so much by surprise half a century afterwards, we, on the other hand, wearied with our long and arduous struggle, had fallen asleep, and dreamed pleasantly that the "millennium" was at hand. with this idea apparently in our minds, we inscribed on the walls of the great exhibition of 1851, the scriptural text which tells us that "swords shall be beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks, neither shall they learn war any more." a significant commentary on the text was found in the fact that many of the exhibits at the "world's fair" consisted of cannon, rifles, and other lethal instruments of improved method and construction, intended for the wholesale destruction of the human race. we read the scriptural text, and viewed these exhibits as relics of a barbarism which had existed six and thirty years before, oblivious of the circumstance that an incompetent general had "wiped out" a british army in afghanistan, and that we had crushed the empire of runjeet singh on the banks of the sutlej not so many years before. the closing of the exhibition is commemorated by a cartoon, in which leech shows us the famous amazon putting on her bonnet and shawl, chatting the while with hiram power's greek slave, who, habited in "bloomer" costume, prepares likewise to take her departure. allusion to the bribery and corruption prevalent at a notorious borough of that day is made in a sketch which depicts the _horror of that respectable saint, st. alban's, at hearing the confession of a st. alban's elector_. the coup d'état. remarkable results were destined to follow the year of unrest--1848. louis philippe had been replaced in france by louis napoleon, who seems to have been elevated to the presidency of the republic because he was considered to be so absolutely harmless, the principle followed being analogous to that observed at the election of a pope, which has resulted more than once in an unpleasant surprise for the cardinal electors. those who had formed a low estimate of his abilities, found that louis was no longer the "half-saved" youth of boulogne and strasburg; that he had learnt some stern lessons in the hard school of adversity; that he had developed, moreover, a firm and decided will of his own. we thought it a hazardous experiment on the part of french republicans, for louis held a craze on the subject of his uncle's "ideas," and the craze had sufficient "method" to induce us to believe that he was the last man who would have been selected to fill the presidential chair. as a refugee in england, we had given him small credit for sagacity; and as an emperor and a man, history has already said of him that he was cunning, unreliable, and thoroughly unscrupulous. although a comparison between the two men is impossible, there was at least this similarity between the two napoleons, that both were indebted for their elevation to the imperial purple to a revolution; here, however, all resemblance ceased. the first napoleon relied upon himself alone, while louis was advised by counsellors and adventurers wiser and more unscrupulous than himself, and who were prepared to back his fortunes with a view of advancing their own. at the close of 1851, europe was electrified by the unexpected and dastardly blow delivered by these men, and by means of a "great crime," the history of which has been so graphically related by victor hugo, louis napoleon, prince president of the republic, found himself master of the destinies of france. the event is referred to by john leech in the cartoon of _france is tranquil!!!_ which she cannot well fail to be, seeing that we find her bound hand and foot; a chain-shot fastened to her foot, and a sentry menacing her with his bayonet. the next volume shows us the prince president in the act of being measured by his military tailor, while he offers money to his cast-off mistress _liberté_, her mother (france) looking indignantly on. immediately behind, a priest (in allusion to the support which the papal party were receiving from this "eldest son of the church") helps himself from a plate of money which stands by the president's side; the floor is littered with miscellaneous articles,--bayonets, knapsacks, imperial and other crowns, crosses of the legion of honour, the _code napoleon_,--and, in reference to louis's craze on the subject of his uncle and his "ideas," one of napoleon's old boots. on a stool stands a bust of the first napoleon, and on a chair to the right a roll of "imperial purple." by the year 1853, the only persons who steadily shut their eyes to the signs of the times, and continued steadfastly to believe in the immediate advent of the "millennium," were the peace-at-any-price party (represented by messrs bright and cobden), the members of the peace society, and the very strange people who obstinately opposed any attempt on the part of england to provide for her national safety by putting her defences in order. to the peace society, leech especially addressed his cartoon of _no danger_, which represents a donkey braying in front of a loaded cannon; while to the mischievous lunatics who opposed any scheme of national defence, he dedicated an appropriate gift in the shape of _a strait waistcoat worked by the women of england_.[143] by this time john bull had awoke from his dreams, and tacitly admitting that the time for conversion of his swords into ploughshares and his spears into pruning hooks had scarcely arrived, adopted the far more sensible method of sending his troops to the camp at chobham by way of getting them acclimatized to the trials and vicissitudes of wind and weather. this step leads of course to a number of little pleasantries. in one cartoon we see an officer of household cavalry parting his hair in front of his cuirass, whilst a soldier servant brings him his shaving water in a bucket; another, entitled _a cold in the head_, represents an officer in this melancholy condition, who requests his servant to bring him his bucket of gruel as "sool as he has tallowed his loze." john, in fact, had been aroused from his slumbers by the emperor nicholas, who, thinking it a good time to appropriate turkey, was suspected of having offered a slice to austria. the rumour is referred to in the cartoon of _the old 'un and the young 'un_, in which we see the russian and austrian emperors at table with a bottle of port between them, "now then, austria," says nicholas, "just help me to finish the port(e)." in another cartoon, john bull nails the russian eagle to his barn door, remarking to his french friend the while, that _he_ "wouldn't worry the turkeys any more." lord aberdeen, who, notwithstanding the signs of the times, refused like nicholas to believe in a war with england, is represented placidly smoking the _pipe of peace_ over a barrel of gunpowder. thanks to messrs bright and cobden, who obstinately persisted in opposing the popular feeling which had set in steadily in the direction of war,--thanks to the exertions of the peace society, who were not restrained from sending certain zealous members of their body to the emperor nicholas, who not unnaturally supposed that these broad-brimmed gentlemen represented the sentiments of the great english people,--but thanks above all to the french emperor and his astute advisers, who were enabled to take advantage of the state of english feeling to hoodwink the "great nation" by the prospect of an alliance with a great and respectable power, the year 1854 found us in actual conflict with russia, starting off after our usual fashion with a handful of men to attack the strongest fortress in europe, provided with an unlimited supply of men and metal and inexhaustible stores of warlike _materiel_ of all kinds. in vol. xxvi. we see her majesty _throwing the old shoe_ after her guards, who, for the first time since 1815, are seen setting out on foreign service. another cartoon, which has reference to our _bombardment of odessa_, is divided into two parts, in one of which we see lord aberdeen (whose dream of peace had been so rudely dissipated), and in the other nicholas of russia, both reading the newspaper. says aberdeen, "bombardment of odessa! dear me, this will be very disagreeable to my imperial friend!" says the emperor, "bombardment of odessa! confound it! this will be very annoying to dear old aberdeen!" in november, 1854, occurred our disastrous victory of inkermann, in which scarcely four thousand english troops found themselves opposed by forty thousand russians and drove them into flight. no thanks, however, to our allies, who--with the exception of sixty brave zouaves and their lieutenant, who played truant from their regiment to give us timely assistance--either looked on or absolutely ran away.[144] spectators of this battle were two of the imperial family, a circumstance alluded to in vol. xxvii. by leech's cartoon of _the russian bear's licked cubs, nicholas and michael_. the purchase system. picton remarked of our officers, when _en route_ to waterloo, that with fifty thousand of his own men, and _french_ officers at their head, he would march from one end of europe to the other. but both the quality of french officers and soldiers had deteriorated at the time of the crimean war, and was destined still further to deteriorate until the utter unsoundness of their military discipline was laid bare years afterwards by prussia. the french had no generals, while we had _one_ general and an excellent body of soldiers. unquestionably the russian war did us the service of thoroughly exposing the rottenness of our military system so far as concerned the officering of the army. the principle followed was precisely that complained of by sir thomas picton forty years before; there was no actual test of fitness until it came to be subjected to the practical test of emergency; money invariably had the advantage of merit, not only in the appropriation of first commissions, but in the purchase of subsequent regimental grades, which were given in exchange for pecuniary value, and not as a reward for military efficiency. the material thus obtained was splendid as regards manliness and bravery, but something more than these were wanted in the absence of a leader like the great duke; and although the type selected is an extreme one, the result may be indicated by my lord cardigan, who, though equal to any amount of endurance and heroism, proved himself incapable of the exercise of the smallest particle of common sense. the scandal of the then existing system of purchase was aptly exposed by the artist in vol. xxviii., where we find a rich titled old lady in a shop served by military counter-jumpers, one of whom, wrapping up a lieutenant-colonelcy for her boy, inquires, in the well-known jargon of the trade, "what is the next article?" in answer to which she expresses a wish to have "a nice majority for his little brother"; a wounded officer with his arm in a sling timidly inquires the price of a captain's commission, and turns wearily away on finding the preposterous price (£3,694) is wholly beyond his means. fortunately for us (for events proved that in trusting to french assistance we were leaning on a broken reed indeed!) the russian rank and file, besides being badly led, were as inferior to our own in endurance and pluck as they were superior to us in the mere matter of numbers. justly wondering why forty thousand men, supported by twenty thousand reserves, had failed to hold their own against a mere handful of british infantry, nicholas nevertheless treated the result apparently in a philosophical spirit, and calmly asked his people to wait for "generals _janvier_ and _fevrier_." but the brave man's heart was broken, and when february came it found the imperial prophet a corpse.[145] the death of this great and disappointed man is forcibly commemorated by leech's memorable cartoon of _general fevrier turned traitor_. lord john russell, true to his character of "lord meddle and muddle," had done nothing for us at the congress, and in _the return from vienna_, her majesty catches the frightened little statesman by the collar and angrily asks him, "now, sir, what a time you have been! what's the answer?" to her lord john--"please 'm--there is--is--is--is--isn't any answer." an english general in those days was so scarce a commodity that in lord raglan we seemed absolutely to have exhausted the supply: one old incapable was replaced by another, until the dearth of english military ability became at length nothing less than an absolute scandal. in _what we must come to_, reference is made to this lamentable state of things, wherein an old woman in bonnet and shawl, with a capacious umbrella, applies for a post to lord panmure (the minister of war), "oh, if you please, sir, did you want a sperity old woman to see after things in the crimea? no objection to being made a field marshal, and glory not so much an object as a good salary"; in another (_a grand military spectacle_) we find the heroes of the campaign engaged in inspecting the field marshals, a pair of decrepid, purblind, old men seated in arm chairs; in the third we recognise the amiable prince consort, who was most unjustly suspected in those days of a desire to interfere in the administration of our military matters--it would be moonshine to term it military _system_, as we had none. _the new game of follow my leader_ is a palpable hit at a practice common enough too in those days. applications were frequently made by officers for leave to return home on the plea of "urgent private affairs," and you were astonished to see gentlemen walking about whose duty it was to be with their regiments in the crimea. in the cartoon referred to, a long line of soldiers is drawn up in front of the general's tent; a little drummer boy steps out of the ranks, and making the usual salute inquires, "please, general, may me and these other chaps have leave to go home on _urgent private affairs_?" a more unsatisfactory state of things for the belligerents all round than this miserable crimean conflict can scarcely well be imagined. lord raglan, who had learned war by practical experience under the eye of the great duke himself, speedily realized the fact that he had been made the victim of french military jealousy and imbecility, the leaders having been selected not on account of their military efficiency, but solely for attachment to the cause of the emperor. the battle of the alma had been won without the assistance of the french, who for all practical purposes might just as well have been away.[146] marshal st. arnaud, who, to do him simple justice, was at this time dying literally by inches, had refused to follow up the defeated russians,[147] whose retreat a _competent_ french general must have converted into an absolute rout; whilst, had he followed the advice and wishes of lord raglan, we should probably have entered sebastopol in a fortnight, instead of having to wait three years for an event which was afterwards accomplished at a ruinous waste of time, men, _materiel_, and money.[148] we had defeated the russians at inkerman without french assistance,[149] whilst the timidity and professional jealousy on that occasion of marshal canrobert had again failed to turn _our_ success into a crushing disaster for the enemy.[150] if england was dissatisfied, russia was still more discontented, and her strength moreover at this time well-nigh exhausted. efforts in the direction of peace were being made by austria, which are referred to in the cartoon, _staying proceedings_ (vol. xxx.), wherein plaintiff john bull instructs his solicitor clarendon (who is setting off for paris bag in hand), "tell russia," says angry john, "tell russia if he doesn't settle at once i shall go on with the action;" but so unprofitable to us in the end was the arrangement effected by the solicitor, that the action was settled after all on the terms of each party having to pay their own costs. this preposterous result is referred to in the admirable sketch entitled _swindling the clarendon_, wherein landlord bull angrily expostulates with his two waiters (louis napoleon and palmerston), "what!" says john, "_quite the gentleman_! why he has left nothing but a portmantel of bricks and stones, and gone off without paying the bill."[151] just complaints were made in the papers of 1857 of the arrangements, or rather want of arrangements, at the royal _levées_. the space was circumscribed and the crush frightful, and ladies returned from the ceremony with torn dresses and dishevelled hair, just as if they had been engaged in some feminine battle-royal. to accustom them to this uncomfortable but apparently inevitable ordeal, john leech, in one of the very best of his sketches (vol. xxxii.), suggested a _training school for ladies about to appear at court_, where we see charming women in court dresses leaping over forms, crowding beneath barriers, and going through a vigorous course of saltatory exercises, to prepare them for what they might expect at the ceremony; the floor is strewn with broken fans, gloves, feathers, watches, and jewellery; while one fat old lady, who, in attempting to scramble beneath the barrier has become a permanent fixture, presents a truly comical appearance. the english dissatisfied. the war was at an end; the "eastern question," as it was called in the political jargon of that day, had been settled for the next twenty years, and john bull had now leisure to sit down to count the cost, and consider the value of the french alliance, and the quality of the assistance he had derived from french generalship and the french army. the result of john's calculation was eminently unsatisfactory to himself, for he felt that while he had done all the hard work and nearly all the fighting, the french, as might have been expected, had arrogated to themselves all the praise. john in his secret heart was angry; he felt he had been drawn into a contest from which he personally derived little advantage, and from which he emerged nominally triumphant at a ruinous waste of men and money; the frenchman, on his part, was doubtful of the reality of the _gloire_ he claimed for himself, and distinctly conscious, moreover, that the english soldiers looked coldly on the french army and its achievements.[152] the result was a feeling of secret dissatisfaction on both sides, which found, however, no actual expression until an unexpected circumstance afforded opportunity for its manifestation. the war had been succeeded by a period of inaction, a state of things always dreaded by louis, who was now harassed by plots and conspiracies, and a certain foreigner connected, or supposed to be connected, with one of these had sought and found an asylum on our shores. certain valorous french colonels, desirous of displaying their loyalty at a cheap cost, presented an address to his majesty, which contained the following intemperate passage:--"let the miserable assassins--the subaltern agents of such crimes--receive the chastisement due to their abominable attempts; but also, let the _infamous haunt_ where machinations so infernal are planned _be destroyed for ever_.... give us the order, sire, and we shall pursue them even to their places of security." french military composition, even in the time of the first napoleon, was never of the highest order of merit, and the third napoleon, whose policy it was to distract the attention of his people from reflecting on the questionable means by which he had attained his position, never lost an opportunity of earning popularity with any class of his subjects, particularly with the army. he suffered this quintessence of bombastic absurdity to appear in the pages of the official _moniteur_, whence it was duly copied by the english newspapers, and afforded us the most intense amusement. _punch_ answered this valorous appeal with leech's celebrated cartoon (in vol. xxxiv.) of _cock-a-doodle-do!_ wherein the french cock, habited in the uniform of a french colonel, crows most lustily on his own dunghill. this remarkable caricature possesses a singular historical interest, as it exactly expresses the feeling which pervaded england for some time after the close of the crimean war. the hostile spirit towards frenchmen which formed a part of john leech's nature, once aroused was not easily allayed, and in the same volume he gives us specimens of _some foreign produce that mr. bull can very well spare_, in which he angrily includes french conspirators, vile french women, organ grinders (the artist's peculiar abomination), and other foreign refuse of an objectionable character. further on, he follows up the subject in _a discussion forum (!) as imagined by our volatile friends_, which represents a party of english conspirators from a french point of view. they wear the peaked hats, long cravats, long hair, boots, and inexpressibles peculiar to the reign of terror, and carry knives, revolvers, axes, and other weapons of destruction; a speaker occupies the rostrum, and below him sits the registrar with a bowl of blood, in which sanguinary fluid the proceedings are supposed to be recorded. the opposite picture, _a discussion forum (!) as it is in reality_, shows us a number of foolish, ignorant, harmless youths, smoking pipes, drinking brandy and water, and discussing politics (so far as they are capable of understanding them) in a tavern club-room. returning once more to his attacks on what he justly deemed the romanizing tendency of the practices of certain members of the english church, he gives us the cartoon of _religion à la mode_, in which a handsome woman is about to "confess" to a truculent and knavish looking ritualist. in the distance appears john bull with his horsewhip, "no, no, mr. jack priest," says he; "after all i have gone through, i am not such a fool as to stand any of _this_ disgusting nonsense." some sensation was created this year by a private fête which was given by a member of the aristocracy at cremorne gardens. it occasioned considerable talk at the time, and as ritualism was then in the ascendant amongst certain female leaders of fashion, leech gives us (in vol. xxxv.) a powerful picture, entitled _aristocratic amusements_, in which john thomas asks his mistress (a magnificent specimen of the artist's handsome women) as he puts up the steps of her carriage, whither she would wish to be driven,--"confession or cremorne, my lady?" misfortune, the proverb tells us, makes us acquainted with strange associates. the emperor louis, during his early exile, had picked up certain undesirable acquaintances, who were in the habit in after life of forcing themselves on his notice after a peculiarly disagreeable and dangerous fashion. his unfaithfulness to the principles of the brotherhood of which he and they had been members, had seriously exercised the minds of certain of these quondam acquaintances, who had given forcible expression to their feelings by attempting his assassination. the pear-shaped hand grenades of orsini and his fellow-conspirator were the fruit of louis's early connection with the secret societies of the carbonari. they indicate the forces which controlled the policy of the third napoleon, and obliged him constantly to pick quarrels with his neighbours for the double purpose of employing his army and of keeping the attention of his restless subjects and quondam acquaintances distracted from himself. as the advisers upon whom he depended were removed by death, the absence of military capacity which his habitual reticence had concealed was manifested by his extraordinary ignorance of the weakness of the force which he had at his disposal, and the utter rottenness of its organization. meanwhile italian assassins warned louis's advisers of the desperate insecurity of the tenure by which they held their own position, and of the necessity of distracting the attention of the restless spirits who made it their business to inquire into their master's title. within a year, therefore, of the execution of orsini and his friend, a quarrel was fastened on the austrian ambassador, which reminded us of the first emperor's insult to our own lord whitworth, and the imperial word went forth that italy was to be freed "from the alps to the adriatic."[153] although louis was unable to accomplish this programme, he was enabled by great good fortune, the aid of sardinia, the execrably bad generalship of the austrians, and the military _prestige_ which still attached to the french name, to pave the way for this result; and austria was not only humbled, but had moreover to surrender venetia to sardinia. no sooner was the war over, than louis was suspected of casting longing eyes at the territories of his brave little ally,[154] and in _a scene from the new pantomime_, he figures as clown, holding a revolver in his hand, with a goose marked "italy" in his capacious pocket, assuring britannia (a stout elderly woman who looks suspiciously on) that his intentions were of the most honourable description. in the sketch entitled _the next invasion, landing of the french (light wines), and discomfiture of old general beer_ (vol. xxxviii.), we have a pictorial prophecy which has not borne fulfilment. although the so-called _vin ordinaire_ made some progress among us for a time, it was soon discovered that a low class of wine, which the french themselves would not drink, was being manufactured for the english market, and that good sound claret remained (as might have been anticipated) as dear, if not dearer, than ever. the climate and constitution of john bull do not enable him to appreciate the merits of "red ink" as a table beverage, and in the end old general barleycorn rallied and drove the invaders out of the popularity they had for a time achieved. * * * * * and here we break off--for reasons which will be apparent in our next chapter--the further consideration of the graphic satires of the late john leech. before passing on to other matters, we are bound to say that we regard them rather for what they might have been than for what we actually find them. had they been executed with the same materials and under the same conditions as the graphic satires of gillray or cruikshank, or still better, in the manner in which the sporting pictures to the late mr. surtees' novels were produced, we have no hesitation in saying that they would have distanced anything in the nature of caricature which had gone before. unfortunately, the productions of the modern caricaturist (if, indeed, we may term him one) have no reasonable chance, it being apparently taken for granted that a modern public will not invest in caricatures of an expensive character.[155] moreover, he has no longer any hand in the completion of his picture, the wood-block being cut up into segments, each entrusted to a different hand, and executed with materials with which the older caricaturists had nothing to do, and under conditions of pressure and haste to which they were happily strangers. hence it is, that while the admirable satires of john leech enhance the value of the _punch_ volumes themselves, taken _singly_, not only will they not command a fiftieth part of the price asked and given for the coloured but inferior productions of an earlier school, but they are to all intents and purposes valueless. leech himself has often been known to say to friends who admired his composition on the wood block:--"wait till saturday, and see how the engraver will have spoiled it." we will subject the justice of these observations to a practical test. let the reader compare an ordinary _punch_ cartoon with one of the tinted lithographs issued from the _punch_ office during the artist's lifetime under the title of _the rising generation_, and he cannot fail to be struck with the enormous advantages possessed by the latter. these last have their price, and command, by reason of their scarcity, a comparatively high one. footnotes: [139] the prosecution, however, answered its purpose. the funds of the repeal association were nearly exhausted by the contest, the influence of the "liberator," as he was called, was destroyed, and he himself was more guarded and circumspect in his language. he died three years afterwards. [140] see the "political sketches of hb." [141] _edinburgh review_, october, 1840. [142] see chapter xviii. [143] the national defences, such as they are, being an accomplished fact, these strange people are now making themselves active in the promotion of the last suicidal mania--the channel tunnel! [144] _vide_ kinglake's "invasion of the crimea." [145] there are of course curious stories about as to the _cause_ of the emperor's death: for one of these see "journal of the rev. j. c. young," vol. ii. p. 331. [146] figures will conclusively prove who bore the burden and heat of the day. the english loss was: killed, 25 officers, 19 sergeants, 318 rank and file; 81 officers, 102 sergeants, and 1,438 rank and file wounded. the french loss was simply 60 killed and 500 wounded. the russian loss in killed and wounded was 5,709. [147] kinglake's "invasion of the crimea," 6th edition, 1877, vol. iii. p. 305. [148] kinglake's "invasion of the crimea," 6th edition, 1877, vol. iii. p. 349. [149] at 8.30 a.m. the russians had 17,000 infantry and 100 guns opposed to 3,600 english with 36 guns and 1,600 french infantry and 12 guns [_ibid._ vol. vi. p. 321]. three hours later on, canrobert had under his orders 9,000 fresh men, who remained inactive: "so far as concerned any active exertion of infantry power, our people were now left to fight on _without any_ aid from the french"--_ibid._ pp. 416, 417. [150] _ibid._ vol. vi. pp. 439, 440. [151] a more telling commentary on our useless waste of blood and treasure could scarcely be found. truly they manage these things better in germany. [152] see the remarkable expressions of dissatisfaction _wrung_ from the placid lord raglan on various occasions, and the very free manner in which the english officers expressed themselves when the 7th french _leger_ regiment ran away from the russians at inkerman for the second time.--_kinglake's_ "_invasion of the crimea_," 6th edition, 1877, vol. vi. pp. 327-8, 344-5. [153] louis was fond of these theatrical announcements, which answered the purpose he designed, of attracting the sympathy of the impressionable french people. the following is a short summary of the mode in which italy was _really_ freed "from the alps to the adriatic":--lombardy was surrendered to sardinia 11th july, 1859; the treaty ceding savoy and nice to france was signed 24th march, and approved by the sardinian parliament 29th may, 1860. the french troops retired from italy the same month. garibaldi landed at marsala 11th may, 1860, and entered naples on the 18th of august. the kingdom of italy was recognised by great britain 31st march, 1861. in 1864 florence was declared the capital of italy. the french troops left rome in november, 1865. venetia was ceded to france by austria 3rd july, 1866. they retired from the quadrilateral in october, 1866; venice was annexed to italy the same month; the italian troops entered rome in september, 1870, when napoleon iii. was no longer able to interpose, and it was incorporated in the italian kingdom in october. [154] see previous note. [155] since the above was written, a weekly paper has been established, which promises to promote the revival of caricature art. chapter xv. _john leech_ (_continued_). _giovanni._ what do the dead do, uncle?--do they eat, hear music, go a hunting, and be merry, as we that live? _francesco de medicis._ no, cuz; they sleep. _giov._ ... when do they wake? _frances._ when god shall please. webster's _white devil; or, vittoria corombona_ (1612), act 3. many of our readers will remember the exhibition at the egyptian hall, in 1862, of john leech's "sketches in oil," the subjects being enlarged reproductions from selected examples of his minor drawings for _punch_. to his friend mark lemon is due the credit of this idea, which was carried out after the following manner:--the impression of a block in _punch_ being first taken on a sheet of india-rubber, was enlarged by a lithographic process; the copy thus obtained was transferred to stone, and impressions obtained on a large sheet of canvas. the result was an outline groundwork, consisting of his own lines enlarged some eight times the dimensions of the original drawing, which the artist then proceeded to fill up in colour. his knowledge of the manipulation of oil colours was, however, slight, and his first crude attempts were made under the guidance of his friend mr. millais. the first results can scarcely be said to be satisfactory; a kind of transparent colour was used, which allowed the coarse lines of the enlargement to be distinctly visible, and the finished production presented very much the appearance of an indifferent lithograph slightly tinted. in a short time, however, he conquered the difficulty; and, instead of allowing the thick, fatty lines of printer's ink to remain on the canvas, he removed them--particularly as regards the outlines of the face and figure--by means of turpentine. these outlines he re-drew with his own hand in a fine and delicate manner, and added a daintiness of finish, particularly in flesh colour, which greatly enhanced the value and beauty of the work. he nevertheless experienced some difficulty in reproducing in these enlargements the delicacy of touch and exactness which characterized the original drawings, and would labour all day at a detail--such as a hand in a certain position--before attaining a result which entirely satisfied himself. the catalogue of this exhibition may be cited in evidence of leech's characteristic modesty. "these sketches," it said, "have no claim to be regarded or tested as finished pictures. it is impossible for any one to know the fact better than i do. they have no pretensions to a higher name than that i have given them--'sketches in oil.'" popular and eminently successful as this exhibition proved to be, it was undeniably rendered more popular and successful by his staunch friend thackeray's article in the _times_ of 21st june, 1862:--"he is a natural truth-teller," said the humourist, "as hogarth was before him, and indulges in as many flights of fancy. he speaks his mind out quite honestly, like a thorough briton.... he holds frenchmen in light esteem. a bloated 'mossoo' walking in leicester square, with a huge cigar and a little hat, with 'billard' and 'estaminet' written on his flaccid face, is a favourite study with him; the unshaven jowl, the waist tied with a string, the boots which pad the quadrant pavement, this dingy and disreputable being exercises a fascination over mr. punch's favourite artist. we trace, too, in his work a prejudice against the hebrew nation, against the natives of an island much celebrated for its verdure and its wrongs; these are lamentable prejudices indeed, but what man is without his own?" thackeray's kindly article delighted leech; he said "it was like putting £1,000 in his pocket." the exhibition, indeed, was so splendid a success that it is said to have brought in nearly £5,000. those who, like ourselves, have found it necessary to examine the _punch_ volumes from their commencement in 1841, down to the 31st of december, 1864, cannot fail to be struck by the steady decrease in the number of cartoons which the artist annually designed and executed for the periodical. in 1857 the number contributed was 33; in 1858, 30; in 1859, 21; in 1860, 15, in 1861 the number had fallen as low as 10; while in 1862 it did not exceed 4.[156] this decrease (which is confined, be it observed, to the cartoons which he contributed to _punch_) was due to failing health consequent on the strain of incessant production. of the coming evil he himself was distinctly cognizant. it is said of him that lord ossington, then speaker, once met him on the rail, and expressed to him his hope that he enjoyed in his work some of the gratification which it afforded to others. his answer was a melancholy one:--"i seem to myself to be a man who has undertaken to walk a thousand miles in a thousand hours." it was certainly not such a reply as one would exactly look for, looking only at the joyous character of the pictures he executed for _punch_. he complained in 1862--the year at which we have arrived--of habitual weariness and sleeplessness, and was advised to try rest and change of air. he acted upon the suggestion, and, accompanied by his old friend mark lemon, proceeded in that year on a short tour to paris, and from thence to biarritz. leech's pencil was not idle on this holiday, as two of his pictures will testify. the first, _a day at biarritz_, appears in the almanack of 1863, and among the figures he has introduced into this delightful sketch is that of the grave and saturnine louis, snapping his fingers in the highest _abandon_ and skipping off with his friend _punch_ to enjoy his ocean bath. "the other," says mr. shirley brooks, "is a very remarkable drawing. it represents a bull-fight as seen by a decent christian gentleman, and for the first time since the 'brutal fray' was invented the cold-blooded barbarity and stupidity of the show is depicted without any of the flash and flattery with which it has pleased artists to treat the atrocious scene. that grim indictment of a nation professing to be civilized will be a record for many a day after the offence shall have ceased."[157] leech returned from this brief visit with no appreciable benefit. charles mackay tells us that he met him and his constant friend, thackeray, at evans' supper-rooms in december, 1863. "they both complained of illness, but neither of them looked ill enough to justify the belief that anything ailed them beyond a temporary indisposition, such as all of us are subject to. leech was particularly despondent, and complained much of the annoyances to which he was subjected by the organ-grinders of london, and by the dreadful railway whistles at the stations whenever he left town. his nerves were evidently in a high state of tension, and i recommended him, not only as a source of health and amusement, but of profit, to take a voyage across the atlantic, and pass six months in america, where he would escape the organ-grinders, street-music, and the railway-whistles, and bring back a portfolio filled with sketches of american and yankee character. 'i am afraid,' he replied, 'that b. & e. [bradbury & evans] would not like it. besides, i should not like to be absent from _punch_ for so long a time.' 'nonsense,' said thackeray, 'b. and e. would highly approve, provided you sent them sketches. _i_ think it a good idea, and you might put five thousand pounds in your pocket by the trip. the americans have never been truly portrayed, as you would portray them. the niggers alone would be a little fortune to you.' leech shook his head dubiously, and i thought mournfully, and no more was said upon the subject."[158] nevertheless, the end of one at least of these steady friends and men of genius was drawing near with sure and rapid strides. both were present at the anniversary of the death of the founder of the charterhouse, "good old thomas sutton," on the 12th of that same month of december, 1863. at the celebration of divine service at four o'clock, thackeray occupied his accustomed back seat in the quaint old chapel; from thence he went to the oration in the governor's room; and as he walked up to the orator with his contribution, the great humourist, mr. theodore taylor, tells us, was received "with such hearty applause as only carthusians can give to one who has immortalized their school."[159] at the banquet which followed he sat by the side of john leech, who was one of the stewards, and proposed the time-honoured toast, _floreat æternum carthusiana domus_, in a speech which was received with three times three and one cheer more. john leech replied to the toast of the stewards. the day is memorable as the last "founder's day," which either of these men--so eminently distinguished in art and letters--was ever permitted to attend. three days afterwards thackeray was present at the usual weekly _punch_ dinner on the 15th of december, for, although he had long ceased to be a regular contributor to the periodical, he not only continued to aid the staff with his suggestion and advice, but was a constant member of the council.[160] but ever since the time he was writing "pendennis," a dozen years before, he had been visited periodically by attacks of sickness, attended with violent retching. one of these occurred on the morning of wednesday, the 23rd of this same month of december, and he was in great suffering all day. about midnight of that day, his mother, mrs. carmichael smith,[161] who slept in the room above his own, had heard him get up and walk about; but as this was his habit when visited by these fell visitations, she was not alarmed. the man, however, was in his mortal agony; and when his valet, charles sargent, entered his master's chamber on the morning of christmas eve, and tried to arouse him, he found that he answered not, neither regarded, having passed into the slumber from which the spirit of man refuses to be awakened. dying jerrold had time vouchsafed to him to whisper, "tell the dear boys," meaning his associates in _punch_, "that if i have ever wounded any of them, i've always loved them," and so he went his way. to thackeray no such grace was given; the hands peacefully spread over the coverlet, which stirred not when sargent bent anxiously over his master, proclaimed that true hearted noble thackeray had gone the long journey, leaving no word of message for those who had loved him. "we talked of him," said mr. edmund yates, "of how, more than any other author, he had written about what is said of men immediately after their death--of how he had written of the death-chamber, 'they shall come in here for the last time to you, my friend in motley.' we read that marvellous sermon which the week-day preacher delivered to entranced thousands over old john sedley's dead body, and 'sadly fell our christmas eve.'" that same christmas eve, the melancholy tidings were conveyed to mark lemon by his sorrowing friend, john leech. the artist was terribly affected, and told millais of his presentiment that he also should die suddenly and soon. in march, 1864, we notice the death of another author, whose almost unrecorded name is, nevertheless, intimately associated with that of the artist. this was mr. r. w. surtees, author of the sporting novels which the genius of leech has made for ever famous. mr. surtees for some years practised as a london solicitor; but the death of an elder brother improved his position, and enabled him to quit a profession which he disliked, in favour of the more congenial employment of literature. those of his works best known (he published several others) are, of course, "handley cross," "sponge's sporting tour," "plain or ringlets," "ask mamma," and "mr. facey romford's hounds." notwithstanding a decidedly horsey and somewhat vulgar tone,--a tone which by the way certainly did not characterize mr. surtees himself,--they possess a certain original humour, which will render their perusal productive of amusement. he died suddenly on the 16th of march, 1864, in his sixty-second year. it has been the habit of the contributors to _punch_, almost from the commencement of the periodical, to dine together every wednesday. in the winter months the dinner was usually held in the front room of the first floor of the business premises of the proprietors, messrs. bradbury & evans, in bouverie street, whitefriars. sometimes these dinners were held at the bedford hotel, covent garden. during the summer months it was customary to hold ten or twelve dinners at greenwich, richmond, blackwall, and other places in the neighbourhood of london. on these occasions the programme (if we may so term it) of the forthcoming number was arranged and settled, papers were brought out, and the latest intelligence discussed, so as to bring the "cartoon" down to the latest, or rather one of the latest subjects of current interest. at the weekly council dinner john leech was a faithful attendant. these meetings, indeed, "he thoroughly enjoyed, and his suggestions, not merely as to pictorial matters, but generally, were among the most valuable that were offered, as may be inferred from his large knowledge of the world, his keen sense of the ludicrous, and his hatred of injustice and cruelty."[162] one of the most regular attendants of the _punch_ dinners--i think that in 1864, at least, he scarcely missed one--was the most indefatigable of the literary staff, mr. shirley brooks. one was held at the bedford on the 13th of april, 1864, just about the time when lord john russell was setting out as our representative at the conference, and the outcome of this particular _punch_ dinner, at which were present messrs. mark lemon, shirley brooks, tom taylor, john leech, and percival leigh, was leech's admirable cartoon of _moses starting for the fair_. "let us hope," adds the pictorial satirist, in special reference to his lordship's unfortunate capacity for getting himself into a mess, that "he won't bring back a gross of green spectacles." it was one of the last of leech's political shafts, and the subject was suggested (we have his own authority for stating it) by his friend and literary colleague, mr. shirley brooks.[163] "clearly ill," is mr. brook's record of the state of john leech's health on this same 13th of april, 1864. he no longer found pleasure in hunting, of which he had been exceedingly fond, and had even discontinued, at the order of his medical attendant, riding on horseback. he was affected with nervous irritability, the effect of incessant application. the ordinary noise of the streets--musicians, organ-grinders, street vendors, and the like--worried him beyond endurance. long before the period at which we have arrived these annoyances had driven him from his residence in brunswick square to seek shelter from his enemies at no. 3, the terrace, kensington. his nervous irritability is manifested in the designs which he continued to draw for _punch_. in one of his illustrations to vol. xlv. (1863), depicting certain familiar sea-side nuisances, he asks, "why a couple of conceited fanatics should be allowed to disturb the repose of a sunday afternoon by the sea-side?" and "why the authorities at brighton, so sensible and considerate in keeping the place free from the _detestable_ organ grinders, should permit the terrible nuisance indicated [in the illustration] to exist?" "fresh prawns, whiting, oysters, or watercresses," remonstrated the persecuted artist, "are capital things in their way, and we should think that the jaded man of occupation, or the invalid, would very much rather send to a respectable shop for such delicacies, than have them 'bellowed' into his ears morning, noon, and night." his illustrations of this character are so numerous that the ordinary observer would probably suppose that they were part only of a series; to the observer, however, who knew leech, they clearly indicate the nervous irritability under which he suffered, and which was probably caused, and certainly intensified, by the nuisances of which he complained. the state of leech's health in may, 1864, seems to me best explained in the letter which mark lemon at this time wrote to mr. bass, in relation to his proposed bill for the regulation of street music. after showing how he himself was obliged to quit london to escape the nuisance of street music, the then editor of _punch_ continues: "a dear friend of mine, and one to whom the public has been indebted for more than twenty years for weekly supplies of innocent amusement, and whose name will find a place in the future history of art, has not been so fortunate. he lived in brunswick square, and remained there until the nervous system was so seriously affected by the continual disturbance to which he was subjected while at work, that he was compelled to abandon a most desirable home, and seek a retreat at kensington. after expending considerable sums to make his residence convenient for his art-work,--placing double windows to the front of his house, etc.,--he is again driven from his home by the continual visitation of street bands and organ-grinders. the effect upon his health--produced, upon my honour, by the causes i have named--is so serious that he is forbidden to take horse exercise, or indulge in fast walking, as a palpitation of the heart has been produced--a form of _angina pectoris_, i believe--and his friends are most anxiously concerned for his safety. he is ordered to homburg, and i know that the expatriation will entail a loss of nearly £50 a week upon him just at present. "i am sure i need not withhold from you the name of this poor gentleman. it is mr. john leech. "if those gentlemen who laugh at complaints such as this letter contains were to know what are the natural penalties of constant brain-work, they would not encourage or defend such unnecessary inflictions as street music entails upon some of the benefactors of their age. such men are the last to interfere with the enjoyments of their poorer fellow-labourers; but they claim to be allowed to pursue their callings in peace, and to have the comfort of their homes secured to them. all they wish is to have the same immunity from the annoyances of street music as the rest of the community have from dustmen's bells, post-horns, and other unnecessary disturbances." the terrible nature of poor leech's sufferings will be shown by another anecdote of dr. mackay's. just about this time he met mr. f. m. evans, one of the proprietors of _punch_, and asked him how leech was. "very ill," was the reply; "the sufferings he endures from noise are painful to think of. i took him down into the country a little while ago to stay a week, or as much longer as he pleased, promising him that he should hear no organ-grinders there, nor railway whistles, nor firing of guns. the next morning on getting up to breakfast, i found that he had packed up his portmanteau and was ready to depart. 'i cannot stay any longer here,' he said, 'the noise drives me frantic!' 'what noise?' 'the gardener whetting his scythe. it goes through my ears like a corkscrew.' and nothing that i could say could prevail upon him to prolong his visit." but there was no falling off in the quality of the work which leech executed for _punch_ or other employers at this time; on the contrary, his drawings seemed to me marked by more than their usual excellence. witness more especially the few etchings he lived to finish for "mr. facey romford's hounds," and the coloured etching to "punch's pocket book" of the year. one of the illustrations which he designed for the 1864 edition of the "ingoldsby legends," and which shows us one of his stalwart servant girls drawing up the trunkless head of "st. genulphus" from the bottom of the well, appears to me to call for special notice. i would ask the reader to observe the details of that perfectly marvellous drawing, executed with all the effect and at a fifth of the labour which george cruikshank in his best days would have bestowed upon it. i would entreat him to mark that wicked, graceless, bald-pated old head, with its port wine nose resting on the rim of the bucket, and its wicked old eye suggestively winking unutterable things at the perplexed and astounded maiden. i would ask him to look at that drawing; to take into account the health of the genial, failing artist who designed it; and to tell me, whether in all the range of english comic art he remembers to have met with anything more intensely comical? we find john leech and his able coadjutor, mr. john tenniel, present at the _punch_ dinner of wednesday, the 15th of june; but shortly afterwards he started on the journey ordered by his medical advisers, and set off for homburg in the company of his friend, mr. alfred elmore, sojourning afterwards for a time at schwalbach. he was absent altogether about six weeks. a record in the diary to which i am indebted for so much information in relation to him tells me, under date of 10th august, "leech has returned from germany, but i am sorry to say i don't think he is stronger." the sole result, in fact, obtained was that his mind was amused by his visit to new scenery, while his sketch-book was filled with valuable memorials of the sojourn for future use. he was present at the _punch_ dinner on wednesday, the 17th of august, and suggested to his colleagues by way of cartoon the subject of _the american juggernaut_. the death of robson. just at the time when leech came back from germany, unbenefited by the change which it was hoped would recruit his exhausted strength, a great artist in another and a different walk in art, one who had not used his _genius_ (we will not say his opportunities, for we doubt whether they were really given him) to the best advantage, took his departure from the scene of many triumphs and greater disappointments: this was thomas frederick robson, the actor. he had been so long absent from the boards, that the event failed to create the sensation which might have been expected from the sudden fall of a theatrical star of such unquestionable magnitude. full justice has been done to his remarkable genius elsewhere; and all united in regret that a man who was so great an artist, and might have been a greater, had been prematurely lost to the theatrical world. those who remember robson and his marvellous powers,--the lightning-like flashes of energy he was wont to throw into his parts,--his startling transition from passion to passion,--will agree with us that, if circumstances had led him to study the higher drama, his name would probably have occupied a place side by side with the more prominent names of george frederick cooke, edmund kean, and our own irving. the remarkable power wasted on burlesque, or thrown away in the delineation of low life character, must assuredly have made itself felt in tragedy; and the _genius_ manifested in the _mock_ shylock of robson, would have enabled him to offer a splendid presentment of the real hebrew, and as perfect a realization of the character of richard the third as has ever perhaps been seen. his comedy--when opportunity was given him of displaying it--was full of true humour. he had in fact, in a remarkable degree, all the qualities of a splendid actor; but it was his peculiar misfortune that he had never a proper opportunity given him of displaying them. the fact that he was enormously popular was nothing, for many men are popular with not a tithe of the gifts or power which distinguished robson. the favour of the "general," except in a sordid sense, is not worth much in these days. a proof of this is to be found in the fact that the name of robson--after the lapse of twenty years--is scarcely known to the ordinary playgoer; but his genius, while he lived, was recognised by those whose applause is not easily earned, and was therefore worth the earning. within a week or ten days after his return from the continent, leech went with his family to whitby, in the hope that the fresh yorkshire sea air would invigorate and brace up his shattered system. some friends were staying there at the time, and among them a young artist then comparatively new to _punch_, but who has been for years past one of its leading pictorial supporters[164]--mr. du maurier. during his sojourn here, i find him writing to his friends the brookses, that if they would join him, it would induce him to prolong his stay. they went accordingly, and remained at whitby until the artist returned to town on the 3rd of october. "leech, when we could induce him to leave the painting in oil, to which he devoted too many hours, enjoyed the drives into the wild moors, and up and down the terrible but picturesque roads; and he was still more delighted with the rich woods, deep glades, and glorious views about mulgrave castle. i hoped," continues shirley brooks, in the touching memorial which he contributed to the _illustrated london news_ only a few weeks afterwards, "i hoped that good was being done; but it was very hard to stir him from his pictures, of which he declared that he must finish a great number by christmas. it was not for want of earnest and affectionate remonstrance of those close by his side, nor lack of such remonstrance being seconded by myself and others, that he persevered in overlabour at these paintings, which he had undertaken with his usual generosity, in order to enable himself to provide a very large sum of money for the benefit of his relatives, not of his own household. it need hardly be said that he was never pressed for work by his old friend the editor of _punch_." for a long time past his contribution to that periodical had not exceeded one half-page engraving each week; but at whitby he elaborated a large sketch, originally taken at schwalbach, which is worthy of mention as being the last of his cartoons. it will be found in vol. xlvii. (1864), and is labelled _the weinbrunnen schwalbach_, and among the company drinking the waters he has introduced the late emperor louis, the late king of italy, the late pope, and other notable political personages. the light esteem in which he held everything french is notable in this drawing. conspicuous in the foreground are several dogs belonging to the english turnspit breed, one of which views a yapping french poodle with the most unmitigated disdain. the landscape and surroundings in this composition deserve particular attention, as they are charming examples of leech's oft-admitted talent as a landscape artist. in the diary i find several reminiscences of the whitby visit, and of the walks and drives and dinners with the leeches. shirley brooks and his wife drove with them to mulgrave castle and its "glorious woods," on the 29th of september; the former afterwards went to a concert at st. hilda's hall, in reference to which i find the following entry:--"grisi, mario, sainton and his wife. i wrote to the latter, and went round to see them between the parts. introduced to grisi, who was in a vile temper, something about rooms." shirley brooks sent also the following characteristic account of the entertainment to the _musical world_:- "my dear sir,- "owls, like other quadrupeds, must have holidays, and i have flown hither. but the wind has changed, and the owl, for all his feathers, is a-cold, as the poet observes. i shall return to the metropolis--_templa quam dilecta_--as plautus might have said in his _owlowlaria_, if he had liked. i never thought much of these latin dramatists, and indeed i never would read any of their works. for that matter, the works of few dramatists are worth reading. and while on the subject, i may add, that few writings of any kind are worth reading. herein i am at one with thomas carlyle, and show my admiration of what he says by absolutely declining to read his 'frederick the great.' "possibly i might not have expended the postage stamp affixed to this letter had i intended only to offer you the above interesting information. i could have given you this at the keppell's arms during one of those many refections which i hope to partake with you at that hostelry. but i wish to record something that may have an immediate interest. there is a hall here called st. hilda's hall, and it is used for public purposes. it is furnished with a large scene-like painting of whitby, is very hot, and is near the harbour, which at low tide emitteth odours which are odious; and i think that it is always low tide. "there was a concert in this hall in the afternoon, and also in the evening, of the feast of s. michael and all angels. two of the latter came here to sing. you know them in london as madame grisi and madame sainton-dolby. with them came signor mario and m. sainton, and also herr m. lutz and mr. patey. they all sang or played. verily, my friend and pitcher (for thou pitchest stones deftly, as it were), it was a refreshment, yea, and a consolation, to hear their voices and their instruments. i will not give you a catalogue of their musical deeds, for i had a bill, but it was borrowed from me by a large yorkshireman, and he was so very large that i did not like to demand it again. nevertheless, _la diva_ sang "the last rose of summer," _a la flotow_, and made me think of many things--are they not written in the book of the chronicles of benjamin, whose name is lumley? likewise she sang something out of _faust_, with il signor, and other matters, whereof no matter--is it not enough to have seen and heard her? but commend me, (not that i need your commendation) to madame sainton-dolby, inasmuch as that lady sang handel's 'lascia ch'o pianga,' and sang it nobly, and sang smart's 'lady of the lea,' and sang claribel's 'maggie's secret,' and sang it divinely. you know what m. sainton can do with his violin, but you do not know what he cannot do with it, nor do i. il signor mario put forth his powers chivalrously, and broke many hearts among the fair york roses. _la diva_ was dressed in white. madame sainton-dolby was dressed in pink. i was dressed in a black coat, waistcoat, and trowsers, white cravat, lavender gloves, and patent leather boots, and the little boys of whitby, unaccustomed to such splendour, cheered me as i came out, privately and alone, to dip my beak in the gascon wine, that is, in some excellent beer, in which i now drink your health. "if you have another reporter, your own special, in the town (i saw two or three persons who looked disreputable and enthusiastic enough to be musical critics--or even dustmen), and he has kept sober and sent you a report, you need not print this. i do not care a horse's mamma whether you print it or not. but i had a delightful evening, and i do not care who knows it; in fact, i wish everybody to know it, and that is why i write to your widely circulated (and widely yawned-over) journal. you have not been over civil to me of late, which is very ungrateful. you may say, with an attempt at wit, that the owl was a baker's child, and therefore crusty. i believe that you could win the prize for the worst conundrum in any circus in yorkshire. receive the assurance of my profound respect. "ever yours, "whitby. "zamiel's owl." while at whitby, a deputation from the institute of that town waited on john leech, to ask him to attend at a meeting and speak in promotion of the interests of their association. on that day he happened to be too ill to bear an interview with more than one of the gentlemen who composed the deputation, and was obliged in consequence to refuse the request. but the refusal gave the kindly, failing man serious disquietude, and fearing it might be thought ungracious, he forthwith sent for all his sketches of character from london and presented them to the institute. fechter was the leading dramatic star of that time, and his opening night differed from the commencement of other theatrical seasons in the fact that it invariably attracted together some of the best known men in literature and art. at the opening of the lyceum on saturday, the 22nd of october, were present messrs. charles dickens, shirley brooks, hollingshead, oxenford, horace mayhew, edmund yates, w. p. frith, r.a., creswick, r.a., marcus stone, mr. burnand (the present editor of _punch_), and serjeant ballantine. "the new piece," said mr. yates, "was splendidly mounted, and never, even in paris, have i seen mr. fechter play so perfectly."[165] the said piece was called "the king's butterfly," and mr. brooks says of it that, barring the "splendid scenery," it was "rubbish" pure and simple. the leeches left whitby on the 3rd of october, breaking their journey at york. the artist seemed somewhat better, and ten days after their return we find them at a party at the house of mr. w. p. frith, r.a., among the company being messrs. elmore, creswick, yates, george cruikshank, solomon hart, and others. between the date of this party, on thursday the 13th, and that of the usual _punch_ dinner, on wednesday the 26th of october, at which the artist was present, a visible change had, however, taken place in the appearance of john leech. shirley brooks afterwards had occasion to notice that at this _punch_ dinner he "complained of illness and pain, and i saw that it was difficult to make him completely grasp the meaning of things that were said to him without two or three repetitions. he left early with tom taylor."[166] on the 28th of october, the artist himself was conscious that something was wrong. he visited dr. quain, who assured him that his only chance lay in complete and entire rest; and, on returning home, he wrote a note in pencil addressed to his old friend, mr. frederick evans, in which he mentioned his interview with the medical man, and added that he hoped to complete a cut for which a messenger was to be sent, but that he was not sure of being able to finish it. a messenger was sent in obedience to his desire, but he returned empty-handed. we return at this point to the diary of mr. shirley brooks. "i called," he says (29th of october), "at 27, bouverie street, and heard from evans that he was very ill. we went off to the terrace, kensington. he was in bed, but no one seemed frightened, and there was a child's party--a small one. mrs. leech was in tears, but certainly had no reason to apprehend the worst. he would have seen us. we remained three-quarters of an hour or so, but an opiate had been given, so it was of course felt that he ought not to be disturbed. arranged to meet evans at three next day;" but the fatal messenger, who will call for each and every of us, had already delivered his summons, and never more (in life) were either of the friends fated to see john leech again. "at seven o'clock that night," continues the narrator (in another place[167]), "it pleased god to release him from sufferings so severe as even to make the brave, patient, enduring man say that they were almost more than he could bear." mr. evans called on brooks the following day (sunday, 30th october). "after hearing all he could say, i went with him to telegraph to mark lemon, and also to leech's. millais and leigh at the door--heard much from them. mrs. chester came up--charles eaton, mrs. leech's brother and best friend, had come. we went in and saw him ... and the poor mother, and two of the sisters, and afterwards to the chamber of death. he looked noble in his calm; the hair and whiskers put back, gave up his fine forehead and handsome features--and the eternal stillness gave his face an elevated expression. i looked a very long time on my old friend's face. we have known one another many years, and he has been engaged with me in business as well as in pleasure. he was very kind--very good--and is in heaven, whatever that means." london was, perhaps, more shocked at the sudden and unexpected death of john leech than even when thackeray was smitten. the shock radiated all over the country; for there was not a household in the land in which his name was not familiar as a household word. his personal friends were deeply affected--none more so than his attached friend, charles dickens. writing at the time to forster, in reference to his coming book, "our mutual friend," he said, "i have not done my number. this death of poor leech (i suppose) has put me out woefully. yesterday, and the day before, i could do nothing; seemed, for the time being, to have quite lost the power; and am only by slow degrees getting back into the track to day." mr. john tenniel heard of the loss of his valued _confrère_ that same sunday, 30th october, and "was stunned at the news, totally unexpected by him."[168] a special meeting of the _punch_ staff was called by mark lemon on the following day; himself, messrs. percival leigh, shirley brooks, f. c. burnand, tom taylor, charles keene, h. silver, john tenniel,--all were present with the exception of horace mayhew. with the particulars of that meeting we of course have nothing to do; its melancholy character the reader may well imagine. on friday, the 4th of november, 1864, they laid john leech to rest in kensal green cemetery, "in the next grave but one to w[illiam] m[akepeace] t[hackeray]. when annie thackeray heard of the death, she [had] said to mrs. millais, 'how glad my father will be to meet him!' 'and he will,'" adds the friend whose note we have transcribed.[169] we take the account of his burial from mr. edmund yates's impressive and touching account in the _morning star_ newspaper. "the scene round the grave was a most impressive one. there, ranged round the coffin, stood the remnant of that famous body of wits who had caused the name of _punch_ to be famous at the ends of the earth; there, in the coffin, lay all that was earthly of him who, more than any of them, had helped to spread its renown, and to win for himself a name familiar as a household word in all our english homes. by its side stood mark lemon, who, for two and twenty years has presided over the weekly dinner where the good things are suggested, and the weekly sheet whereon they are inscribed; who has seen comrades fall out of the ranks in the march of life, and perish by the wayside. and such comrades! gone the brilliant, meteoric a'beckett; fiery, impulsive, scathing jerrold; playfully cynical thackeray; and now--_john leech_! there stood shirley brooks, who since jerrold's death has been _punch's_ literary mainstay; tom taylor, working now in other channels, but still attached to the staff; horace mayhew and percival leigh, old colleagues of the dead man; f. c. burnand and h. silver, the youngest of the corps; and john tenniel, who had taken mr. doyle's place on his secession, and worked in thorough amity with leech. over the coffin bowed the handsome head of millais in overwhelming grief. all round one caught glimpses of well-known people. there, in the front rank of the crowd, was the frank, earnest face of charles dickens; by him alexander munro, the sculptor; there a group of artists--messrs. creswick, o'neil, and elmore;[170] messrs. mowbray, morris, dallas, and w. h. russell, of the _times_. at the back of the grave, by the canopy, mr. w. p. frith, r.a.; near him a group of journalists--messrs. friswell, halliday, gruneison; mr. swain, the engraver, who had had for years the engraving of mr. leech's drawings; richard doyle; mr. orridge, the barrister; the rev. c. currey, preacher of the charter house; lieutenant-colonel wilkinson, who had had john leech for his school-fellow and fag at charter house; while amateur art was worthily represented by messrs. arthur lewis, m. f. halliday, and jopling. and there, in the bright autumn sunshine, they laid him to his rest. sir t. n. talfourd relates that at the burial of charles lamb, 'the true-hearted son of admiral burney refused to be comforted.' it is our task to record that round the grave of john leech there was not a dry eye, and that some of his old companions were very painfully affected. the most beautiful part of the service was read by mr. hole,[171] in an earnest manner, broken occasionally by convulsions of grief which he had some difficulty in repressing, while here and there among the crowd loud sobs told of hearty though humble mourners." on the 12th of november, 1864, there appeared in the pages of the periodical he had so well served, whose pages he has permanently enriched with some of the choicest specimens of graphic satire, and with whose fortunes he had been associated from the commencement, the following touching notice from the pen of his friend, the late shirley brooks:- john leech, obiit october xxix, mdccclxiv, _ætat 46._ "the simplest words are best where all words are vain. ten days ago a great artist, in the noon of life, and with his glorious mental faculties in full power, but with the shade of physical infirmity darkening upon him, took his accustomed place among friends who have this day held his pall. some of them had been fellow-workers with him for a quarter of a century, others for fewer years; but to know him well was to love him dearly, and all in whose name these lines are written mourn as for a brother. his monument is in the volumes of which this is one sad leaf, and in a hundred works which at this hour few will remember more easily than those who have just left his grave. while society, whose every phase he has illustrated with a truth, a grace, and a tenderness heretofore unknown to satiric art, gladly and proudly takes charge of his fame, they, whose pride in the genius of a great associate was equalled by their affection for an attached friend, would leave on record that they have known no kindlier, more refined, or more generous nature than that of him who has been thus early called to his rest. november the fourth." footnotes: [156] i estimate the number of his cartoons as nearly as possible as follows:- 1842 3 1850 37 1858 30 1843 11 1851 42 1859 21 1844 42 1852 35 1860 15 1845 43 1853 32 1861 10 1846 35 1854 34 1862 4 1847 35 1855 41 1863 3 1848 38 1856 33 1864 4 1849 37 1857 33 [157] shirley brooks in _illustrated london news_ of 19th november, 1864. [158] charles mackay's "forty years' recollections." [159] "thackeray the humourist and the man of letters," p. 12. [160] ms. diary of the late shirley brooks, 1st january, 1864. [161] died on the 18th of december, 1864, exactly within a year from the date of her son's death. [162] shirley brooks in _illustrated london news_ of 19th november, 1864. [163] "i suggested the cut, moses being dressed for the fair, johnny russell for the conference." ms. diary of the late shirley brooks. [164] the first time i find mention of his name is on the 22nd of march, 1864, when the late shirley brooks met him at a party at mr. ernest hart's, 69, wimpole street. some years afterwards, he adds in a note, "met him next at whitby." i first meet with his name at a _punch_ council, 7th november, 1864: "dumaurier first time." [165] mr. yates in _morning star_. [166] ms. diary of shirley brooks: 29th october, 1864. [167] _illustrated london news_, 19th november, 1864. [168] ms. diary of mr. shirley brooks. [169] _ibid._ [170] h. k. browne ("phiz"), t. landseer, george cruikshank, marcus stone, sir john gilbert, and mr. philips, r.a., were also present. [171] the rev. j. reynolds hole, author of "a little tour in ireland," to which his friend, john leech (who accompanied him), contributed some of the most charming of his illustrations. chapter xvi. _a book illustrator: hablot knight browne._ in a work dealing with comic artists and caricaturists, one is somewhat puzzled to decide what place to assign to the distinguished draughtsman who died a year and a half ago. _ultimus romanorum_, the last of the great trio of designers, cruikshank, leech, and browne, his career offers to us a singular paradox; for although not born a comic artist (as we shall endeavour presently to show), he executed a vast number of comic illustrations; and while, so far as we know, never guilty of a caricature in his life, the larger portion of his drawings are caricatures pure and simple. we might cite a hundred examples of this tendency to exaggeration, but one shall suffice. in the etching wherein miss nickleby is introduced to her uncle's objectionable friends, miss nickleby as well as the "friends" are remarkable for the largeness of their heads and the flimsiness of their bodies; while the men, if not exactly like those described by pliny, or quoted from him (without acknowledgment) by our sir john mandeville, are at any rate too grotesque for human beings. if humanity offers to our study in daily life a variety in form, face, and feature, comprising eccentricities as well as excellencies, such specimens, nevertheless, as poor smike or mr. mantalini were never designed in its _atelier_. [illustration: phiz. "_master humphrey's clock_," 1840-1. the departure. _face p. 336._] the artist's invincible tendency to exaggeration, that is _caricature_ (in the johnsonian definition of the word), was observed by his friend and ally, the late charles james lever, who remarked with reference to his illustrations of the novel of "jack hinton," "browne's sketches are as usual _caricatures_; they make my scenes too riotous and disorderly. the character of my books for uproarious people and incident i owe mainly to master phiz."[172] when samuel lover was sent over to brussels by mcglashan, the publisher, to take a likeness of the novelist, he was accompanied by browne, the object of whose visit was to confer with the author on the subject of these very illustrations. lever was so anxious to restrain him from caricaturing his countrymen, that he even begged browne to accompany him to dublin for the purpose of seeing the _natives_, instead of the wretched specimens of milesian humanity to be met with in london. lack of vitality. another fault of this artist, which will be apparent to any one acquainted with his work, is the weakness of his outline, and the singular absence of solidity, stability, and even of _vitality_ in his figures. there is no lack of powerful situations in frank smedley's novel of "lewis arundel," but browne's illustrations are characterised by an utter absence of vitality, while shadow usurps the place of substantial bone and muscle. there are the usual thread-paper men in tail hats, with trousers so tightly strapped to their feet that they must go through the tedium of existence in intolerable discomfort. in one picture he shows us a fragile, attenuated man holding another fragile, attenuated man over the well of a staircase by the waistband of his trousers, a feat which, difficult of performance to a hercules, would be absolutely beyond the power of a person so fragile, so absolutely destitute of bone and muscle, as the hero of this particular episode. the weakness of which we now speak becomes strikingly apparent when he enables us to compare him with either of the distinguished trio to which he himself belonged. such an opportunity offers itself in mr. r. w. surtees' novel of "mr. facey romford's hounds." compare john leech's illustration, _fresh as a four-year old_ (the last he executed for the novelist before his firm, free hand was paralysed by death), with hablot knight browne's first etching in the same book. a better subject, surely, could scarcely have been selected: the hounds have just been let out of the kennel, and in actual life would, of course, be scampering over the place in all the exuberant consciousness of canine freedom; the scene, in fact, would be redolent of life and excitement, which is wholly wanting to browne's illustration. "phiz," from boyhood, had been accustomed to horses, and frequently hunted with the surrey hounds, and to this circumstance is due the facility with which he usually delineated horses in the hunting field. in the delineation of hunting scenes, however, he falls far behind john leech, and this inferiority is strikingly manifested in the illustration to which we are now referring. if you compare the fragile men, horses, and hounds, with those in leech's last etching, you cannot fail to be struck with the vigour and life-like reality of the latter drawing. browne's women as a rule are delicate, fragile, consumptive-looking creatures. the one in the etching referred to is both physically weak and a bad horsewoman to boot--sitting her horse with all the ungracefulness of a sack of flour. another weakness of hablot knight browne is a tendency to reproduce. if you look at any of his "interiors," it will be apparent to you that the men and women--the furniture and fittings--the room itself, you have seen any number of times before. charles chesterfield becomes nicholas nickleby, and nicholas nickleby harry lorrequer; and with the slightest possible rearrangement, the scenes in which these gentlemen figure from time to time are so much alike, that we are reminded for all the world of the set scenes and artificial backgrounds of a photographer's, "studio." take "nicholas nickleby," by way of example: the room in which old ralph nickleby first finds his poor relations, does duty (with the slightest possible rearrangement) for the yorkshire schoolmaster's room at the saracen's head; while a room in kenwig's house becomes successively an apartment in mr. mantalini's residence, a green-room, mr. ralph nickleby's office, mr. charles cheeryble's room, a hairdresser's shop, and so on. the illustrations to a novel may not inaptly be compared to the scenery and characters of a drama, and a theatre furnished with such a dearth of scenery and "properties," would be a poor affair indeed. this tendency to reproduction becomes strikingly apparent wherever a romantic hero puts in an appearance. thus, mrs. trollope's charles chesterfield in a frock coat, becomes in a tailcoat charles dickens's nicholas nickleby; in another frock coat, martin chuzzlewit; while a military surtout converts him, with equal facility, into charles lever's jack hinton or harry lorrequer, according to the exigencies of the costume. the strange part of it is that this peculiarity is shown almost exclusively in the delineation of heroes of fiction. the imagination of the artist is evidently impressed by marked and clearly defined characters such as squeers, pecksniff, gamp, dombey, macstinger, quilp, or carker, and their identity as a rule is admirably preserved. if pressed for an explanation, it is possible that browne might have pleaded that heroes of romance present for the most part, with a few notable exceptions, a strong family likeness, being little better than dummies, introduced by their authors for the purpose of setting off personages possessed of greater force of character and decision of purpose. be this as it may, the singular failing we refer to is certainly no mere fancy of our own. charles lever himself complained that in the supper scene of his second number, lorrequer bore so striking a resemblance to his contemporary, nicholas nickleby; while his biographer, mr. fitzpatrick, observes that the identity of harry lorrequer is never maintained throughout the novel, that mercurial hero being alternately represented old, young, good-looking, and ugly. so much indeed was lever impressed with the fact, that he actually besought the artist to represent o'malley the _same person throughout the book_. a knowledge of irish physiognomy was essential to any illustrator of lever's novels, and hablot knight browne was so innocent of this knowledge that the author begged him to go down to the house of commons and study the faces of the irish members there, as the only accessible method of obtaining the necessary insight in england. hypercriticism, happily, would be out of place in a work dealing with caricaturists and graphic humourists of the nineteenth century. faults such as those the author has ventured to indicate appear to him faults indeed of a grave character; but, while conscious of defects which cannot fail to be patent to the most ordinary observer, he is conscious at the same time of the great abilities of the artist, who like those of whom he has already treated, has passed over to the ranks of "the great majority." if the scenery and properties are sometimes poor,--if there is no genius, and oftentimes a lack of decision and reality, there is on the other hand no lack of talent; and there are many designs of hablot knight browne which place him in the very first rank of english book illustrators. his etching of _the goblin and the sexton_ (the eccentric yew-tree notwithstanding), _mr. pickwick in the pound_, and the very admirable little etchings which we find in that rare _paper of tobacco_ by "joseph fume," may be favourably compared with some of the best comic illustrations of george cruikshank himself. [illustration: phiz. "_master humphrey's clock_," 1840-1. dick swiveller and the lodger. _face p. 340._] "nicholas nickelby." can any picture tell its story better than that first illustration to "nicholas nickleby," where old ralph pays his "visit to his poor relations"? mark the supercilious air with which the vulgar moneylender hands his hat to nicholas, and the unveiled contempt with which he receives the attentions of poor mrs. nickleby and her daughter. a no less admirable illustration is the one wherein we see the yorkshire schoolmaster nibbing his pen, whilst snawley consigns his wretched step-sons to the tender mercies of the principal of do-the-boys hall. observe the extraordinary anatomical proportions, hat and toggery, of mr. newman noggs, as he stretches up to the top of the coach to hand a letter to nicholas. regard the nightcap and head-gear of the detestable mrs. squeers, as she administers matutinal brimstone and treacle to the starving pupils of do-the-boys hall. mark the astonishment of squeers and his victim, as the savage goes down under the thundering blows of nickleby's cane. look at the old imbecile declaring his passion for the foolish mrs. nickleby. behold his knee-breeches and shorts protruding from the chimney, when his benighted intellect prompted him, at the imminent hazard of strangulation, to pay a visit to the object of his affections _via_ that unusually circuitous route. look at the fatal brawl between sir mulberry hawk and his hopeful pupil; and rejoice at the final retributive justice which overtakes mrs. squeers, when she falls into the hands of her late victims, and is drenched in her turn with the loathsome brew she had so long administered to themselves. "martin chuzzlewit." specially noteworthy is the bright little picture on the title-page, where the coach, with its spanking four-in-hand, gallops on its distant journey after depositing martin chuzzlewit at his destination. the guard, as he mounts up behind, watches with curious interest pecksniff's unctuous reception of the new pupil. nothing can well be cleverer than his realization of the _pleasant little family party at mr. pecksniff's_, where that hypocritical personage, surrounded by foes, assumes a look of persecuted benevolence, and gravely requests his daughter, when he takes his chamber candlestick that night, to remind him to be more particular in praying for mr. anthony chuzzlewit, "who had done him an injustice." _the warm reception of mr. pecksniff by his venerable friend_ gives us the liveliest satisfaction. if old chuzzlewit's face is one of the "caricatures" referred to, it must be remembered that it is distorted with passion, and the fact is forgotten in the satisfaction with which we hail the detection and punishment of the whining rascal, the sting of which is envenomed by the astounding revelation that all the while he has been weaving his web of falsehood around his intended victim, he himself has been the dupe of the man he had schemed so long to hoodwink and deceive. "the old curiosity shop." regard again quilp, the dwarf, and his elfin errand boy (in the "old curiosity shop"), enjoying the agonies of sampson brass as he essays to smoke a long churchwarden. behold quilp upon his back taunting the large fierce dog with hideous grimaces, triumphant in the consciousness that the shortness of his chain will not permit him to advance another inch. look at mrs. jarley's wax-work brigand, "with the blackest possible head and the clearest possible complexion," going his rounds in the company of little nell, his eyes fixed on the miniature of his lady-love, and his hand pressed to his stomach instead of his heart. behold the dwarf once more, as he entertains sampson and his sister sally in the ruined outhouse overlooking the river; the rain pours down on the head of the hapless attorney, who, with coat buttoned up to the chin, and evidently suffering from severe influenza, looks the picture of shivering discomfort. although in no better plight herself, sally rejoices in the sufferings of her brother, and as she sips her tea, her repulsive features are distorted with a hideous grin of satisfaction. quilp, seated on his barrel beneath the only remnants of a roof, occupies a comparatively dry corner, and looks the very picture of rollicking fun and enjoyment. "bunsby." but incomparably one of the best of browne's comic illustrations is the one in "dombey," wherein captain cuttle encounters mrs. macstinger in charge of bunsby, bent on rivetting matrimonial chains upon that confused and ancient mariner. bunsby is one of the happiest of dickens's creations; stupid as an owl, he has nevertheless an oracular mode of delivering himself, and the simple-minded cuttle places as much reliance upon this wooden-headed sailor as the ancients did on the mysterious utterance of the delphic apollo. that the powerful will of macstinger should hold himself in subjugation so long as he was under the dominion of her eye was a matter of course; but that this man of wisdom should be so easily boarded and captured by the enemy, is so absolutely beyond his simple comprehension that he scratches his head in sheer amazement. as for poor bunsby, the cup of his humiliation is full. so far as his wooden features are capable of expression, they indicate two distinct trains of thought: a conviction that his own pretensions have been detected and exposed, and a desire to run,--an inclination repressed by the powerful clutch of his strong-minded bride, who retains his wrist in a grasp of iron. compare the look of bewilderment on cuttle's face with the look of mingled contempt and triumph on the features of macstinger; and then look at poor bunsby! "phiz" began etching when he was seventeen, and was in full work when he was twenty-one. it was his three drawings on the wood for dickens's rare tract, "sunday under three heads,"[173] which introduced him first to public notice. this was intended as a protest against the cant and narrow-mindedness of the bigots whose ignorance of the sacred writings is so dense that they confound the jewish sabbath (_i.e._ the saturday) with the english sunday; misunderstand (which in their ignorance of hebrew may be excusable) the directions to _his own people_ of the jewish law-giver,--and ignore (which is absolutely inexcusable) the dictates of common sense, and the plain directions of our saviour and of the gentile apostle. the strong common sense of charles dickens, and of many good christian men after him, have striven in vain to expose an error due to the narrow-mindedness of our puritan forefathers, to whom are due also the impurities of dryden and of the dramatic writers of the restoration. cant, however, has prevailed; and the english sunday--to the delight of these fanatics, and the absolute terror of their children--remains the most unrefreshing and most doleful of the seven days of the week. the "jack sheppard" mania. theatrical london in 1840 was visited by an excitement second only to the "tom and jerry" mania of 1821. the mania of 1840, if occupying a narrower area, was more morbid in its character, and certainly not less mischievous in its results. harrison ainsworth had brought out his peculiar romance of "jack sheppard," which, resting on its own merits, might have achieved perhaps a mild popularity and done but little harm. thanks, however, to the genius and fancy of george cruikshank, the public became for a time sheppard mad; the heroes presented to admiring and applauding audiences at the theatres were murderers, housebreakers, highway robbers, thieves, and their female companions. the morbid taste of the populace had in fact been thoroughly roused, a condition of things which was satirized by the artist's little-known etching of _the way to the gallows made easy and pleasant_, which appeared in "the new monthly magazine" of 1840.[174] the inventive powers of the artist were almost _nil_, and the rare and able etching referred to was suggested to him by john poole, the author of "paul pry," to whom we are indebted for the descriptive letterpress: "at the foot of a gently sloping path strewed with flowers, stands a gibbet decorated, not with a halter, but wreaths of roses. around it are many tombs of elegant construction, supposed to enclose the ashes of the illustrious departed. upon one is inscribed, 'here repose the mortal remains of the ever-famed jerry abershaw'; upon another, 'sacred to the memory of poor johnny greenacre.' a third is remarkable for its touching simplicity--'alas! poor thurtell!' another, somewhat more elaborate, gives us 'burke and hare! as they were loving friends in life, so in death are they undivided! erected by their affectionate disciples, bishop and may.' besides these there are many others all bearing names of mark and fame. the whole is surrounded by a pretty arabesque composed of crowbars and other implements of burglary, pistols, knives, death's heads and cross-bones, halters, handcuffs, and fetters, ingeniously disposed and prettily intertwined with wreaths of roses." we said at the opening of this chapter that "phiz" was not _born_ a comic artist. he possessed a certain amount of humour, which was evoked in the first instance by the example of cruikshank, and his abilities and desire to emulate the greater artist have enabled him unquestionably to realize many humorous designs. it is impossible, however, to examine the numerous etchings of this draughtsman, without coming to the conclusion that he is always seen at his best when not called on to exercise his purely comic powers. take by way of example, _the venice glass_, in ainsworth's romance of "crichton"; you will need no reference to the letterpress to understand it, for the artist tells his story far better than the novelist. observe crichton as he raises the goblet, and the poisoned wine bubbles and boils, and finally shivers the chalice into a thousand fragments; regard the agitation of marguerite de valois; the keen attention of henri and his attendants. where shall we find a finer illustration than the one in this book in which esclairmonde is presented to henri? the meeting of mr. tigg and martin chuzzlewit at the pawnbroker's shop is full of pathos. look at the poor, wasted but still handsome mother waiting her turn whilst the gin-drinking laundress pawns her flat-irons to gratify her passion for the deadly drink; note the _insouciance_ of the thoughtless musician as he twangs the guitar which he is about to pledge, though probably dependent on it for bread. notice the pictures above,--the bacchante pressing grapes into a wine cup,--the bailiff distraining for rent. hablot knight browne has no powers which would enable us to compare him with hogarth, and yet the grim reality of this picture hogarth himself might almost admire. regard again that wondrous tailpiece at page 96 of "the old curiosity shop," where quilp, the odious dwarf, sits up all night smoking and drinking, his countenance every now and then "expanding with a grin of delight" as his patient, long-suffering wife makes some involuntary movement of restlessness or fatigue. look at poor, wasted, shoeless nell, as she reclines on the settee of the public-house, surrounded by sympathisers,--the kind-hearted motherly landlady administering mental and bodily solace to the motherless child,--the poor, foolish, gambling grandfather gazing into her face with wistful anxiety. lastly, look at the ghastly corpse of old quilp as he lies dead amid the mud and slime of the river, which, after playing with the ugly, malicious, ill-shapen thing until it was bereft of life, flung it contemptuously high and dry upon the swamps at low tide. "dombey and son." "dombey and son" called for comparatively little exercise of browne's _comic_ power, and consequently we shall find in this book examples of some of his finest book etchings. the pompous london merchant, the frigid influence he exercises on those about him, the distrustful look of the nurse as she brings baby paul into his presence, the shrinking form of little florence as the frightened child cowers with folded hands behind her repellent father's chair, are finely depicted in the etching of _the dombey family_. in _mrs. dombey at home_, the proud, haughty beauty chafing under the consciousness that she has been sacrificed to the wealth of the heartless merchant, takes no pains to veil the contempt she feels for the admiring men who surround her. these men (by the way) are scarcely men at all, they are all grossly exaggerated; but "phiz," like many artists of greater pretensions, has sacrificed everything to his central figure, and the presence and bearing of the disdainful beauty makes the _coup d'oeil_ delightful. _abstraction and recognition_ is a wonderful etching; both man and horse are admirably drawn, whilst the figures scowling out of the dark entry on the passing and unconscious horseman require no reference to the letterpress. in his etching of _the dark road_, mr. browne developed a style of etching of which he afterwards frequently availed himself, and by which (as in "bleak house" and "roland cashel") he sometimes succeeded in producing remarkable effects. it shows us a postilion driving a team of horses over a dark and dreary road bordered on either hand by dismal moorland; the streaks of the approaching dawn illuminate the edges of the landscape; the single occupant of the berlin, unable to control his agitation, stands upright, and gazes anxiously around him. so realistic is the drawing, that as we look at the flying team we may almost hear the jingle of the splinter-bars and harness as the horses rattle along the dismal road. cruikshank, to save his life, could draw neither a horse, a tree, or a pretty woman; when he did so it was rather by accident than by design. "phiz" (with all his faults) could draw all three, and impart to them a grace, a beauty, and a poetry peculiar to himself. look at that etching of _carker in his hour of triumph_, where edith, after using the villain as a tool to revenge herself upon her husband, turns upon her miserable dupe with all the force of her superior intellect, and laughs in the face of the man she has so egregiously befooled. this really is an admirable drawing; the anger and humiliation on the face of the dumbfounded villain, who feels himself absolutely powerless in the hands of the scornful, resolute woman, are powerfully depicted. a more perfect realization of edith dombey it seems to us could scarcely be imagined. leech, _perhaps_, might have reached the idea. he would certainly have put more breadth and solidity into the figure of carker; but the woman he could scarcely have improved upon--i doubt if he could have matched her. as for cruikshank, he would have given her an impossible waist, a puffy face surmounted with bandeaux of raven hair scrupulously plastered to each side of her lofty forehead; whilst carker would have been presented to us in an uncomfortable coat, hair parted and dressed after the cruikshankian fashion, and a pair of boots at least half a yard in length. [illustration: phiz. "_master humphrey's clock_," 1840-1. the rioters. _face p. 346._] "bleak house" and "roland cashel." "bleak house" (1852-3) has been described as the most successful of "phiz's" illustrated work; but although it contains some of the best etchings he ever designed for charles dickens, the rest are in truth of unequal merit. among the best may be mentioned _consecrated ground_; _the old man of the name of tulkinghorn_; _morning_; _tom all alone's_; and the sunset scene in the _long drawing-room at chesney wold_. in the dreary twilight of the _ghost's walk_ and of the room in which the murder was consummated we have a pair of drawings unsurpassed by any of the illustrations he executed for charles lever's "roland cashel," which last contains unquestionably the finest of his designs. of all his illustrators, hablot knight browne was the one who best suited the requirements of charles dickens. a man of talent without a single idea of his own, he was found more malleable and manageable than cruikshank, who, as we have seen, would have had a hand (if he could) not only in the illustrations, but also in the management of the story. the conditions under which "phiz" illustrated "pickwick" were wholly different from those which poor seymour had endeavoured to impose upon his author. "it is due to the gentleman," says dickens, in his preface to the "pickwick papers," "it is due to the gentleman whose designs accompany the letterpress, to state that the interval has been so short between the production of each number in manuscript and its appearance in print, that the greater portion of the illustrations have been executed by the artist from the author's _verbal description of what he intended to write_." cruikshank would certainly not have done this, and we doubt whether john leech would have consented to work under such conditions. but as regards browne, the case was entirely different. he had no _genius_ or ideas of his own, and could only work from the suggestions of others. the interest and anxiety which dickens felt in the character of the illustrations to his novels, is shown by reference to the illustrations to "dombey." "the points for illustration, and the enormous care required, make me," he says, "excessively anxious! the man for dombey, if browne could see him, the class of man to a t, is sir a---e----, of d----s. great pains will be necessary with miss tox. the toodle family should not be too much caricatured, because of polly." as the story unwinds itself, he proceeds, "browne is certainly interesting himself and taking pains;" and again, in another letter, "browne seems to be getting on well." still "browne," with all his pliability, found it a hard matter to please him. he made a particular point of paul, mrs. pipchin, and the cat by the fire; and the result to himself was so eminently unsatisfactory that it produced a characteristic protest. "i am really distressed by the illustration of mrs. pipchin and paul. it is so frightfully and wildly wide of the mark. good heaven! in the commonest and most literal construction of the text, it is all wrong! she is described as an old lady, and paul's 'miniature arm-chair' is mentioned more than once. he ought to be sitting in a little arm-chair down in a corner of the fireplace, staring up at her. i can't say what pain and vexation it is to be so utterly misrepresented. i would cheerfully have given a hundred pounds to have left this illustration out of the book. he never could have got that idea of mrs. pipchin if he had attended to the text. indeed, i think he does better without the text; for then the notion is made easy to him, a _short description_, and _he can't help taking it in_." this last sentence exactly describes the man: a personal description with him did more than any amount of letterpress, however lucid. one may readily understand this almost nervous anxiety of charles dickens with reference to the _character_ of his illustrations. he worked, be it remembered, under conditions entirely different to the novelist of a later date. the etched illustrations of his day formed a most important--in some cases (the works of inferior men, such as albert smith, for instance) by far the most important--portion of the work itself. under the charm of the illustrations and the mode of issue, the tale was protracted to a length which would be impossible in a novel of charles reade or wilkie collins, which depends for its success upon the skill of the novelist alone. the novel issued in monthly numbers depended on two sources of attraction--the skill of the novelist and the skill of his artistic coadjutor. dickens' requirements, however, were of so exacting a nature that they proved in the end too exacting even for the patience of the accommodating artist, and the reader will not be surprised to learn that a coolness was ultimately established between artist and author, the outcome of which was the employment of marcus stone and luke fildes on the later novels of "our mutual friend" and "edwin drood." those who would find fault with charles dickens for the mode in which he controlled his artists quite fail to understand the man himself. although he had no knowledge of the pencil, although he himself had no knowledge of drawing, he was nevertheless a thorough artist in heart and mind. there is scarcely a character in his books which does not show the care and thought which he bestowed upon its elaboration. ralph nickleby, squeers, smike, little nell, quilp, barnaby rudge, steerforth, paul dombey, lady dedlock, joe, each and all show how carefully they were elaborated; how distinctly they presented themselves to the retina of the mind of their distinguished creator. when this is borne in mind, it will be at once understood why the mrs. pipchin of hablot browne was not _the_ mrs. pipchin with whose outward appearance and mental peculiarities the author himself was so intimately acquainted. "auriol." notwithstanding the exhibition, after his death, of water-colours and other works, which took the public by surprise, hablot knight browne will continue to be known to most of us as an illustrator of books, and nothing more. "oh! i'm aweary, i'm aweary," he said himself in a letter to one of his sons, "of this illustration business." some of these illustrations, however, are wonderfully graceful, and one in particular seems to call for special notice. it will be found in the "new monthly magazine" for 1845, and is undoubtedly one of the best examples of the artist's work which may be found anywhere. it represents a prisoner in a dungeon lying at the foot of a pillar, which, except in a ghastly carved work running round it of skulls and cross bones, reminds us somewhat of bonneval's pillar at chillon. the lights and shadows are wonderfully rendered, and the work is characterized by a softness, a beauty, and a finish only to be observed in work which took the artist's fancy. this etching is entitled, _rougemont's device to perplex auriol_; and ainsworth's story which it illustrates--a peculiarly unsatisfactory one--commenced, i think, in "ainsworth's magazine," passed into the "new monthly," when its author purchased that periodical in 1845, and (whether the novelist got himself into an intellectual fix or otherwise i know not) finished, i believe, eventually nowhere. browne indeed finds a place here more by virtue of his book illustrations than by reason of any just pretensions to be considered a graphic humourist. his comic powers appear to us more the result of education and emulation than natural gifts, and the consequence is, that in attempting to be funny, his work too often degenerates into absolute exaggeration. his excellencies must be sought for in his serious illustrations, which fall more within the province of the art critic than the scope and purpose of a work which treats of graphic satirists and comic artists of the nineteenth century. some of his finest illustrations of a serious character will be found in the pages of the "illuminated magazine"; in charles lever's admirable story of "st. patrick's eve"; in the "fortunes of colonel forlogh o'brien"; in augustus mayhew's "paved with gold"; in ainsworth's "mervyn clithero"; and "revelations of london"; and above all, in charles lever's novel of "roland cashel." hablot knight browne lived to see the decline and fall of that peculiar and powerful art of book illustration which was introduced by cruikshank; was fostered and encouraged by charles dickens, charles james lever, their imitators and contemporaries; and died, so to speak, with these distinguished men. his work in later years, as might naturally have been expected, shows a woeful decline of power; and when the suggestors from whom he derived inspiration were no longer at his back, the poverty of invention which characterized the man when left to his own devices becomes painfully apparent. "phiz" drew in later years for _judy_ and other comic papers, and it is simple justice to say that his designs are characterized by an utter absence of comic power. the true comic inspiration possessed in so wonderful a degree by cruikshank, by john leech, and even by robert seymour, he never indeed possessed. some fifteen years before his death he suffered from incipient paralysis, and furthermore injured his thumb, which obliged him to hold his pencil between his middle and fore-fingers. gradually this great and graceful artist dropped so far behind in the race of life that he yielded latterly to proposals to illustrate boys' literature of a very inferior class. in addition to an absence of comic inspiration, the _creative_ faculty of cruikshank and leech was wanting to hablot knight browne. in order to carry out an idea, it was necessary that it should be put into his head; for leave him to himself, and he could do absolutely nothing.[175] george cruikshank and john leech after receiving instructions would proceed to realize them in their own way and after their own fashion; but this was not the case with hablot knight browne. while he could realize the idea of another with peculiar success when the subject took his fancy, he could neither enlarge nor improve upon it, and in this lies the difference between _genius_ and mere ability. lacking an inherent sense of humour, he copied cruikshank, and hence his exaggerations and failures as a _comic_ designer; but he was _ultimus romanorum_,--the last representative of the famous men whose art was fostered and encouraged by charles dickens, by charles lever, by harrison ainsworth, and by richard bentley. the services which these eminent men rendered to the novelists who like them are dead and gone can scarcely be appreciated; for we presume few will deny that their labours lent a charm, a beauty, and an interest to their works, which largely tended to promote their sale. the fortunes of "jack sheppard," of "the miser's daughter," of "the tower of london,"--the success obtained by nearly all the stories of ainsworth which obtained any success at all, was mainly due to the pencil of cruikshank. the reputation of "oliver twist"--a morbid novel--was made in a great measure by _him_; but for john leech, neither "mr. ledbury," "the scattergood family," "the marchioness of brinvilliers," or "richard savage," would have survived to our day. to him the novels of mr. r. w. surtees owe their entire popularity; while his genius has conferred vitality on the rubbish of à beckett. it is curious, however, how little these facts were recognised at the time, and what little credit was given in contemporary reviews and by contemporary critics to the artists who rendered to successful novelists the priceless aid and assistance of their pencils. how far the needle of "phiz" contributed to the ultimate success of the great _raconteur_, charles james lever, we are in no position to state; that it proved a very large factor in that result there can be no manner of doubt. that success was not achieved immediately. lever commenced life as a struggling country doctor, and "harry lorrequer," first brought out in the "dublin university magazine," before it appeared in illustrated shilling numbers, was almost wholly ignored by the london press, the criticisms and favourable remarks coming almost wholly from provincial journals. there was one exception by the way, a military paper, the critic of which went into such ecstacies over this sparkling military medley, that he asserted he would rather be author of "lorrequer" than of all the "pickwicks" or "nicklebys" in the world. this notice (unknown to lever) was published with the advertisements of the book, and (strange to say) gave so much annoyance to dickens that he sent an angry reply to a civil letter which came to him shortly afterwards from the irish novelist, and their friendly intercourse was for some years suspended in consequence. [illustration: phiz. "_master humphrey's clock_," 1840-1. sam weller and his father. _face p. 352._] the decline of hablot browne's popularity was painfully apparent to himself. although our chapter was written long before the appearance of mr. kitton's pamphlet, we may be permitted to re-open it to extract from the latter the following melancholy observations which we find in a letter to his son, dr. browne: "i am at present on a sporting paper, supported by some high and mighty nobs; but i fear, _like everything i have to do with, now a-days_, it will collapse, for some of the proprietors of the paper are also shareholders, etc., etc., in the graphotype company, so they want to work the two together. i hate the process; it takes quite four times as long as wood, and i cannot draw and express myself with a nasty, finicking brush, and the result when printed seems to alternate between something all as black as my hat, or as hazy and faint as a worn-out plate. if on wood, i should like it well enough; as it is it spoils four days a week, leaving little time for anything else. oh! i'm aweary, i'm aweary! of this illustration business."[176] this seems to us inexpressibly sad. we hear nothing of it in earlier days, when he was drawing the excellent designs for "roland cashel," for "dombey," or for "bleak house." of the works and sketches in water colour and oils exhibited in liverpool after the artist's death, personally we have seen nothing. they took the public by surprise, for few at least of the outer world suspected that this shy, retiring illustrator of books was a persevering and accomplished water-colour artist. we ourselves were aware of the fact, and had seen some thirty original and highly characteristic sketches, some of them studies of characters in novels of charles dickens and lever; all executed prior to 1846, some in indian ink, some in crayon, a few in pencil. among them was a small but highly finished water-colour drawing, representing a group of seven knights in full martial panoply, and a striking effect is produced by the glint of the sun on the burnished armour of the central figure. the author of a recent sketch would cite these water colours as a complete answer to those who like ourselves maintain, in no mere spirit of detraction, that the artist possessed not one particle of _genius_. surely he cannot be in earnest. if so, we have only to say, that if painting subjects in oils or water colour from the thousand and one hints to be gathered from history, fiction, or every-day life, be a test of _genius_, the walls of every summer and winter exhibition--to say nothing of the royal academy--would be furnished annually with examples from end to end. leech died in the meridian of his fame at the early age of forty-six. hablot browne when he died had not only survived his talents, but his peculiarly shy and retiring nature had caused him at the age of sixty-seven to be absolutely forgotten. the famous men of letters whose works he had illustrated were dead and gone; the world of literature and of art took such small note of him that his funeral was the funeral of a private individual, and not of one who, if he did not partake in, had contributed in no considerable degree to the success of charles dickens and of charles james lever. when his passing-bell rang out upon the summer air, journalists remembered that a great artist was gone to his rest, and _punch_ inserted in his number of the 22nd of july, 1882, to the memory of the last of the book etchers of the nineteenth century the following graceful tribute:- "the lamp is out that lighted up the text of dickens, lever--heroes of the pen. _pickwick_ and _lorrequer_ we love, but next we place the man who made us see such men. what should we know of _martin chuzzlewit_, stern _mr. dombey_, or _uriah heap_? _tom burke of ours_?--around our hearts they sit, outliving their creators--all asleep. no sweeter gift ere fell to man than his who gave us troops of friends--delightful phiz. "he is not dead! there, in the picture-book, he lives with men and women that he drew; we take him with us to the cozy nook, where old companions we can love anew. dear boyhood's friend! we rode with him to hounds; lived with dear _peggotty_ in after years; missed in old ireland, where fun knew no bounds. at _dora's_ death we felt poor david's tears. there is no death for such a man,--he is the spirit of an unclosed book! immortal phiz!" footnotes: [172] fitzpatrick's "life of charles lever." [173] now lately republished. [174] and republished in "poole's miscellany." [175] as i notice a similar remark in one of the obituary notices of the artist's death, i think it necessary to observe that this chapter was written while "phiz" was yet living. [176] mr. kitton's "memoir," p. 19. chapter xvii. _a batch of book illustrators:_ _kenny meadows; robert william buss; alfred crowquill; charles h. bennett; w. m. thackeray._ in old and second-hand bookshops, and in booksellers' catalogues, may often be found a book which is gradually becoming a literary rarity. it dates from 1840, and is a curiosity in its way, not only on account of the "portraits" which adorn its pages, but as a specimen of the literary padding on which men of letters (some of them distinguished) were content to employ their talents fifty years ago. it was published by robert tyas, of 50, cheapside; professed to give "portraits of the english" of the period, but served as a means of introducing certain characteristic pictorial sketches, more or less true to nature, by kenny meadows, an artist whose name and reputation, although he has been dead scarcely ten years, are already forgotten. connected with these portraits are "original essays by distinguished writers," including, amid names of lesser note, literary stars such as douglas jerrold, leman rede, percival leigh, laman blanchard, leigh hunt, william howitt, and samuel lover. these essays, or rather letterpress descriptions, were written to the pictures, which were not drawn (as is generally supposed) in illustration of the text. the portraits are taken from almost every grade in life: from the dressmaker to the draper's assistant, and from the housekeeper to the hangman; the last, by the way, being perhaps the most characteristic sketch of the series. the best of these forty-three "pictures" is the one which faces the title-page, a gathering of the company which individually take part in this "gallery of illustration." the designs are characteristic of the artist's style, but possess little power of attraction, being destitute of any claim to originality either of conception or treatment. the artist's share of the work is by far the best part of the somewhat lugubrious entertainment, which the performances of his literary associates scarcely serve to enliven. the book, however, was a success in its day, for, if we mistake not, it was followed by a second series, is even now sought after by the "collector" (not bibliomaniac), and possesses some historical value by reason of the fact that national types, such as _the diner-out_, _the stockbroker_, _the lion of the party_, _the fashionable physician_ (that is to say, of 1840), _the linen draper's assistant_, _the barmaid_, _the family governess_, _the postman_, _the theatrical manager_, _the farmer's daughter_, and _the young lord_, no longer live and move and act their part amongst us. a change comes over the people in the course of forty years, and some years hence our grandchildren may well smile at the extraordinary monstrosities (female) who figure in the graphic satires of 1883-4. kenny meadows was the son of a retired naval officer, and was born at cardigan on the first of november, 1790. you will look in vain for any notice of him, or of his services in the cause of illustrative art, in any of the biographical dictionaries of his own or a subsequent period; and this appears to us an unaccountable omission, for he achieved in his time considerable celebrity as an artistic illustrator of books. his work will be found bound up with that of most of his artistic _confrères_ in nearly all the illustrated periodicals of his day; he was one of the first to introduce wood-engraving among english publishers as a means of cheap and popular illustration; he was employed by the late mr. ingram, in the designs for the early christmas numbers of the _illustrated london news_; he will be found amongst the number of the artists who illustrated the early volumes of _punch_; he was in universal request as a designer of drawings to fairy and fanciful stories; among his intimate friends were men of mark; such as leigh hunt, douglas jerrold, charles dickens, w. m. thackeray, clarkson stanfield, david roberts, and the landseers; he did as much for illustrative art as, perhaps, any artist of his time; and yet, amongst men whose abilities scarcely exceeded his own in the same particular walk in art, no place is to be found in any biographical dictionary, so far at least as we know, for any mention of poor, kindly, genial, kenny meadows. besides the popular illustrated periodicals of his day, in most of which his familiar initials may be recognised, kenny meadows was in almost universal request both amongst authors and publishers of the time. we find him in 1832 illustrating, with isaac robert cruikshank, a periodical bearing the somewhat unpromising title of "the devil in london." to an 1833 edition of "gil blas," illustrated by george cruikshank, he contributed a frontispiece; and we find his hand in the following: the late j. b. buckstone's dramas of "the wreck ashore," "victorine," "may queen," "henriette," "rural felicity," "pet of the petticoats," "married life," "the rake and his pupil," "the christening," "isabella," "second thoughts," and "the scholar" (1835, 1836); whitehead's "autobiography of jack ketch" (1835); "heads of the people, or portraits of the english" (1841); mr. s. c. hall's "book of british ballads" (1842-44); an 1842 edition of moore's "lalla rookh"; leigh hunt's "palfrey, a love story of old times" (1842); "the illuminated magazine" (1843); shakespeare (1843); "whist, its history and practice"; "backgammon, its history and practice," by the same author; "the illustrated london almanacks" (from 1845 upwards); sir edward lytton bulwer's "leila," and "calderon" (1847); w. n. bailey's "illustrated musical annual," "the family joe miller, a drawing-room jest book" (1848); "puck," (a comic serial, 1848); laman blanchard's "sketches from life" (1849); samuel lover's "metrical tales and poems;" "the magic of kindness," by the brothers mayhew; mrs. s. c. hall's "midsummer eve;" "punch," up to and including the seventh volume; and (some time afterwards) its able opponent "the man in the moon" (now exceedingly scarce).[177] in these and very many other works we find him associated not only with george cruikshank, john leech, hablot knight browne, and richard doyle, but with artists occupying the position of sir john gilbert, frank stone, maclise, clarkson stanfield, creswick, e. m. ward, elmore, frost, sir j. noel paton, frederick goodall, thomas landseer, f. w. popham, fairholt, harrison weir, redgrave, corbould, and stephanoff. he was a thoroughly useful man; and a thousand examples of quaint imaginings--oftentimes of graceful workmanship--might be culled from the various works and serials in which his hand may be readily recognised. but the merits of kenny meadows as an illustrator of books are very unequal. his friend, mr. hodder, who gives us in his pleasant "memories" an occasional note of some of the artists with whom he was thrown in contact, says of him: "the quiet, unostentatious way in which he worked at his art, too often under the most adverse and discouraging circumstances, and the pride which he displayed when he felt he had made a 'happy hit,' was somewhat like the enthusiasm of a youth who had first attained the honour of a prize. as a draughtsman he never cared to be guided by those practical laws which regulate the academic exercise of the pictorial art; for he contended that too strict an adherence to nature only trammelled him, and he preferred relying upon the thought conveyed in his illustrations, rather than upon the mechanical correctness of his outline or perspective." george cruikshank showed, as we know, a tolerable contempt for nature when he undertook the delineation of a horse, a woman, or a tree; but it was one of the conditions of his _genius_ that it should be left free and untrammelled to follow the dictates of its own inspiration, and the quaint effect which somehow or other he managed to impart to a design which, in its details might offend the educated taste of the art critic, made us forget the contempt too often displayed for those "practical laws" to which mr. hodder refers. to constitute a good comic artist, not only is it necessary that he should be a good draughtsman, but certain special gifts are indispensable,--a keen sense of the ridiculous, an inherent appreciation of humour, a quick and ready invention, qualities which no amount of artificial training will bestow. they were possessed in an eminent degree by gillray, by cruikshank, by john leech, but were wholly wanting to kenny meadows. he could draw on occasion a queer face--for that matter his faces, intentionally or otherwise, were generally queer--and an eccentric figure, and so can many persons who have a natural taste for drawing, and have learnt to handle the pencil; but the caricaturist, like the poet, _nasciiur non fit_, and a hundred or even a thousand queer faces or eccentric figures, without the gift of invention or originality, will not of themselves constitute the designer a comic artist. the truth is that with kenny meadows mannerism takes the place of genius. you will recognise his hand anywhere without the familiar "k.m." appended to it, for all his faces are chubby (not to say puffy), and their arms and legs look for all the world as if the hand that designed them had been guided by a ruler. the delusion which led him to imagine that his "genius" would enable him to soar superior to nature is no doubt responsible in some degree for this latter eccentricity, for the artist who would be bold enough to despise the laws "which regulate the exercise of the pictorial art," would be prepared to view hogarth's line of beauty with like indifference and contempt. kenny meadows was one of the early illustrators of _punch_, and contributed moreover to the first volume some of the best of the cartoons. good specimens of his work will be found in _young loves to sell_, and _the speculative mama_ (_sic_), second vol.; in the third volume he illustrated "punch's letters to his son," and the first of the almanacks contains six of his designs. in the fourth volume we find six of his cartoons, among them _the milk of poor law kindness_, and _the first tooth_ (the queen and infant prince of wales); the doctor's legs and shoes are thoroughly characteristic of his style, and look for all the world as if they had been drawn by a ruler. the cartoon, _punch turned out of france_ in this volume is, if we mistake not, the work of kenny meadows. _the christian bayadere worshipping the idol siva_, has reference to the tolerance which "john company" wisely conceded to hindoo religious ceremony, so long as its traditions were found consistent with the ordinary dictates of humanity. "the story of a feather" in this volume has five illustrations, two of which are very clever. among the other cartoons we find _the modern macheath_ (the captain being sir robert peel). the fifth volume contains eight of his illustrations, six being cartoons; among them, _the irish frankenstein_ (badly imagined and atrociously drawn), _the water drop_ and the _gin drop_ are characterized by much poverty of invention, but the former is the best of the two. _the battle of the alphabet_ (cartoon) is a better specimen of his work, although the legs and arms look as usual, as if drawn with a ruler. the sixth volume contains three of his cartoons, while the almanack of the year (1844) has several of his illustrations. to the seventh volume he contributed no less than thirty-one illustrations, some very good, one of the best being that of the two legal dogs quarrelling over a bone of litigation. _punch_ at the outset of his career had considerable difficulty in the selection of a graphic satirist, and one of his "right hand men" in those early days was a mr. henning, by whose side kenny meadows figures as an absolute genius. after his seventh volume, however, he met with artists better fitted to interpret his political and social views, and no trace of meadows' useful hand appears in succeeding volumes. in stating that the merits of kenny meadows as an illustrator of books are unequal, and in denying to him the possession of genius, we must not be held to imply that he was deficient of talent. an excellent example of the inequality of which we speak will be found in his shakespeare (robert tyas, 1843), a work selected by us for the reason that it was considered by himself and his two favourable friends as his masterpiece. although we cannot stay to notice all the strange conceptions with which he has enriched this book, we may be permitted to wonder whence he derived his preposterous ideas of caliban, of malvolio, of shylock, of juliet's nurse, of launce's unhappy dog, of the egpytian[ sphynx in "antony and cleopatra." the model of shylock was evidently some "old clo'" dealer in petticoat lane. the figure of armado ("love's labour's lost") is so wonderfully put together that his anatomy must sooner or later fall to pieces; the ghost of hamlet's father is the ghost of some colossal statue, certainly not the shade of one who had worn the guise of ordinary humanity. the head of the gentle juliet might derive benefit from the application of a bottle of invigorating hair wash. the figure of the monk in "romeo and juliet" literally cut out of wood, carries as much expression in its face as a lay figure; while the walls of northampton castle (in "king john") are so much out of the perpendicular, that the courtiers seem less concerned at finding the dead body of arthur, than in seeking a place of shelter from the impending downfall. henry the eighth, although acknowledged to be a corpulent, was not, so far as we know, a deformed man; the preposterous "beak" of richard the third occupies one half of his otherwise remarkably short face, and its owner (in the well-known tent scene) suffers from an attack of tetanus instead of an accession of mental terror. these eccentric realizations, in which he has succeeded in setting all the rules of drawing at defiance, are rendered the more remarkable by reason of the circumstance that the work now under consideration is interspersed with numerous charming drawings, the effect of which is wholly marred by these erratic performances. meadows was an admirable water-colour artist, and a scarce edition of this work contains some engravings of shakespearian heroines after his designs. the germans fancy they understand shakespeare better than ourselves (an amiable and complimentary weakness), and the work was favourably received in germany, the artist's conception of falstaff, in particular, being so highly appreciated that a bronze statuette was modelled after it, which enjoyed a large sale. his ideas of female beauty were almost as eccentric as those of cruikshank. a couple of beauties of the meadows type will be found at page 3 of henry cockton's "sisters" (nodes, 1844), where one lady is represented to us with a neck like that of a giraffe, whilst her sister beauty is sensibly inconvenienced by a lock of hair which has strayed into her eye,--a favourite device, by the way, of the artist. this book, now scarce (in the illustration of which he was assisted by alfred crowquill), is adorned with a portrait on steel, after a painting by childe, in which the author is presented to us in a white waistcoat and dress coat, with a pen in his hand, leading us to the inference that his clumsily constructed novels (one of which--"valentine vox," thanks perhaps to the illustrator, onwhyn--still holds its ground) were written in evening costume. but notwithstanding these failures, kenny meadows has happily left behind him work of a very much better kind. his christmas pictures in particular are impressed with the kindly, genial humour which characterized the man; the "illuminated magazine," a scarce and valuable work, contains sixty-three very fine specimens of his pencillings, including the illustrations to his friend douglas jerrold's "chronicles of clovernook," admirable in every respect, probably the finest designs he ever executed. the wood engravings in this charming serial have probably never been surpassed; we seldom see woodcuts in these days which equal the splendid workmanship of e. landells.[178] after the third volume, the "illuminated magazine" passed into other hands, and although kenny meadows continued its mainstay for a time, the rest of the excellent artists left, and the literary matter visibly declined. to the famous "gallery of comicalities" kenny meadows contributed _sketches from lavater_ and _phisogs of the traders of london_. during the last decade of his life his services in the cause of illustrative art were rewarded and recognised by a pension from the civil list of £80 per annum. like george cruikshank he remained hale and vigorous to the last, proud of his age, and fond of asserting there was "life in the old dog yet." that this was no idle boast may be inferred from the fact that within a few months of his death he was engaged in painting a subject from his favourite shakespeare. at the time of his death (in august, 1874) he had almost completed his eighty-fifth year. * * * * * in hunting up materials for the present work, we have come at various times upon editions (specimens, perhaps, might be the better word) of the "pickwick papers," which will possess an interest in the eyes of the collector. the first issue, in the original green sporting covers designed by seymour, is of course exceedingly scarce; we have never indeed seen a _perfect_ copy, which would probably be worth some ten pounds, while the same edition bound may be purchased at prices varying from twenty-four shillings to three guineas, according to the condition of the volume. an australian edition was published at launceston, van dieman's land, in 1838, with plates after "phiz" by "tiz," facsimiles on stone of the earliest issue of the parts in england. at a west of england bookseller's we met with a first edition bound up with etchings by onwhyn,[179] "peter palette," and others. then there are the twenty-four etchings from remarkably clever original drawings by mr. f. w. pailthorpe in illustration of scenes in "pickwick," of which the proofs before letters were published at three guineas; and lastly, there is the rare first edition, containing all the plates by seymour and "phiz," supplemented by the two "suppressed" etchings, which are credited (wrongly) to the hand of buss. among the etchers of book illustration after 1836, we may name robert william buss, whose etchings will be found in mrs. trollope's "widow married" (a sequel to her "widow barnaby"), which made its appearance in the "new monthly magazine" of 1839, and whose hand will also be found in marryat's "peter simple," "jacob faithful," harrison ainsworth's "court of king james ii.," etc. although his designs lack the genius, the artistic power, the finish and the comic invention of leech or cruikshank, they show nevertheless that as an etcher and designer he was possessed of exceptional talent and ability. the first experience, however, of this able artist as an etcher was peculiarly unfortunate and vexatious. when poor seymour shot himself in 1836, the draughtsman first called in to supply his place was robert william buss. he had been recommended to messrs. chapman and hall by john jackson, the wood-engraver, but does not seem at that time to have had any practical experience of etching, as he himself explained to the member of the firm who called upon him. mr. buss, in fact, was decidedly indisposed to undertake the work, being then engaged on a picture he was preparing for exhibition, and he undertook it only after considerable pressure. he immediately began to practise the various operations of etching and biting in, and produced a plate with which the publishers expressed themselves satisfied. two subjects were then selected for illustration, _the cricket match_, and _the fat boy watching mr. tupman and miss wardle_. when, however, mr. buss began to etch them on the plate, he found, having had little or no experience in laying his ground, that it holed up under the etching point; and as time was precious, he placed the plates in the hands of an experienced engraver to be etched and bitten in. had opportunity been given him, his son (from whom we take this account) tells us he would have cancelled these plates and issued fresh ones of his own etching. designs were prepared by him for the following number, when he received an intimation that the work of illustrating the "pickwick papers" had been placed in other hands. the illustrations referred to were suppressed, and the collectors who are so anxious to secure an edition with the two "buss plates," will be pleased to learn that, although the design was his, not one line of the etchings which bear his name are due to the artist's point.[180] the father of robert william was an engraver and enameller, and under his directions he acquired a knowledge of this technical branch of art; but evincing a taste and preference for drawing and painting, he became a pupil of george clint, a.r.a., under whose direction he studied subject and portrait painting. he painted fifteen theatrical portraits for mr. cumberland in illustration of his "british drama," and a collection of these works was afterwards exhibited at that melancholy monument to past exhibitions, the colosseum in the regent's park. he was employed by charles knight in the illustrations to his "shakespeare," "london," "old england," "chaucer," and the now forgotten "penny magazine," for all of which publications he executed many designs on wood. it must not be supposed because robert william buss was not considered the right man to illustrate "pickwick," that he was therefore an indifferent draughtsman. his finest book etchings are probably those which he executed for harrison ainsworth's novel of "the court of james ii."; but in a higher and far more ambitious walk in art he was not only more successful, but achieved in his time a considerable reputation. among his pictures may be mentioned one of _christmas in the olden time_, which, apart from its merits as a painting, showed that he possessed considerable antiquarian knowledge. other works of his are, _the frosty morning_, purchased by lord charles townshend; _the stingy traveller_, bought by the duchess of st. albans; _the wooden walls of old england_, the property of lord coventry; _soliciting a vote_, and _chairing the member_; _the musical bore_; _the frosty reception_; _master's out_; _time and tide wait for no man_; _shirking the plate_; _the first of september_; _the introduction of tobacco_; _the biter bit_; _the romance_; and _satisfaction_. for mr. hogarth, of the haymarket, he painted four small subjects illustrative of christmas, entitled, _the waits_; _bringing in the boar's head_; _the yule log_, and _the wassail bowl_; all afterwards engraved. for mr. james haywood, m.p., he executed a series of drawings illustrative of student life at oxford, cambridge, durham, london, and paris; while two vast subjects, _the origin of music_ and _the triumph of music_ (each twenty feet wide by nine feet high), were painted for the earl of hardwick, and are, or lately were, in the music saloon at wimpole, in cambridgeshire. his pictures were seventy-one in number, twenty-five of which were engraved. on the whole, therefore, robert william buss might afford to bear the refusal of charles dickens's patronage with equanimity. the paintings and etchings of robert william buss evince a strong leaning in the direction of comic art, a taste which prompted him, in 1853, to deliver at various towns in the united kingdom a course of very successful and interesting lectures on caricature and graphic satire, illustrated by several hundred examples executed by himself. in 1874, the year before his death, he published for the amusement of his friends, and for private circulation only, the substance of these lectures, under the title of "english graphic satire and its relation to different styles of painting, sculpture, and engraving." the numerous illustrations to this work were those drawn for his lectures by the artist, and reproduced for his book by the process of photo-lithography. so far as comic art and caricaturists of the nineteenth century are concerned, the author has comparatively little to say; but the work is valuable as regards the subject generally, and might have been published with advantage to the public. the artist delivered also lectures on "the beautiful and the picturesque," as well as on "fresco painting." mr. buss, if not very original as a comic designer, possessed nevertheless a keen sense of humour. one of his pictures (engraved by h. rolls), entitled _time and tide wait for no man_, represents an artist, sketching by the sea-shore, so absorbed in the contemplation of nature that he remains unconscious of the fast inflowing tide, and deaf to the warnings of the fisherman who is seen hailing him from the beach. * * * * * the comic publications which either preceded or ran side by side with _punch_ had for the most part a somewhat short and unsatisfactory career. perhaps the most successful of them was _figaro in london_, 1831-36, which we have already noticed. _the wag_, a long-forgotten publication, enjoyed a very transient existence. in 1832 appeared _punchinello_, on the pages of which isaac robert cruikshank was engaged. _punchinello_, however, ceased running after its tenth number. _asmodeus in london_, notwithstanding the support it derived from seymour's pencil, was by no means a commercial success. _the devil in london_ was a little more fortunate. this periodical commenced running on the 29th of february, 1832, and the illustrations of isaac robert cruikshank and kenny meadows enabled it to reach its thirty-seventh number. tom dibdin's _penny trumpet_ ignominiously blew itself out after the fourth number. _the schoolmaster at home_, notwithstanding seymour's graphic exertions, collapsed at its sixth number. _the whig dresser_, illustrated by heath, enjoyed an existence exactly of twelve numbers. _the squib_ (1842) lasted for thirty weeks before it exploded and went out. _puck_ (1848), illustrated by w. hine, kenny meadows, and gilbert, died the twenty-fifth week after its first publication. _chat_ ran its course in 1850 and 1851. _the man in the moon_, under the literary guidance of shirley brooks, albert smith, g. a. sala, and the brothers brough, enjoyed a comparatively glorious career of two years and a half. _diogenes_ (started in 1853, under the literary conduct of watts phillips, the broughs, halliday, and angus bethune reach), notwithstanding the graphic help rendered by mcconnell[181] and charles h. bennett, gave up the ghost in 1854. _punchinello_ (second of the name) flickered and went out at the seventh number. _judy_ (the predecessor of the present paper) appeared 1st february, 1843, but soon died a natural death. _town talk_, edited by halliday and illustrated by mcconnell, lasted a very limited time. _london_, started by george augustus sala in rivalry of _punch_, soon ceased running; while the _puppet show_, notwithstanding the ability of mr. procter, enjoyed but a very brief and transitory existence. the strong and healthy constitution of _punch_ enabled him not only to outlive all these, but even a publication superior in some important respects to himself. we allude to the _tomahawk_, whose cartoons are certainly the most powerful and outspoken satires which have appeared since the days of gillray.[182] among the draughtsmen whom _punch_ called in to help him in his early days was a useful and ingenious artist, inferior in many respects to kenny meadows, his name was alfred henry forrester, better known to most of us under his _nom de guerre_ of "alfred crowquill." the scribes of the "catnach," or seven dials school, of literature are satirized by forrester (in the second volume), wherein we see a "literary gentleman" hard at work at his vocation of a scribe of cheap and deleterious literature, consulting his authorities--"the annals of crime," a "last dying speech and confession," and the "newgate calendar." in _the footman_ we have a gorgeous figure, adorned with epaulets, lace, and a cocked hat, reading (of all things in the world) the "loves of the angels," over a bottle of hock and soda-water! _the pursuit of matrimony under difficulties_ is a more ambitious performance. "punch's guide to the watering places" (vol. iii.) is illustrated with a number of coarsely executed cuts, wholly destitute of merit; the fourth volume contains a cartoon entitled _private opinions_. but the graphic humour of alfred crowquill, although amusing and sometimes bright and sparkling, was unsuited to the requirements of a periodical such as _punch_. as better men came forward, he gradually dropped out of its pages, and we see nothing more of him after the fourth volume. [illustration: alfred crowquill. _from "the book of days."_ frozen out gardeners. _face p. 368._] alfred crowquill was a sort of "general utility" man, essaying the character of a _littérateur_ as well as that of an artist, and achieving as a natural consequence no permanent success in either. in his literary capacity, alfred henry forrester made his first appearance (we believe) in "the hive," and "the mirror," under the editorship of mr. timbs; while as an artist he illustrated his own writings, besides those of a host of other authors. an early effort of his pencil is entitled, _der freyschutz travestied_; this was followed by "alfred crowquill's sketch books," which were dedicated to the (then) princess victoria, by command of the duchess of kent. we find him afterwards employed on the pages of the "new monthly," but on the death of its editor, mr. theodore hook, his useful talents procured him an engagement on the staff of "bentley's miscellany," to whose pages he was not only an indefatigable contributor, but rendered it substantial assistance in its difficulties with george cruikshank. the best of his illustrative works (mostly designs on wood) were executed for this periodical, and selections were afterwards collected and published under the title of "the phantasmagoria of fun." [illustration: alfred crowquill. _from "the book of days."_ "swearing the horns" at highgate. "when any person passed through highgate for the first time on his way to london, he, being brought before the horns, had a mock oath administered to him, to the effect that he would never drink small beer when he could get strong, unless he liked it better; that he would never eat brown bread when he could get white, or water-gruel, when he could command turtle-soup; that he would never make love to the maid when he might to the mistress; and so on . according to the wit of the imposer of the oath, and simplicity of the oath-taker." _face p. 369._] in these days a man like forrester would be almost at a discount, but at the time when he started there was less competition, and a useful, clever man, like he undoubtedly was, was fortunately not lost. his hands, in fact, were always full, and a list of some of the books to which his pen and his pencil contributed will be found in the appendix. one of the best of his designs was a title-page he executed for a work published by kent & co., under the title of "merry pictures by the comic hands of alfred crowquill, doyle, meadows, hine, and others" (1857), a _réchauffage_ of cuts and illustrations which had previously done duty for books of an ephemeral character, such as "the gent," "the ballet girl," and even of the superior order of "gavarni in london."[183] some excellent designs executed by him on wood will be found in messrs. chambers' "book of days." in his dual character of a writer and comic artist, crowquill was an inveterate punster. leaves from his "memorandum book" (1834) will give us a good idea of his style. in "tea leaves for breakfast," _strong black_ is represented by a sturdy negro carrying a heavy basket; a tall youth with a small father personating _hyson_; a housemaid shaking a hall mat, to the discomfort of herself and the passers-by, is labelled _fine dust_; a cockney accidentally discharging his fowling-piece does duty for _gunpowder_; while _mixed_ is aptly personified by a curious group of masqueraders. the vowels put in a comical appearance: _a_ with his hands behind him listens to _e_, who points to _i_ as the subject of his remarks, which must be of a scandalous character, as the injured vowel looks the picture of anger and astonishment. _e_ finds a ready listener in _o_, who opens his mouth and extends his hands in real or simulated amazement and horror. crowquill was a clever caricaturist, and began work when he was only eighteen. we have seen some able satires of his executed between the years 1823 and 1826 inclusive. one of the best, published by s. knight in 1825, is entitled, _paternal pride_: "dear doctor, don't you think my little billy is like me?" "the very picture of you in every feature!" _ups and downs_ (knights, 1823), comprise "take up" (a bow street runner); "speak up" (a barrister); "hang up" (a hangman); "let-em-down" (a coachman); "knock-em-down" (an auctioneer); "screw-em-down" (an undertaker). the following are given as _four specimens of the reading public_ (fairburn, 1826): "romancing molly," "sir lacey luscious," a "political dustman," and "french à la mode." two, in which he was assisted by george cruikshank, entitled, _indigestion_, and _jealousy_, will be found in the volume published (and republished) under the name of "cruikshankiana." the latter shows on the face of it that, while crowquill was responsible for the design, the etching and a large share of the invention are due to cruikshank. if not a genius, the man was talented and clever,--a universal favourite. he could draw, he could write; he was an admirable vocalist, setting the table in a roar with his medley of songs. even as a painter he was favourably known. _temperance and intemperance_ were engraved from his painting in oils, and called forth a letter of thanks from the great apostle of temperance, father mathew himself. other works were _the ups and downs of life_, the well-known _president_ and _vice president_ (both engraved), and many others. a clever artist in "black and white," two of his pen-and-ink sketches--_the huntsman's rest_ and _the solitary_--were honoured with a place among the drawings at the royal academy exhibition of 1846. his talents did not end here; most of the christmas pantomimes of his time were indebted to him for clever designs, devices, and effects. the kindly, genial, gifted man died in 1872, in his sixty-eighth year. * * * * * [illustration: chas. h. bennett. _"shadow and substance."_ "... creeping like a snail unwillingly to school."--as you like it. _face p. 371._] some of our readers may possibly remember seeing in one of the comic publications published concurrently with or shortly after the appearance of mr. charles darwin's work, a series of comical designs ridiculing the theory of the "origin of species" in a manner which must have astonished as well as amused the learned philosopher. the origin of the genus _footman_, and of the dish he carries to his master's table, is traced out as follows: the dish carries a bone, which eventually finds its way into the jaws of a mongrel cur with a peculiarly short tail. the process then goes merrily onwards; the dog gradually develops; his skin turns into a suit of livery with buttons, the dog-collar gradually assumes the form of a footman's tie, until the process is ended and the species complete. in like manner, a cat develops into a spinster aunt; a monkey into a mischievous urchin; a pig into a gourmand; a sheep into a country bumpkin; a weasel into a lawyer; a dancing bear into a garrotter; a shark into a money-lender; a snail into the schoolboy to which shakespeare likens him; a fish into a toper, and so on. these "developments" (twenty in number), which were dedicated to mr. darwin, are signed "c. h. b." and these are the initials of charles h. bennett, one of the gentlest, most promising, and withal most original graphic humourists of the century. amongst the earliest of the serials which he illustrated was, we believe, _diogenes_, a sort of rival of _punch_, which made its appearance and ran a brief course in 1853-4. associated with him in the illustrations were mcconnell and watts phillips, the latter of whom contributed largely also to the literary matter. we find a clever design of his (in leech's style) in the second volume: "now, gentlemen of the jury," says a brazen-faced barrister, "i throw myself upon your impartial judgment as husbands and fathers, and i confidently ask, does the prisoner [the most murderous-looking ruffian un-hung] look like a man who would knock down and trample upon the wife of his bosom? gentlemen, i have done!" there was considerable originality in the designs of bennett, which is more particularly manifested in the well-known series of humorous sketches in which the effect intended to be produced is effected by means of the _shadows_ of the figures represented, which are supposed to indicate their distinguishing failings and characteristics. among them may be mentioned a tipsy woman amused at the _shadow_ cast by her own figure of a gin bottle; an undertaker, in his garb of woe wrung from the pockets of widows and orphans, casts the appropriate shadow of a crocodile; a red-nosed old hospital nurse of a tea-pot; a worn-out seamstress of a skeleton; a mischievous street boy of a monkey; an angry wife sitting up for a truant husband of an extinguisher; a tall, conceited-looking parson, with a long coat, of a pump; while a sweep, with his "machine," to his mortal terror beholds his own shadow preceding him in the guise of beelzebub himself. the series is continued in a work published by w. kent & co. in 1860, under the title of "shadow and substance," the letterpress of which is contributed to bennett's pictures by robert b. brough. literary work of this description, like william combe's "doctor syntax," is necessarily unsatisfactory; but the pictures themselves are distinctly inferior to the series which preceded them, the best being _old enough to know better_,--a bald-headed, superannuated old sinner behind the scenes, presenting a bouquet to a ballet girl, his figure casting a _shadow_ on the back of the scene of a bearded, long-eared, horned old goat. [illustration: chas. h. bennett. "_shadow and substance._" "old enough to know better." _face p. 372._] we are in no position to give a detailed list of charles bennett's work, which was of a very miscellaneous kind, comprising among others a series of slight outline portraits of members of parliament, which appeared in the _illustrated times_, an edition of the "pilgrim's progress," edited by the rev. charles kingsley; "john todd," a work by the rev. john allen; "shadows," and "shadow and substance," just spoken of; "proverbs, with pictures by charles h. bennett," etc., etc. his talent at last attracted the notice of the weekly _punch_ council, and he received the coveted distinction of being engaged on the permanent staff of that periodical. his life, however, was a brief one. the diary of shirley brooks, who took much personal interest in him, refers with some anxiety to his illness on the 30th of march, 1867. on the 31st of march the report was somewhat more favourable; but the 2nd of april brought a letter from the editor of _punch_, mark lemon, which said that charles bennett had died between the hours of eight and nine o'clock that morning. "i am very sorry," adds shirley brooks in an autograph note appended beneath the letter referred to. "b[ennett] was a man whom one could not help loving for his gentleness, and a wonderful artist." the obituary notice by the same hand which appears in _punch_ records that "he was a very able colleague, a very dear friend. none of our fellow-workers," it continues, "ever entered more heartily into his work, or laboured with more earnestness to promote our general purpose. his facile execution and singular subtilty of fancy were, we hoped, destined to enrich these pages for many a year. it has been willed otherwise, and we lament the loss of a comrade of invaluable skill, and the death of one of the kindliest and gentlest of our associates, the power of whose hand was equalled by the goodness of his heart." charles bennett was only thirty-seven when he died. he left a widow and eight children unprovided for, for his health having precluded it, no life insurance had been effected. the _punch_ men, however, with the unselfishness which so nobly characterizes them, put their shoulders to the wheel for the family of their stricken comrade. "we shall have to do something," said shirley brooks in his diary of the 3rd of april; and they did it accordingly. a committee was immediately started, on which we find the names of messrs. arthur lewis,[184] wilbert beale, mark lemon, du maurier, john tenniel, arthur sullivan, and w. h. bradbury. then came rehearsals, and, on the 11th of may, a performance at the adelphi in aid of the bennett fund. mr. arthur sullivan had, in conjunction with mr. f. c. burnand, converted the well-known farce of "box and cox" into an operetta of the most ludicrous description. this was the opening piece--the forerunner of "pinafore," "pirates," "patience," and other triumphs. arthur sullivan himself conducted, and the players were mr. du maurier, mr. quinton, and mr. arthur blunt. then followed "a sheep in wolf's clothing," in which mesdames kate terry, florence terry, mrs. stoker, mrs. watts (the present ellen terry), and messrs. mark lemon, tom taylor, tenniel, burnand, silver, pritchett, and horace mayhew took part. this was succeeded by offenbach's "blind beggars," who were admirably personated by mr. du maurier and mr. harold power. the evening concluded with a number of part songs and madrigals sung by the moray minstrels--so called from their chiefly performing at moray lodge, the residence of mr. arthur lewis. between the two portions of their entertainment, shirley brooks came on and delivered an address written by himself, which contained the following allusion to him for whose family the generous work had been undertaken:- "only some friends of a lost friend, whose name is all the inheritance his children claim (save memory of his goodness), think it due to make some brief acknowledgment to you. brief but not cold; some thanks that you have come and helped us to secure that saddened home, where eight young mourners round a mother weep a fond and dear loved father's sleep. take it from us--and with this word we end all sad allusion to our parted friend- that for a better purpose generous hearts ne'er prompted liberal hands to do their parts. you knew his power, his satire keen but fair, and the rich fancy, served by skill as rare. you did not know, except some friendly few, that he was earnest, gentle, patient, true. a better soldier doth life's battle lack, and he has died with harness on his back." [illustration: "result of animal magnetism." thackeray's marginal sketches, made when at school, in his school-books, etc. _back to p. 375._] [illustration: thackeray's marginal sketches, made when at school, inhis school-books, etc. _back to p. 375._] the last verse alludes to kate terry's approaching marriage:- "last, but not least, in your dear love and ours, there is a head we'd crown with all our flowers. our kindest thanks to her whose smallest grace is the bewitchment of her fair young face. our own kate terry comes, to show how much the truest art does with the lightest touch. make much of her while still before your eyes- a star may glide away to other skies." by this performance, a second which took place at manchester on the 29th of july, and the efforts of shirley brooks and the members of the committee, a large sum was raised. * * * * * the _punch_ volumes, prior to his withdrawal from its pages, are interspersed with numerous mirth-provoking drawings on wood by the late mr. thackeray. probably the best of these will be found in the "novels by eminent hands," in one of which (in amusing burlesque of _phiz's_ spirited title-page to "charles o'malley") we see the hero flying over the heads of the french army. charles lever was nervously sensitive to ridicule, and, although he laughed at and enjoyed the clever _jeux d'esprit_ in which "phil fogarty," "harry jolly-cur," "harry rollicker," etc., put in their respective appearances, he declared nevertheless, with evident vexation, that he himself might just as well retire from business altogether. this, indeed, he proceeded to do; and although we miss from that time the rattling heroes of the frank webber and charles o'malley school, we are indebted to thackeray for the striking proof which charles lever was thus enabled to afford us of the versatility of a genius which enabled him to change front and alter his style with manifest advantage to his literary reputation. the fact of his waiting upon dickens at his chambers in furnival's inn "with two or three drawings in his hand, which strange to say he did not find suitable" for "pickwick," has been told so often that there is no occasion for repeating it again; but the circumstances under which he seems to have sought the interview not being, so far as we know, stated anywhere, we shall now proceed to relate them. thackeray was in london when seymour shot himself in 1836. the death of the latter caused a vacancy in the post of illustrator to "figaro in london," which at that time seymour was illustrating as well as "pickwick," and such vacancy was supplied by thackeray, who, i think, continued to illustrate it until the paper died a natural death. his designs for "figaro in london" were drawn in pen and ink on paper, and transferred to the wood by the engravers, messrs. branstone and wright, and the remuneration he received for them was very trifling, at most a few shillings each. it was probably this circumstance which put into his head the idea of illustrating "pickwick." from what we know of the graphic abilities of thackeray and the fastidious requirements of dickens, we may readily understand why the post rendered vacant by seymour's suicide was given to an abler artist. we wish that from a work dealing with comic art in the nineteenth century the name of mr. thackeray might be omitted; for no notice of him, however short, would be just or complete which failed to refer to his book illustrations. to do this we must separate thackeray the artist from thackeray the man of letters. regarding him simply in the character of illustrator of the novels of w. m. thackeray, we are bound in justice to the memory of that great and sterling humourist, to say that he has undertaken a task which is manifestly beyond his powers. while thackeray with his _pen_ could most effectively describe a fascinating woman, like becky sharp, the illusion vanishes the moment his artist essays to draw her portrait with his pencil. while thackeray's women are pretty and fascinating, well dressed and accomplished, the artist's women on the contrary are hideous; their waists commence somewhere in the region of their knees; and their clothes look as if they had been piled on their back with a pitchfork. the same remarks apply to the men; while the originals are witty or clever, handsome or well-dressed, those presented to us by the artist are destitute of calf, and their limbs so curiously constructed that the free use of them as nature intended would be a matter of utter impossibility. those defects are the more noticeable because the artist has shown in his admirable essays on george cruikshank and john leech how thoroughly he was alive to the possession of artistic genius in others. the admiration which we have for thackeray the man of letters, and the way in which we have already expressed that admiration, render it unlikely that the drift of these remarks will be misunderstood. while rejoicing that the admirable tales and satires of the humourist are uninjured by illustrations which are altogether unworthy of them, we venture to suggest how much better the result might have been had the latter been entrusted, as in the case of "the newcomes," to other hands, and the artist contented himself with the initial letters and designs on wood with which his writings are pleasantly interspersed. we have seen it somewhere stated (we think in the volume entitled "thackerayana") that the author's rapid facility of sketching was the one great impediment to his attainment of excellence in illustrative art. some of his designs indeed bear on their face evidence of the rapidity with which they were thrown off; but no satisfactory explanation appears to be possible of his contempt for what mr. hodder has termed the "practical laws which regulate the academic exercise of the pictorial art," and his apparent ignorance of the art of balancing his figures so as to enable them to stand upright, to walk straight, or to move their limbs with the grace and freedom assigned to them by nature. one of the designs to "the virginians" shows a horseman, who in the letterpress is described as crossing a bridge at full gallop, whereas in the picture both man and horse will inevitably leap over the parapet into the river below. nothing could possibly avert the catastrophe, and the effect thus produced is due, not to the manifest carelessness and haste with which the sketch is thrown off, but to a palpable defect in the artistic powers of the designer himself. yet in the face of defects so patent and so palpable we have found it gravely stated, "the world which is loth to admit high excellence in more than one direction, has never fitly recognised _thackeray's great gift as a comic draftsman_. here [_i.e._ in a work edited by his daughter] he will be found advantageously represented; inferior, it is true to the unjustly neglected hablot browne ('phiz'), _but often equalling if not sometimes surpassing the greatly over-rated john leech_." [illustration: "gruffanuff." "prince bulbo seized by the guards." "monks of the severest order of flagellants." sketches by thackeray from his "rose and the ring." _back to p. 378._] ay! "the world _is_ loth to admit high excellence in more than one direction," and experience has taught it that few men, however gifted, are capable of exercising two different arts with an equal measure of success. thackeray was both a genius and an artist, but the world has long recognised the fact that the former manifested itself only when he laid down the pencil and took up the pen. if called on to _prove_ his incapacity to illustrate his own work, we will refer the reader to his admirable novel of "vanity fair." the time selected for the story is the early part of the present century; and on the plea that he had "not the heart to disfigure his heroes and heroines" by the correct but "hideous" costumes of the period, thackeray has actually habited these men and women of 1815 in the dress of 1848! cruikshank, leech, "phiz," or doyle, it is unnecessary to say, would have been guiltless of such an absurdity; and the difficulty in which the gifted author found himself, and the confession of his inability to cope with it, afford the clearest possible evidence of his utter incapacity to illustrate the story itself. if any further proof be wanted, look at the designs themselves. captain dobbin would be laughed out of any european military service; such a guardsman as rawdon crawley could find no place in her majesty's guards; "jemima" (at p. 7), "miss sharp in the schoolroom" (p. 80), the children waiting on miss crawley (p. 89), the figures in the fencing scene (p. 207), "the family party at brighton," "gloriana" trying her fascinations on the major, "jos" (at p. 569), and "becky's second appearance as clytemnestra," without meaning to be so, are caricatures pure and simple; and yet these are admirable compared with the designs to "the virginians," which may safely be reckoned amongst the worst in the entire range of english illustrative art. contrast them with illustrations confessedly not up to the severe standard of excellence required by the art critic, but admirably adapted for their purpose, mr. doyle's etchings to "the newcomes," and remark the immeasurable superiority of the latter. [illustration: w. m. thackeray. "_the rose and the ring._" "angelica arrives just in time." _back to p. 379._] and yet, in justice to the great humourist of the nineteenth century, let us hear what another great writer has to say upon the very illustrations which seem to us to call for such severe animadversion. after telling us that thackeray studied drawing at paris, affecting especially bonnington (the young english artist who died in 1828), mr. anthony trollope goes on to say, "he never learned to draw,--perhaps never could have learned. that he was idle and did not do his best, we may take for granted. he was always idle, and only on some occasions, when the spirit moved him thoroughly, did he do his best even in after life. but with drawing--or rather without it--he did wonderfully well, even when he did his worst. he did illustrate his own books, and every one knows how incorrect were his delineations. but as illustrations they were excellent. how often have i wished that characters of my creating might be sketched as faultily, if with the same appreciation of the intended purpose. let any one look at the 'plates,' as they are called, in 'vanity fair,' and compare each with the scenes and the characters intended to be displayed, and then see whether the artist--if we may call him so--has not managed to convey in the picture the exact feeling which he has described in the text. i have a little sketch of his, in which a cannon-ball is supposed to have just carried off the head of an aide-de-camp,--messenger i had perhaps better say, lest i might affront military feelings,--who is kneeling on the field of battle and delivering a despatch to marlborough on horseback. the graceful ease with which the duke receives the message though the messenger's head be gone, and the soldierlike precision with which the headless hero finishes his last effort of military obedience, may not have been portrayed with well-drawn figures, but no finished illustration ever told its story better."[185] we read these remarks with profound astonishment, and can only ask in reply: if, as mr. trollope has admitted, thackeray "never learned to draw,--perhaps never could have learned," how he could manage "to convey" in any of his pictures "the exact feeling he has described in the text"?--how, in the face of the admitted incorrectness of "his delineations," he could be in any way fitted to illustrate a novel of such transcendent excellence as "vanity fair"? it has been assumed, without any sort of authority, that it was only when thackeray found he could not succeed as an artist that he turned to literature. the statement is altogether unwarranted. at or about the very time he was engaged in drawing the cuts for "figaro in london," he was--if we are to judge of the sketch of "the fraserians" in the "maclise portrait gallery," in which young thackeray may easily be recognised--writing for "fraser's magazine." be this, however, as it may, it seems tolerably certain that the rebuff he received from dickens had no hand in turning him into the path of letters, towards which his genius and unerring judgment alone most fortunately guided him. footnotes: [177] there is a scarce edition of the "bon gaultier ballads," which contains some unacknowledged tailpieces, etc., by kenny meadows; in all subsequent editions these are omitted--why, we know not. [178] so great was the scarcity of good engravers in 1880, that in september of that year the proprietors of the _graphic_ newspaper acknowledged the difficulty they experienced in obtaining the assistance of high-class engravers, and stated their intention to found a school of engraving on wood. specimens of a new style of illustration have lately come from america, which appear in illustrated serials; some are good, but the majority, notwithstanding the song of praise with which they were first received, are nothing less than _abominable_. [179] onwhyn's name occurs frequently in illustrative literature. he etched a set of designs for "pickwick" and "nicholas nickleby;" for mr. henry cockton's "george st. julian," and a translation of eugene sue's "mysteries of paris." he is well known as the illustrator of "valentine vox," "fanny the little milliner," and other works. some of his best designs will be found in mrs. trollope's "michael armstrong." he occasionally displays some ability, but his performances are very unequal. [180] see mr. alfred g. buss, in "notes and queries," april 24th, 1875. [181] a very clever and promising artist, who died early, of consumption. [182] as the _tomahawk_ appeared in 1867, it does not come within the scope of the present work. [183] a work produced by david bogue, in 1849, and illustrated by the celebrated french caricaturist, which professes to give sketches of "london life and character." allowing for the unfaithfulness of the portraits, which are wholly parisian, these designs possess unquestionable merit. the literary contributors were albert smith, shirley brooks, angus b. reach, oxenford, j. hannay, sterling coyne, and others. [184] afterwards married kate terry. [185] "thackeray," by anthony trollope, in "english men of letters," p. 7. chapter xviii. _contemporaries of john leech: richard doyle and john tenniel._ we gather from the article in "the month" which followed his death, and to which we have to acknowledge materials of which we have availed ourselves in the revision of the present chapter,[186] that richard doyle's first work was _the eglinton tournament, or the days of chivalry revived_, which was published when he was only fifteen years old. three years later he produced _a grand historical, allegorical, and classical procession_, a humorous pageant which the same authority tells us combined "a curious medley of men and women who played a prominent part on the world's stage, bringing out into good-humoured relief the characteristic peculiarities of each." apart from his talent, it was no doubt the fact of his being his father's son--the son of john doyle, the once famous and eminent hb--which first attracted the attention of the promoters of _punch_, and he was only nineteen when, in 1843, he was taken on the regular pictorial staff of that periodical. it was to the cheery, delightful pencil of richard doyle that the paper owed much of the popularity which it subsequently achieved. "it was from his father that he not only inherited his artistic talent, but received, and that almost exclusively, his artistic training." the writer in "the month" goes on to tell us that john doyle would not allow his son "to draw from models; his plan was to teach the boy to observe with watchful eye the leading features of the object before him, and then some little time after reproduce them from memory as nearly as he could.... he had no regular training in academy or school of art; he painted in the studio of no master save his father; and it is curious to see how his genius overleapt what would have been serious disadvantages to an ordinary man.... he attached himself to no school; he was not familiar, strange to say, with the masterpieces of foreign artists. he had never been in paris, or rome, or vienna." it will be well for the reader to bear this in mind, because doyle is one of the few book illustrators or etchers whom the professional art critic has condescended to notice, and it will enable him the better to understand and appreciate the soundness of his criticism. no one, we are told, owed less than richard doyle "did to those who had gone before him; and if this rendered his works less elaborate and conventional, it gave them a freshness and originality which might have been hampered if he had been forced into conformity with the accepted canons of the professional studio."[187] the writer of the article from which we have quoted would seem to have read what mr. hodder has told us respecting his friend kenny meadows, for the following is certainly not new to us: "he was not a self-taught artist, for he was trained by one who had a genius kin to his own, but he was an artist who had never forced himself into the observance of those mechanical rules and canons which to ordinary men are necessary to their correct painting (just as rules of grammar are necessary to correct writing), but hamper and trammel the man of genius, who has in himself the fount whence such rules proceed, and instinctively follows them in the spirit, though not in the letter. so far as they will forward the end he has in view, and no farther."[188] it will be seen by the above that the kindly writer gives doyle credit for _genius_, and we who are strictly impartial will cheerfully admit that if he had not positive genius,--which we somewhat doubt,--he was certainly one of the most genial and graceful of comic designers. it was _punch's_ practice during the earlier years of his career to produce a new cover with each succeeding volume.[189] richard doyle, however, signalized his accession by the contribution of a wrapper which was considered too good to be thrown aside at the expiration of a few months. the well known and admirable design was stereotyped, and still forms, with certain modifications, the permanent cover of _punch's_ weekly series. specially worthy of note amongst his _punch_ designs may be mentioned _the napoleon of peace_ (louis philippe), and _the land of liberty_, "recommended to the consideration of brother jonathan." in the latter, allusion is made to the mexican war, rifle duelling and rowdyism, repudiation, lynch law, and the then but no longer "peculiar institution." these will be found in the thirteenth volume, with a design of great excellence, _punch's vision at stratford-on-avon_, supposed to occur in the house of shakespeare. a new english (?) party had been growing up and gradually forcing itself into english politics. this was the peace-at-any-price party, the members of which, oblivious of the fact that the best preservative of peace is to be found in a perpetual state of readiness for war, erased from their minds all remembrance of the position won for the nation by our glorious army and navy, and ruled that national honour and national obligations must now be considered subordinate to the interests of peace, trade, and commerce. conspicuous among these men of the new school was mr. cobden, an able, earnest, but (so far as our foreign policy was concerned) thoroughly mistaken enthusiast. he figures as "peace" in doyle's cartoon of _john bull between peace and war_ (_i.e._ the duke of wellington). in _gentlemen, make your game while the ball is rolling_ (1848), the best cartoon ever designed by richard doyle, the various european monarchs are engaged at _roulette_ under the auspices of _punch_ himself. the ball is the world, and the edges of the board are respectively inscribed, "reform," "progress," "republicanism," "equality," "constitutional government." "anarchy," and "liberalism." bomba of naples having staked a large sum, he and other monarchs follow the erratic movements of the ball with absorbing attention. in the background may be seen the then queen of spain and louis philippe, who, having staked their all and lost, are just leaving the apartment. another, following up the same subject, is the political sea serpent of "revolution" suddenly appearing above the surface of the sea and upsetting, one after another, the cockle-shell boats in which the various european sovereigns are endeavouring to get to shore. the writer in the catholic "month" points out the fact that "this picture was drawn in the earlier part of the year, before the roman revolution, and the holy father was still riding safely unharmed by the monster which is working havoc in france and germany, and austria and spain." in _the citizen of the world_ we find a capital skit upon the "admirable crichton" delusion which made my lord brougham fancy himself in every character he chose to assume, or on any subject to which he condescended to give his attention, _facile princeps_. here we find him figuring in turn as an english lord chancellor, a german student, a french subject, a french national guard, an american citizen, a bedouin arab, a carmelite monk, a chinese mandarin, an osmanli, a red indian, a scottish shepherd, and by the unmistakable nose and self-complacent smirk on his countenance, it is clear that in each and every character henry lord brougham feels himself thoroughly at home. _the sleeping beauty_ is a clever composition. "beauty," by the way, is lord john russell, and amongst the sleeping attendants may be recognised the duke of wellington, benjamin disraeli, colonel sibthorpe, and lord william bentinck; while the ever indispensable brougham of course puts in an appearance, this time in the character of a jester. richard doyle, as we have seen, was young when he joined the ranks of the _punch_ staff. young men are apt to "dream dreams," and one of richard doyle's was in truth a charming one. in _ireland: a dream of the future_, he shows us our queen gazing into the depths of an irish lake, wherein she beholds prosperous towns, smiling fields, a contented peasantry, flourishing homesteads, a land flowing with milk and honey. on the opposite bank sit in dreary solitude a starving cottier and his family. this was richard doyle's dream in 1849. he did not live to wake to the reality of 1884: half a dozen "gladstone" bags filled with american dynamite, the property of subjects of a republic who allows her mongrel murderers to plot the deaths of thousands of the people of a friendly nation without lifting a hand or a finger to restrain them. a home government too weak to pass a law which would stop these outrages by hanging these foreign miscreants as high as haman. these formed no part of course of the young artist's dream. he delighted in sunshine. the year 1850 was memorable for the repeal of the window tax, one of the most extraordinary impositions which ever crossed the inventive mind of a chancellor of the exchequer. "hollo! old fellow," says a workman to his family, hailing the unwonted appearance of the sunbeams in their dark and dreary apartment, "hollo! old fellow; we're _glad_ to see you here." among the numerous illustrations which doyle designed for _punch_, probably the most original were the series entitled "manners and customs of ye englishe," which, under the title of "bird's-eye views of english society," he afterwards continued in the _cornhill magazine_ in a more elaborate form. the "manners and customs" form a curious record of the doings of the period, and remind us of "sam cowell" and the cider cellars, the jenny lind mania, julien and his famous band, astleys, the derby day, and many of the forgotten scenes and follies in which some of us may have mingled in days gone by. they are very clever so far as they go; but none of them, as the writer in "the month" would have us believe, are at all "worthy of" or in any way remind us of "hogarth" (why are all the writers on _comic_ art immediately reminded of hogarth?). "each face in one of these pictures--_a prospecte of exeter hall, showynge a christian gentleman denouncynge ye pope_," says the same writer--"deserves a careful study, and tells the tale of bigotry, prejudice, and gaping credulity which has made exeter hall a bye-word among men." although we agree with the writer on this subject, we would at the same time take leave to remind him that the catholics are singularly fortunate in england compared with the religious freedom or tolerance enjoyed by protestants in catholic countries--in italy for instance, or in spain. as for "bigotry," let him look only at catholic france during the reign of priestcraft there, where an actor of the position of talma, writing with reference to a proposed monument to his english brother, john kemble, could add by way of shameful contrast, "je serai trop heureux _ici_ si les pretres _me_ laissent _une tombe dans mon jardin_!" when we first completed this chapter, and while the artist was yet living, we deemed it better to say as little as possible in reference to the conscientious motives which induced him to throw up his lucrative position on _punch_, and with it the whole of his splendid prospects in comic art; and this course we had decided to follow after richard doyle had been removed from us by death. as, however, the catholic organ has entered fully into the subject, not only is every cause for further reticence removed, but by being placed in a position to understand causes and motives, we are enabled to do justice to the memory of this most generous and unselfish of men. the catholics have cause to feel satisfied with the results of what the benighted protestants of england are apt to term the "papal aggression." the conduct of the latter in relation to this portentous event is thus described by "the month":--"in 1850 the catholic hierarchy was established in england, and the protestant public raved and stormed and talked bigoted nonsense without end respecting this new invasion. parliament passed the futile and obsolete ecclesiastical titles bill, and _punch_ took up the popular cry. cardinal wiseman was represented as 'tree'd' by the papal bull, and comic verses and personal ridicule was lavished on the pope, the new hierarchy, and catholics generally. "doyle remonstrated, but received answer that, as he had been allowed to turn exeter hall and its doings into ridicule, it was only fair that his own opinions should have their turn. but those who used this argument little knew, and could scarcely be expected to know, the difference between the devotion of supernatural faith and the bigotry of a self-chosen creed. doyle was anything but narrow or over-scrupulous. it was not any of the cartoons which was the immediate occasion of the step that he took, nor was it (as some of the notices of him have intimated) any mere personal attachment to cardinal wiseman. 'i don't mind,' he said, 'as long as you keep to the political and personal side of the matter, but _doctrines_ you must not attack.' douglas jerrold and thackeray were not likely to appreciate this reversal of the general sentiment, which resents personal attack above all else. 'look at the _times_,' they argued; 'its language has been most violent, but the catholic writers on its staff do not for that reason resign. they understand, and the world at large understands, that the individual contributor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by other contributors in articles with which he has nothing to do.' 'that is very well in the _times_,' was doyle's answer, 'but not in _punch_. for the _times_ is a monarchy [we believe these were his very words], whereas _punch_ is a republic.' so, when a week or so later an article, attributed to jerrold himself, jeeringly advised the pope to 'feed his flock on the wafers of the vatican,' it was too much for doyle. dignified protest was not sufficient now. to be any longer identified with a paper which could use such language was intolerable to the faithful soul. to ply his skilful fingers and busy inventive brain in behalf of those who scoffed at the blessed sacrament of the altar was out of the question. his connection with _punch_ must cease. but is he bound in conscience to throw away a good income and congenial work, because there were expressed opinions different from his own in a paper in which, republic though it was, solidarity was scarcely possible? who would expect that in a comic journal each and all of the contributors should agree with each and every sentiment expressed? never mind; whatever richard doyle might have been strictly bound to do, generosity at least urged him to make the sacrifice--the sacrifice of his career, of his future success it may be. at least he could show that catholic belief was no empty superstition, no set of mere traditional observances, which sat lightly on the man of culture, even if in his heart he accepted them at all. so he wrote to resign his connection with _punch_, stating the reasons plainly and simply. this was in 1850, after he had been contributing for more than six years. now he must simply start afresh, in consequence of what his protestant friends regarded as an ecclesiastical crotchet. he must turn aside from the path of worldly success; he must give up all for conscience' sake. but as the _daily telegraph_ remarks, in an article respecting him that does it honour, 'he made a wise and prudent choice. the loss was ours, not his; and, apart from the claims of his genius to admiration, such conduct at the critical moment of a career will never cease to command respect.'" passing by (as we may afford to do) the assertion that we protestants "raved and stormed and talked bigoted nonsense without end respecting this new invasion," and the somewhat unnecessary boast that lord john russell's ecclesiastical titles bill has been suffered to become a "futile and obsolete" measure, we would recognise the value of the writer's remarks as establishing in the clearest possible manner the perfect honesty and unselfishness of the motives which induced the artist to resign his connection with _punch_, and to throw up the chances of an assured and brilliant future. we think however, that the value of his statement does not end here. we may here acknowledge that, while admitting the perfect purity and disinterestedness of doyle's motives, we ourselves never thoroughly understood them until we had read the article from which we have quoted. we had taken into consideration the fact that when he took this decided step he was but twenty-five years of age, and we suspected (let us honestly own it) that other influences might have been at work independent of the artist himself, of which we as protestants must always remain ignorant. there are grounds on which protestant and catholic writers may meet one another even in connection with religious questions; and although a "bigoted" protestant, i am glad to admit that the writer's clear and lucid statement has removed an impression that was absolutely without foundation. with respect, however, to the ultimate consequences of this decisive step, the catholic writer and ourselves are wholly at variance. "we are inclined to believe," continues the former, "that apart from the respect he earned by his noble sacrifice, mr. doyle achieved a higher reputation in consequence of his retirement from comic journalism, than if he had continued to employ his pencil in its services all his life through. it is true that his name was not, towards the end of his life, so familiar to the popular mind of england as was that of john leech at the end of his career, and as that of du maurier at the present time, but the work which he did in his later life was more lasting and more world-wide. _punch_ is an english periodical; you must be an englishman to understand the allusions. the humour is essentially and almost exclusively english; it would never attain any great popularity in other english-speaking nations, in spite of its undoubted claim to be the first comic journal in the world. if doyle had confined himself to the pages of _punch_, or directed his energies mainly to the weekly issue of some design in its numerous columns, the limnings of his pencil would scarcely be known outside of england, whereas all over the continent of america, and in the english colonies, the old colonel newcome, and the marquis of farintosh, lady kew, and trotty veck meet us with their familiar faces as we turn over the transatlantic editions of thackeray and dickens, not to mention the exquisite paintings, of which we shall have more to say presently, exhibited in the grosvenor gallery, and to be found in many a country mansion as a lasting memorial of dicky doyle." does the writer seriously mean to tell us that doyle could not illustrate thackeray and dickens at the same time and side by side with his illustrations for _punch_ or any other serial of a satirical character? granted that _punch_ is a periodical appealing to english tastes and sympathies, yet it was through the introduction obtained by means of its pages that the artist probably obtained employment upon the very works to which the writer refers, and upon which (as he claims) his reputation will rest. nor do we, nor can we, admit that, out of the circle of his coreligionists, or the still narrower circle of educated unbiassed minds, doyle reaped much respect by the "noble sacrifice" of which the writer speaks. english prejudice looks with special coldness on conscientious motives it does not understand, and with which it can have but little sympathy. doyle was a man of purer motives and finer sympathies than george cruikshank; but the same insular prejudice which conduced to the ruin of george cruikshank, wrecked the future prospects of an artist almost as original in some respects as the more brilliant george. from the moment that doyle retired from _punch_, english fanaticism and english prejudice persisted in regarding him as a supporter of the "papal aggression," and he permanently lost from that moment the ground which his talent and his reputation had so honourably won for him. from the moment he deemed it his duty to retire from the circle of literary and artistic wits and humourists with whom he was then associated, he took himself practically out of the range of comic art, and the public ceased to trouble itself about him, although it had lost (in the expressive language of mr. thackeray) "the graceful pencil, the harmless wit, the charming fancy," of one of the most genial and promising of english graphic satirists of the modern time. before he left _punch_ he had executed for the periodical upwards of five hundred illustrations, of which nearly eighty are cartoons. but richard doyle manifested the honesty of purpose which was a part of his noble nature by other sacrifices than his retirement from _punch_. from the friendly hand which has strewn flowers upon his grave, we learn that at one time he was offered a handsome income to draw for a periodical started some years ago, but declined the engagement because he disapproved of the principles of those by whom it was conducted. "at another he had a similar offer made him by a distinguished statesman on behalf of a political journal, in which the work would have been light and the remuneration excellent." he was offered his own terms to illustrate an edition of swift's humorous works; but here too he refused, because he did not admire the morality of the witty dean of st patrick's. "in these and other cases like them, religion, virtue, high principle, carried the day against interests which would have proved too much for any but a man of doyle's noble and lofty character." his biographer points out the fact that all this while he had to look to his pencil for bread, and denies the statement, made by one of the leading newspapers at the time of his death, that during the latter part of his life he was independent of his profession. in one set of illustrations, now very scarce and little known, doyle has shown that he possessed eminent powers as a caricaturist. we have a set of lithographs before us, entitled, "rejected cartoons," a sort of pictorial "rejected addresses," supposed to be intended for the then new houses of parliament, some of them caricatures of the works of living artists--maclise, pugin, etc., whose styles are closely imitated and most amusingly burlesqued. some of them are irresistibly droll, such as king alfred sending the danes into a profound slumber with the sleepy notes of his harp; "canute reproving the flattery of his courtiers;" the faces of king john and his barons at the signing of magna charta; perkin warbeck in the stocks; the meeting of francis and harry in the field of the cloth of gold, etc. few people with whom the touch of richard doyle is perfectly familiar would recognise his hand in these amazing and amusing cartoons. we met with them at a bookstall twenty years ago, unconscious until lately that they were due to his pencil. the once celebrated "adventures of brown, jones, and robinson" would alone secure for this artist an eminent position amongst the number of english comic designers. graphically relating the experiences of the most ordinary class of continental tourists, they cannot fail to bring to the recollection even of the most commonplace traveller some of the experiences which may have actually happened to himself. doyle of course enlarges on these experiences as his fancy and imagination suggest; but after all, there is little which might not have actually befallen any ordinary english travellers such as this unlucky trio. the episode of "jones's portmanteau undergoing the ordeal of search" at cologne; the scene at the "speise-saal" hotel; the jewish "quarter of the city of frankfort, and what they saw there"; the gambling scene at baden: the descent of the st. gothard; the academia at venice; will appeal to the actual experiences of nearly every continental tourist; and notwithstanding its extravagant drollery, little browne's adventure at verona is sufficiently possible to remind one of personal vicissitudes encountered off the track or on the frontiers, which might almost match the experiences of this personally uninteresting little sketcher. [illustration: richard doyle. "_brown, jones & robinson_," 1855. robinson (_solo_): "i stood in venice--," etc. jones and brown, having heard something like it before, have walked on a little way. _face p. 392._] besides _punch_, mr. doyle's hand will be found in the following:--"the fairy ring," leigh hunt's "jar of honey," professor ruskin's "king of the golden river," montalba's "fairy tales from all nations," "jack and the giants," "the cornhill magazine," "pictures from the elf world," "the bon gaultier ballads," thackeray's "rebecca and rowena," charles dickens's "battle of life," "the family joe miller," mr. tom hughes' "scouring of the white horse," "pictures of extra articles and visitors to the exhibition," laurence oliphant's "piccadilly," "puck on pegasus," planche's "old fairy tales," à beckett's "almanack of the month," "london society," and mr. thackeray's "newcomes." writing of this last, mr. hamerton says, "i never regretted the hard necessity which forbids an art critic to shut his eyes to artistic shortcomings more heartily than i do now in speaking of richard doyle. considered as commentaries on human character, his etchings are so full of wit and intelligence, so bright with playful satire and manly relish of life, that i scarcely know how to write sentences with a touch at once light enough and keen enough to describe them";[190] and then the critic goes on to expose the glaring faults which characterize mr. doyle's performances from a purely artistic point of view, his feeble attempts of light, his undeveloped "sense of the nature of material," and his absence of imitative study. it is somewhat singular that whilst mr. hamerton is silent on the subject of the book etchings of leech and phiz, he should have selected for criticism those of doyle, who never intended to claim for these sketches the dignity of _etchings_. the critic, however, is not only just, but remarkably fair. with reference to the illustrations to the "newcomes," he acknowledges "their all but inestimable dramatic value." "illustrations to imaginative literature," he continues, "are too frequently an intrusion and an impertinence, but these really added to our enjoyment of a great literary masterpiece, and doyle's conception of the colonel, of honeyman, of lady kew, is accepted at once as authentic portraiture. in ethel he was less happy, which was a misfortune, as she was the heroine of the book; but many of the minor characters were successes of the most striking and indisputable kind." further on, he says of doyle's etching, _a student of the old masters_,--"colonel newcome is sitting in the national gallery, trying to see the merits of the old masters. observe the enormous exaggeration of aërial perspective resorted to in order to detach the figure of the colonel. the people behind him must be several miles away; the floor of the room, if judged by aërial perspective only, is as broad as the lake of lucerne." the criticism, though exaggerated, is not unfair or unjust; but the people are certainly not miles away. doyle has perpetuated a mistake common with many english artists, who seem to think, as hazlitt expresses it, that, "if they only leave out the subordinate parts, they are sure of the general result."[191] doyle's intention to give us a portrait of colonel newcome _only_ has prompted him to treat the subordinates as almost non-existent. his work, however, was never intended to be faultless; it carries out his own intention most thoroughly and admirably, and in a manner very far superior to anything which thackeray himself could have done. the closing scenes in the life of this most amiable and unselfish of artists we give in the singularly graceful words of his catholic biographer: "in the autumn of last year (1883), mr. doyle spent some time in north devon, and while there painted a picture of lynton churchyard. the view is taken at a distance of some ten or fifteen yards to the south-west of the church, and is looking in an easterly direction. in front of the picture one sees far down below the blue waters of the bristol channel, while behind the picturesque little church nestles among the trees. in the churchyard an old man is mowing down the long grass amid the graves, while two or three little children scatter flowers on one of them. this picture was unfinished at the time of his death. a strange coincidence that he should have chosen such a scene for his last picture, when, as far as man can judge, he had no sort of reason for thinking that death was so near; stranger still, that on his return home he chose for the sketch a black frame, as if to clothe it in the garb of mourning for its maker. there it remains on his easel, unfinished still, as if to tell of one cut off so suddenly, not indeed in the summer of life, but in a mellow autumn, which seemed to give promise of many years of good work still to be done. but the time had come when the little sprites who peopled his dreams of earth, were to be exchanged for the angel forms who were to welcome the faithful servant to his reward in heaven. on the 10th of december, as he was preparing to return from the athenæum club, mr. doyle was struck down by apoplexy. an ambulance was procured, and he was carried home. he never regained the power of speech, and it is doubtful whether he was ever again conscious, though the priest who anointed him for his journey from thence to heaven thought that he detected some traces of a joyful acquiescence in the rite. the next morning, in the home where the last years had been spent in quiet peaceful pursuit of the art he passionately loved, his simple, innocent, loyal soul passed away from earth to heaven." * * * * * it will be admitted that mr. tenniel joined the ranks of the graphic satirists at the commencement of troublous times. the nations of europe, with the exception of england, whose slumbers still remained unbroken, were all more or less awake. prussia, insufficiently avenged (as she herself considered) at waterloo for the unendurable humiliations which napoleon had heaped upon her after jena, had been unostentatiously preparing for another deadly struggle with france, and perfecting the most admirable military machinery of modern times. russia, under nicholas, a thorough soldier in theory, had an army so elaborately over-drilled that when the time came it was found practically useless for the purposes of actual warfare. the sleep of england was suddenly awakened by the war with russia, and afterwards by the revolt of her indian mercenaries. the russian was to be followed by a war between france and austria; the enfranchisement of italy from the alps to the adriatic; the fratricidal struggle between prussia and austria, and the rending asunder within six weeks of the famous germanic confederation of the rhine. it is a somewhat singular coincidence that immediately before the commencement of these troubles the great duke of wellington died, an event commemorated by two remarkable cartoons of tenniel, the first of which is entitled _september_ xiv. _mdccclii._ (the day of the great soldier's death), and the other, _the duke's bequest--for the most worthy_. the year 1853 opened the eyes of those of us who fancied that war was a thing of the past, and that the reign of universal peace had begun. not only was turkey at war with russia, but had given her a tremendous thrashing at oltenitza, an event alluded to in the artist's cartoon of _a bear with a sore head_. one of the best of his satires of the same year depicts aberdeen as he appeared in _the unpopular act of the courier of st. petersburg_, wherein the premier attempts the risky feat of driving a team of unmanageable horses. the features of the nervous athlete betray much anxiety; the two fiery leaders, russia and turkey, prove wholly beyond his control; while austria, unsettled by their bad example, is much disposed to be troublesome. matters went from bad to worse in 1854. england was not only thoroughly aroused but angry, not only with her enemies, but with the foolish people who had preached peace to her when there was no peace; and, in _what it has come to_, we find my lord aberdeen vainly trying to hold in the british lion, whose ire has been roused by the russian bear, who is seen scampering off in the distance. away goes the lion, with his tail as stiff as a poker and every hair of his mane erect, dragging after him the frightened premier, who exclaims, in the extremity of his terror, that he can hold him no longer and is bound "to let him go." the russian war showed our singular unreadiness for warfare. just at its close we had provided ourselves with a fleet of vessels of light draught capable of floating in the shallows which surrounded the russian fortifications, which, had they been ready at the time they were wanted, might have proved of incalculable service. britannia disconsolately eyes these gun-boats from the summit of her cliffs. "ah!" she sighs, "if you'd been only hatched a year ago, what might have come out of your shells!" close upon the heels of the russian war followed the mutiny of our indian levies. so closely did one event follow the other, that those who have watched and learnt with reason to distrust the odious and insidious policy of russia towards this country, considered the coincidence a more than singular one. the franco-austrian war came next; and the war wave passed onwards to america, where the northern and southern states were speedily engaged in fratricidal and deadly strife. peace, driven from land to land, found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and the artist shows her to us, seated disconsolately pondering over these untoward matters and her own unhappy condition on the breech of a garrison gun. _punch's_ low estimate of the character and abilities of the emperor louis is patent throughout those of tenniel's satires in which he puts in an appearance. in 1853 he takes us to an _international poultry show_ (in obvious reference to the boulogne catastrophe) where, amid a variety of eagles--the american eagle, the prussian eagle--the double-headed austrian and russian eagles--we find a wretched nondescript, half eagle half barn-door fowl, labelled the "french eagle." victoria (a royal visitor) remarks to her astonished companion, "we have nothing of _that_ sort, mr. punch; but should there be a _lion_ show, we can send a specimen!!" the approaching marriage of the french emperor is alluded to in the cartoon of _the eagle in love_, in which the present ex-empress (then comtesse de teba), whose likeness by the way is far from happy, is represented as cutting his talons. the air of mystery which was a part of his character, and was not so well understood in those days as it afterwards came to be, not unnaturally misled mr. tenniel, for in his satire, _playing with edged tools_, we behold him studying (of all things in the world) a model of the guillotine, an instrument of terror to which those of the bonaparte family who profess to be guided by the policy of the great napoleon, must always entertain the greatest possible aversion. _punch_ not only looked upon the third napoleon as a treacherous man, but also as a dangerous and inconvenient neighbour. in the cartoon labelled, _an unpleasant neighbour_ (1859), we see him in the act of placing outside his firework shop a flaming advertisement, whereon we read in the largest possible type, "blaze of triumph! roman candles!--italian fire!"[192] his neighbour, john bull, proprietor of "the roast beef house" next door, rushes out in a very excited state, "here have i got," says he, "to pay double insurance, all along of _your_ confounded fireworks!" the next cartoon shows us louis, _alias_ "monsieur walker," after he has closed his establishment and chalked up, "the business to be disposed of," while incredulous john places his finger to his nose as louis assures him, "ah, friend johnny! i close my shop entirely to please _you_!" in _the congress quadrille_, louis vainly essays to make himself agreeable to miss britannia (a good example of the artist's handsome women)--"voulez-vous danser, mad'moiselle?" says louis. britannia, however, having been his partner on more than one memorable occasion, had had quite enough of him and his peculiar style of dancing. "thanks,--no!" she languidly replies, thinking doubtless of her experiences of the russian quadrille--of the chinese country dance, etc., etc. "i'm not sure of the figure--and _know nothing of the finale_." mr. tenniel's art training before he joined the _punch_ staff, combined with his undoubted genius, renders him unquestionably one of the most versatile of modern designers. his satire is something quite apart from his caricature, and the former is characterized by a strong dramatic element particularly noticeable in serious illustrations, such as his designs to "the pythagorean," in the second volume of "once a week." in caricature he resumes in a measure the manner of the older caricaturists, without retaining a trace of their vulgarity, and a good example will be found in his cartoon of _what nicholas heard in the shell_ (1854), in which the features and salient points of the figure are intensely overdrawn. his caricature pure and simple seems to us always inferior to his satirical power; as fine examples of the latter we may mention: _the british lion smells a rat_ (an angry lion sniffing at a door, in allusion to the conference which followed the fall of sebastopol); _the british lion's vengeance on the bengal tiger_, which chronicles the ghastly massacre of cawnpore; _bright the peace maker_ (1860), in which _punch_ testifies his indignation at the manner in which mr. bright endeavoured to create a popular feeling against the house of lords; _poland's chain shot_ (1863), a stirring and powerful composition, wherein poland, gallantly struggling once more for freedom, breaks her chains and fiercely rams them into a cannon; _humble pie at the foreign office_ (1863), and _teucer assailed by hector is protected by the shield of ajax_ (1864), in which lord john russell is the subject of satire; and _the false start_ and _out of the race_ (the same year), in the first of which palmerston endeavours to restrain the leaning of gladstone towards democracy, the last showing the result of his inattention to the starter's warning. in all these and a host of other admirable satires, the superior art training of mr. tenniel is seconded by his strong dramatic power, and above all by his unquestionable _genius_. it would be a poor compliment to him to deny that he had his failings--which indeed of the admirable satirists who preceded him had not? his failings, when they do occur, are perhaps more noticeable on account of his style and the mode in which he frequently drapes his figures. we have heard it objected to him, for instance, that the beauty of his female figures is occasionally marred by the somewhat disproportionate size of their feet, and this charge seems to us sustainable. mr. tenniel displays rare excellence in the drawing of animals--an excellence peculiarly noteworthy in such cartoons as _the british lion smells a rat_, and _the british lion's vengeance on the bengal tiger_. embracing a period of only fourteen years, from 1851 to 1864, during which time he worked side by side with his friend and colleague, john leech, on the pages of _punch_, our notice of the cartoons of john tenniel must necessarily be short. during the last three years of his life, when, as we have seen, the strength of the artist who had been on the pictorial staff from the commencement had been gradually failing, the execution of the weekly cartoons had fallen almost entirely upon mr. tenniel. as fellow-labourers, constantly associated on the same periodical, we are enabled to compare their individual merits. the conclusion we have arrived at is as follows: that as a political _satirist_, tenniel is the best of the two; while as a delineator of english habits, manners, eccentricities, and peculiarities, leech finds no equal. after 1864, when the artistic friendship and partnership (so to speak) of these gifted men was dissolved by the untimely death of john leech, it would be beyond the declared scope and purpose of this work to follow mr. tenniel further. unlike the caricaturists who preceded him, many of whom relied on humour, more or less forced, for the success of their productions, the cartoons of john tenniel are oftentimes distinguished by a gravity and sternness of purpose which, combined with their artistic excellence, appeals forcibly to the imagination. unfortunately, as in the case of those of john leech, these truly admirable examples of nineteenth century satire, apart from the _punch_ volumes themselves--owing to the material on which they are impressed and the process to which the original drawings are subjected--are practically valueless by the side of an indifferent caricature torn from the scurrilous and worthless pages of "the scourge" or "the meteor." to the persons who charge this artist with want of humour, his cartoon of _britannia discovering the source of the nile_--probably the most comical picture in the whole of the _punch_ volumes--will afford the most conclusive answer, as will also the quaint and mirth-provoking little pictures which he designed for "alice in wonderland," its sequel, "through the looking-glass," and the 1864 edition of the "ingoldsby legends." one of these last, by the way, so closely resembles a scarce design of john leech's in the "new monthly," that the coincidence will strike any one who has an opportunity of comparing the two together. during the fourteen years that mr. tenniel was a fellow-worker with the late john leech, he contributed to the pages of _punch_ about 1,400 designs, of which upwards of 400 are cartoons. we believe we are correct in stating that all these illustrations, and his subsequent and contemporary designs, were drawn at once upon the wood block, not a single preliminary sketch having been made. * * * * * here, in accordance with the plan which we designed when we sat down to write this work, we bring our labours to a close. if we have omitted all mention of two very excellent and talented artists, messrs. charles keene and george du maurier, it is not from any lack of appreciation, but because one of them at least began his labours just about the period when those of john leech were drawing to a close, while the reputation of both were made _after_ their distinguished contemporary was laid to his rest. the merits of both these able men and of those now following after them must be left to be dealt with by another chronicler. although, as we remarked in our opening chapter, the wood engraver has rung the knell of english caricature, with such clever men as colonel seccombe, mr. proctor, mr. randolph caldicott, mr. f. barnard, the present george cruikshank, mr. chasemore, and others whose names do not at present occur to us, there is happily no prospect of a decline in the art of english graphic satire. footnotes: [186] the present chapter was written before the artist's death; but i have to acknowledge the great assistance i have derived in its _revision_ from the authority indicated. [187] _the month, a catholic magazine_, no. 237 (march, 1884), p 315. [188] _ibid._, page 317. [189] one of these (and a very effective one) was the work of the present sir john gilbert. [190] hamerton's "etching and etchers." [191] william hazlitt on "the fine arts," p. 51. [192] an excellent burlesque of the emperor's theatrical declarations. appendices. appendix i. _some illustrative work of isaac robert cruikshank._ coloured frontispiece to the "age of intellect; or, clerical show folk and wonderful lay folk," by francis moore, physician. 1819. "lessons of thrift, published for the general benefit, by a member of the save-all club," eleven coloured full-page etchings. 1820. "the total eclipse, a grand politico-astronomical phenomenon." (dolby, strand.) 1820. "a peep at the p. c. n.; or, boiled mutton with caper sauce at the temple of joss." (effingham wilson.) 1820. "the men in the moon; or, the devil to pay." (dean & munday.) 1820. [_with his brother george._] designs to nightingale's "memoirs of queen caroline." (j. robins.) 1820. "radical chiefs." one caricature illustration. 1821. "the royal game of chess." 1821. "the political all-my-knack for the year of our lord 1821." "the queen and magna charta; or, the thing that john signed." (dolby, strand.) 1821. "tales of the cordelier metamorphosed." 1821. [_with his brother george._] "life in london." (sherwood, nealy & jones.) 1821. "the commercial tourist; or, gentleman traveller." (a satirical poem), five coloured plates. 1822. "mock heroicks; or, snuff, tobacco, and gin, and a rapsody on an inkstand." four caricature engravings. 1822. "annals of sporting and fancy gazette." (numerous coloured plates.) 1822-1825. [_with c. williams._] frontispiece to george ramsey's "new dictionary of anecdote." 1822. "my cousin in the army; or, johnny newcome on the peace establishment." many coloured plates. 1822. twenty designs on wood for charles westmacott's "points of misery." 1823. a series of drawings on wood to the "spirit of the public journals for 1823 and 1824." (a selection of essays, jeux d'esprit, tales of humour, etc., 2 vols.) "life and exploits of don quixote." twenty-four designs on wood. (knight & lacey.) 1824. bernard blackmantle's (charles westmacott) "english spy." 1825. "spirit of the public journals for 1825." charles westmacott's "punster's pocket-book; or, the art of punning enlarged." 1826. [_with his brother george._] "london characters." (twenty-four plates, of which nine only are by robert.) robins. 1827. [_with george._] designs on wood for the "fairy tales" of albert ludwigg grimm. 1827. j. thompson's "new life of j. allen." 1828. smeeton's "doings in london." 1828. "british dance of death" (allegorical coloured frontispiece). 1828. "spirit of the age" newspaper (vignette). 1828. [_with his brother._] the designs on wood for the "universal songster; or, museum of mirth." (3 vols.) 1828. "london oddities; or, theatrical cabinet, and tit-bits of humour and eccentricity." 1828. "the finish to the adventures of tom, jerry, and logic." 1828. _the following between 1830 and 1832._ "cruikshank's comic album" (sometimes called "facetiæ"), being a series of little books published by kidd, miller, and others, afterwards collected into 3 vols. "walks about town by an antiquated trio," three designs. "the condition of the west indian slave contrasted with that of the infant slave in our english factories." "cruikshank and the new police, showing the great utility of that military body." "cruikshank _versus_ witchcraft"; "mary ogilvie"; "wee watty." "robert cruikshank _versus_ sir andrew agnew." w. s. moncrieff's "march of intellect," six designs. [_with kenny meadows._] "the devil in london." "a slap at the times." illustrations to foote's "tailors," and "mayor of garratt"; o'hara's "midas"; "the beggars' opera"; "katherine and petruchio," and others. _the following between 1831 and 1836._ design on wood for "figaro in london." [_with seymour and others._] illustrations to a periodical called "the thief." twenty illustrations to w. r. macdonald's "comic alphabet." (a rival to george cruikshank's work of the same title.) eighty-five designs on wood to crithannah's "original fables." six designs on wood for "readings from dean swift his tale of a tub, with variorum notes, and a supplement for the use of the nineteenth century," by quintus flestrin grildrig. johann abricht's "divine emblems." and [_with his brother_] illustrations to j. thomas's "burlesque drama." 1838. [_with seymour._] the series known as "cruikshank at home," and "the odd volume." _the following in 1839-1840._ ten vignettes to "the lady and the saints." twelve designs on wood to "colburn's kalendar of amusements in town and country." "cozi toobad." [_with w. lee._] twenty-three steel plates and designs on wood for "jem blunt," by barker (author of the celebrated "greenwich hospital"). _1842 and 1844._ [_with john leech._] "merrie england in the olden time," by george daniel. (since rep. by warne & co.) three illustrations to "james hatfield and the beauty of buttermere." [_with r. w. buss and t. wageman._] "cumberland's british and minor theatre." fourteen etchings to abraham elder's "tales and legends of the isle of wight." nine aqua-tinta plates to hugo playfair's "brother jonathan, the smartest nation in all creation." _from 1845 to 1849._ "sketches of pumps handled by robert cruikshank." twenty-four etchings to "the orphan; or, memoirs of matilda" (a translation of sue's "mathilde"). forty etchings to "the bertaudiere" (chronicles of the bastile). _and the following_. francis l. clarke's "life of wellington." kentish's "hudibrastic history of lord amherst's visit to china." "the london directory and london ambulator." "golden key of the treasures of knowledge." "the little world of great and good things." e. thomson's "adventures of a carpet." "raphael's witch; or, oracle of the future" (ten coloured designs). "the london stage" (a collection of about 180 plays, with a cut to each play; 4 vols.). portrait of mr. oxberry as "humphrey gull" in the "dwarf of naples," etc., etc. appendix ii. _some miscellaneous work of robert seymour executed between 1822 and 1836._ "views from the poets." "the devil on two sticks." "ovid." "demosthenes." views of newstead abbey, margate, dover, etc. designs for "benevolence, friendship, and death." "quarrels of the poets." "anatomical theatre." "vanities of the human race." "the happy family." "the gin-shop." "the sleepwalker." "the sluggard." "don juan." "the economist." "the chemist." "the march of intellect." "the great joss and his playthings." "the r----l speech." the works of wordsworth, southey, gay, and other poets. robinson's "history and antiquities of enfield." shakspeare's "seven ages." hogarth's "apprentices," and "rake's progress." "uncle timothy." views of london. sporting almanacks. "percy anecdotes." "book of martyrs." "portraits of public characters." "death in london." "spectre bride." "midnight embrace." "the red king." "the ghost with ye golden casket." "the devil's ladder." "assisting, resisting, and desisting." contributions to "friendship's offering." 1824-36. "seymour's comic annual: a perennial of fun." miss louisa sheridan's "comic offering." 1831-1835. "the national omnibus," a journal of literature, etc. (designs on wood, with cruikshank), 1831-1832; "the comic magazine," 1832-1834; richardson's "minor drama," 1827-1830; piers shafton granton's "vagaries in quest of the wild and wonderful"; "mrs. greece and her rough lovers" [russia and turkey] (mclean), 1828; "how to spell harrowgate" (c. king), 1828; "going by steam" (g. king); "the political bellman"; "a musical genius" (g. creed); "a man of taste and feeling" (g. creed). _the following, among others, for mclean, in 1829._ "search after happiness" (two plates); portrait of o'connell; "buonaparte in his study"; "state of the nation"; "treasure seeking"; "the raft"; "o'connell's dream"; "london"; "plot discovered"; "death of the giraffe" (a series of plates); "rival actresses"; "moments of reflection"; "ennui"; "the ear-wig"; "the lost key"; "the man wot steers"; "raising the wind"; "catholic state wagon." "the looking glass" (a series of political and other caricatures, in which he was assisted by william heath). 1830-1836. "sycophant saints and sabbath sinners." circa 1832. [_with isaac robert cruikshank._] "cruikshank at home," and "the odd volume." 1836. "the omnibus" (a series of humorous etchings on copper); and "the heiress" (six plates, each consisting of about five subjects). upwards of three hundred designs on wood for "figaro in london." 1831-1836. "valpurgis; or, the devil's festival." four woodcuts. (kidd.) 1831. "the extraordinary black book" (an exposition of the incomes of the aristocracy, church, civil list, list of sinecurists, etc.), one caricature plate. 1831. "the comic magazine." 1831-1834. "maxims and hints for an angler" (twelve beautifully-finished drawings on stone). "the schoolmaster abroad" (aimed at lord brougham's educational movement). "new readings by old authors" (a small lithographic series comprising upwards of three hundred plates, the subjects being suggested by readings in shakespeare, schiller's "william tell," and byron's "giaour.") several hundred illustrations for maddeley, the publisher. the "humorous sketches"; "hood's comic almanack," 1836 (thirteen woodcuts); "squib annual of poetry, politics, and personalities" (twelve designs); [_with cruikshank_] "sayings worth hearing, and secrets worth knowing"; "terrific penny magazine"; t. k. hervey's "book of christmas," 1836; the early plates to "pickwick"; some of the plates to the "pocket magazine" (robins' series), eleven vols., etc., etc. appendix iii. _some of the illustrated work of john leech._ 1835. "etchings and sketchings," by a. pen, esq. 1837. "jack brag," by theodore hook. 1840. "the comic latin grammar," by paul prendergast. (percival leigh.) plates and cuts. "the comic english grammar," by gilbert à beckett. fifty illustrations. "the fiddle-faddle fashion book," by percival leigh. four coloured plates. [_with hablot knight browne and another._] "the london magazine, charivari, and courrier des dames." "bentley's miscellany," 1840 to 1849, containing etchings to the "ingoldsby legends," "stanley thorn," "richard savage," "adventures of mr. ledbury," "fortunes of the scattergood family," "marchioness of brinvilliers," "brian o'linn," etc., etc. 1841. "the children of the mobility," seven lithographs in a wrapper. "written caricatures," by c. c. pepper (pseud.). "punch, or the london charivari." 1841 to 1864. [_with isaac robert cruikshank._] "merrie england in the olden time," by george daniel. 1842. "new monthly magazine," 1842 to 1844. "hood's comic annual." 1843. "the wassail bowl," by albert richard smith, etchings and woodcuts. "jack the giant-killer." "the illuminated magazine," 1843 to 1845. 1844. "the comic arithmetic," designs on wood. "punch's snap-dragon for children," four etchings. "a christmas carol," by charles dickens, four coloured plates and cuts. 1843-4. "jessie phillips," by mrs. trollope, eleven plates. [_with george cruikshank._] "colin clink," by charles hooton. 1845. [_with doyle and others._] "the chimes," by charles dickens. "hints in life; or, how to rise in society," frontispiece. "young master troublesome; or, master jacky's holidays." "douglas jerrold's shilling magazine," 1845 to 1848. etchings to "st. giles and st. james." 1846. "the quizziology of the british drama," by gilbert à beckett, frontispiece. "the comic annual" (a re-publication of "hood's whimsicalities"), forty-five illustrations. [_with doyle and others._] "the battle of life," by charles dickens. 1847. "the comic history of england," by gilbert à beckett, coloured etchings and numerous designs on wood. 1848. "the life and adventures of oliver goldsmith," by john forster [_with another_]. "the rising generation," twelve large, tinted lithographs, issued from the _punch_ office. "the struggles and adventures of christopher tadpole," by albert smith, etchings. [_with john tenniel and others._] "the haunted man and the ghost's bargain," by charles dickens. 1847-8. [_with richard doyle and alfred crowquill._] "bon gaultier's book of ballads," by theodore martin and professor aytoun. 1849. "a man made of money," by douglas jerrold, twelve etchings. "natural history of evening parties," by albert smith. 1851. "the month," edited by albert smith. 1852. "dashes of american humour," by howard paul. "the comic history of rome," by gilbert à beckett, ten coloured etchings and numerous designs on wood. 1853. "the fortunes of hector o'halloran and his man mark antony toole," by w. h. maxwell, etchings. "mr. sponge's sporting tour," by r. w. surtees, twelve coloured etchings and numerous designs on wood. 1854. "the great highway," by s. w. fullom. "handley cross; or, mr. jorrock's jaunts," by r. w. surtees, coloured etchings and numerous designs on wood. 1856. "the paragreens." 1857. "merry pictures," by the comic hands of phiz, leech, kenny meadows, gavarni, and others. "the militia man at home and abroad," by emeritus. "a month in the forests of france," by the hon. grantley f. berkeley. 1858. "encyclopædia of rural sports." "ask mamma; or, the richest commoner in england," by r. w. surtees, coloured etchings and numerous designs on wood. 1859. "the fliers of the hunt," by john mills. "a little tour in ireland," by the rev. s. reynolds hole, coloured folding frontispiece and designs on wood. "newton dogvane: a story of english life," by j. francis. "soapey sponge" (sporting). "paul prendergast." "once a week," 1859 to 1864. 1860. "mr. briggs and his doings" (fishing), twelve coloured plates. "plain or ringlets," by r. w. surtees, coloured etchings and numerous designs on wood. [_with george cruikshank, "phiz," and john tenniel._] "puck on pegasus." 1861. "mill's life of a fox-hound." [_with george cruikshank and john tenniel._] "the ingoldsby legends." 1864. "the follies of the year," twenty-one coloured etchings from _punch's_ "pocket books," with descriptive letterpress by shirley brooks. "mr. facey romford's hounds," by r. w. surtees, coloured etchings and designs on wood (finished by "phiz"). [_with doyle and others._] "the cricket on the hearth." by charles dickens. 1845-6. _reprint._ "fly leaves," lithographs. "sketches of life and character taken at the police court, bow street," by george hodder. appendix iv. _some miscellaneous work of alfred henry forrester (alfred crowquill)_. "ups and downs," 1823; "paternal pride," 1825; "despondency and jealousy" (with george cruikshank), and many others, in 1825; "der freyschutz travestied," "alfred crowquill's sketch-book," "absurdities in prose and verse," 1827; goethe's "faust," 1834; six plates of "pickwickian sketches," alfred bunn's "vauxhall papers," 1841; designs on wood for "sea pie," an _omnium gatherum_ containing also plates after david cox, pyne, stanfield, and vickers, 1842; "punch" (vols. ii. to iv.); plates and numerous designs on wood for "bentley's miscellany," many original designs to "doctor syntax's tour in search of the picturesque," 1844; "comic arithmetic" (forty-seven humorous vignettes), 1844; "woman's love," 1846; "wanderings of a pen and pencil," 1846; "a good-natured hint about california," 1849; "the excitement" (2 plates), 1849; 120 designs on wood for the "pictorial grammar;" designs on wood for the "pictorial arithmetic;" "gold," 1850; "a bundle of crowquills dropped by alfred crowquill," 1854; "fun," 1854; "griffel swillendrunken," 1856; "aunt mavor's nursery tales," 1856; "little pilgrim," 1856; "little plays for little actors," 1856; "fairy tales," 1857; "merry pictures by the comic hands of 'phiz,'" etc. (kent & co.), 1857; "the book of ballads," by bon gaultier (with doyle and leech), 1857; "a new story book," 1858; "fairy tales," by cuthbert bede, 1858; "baron munchausen" (coloured plates), 1858; "tyll owlglass" (a similar book), 1859; "honesty and cunning," 1859; "kindness and cruelty," 1859; "the red cap," 1859; "paul prendergast," 1859; "strange surprising adventures of the venerable gooros simple," 1861; "fairy footsteps," 1861; chambers' "book of days;" g. w. reynolds' "pickwick abroad" (now scarce); "the boys and the giant," 1870; "the cunning fox," 1870; "dick doolittle," 1870; "little tiny's picture book," 1871; "guide to the watering places" (views and comic plates); "comic eton grammar" (with leech); "fairy footsteps; or, lessons from legends" (100 designs on wood, with kenny meadows); henry cockton's "sisters; or, england and france." appendix v. _some works illustrated by hablot knight browne._ charles dickens's "sunday under three heads," 1836. "posthumous papers of the pickwick club," forty-three plates by seymour and "phiz." 1836-37. _the following are also to be met with._ "posthumous papers of the pickwick club," with the seymour and "phiz" plates, the two suppressed plates of "buss," and the extra series of thirty plates by onwhyn. 1837. _the same_, with the forty plates by seymour and "phiz," the two suppressed plates of buss, and twenty-three plates by "sam weller" and onwhyn. "sketches of young ladies by 'quiz'" (charles dickens), six copper plates, 1837. james grant's "sketches in london," twenty-four humorous illustrations on steel by "phiz" and others, orr, 1838. another edition in 1840. "a paper of tobacco: a treatise on smoking, with anecdotes, mems on pipes, tobacco-boxes, and snuff." by joseph fume, copper plates and picture boards. 1839. "life and adventures of nicholas nickleby." 1839. _the same_, with the plates by "phiz," and an extra series of plates by onwhyn and "peter palette." 1839. _the same_, with the forty plates by "phiz," and a set of forty plates by "peter palette" added. "new sporting magazine." 1839. charles lever's "harry lorrequer." 1839. (a pirated edition was published at philadelphia, 1840.) "london magazine, charivari, and courrier des dames" (with leech and "gillray, junr."). 1840. "master humphrey's clock," "old curiosity shop," and "barnaby rudge," designs on wood, with cattermole. 3 vols. 1840-41. "sir thomas dick lauder's legendary tales of the highlands." 3 vols. 1841. charles lever's "charles o'malley, the irish dragoon," 2 vols. dublin, 1841. "peter priggins, the college scout," 3 vols. 1841 (made its first appearance without illustrations in the _new monthly magazine_). "the pic-nic papers," by various hands, edited by charles dickens, plates by cruikshank, "phiz," and hamerton. 3 vols. 1841. w. h. maxwell's "rambling recollections of a soldier of fortune," woodcuts by "phiz" and others. dublin, 1842. lever's "jack hinton." dublin, 1842-43. carleton's "traits and stories of the irish peasantry" (both series), steel plates by "phiz," sir j. gilbert, franklin, etc., and woodcuts. 2 vols. dublin, 1843-44. charles dickens's "martin chuzzlewit," forty plates. 1844. charles lever's "tom burke of ours." dublin, 1844. "ainsworth's magazine," from and after 1844. "the illuminated magazine" [_with meadows, sargent, gilbert, harvey, etc._]. 1845. charles lever's "st. patrick's eve," woodcuts and fine steel etchings. 1845. "tales of the trains; some chapters of railroad romance," by tilbury tramp (_i.e._ charles lever). orr, 1845. "nuts and nutcrackers." 1845. charles lever's "the o'donoghue." dublin, 1845. "fiddle-faddle's sentimental tour in search of the amusing, picturesque, and agreeable." 1845. "the union magazine," vol. i. three plates. 1846. "fanny the little milliner; or, the rich and the poor" [_with onwhyn_]. 1846. "the commissioner; or, de lunatico inquirendo," twenty-eight steel plates. dublin, 1846. "a medical, moral, and christian dissertion of teetotalism," by democritus. 1846. charles lever's "knight of gwynne." 1847. "the fortunes of colonel torlogh o'brien: a tale of the wars of king james." dublin, 1847. "john smith's irish diamonds; or, a theory of irish wit and blunders." 1847. w. harrison ainsworth's "old st. paul's," two plates. 1847. charles dickens's "dombey and son." 1846-48. twelve full-length portraits illustrating "dombey and son," designed and etched by "phiz." (sometimes bound up with the book.) 1848. albert smith's "the pottleton legacy." 1849. (another edition in 1854.) charles dickens's "david copperfield," forty plates. 1849-50. charles lever's "roland cashel." 1849-50. john smith's "sketches of cantabs," two plates. 1850. defoe's "robinson crusoe," full-page cuts. 1850. "the illustrated byron," two hundred woodcuts after kenny meadows, birket foster, phiz, and janet. _circa_ 1850. "ghost stories and tales of mystery," etchings. dublin, 1851. "the daltons." (charles lever.) 1850-52. francis edward smedley's "lewis arundel." 1852. charles dickens's "bleak house," thirty-nine plates. 1852-53. horace mayhew's "letters left at the pastrycook's: being the correspondence of kitty clover," cuts. 1853. w. harrison ainsworth's "crichton." "christmas day, and how it was spent by four persons in the house of fograss, fograss, mowton, and snorton, bankers," by c. le ros. woodcuts. 1854. charles lever's "dodd family abroad." 1854. francis e. smedley's "harry coverdale's courtship." 1854. charles lever's "martins of cro' martin." 1856. "home pictures," seven excellent plates. darton & co. 1856. charles dickens's "little dorrit." 1855-57. w. harrison ainsworth's "spendthrift," 1857; "mervyn clitheroe," 1857-58. charles lever's "davenport dunn." 1859. mrs. stowe's "the minister's wooing." 1859. charles dickens's "tale of two cities," sixteen etchings; the last work he executed for that author. w. harrison ainsworth's "ovingdean grange; a tale of the south downs." 1860. "twigs for nests; or, notes on nursery nurture," illustrations in graphotype by h. k. browne and others, 1860. charles lever's "one of them," 1861; "barrington," 1862-63. "tom moody's tales." (mark lemon.) 1864. "mr. facey romford's hounds" (surtees), [_with john leech_]. 1864. charles lever's "luttrell of arran." 1865. "ballads and songs of brittany," by tom taylor, translated from the "barsaz-breiz," illustrations by tenniel, millais, h. k. browne, and others. 1865. anthony trollope's "can you forgive her?" (forty plates by phiz and marcus stone.) 1866. "dame perkins and her grey mare," by j. l. meadows. 1866. _and the following._ "the illustrated musical annual" [_with kenny meadows and crowquill_]. "the works of shakespeare," revised from the original text by samuel phelps. 2 vols. numerous coloured plates. "wits and beaux of society," by grace and philip wharton (mrs. k. and j. c. thomson); plates by brown and godwin. "memoirs of an umbrella," by g. g. h. rodwell, sixty-eight engravings by landells from designs by phiz. "phiz's sketches of the seaside and the country," twenty-eight large plates, tinted mountings; oblong folio. smollett's "adventures of roderick random." charles lever's "con creggan." "h. b.'s schoolboy days." "illustrations of the five senses." george halse's "adventures of sir guy de guy." g. a. salas "baddington peerage" (in _illustrated times_). the abbotsford edition of "the waverley novels," etc., etc. see also the "memorial edition" of dickens's whole works, with several hundred illustrations by george cruikshank, h. k. browne, and others, printed on chinese paper. _and in the following serials_. "new monthly magazine"; early volumes of "once a week"; "tinsley's magazine"; "london society"; "st. james's magazine"; "illustrated gazette"; "sporting times"; "judy"; etc. index. "a bazaar," 145. à beckett, gilbert, 223. aberdeen, lord, 303, 395. abinger, lord, 252. aboukir, battle of, 13. achilles, statue of, 81, 161. "achitophel," 159. "a constitutional plum pudding," 298. actors, their position in france, 386. "a day at biarritz," 317. "adelaide mill, the," 213. adelphi theatre, 110. "a discussion forum," 310. adulteration of tea, 152. "adventures of brown, jones," etc., 391. "a fine old english gentleman," 251. "a great subject," etc., 249. "ah, sure such a pair," etc., 155. "a hint to duellists," 248. ainsworth, harrison, 194, 198, 199. ainsworth's "auriol," 349. "crichton," 344. albert, prince, 294. alexander, the emperor, 133, 139. "alice in wonderland," 400. "all my eye," 97. allied sovereigns. visit of the, 133. alliteration, graphic, 177. almack's, lady patronesses of, 213. althorp, lord, 269. "a match for the king's plate," 154. _america_. causes of difference between her and england in 1812, 41. england offers to revoke orders in council, 42. her anxiety to fix a quarrel on england, 42, 43. desire of the americans to invade canada, 42. invasion of canada, 43. defeat and surrender of the american general hull, 43. naval successes of the americans, 43. americans driven out of canada, 45. english assume the offensive, 45. burning of washington, 46. alexandria placed under contribution, 46. capture of british naval force, 48. retreat of prevost, 48. attack on new orleans, 48. amiens, peace of, 14. "a morning call," 285. "a musical genius," 209. "anstey's new bath guide," 176. "a paper of tobacco," 340. "a patriot luminary," etc., 151. "apollyon, the devil's generalissimo," etc., 131. "a prospecte of exeter hall," 385. "a race for the westminster stakes," 251. "argus, the" (an english newspaper in the pay of bonaparte), 15. "arrogance or nonchalance of the tenth reported," 100. "art of walking the streets of london," 152. arthur à bradley, 162. "arthur o'leary," 200. "a select specimen of the black style," 262. "a sheep in wolf's clothing," 374. "a shot from buckingham to bedford," 97. "assisting, resisting, and desisting," 218. "a student of the old masters," 393. "at a concert," 220. "auld lang syne," 247. authors and artists, quarrels between, 233. "a venomous viper poisoning the r----l mind," 132. "a view of the regent's bomb," 151. ball, hughes (see "_hughes ball_.") "bank restriction note," 152. barossa, battle of, 21. bath, queen charlotte at, 57. battier, mr., 100, 163. baylen, battle of, 20. beaconsfield, lord, 283. "beau clerk for a banking concern," 106. "belle alliance," etc., 154. bellingham, john, 27. "bell's life," origin of, 115. bennett, c. h., 371-375. benningsen, general, 22. "bentley's miscellany," 284, 290. bergami, bartolomeo, 71, 150. berkeley, colonel, 101, 102, 118. berlin decree, 18. bernard blackmantle (see "_westmacott, c. m._"). betty, master, 28. "bill of pains and penalties," 149. "birds'-eye views of society," 385. black-mail, 105. blandford, marquis of, 235. "bleak house," 347. "blessings of peace; or, the curse of the corn bill," 136. bloated men of the last century, 2. "bombardment extraordinary," 240. bonaparte, napoleon (see "_napoleon_"). "boney and his new wife," etc., 21. "boney's meditations on the island of st. helena," 142. "boney returning from russia covered with glory," 23. "boney the second," 21. "boney's threatened invasion brought to bear," 142. "bonnie willie," 161. "book of christmas," 220. "book of days," 369. booth, lucius junius, 54. "born a genius, and born a dwarf," 173. "bottle, the," 201. "braintrees, the," 171. brereton, colonel, 223 (note). bright, john, 398. brighton pavilion, 164. "bringing up our bill," 243. "britannia discovering the source of the nile," 399. "british cookery; or, out of the frying-pan," etc., 21. "british spread eagle," 134. brooks, shirley, 201, 321, 328, 373, 374. brougham, lord, 236, 237, 243, 258-266, 297, 384 (and see "_jemmy twitcher_"). browne, h. k., 283, 336-354, 412-416. "bubble burst; or, the ghost of an old act of parliament," 106. buckingham, duke of (see "_duel_"). buckingham, marquis of, 27. bunbury, h. w., 3, 84. "bunsby," 342. burdett, sir francis, 249-251, 253, 269. "burking old mrs. constitution," 83. busby, dr., 35. buss, r. w., 363-366. "buz in a box," etc., 35. byron, lord, 164. "caleidoscope; or, paying for peeping." 59. canada, invasion of (see "_america_"). _caricature._ dr. johnson's definition, 1. francis grose's definition, 1. modern meaning, 2. causes of its decay in england, 2. period of its decline, 83. injurious effect of wood-engraving on, 5. has little concern with justice, 25, 26. caricaturist, peculiarity of his wares, 90. caricaturists and critics, 9. caricaturists, french, 8. caroline of brunswick, 62-81, 95, 132, 134, 149, 155, 156-159. caroline, queen (see "_caroline of brunswick_"). carpenter, mr., 39. castlereagh, lord, 149. catalani, madame, 102. catholic association, the, 106. catholic emancipation (see "_catholic relief_"). catholic relief bill, 83, 106, 248. cawnpore massacre, 398. champ de mars, 140. changes in political opinion, 251. charles i., discovery of his remains, 132. charlotte, the princess, 40, 50, 61, 134, 145, 150, 164. charlotte, queen, 56, 153. chobham, camp at, 303. "chronicles of clovernook," 362. churchill, charles, 7. cider cellar, 87. "city scavengers cleansing the london streets of impurities," 76. "civic louse in the state bed," 102. clarke, mrs., 30, 32, 33. "clement lorymer," 205. coates (see "_romeo coates_"). cobbett, william, 235 (_note_). cobden, richard, 383. cockton, henry, 361. "coke upon albemarle," 97. colburn's "kalendar of amusements," 122. "collegians at their exercises," 95. "colonel fitz-bastard," 103. "comic almanack," 177, 179. comic journalism in 1831, 223. "comic magazine, the," 229. "comicalities" ("bell's life"), 281. "comic history of england," 287. "comic history of rome," 288. commercial distress of 1825-6, 81. "commons _versus_ the crown of martyrdom," 100. "comparative anatomy," 152. "congress dissolved before the cake was cut up," 139. connyngham, marchioness of, 118, 134, 164. "conspirators; or, delegates in council," 148. "corinthian auctioneer," 102. "corinthians," sham, 93. corn laws, 135. "corsican bloodhound beset by the bears," 22. "corsican's last trip," 142. "court at brighton, _à la chinese_," 164. "craven's head" (drury lane), 86. cremorne, aristocratic fête at, 311. "cribbage, shuffling, whist," etc., 161. crimean war, 304, 398. "crithannah's original fables," 122. critics and caricaturists, 9. croker, john wilson, 245 (_note_). crowquill, alfred (see "_forrester_.") cruikshank, george, 107, 125-207, 281 (_note_), 281, and _note_. mistakes of those who have written on him, 4. curious criticism on, 125. why his caricatures possess so much interest, 127. quarrel with dickens, 192. " " bentley, 194. " " ainsworth, 198. final leap in the dark, 201. declines to draw for _punch_, 201. cruikshank, robert, 3, 89-124, 226, 401-404. cruikshank, the brothers, 89. cruikshankian feet, 170. " steed, the, 169. " trees, 170. " women, 168. "cruikshankiana," 107. "cruikshank's comic album," 121. "cruikshank's fairy library," 205. "cruising on land," etc., 95. cumberland, duke of 100, 241, 242. curtis, sir william, 141, 159. "cut at the city cauliflower," 102. "dame partington and the ocean of reform," 243. "dandies at tea," 92. "dandies diving," 93. "dandies having a treat," 93. "dandies in france," 154. "dandies on their hobbies," 94. "dandies, parisian," 91. "dandy cock in stays," 93. "dandy dressing at home," etc., 94. "dandy henpecked, the," 93. "dandy put to his last chemisette," etc., 93. "dandy shoemaker in a fright," 93. "dandy sick," 94. "dandy tailor planning a new hungry dress," 154. "dandyess, a," 94. d'angoulème, duc, 162. darwin (see "_origin of species_"). "deaf postillion," 169. "death of the property tax," 164. "death of sikes," 185. déesses de la revolution, 25. "defenders of the faith," 106. "delivering a prophetess," 40. depression in trade in 1819, 60. "descent of the great bear," 82. devils, 182. dickens, charles, 191, 206, 230, 232, 282, 347-349. dighton, robert, 27, 84. "diogenes," 371. dissenting ministers, proposal to amend their qualifications, 130. "doctors differ," 36. "dog and the shadow," 251. "doings in london," 120. "dombey and son," 345. dominie sampson, 176. doré, gustave, 7, 9. double bass, 132. doyle, john (see "hb"). doyle, richard, 379, 381-394. draconian laws, 152. "drilling one-tenth," etc., 162. "drunkard's children, the," 202. drury lane theatre, 34. duel between the dukes of buckingham and bedford, 81, 97. between the duke of wellington and the earl of winchelsea, 248. between sir francis burdett and mr. paull, 249. "duel that did not take place," 262. "duelling," 106. dumbiedikes, 176. "dying clown, the," 233. east retford bill, 236. ecclesiastical titles bill, 386. "economical humbug of 1816," 144. egan, pierce, 85, 113, 120. egypt, french driven out of, 13. eldon, lord, 70. elgin marbles, 145. ellenborough, lord, 66, 67, 70. elliston, life and enterprises of, 205. "england's hope departing," 151. english graphic satire, change in, 4. english hostility to napoleon, 16. english officers at the time of the crimean war, 305. english parliamentary representation in 1830, 235. "english spy, the," 116. e. o! 161. "equipt for a northern visit," 161. "etching moralized," 9. eugénie, the empress, 317. evans, sir de lacy, 253. "examination of a young surgeon," 130. "exile of louisiana," 197. "fagin in the condemned cell," 185. fairy tales, origin of, 205. "fall of icarus," 264. "fall of the leaf," 177. "fall of washington, or maddy in full flight," 46. "fashionables of 1817," 151. fashions in the early part of the century, 91, 92. fechter, 330. "female lancers," etc., 94. ferdinand vii., 98. "figaro in london," 222-229, 232. "fine lady, or the incomparable," 152. "finish to the adventures of tom, jerry, and logic," 113. "fitzalleyne of berkeley," 118. "flat catcher and the rat catcher," 106. foley, mr., 39. "following the leader," 250. "football," 107. "foot on the stage and asses in the pit," 102. foote, miss, 81, 101, 118. foote v. hayne, 118. "foreign affairs," 285. "foreign rivals for british patronage," 105. forrester, a. h. (alfred crowquill), 194, 368-371, 410. "four mr. prices," 164. france, evacuation of, 55. "france the great nation," etc., 162. "frank and free, or clerical characters in 1825," 106. "frank fairleigh," 205. freewill offerings of the faithful, 39. "french cock and the roman eagle," 298. french colonels and the _moniteur_, 310. french driven out of egypt, 13. french interposition in spain, 98. french light wines, 313. french military imbecility, 307, 309. french revolution, end of, 17. french revolution of 1830, 213. french royalist caricatures on napoleon, 24. "friends in need," 143. "gambols on the river thames," 135. gas, introduction of, 29. "gavarni in london," 369 (_note_). genius, 187. "genius of france expounding her laws," etc., 142. george iii., 27, 214. george iv., 52, 72, 79, 95, 111, 117, 143, 144 (_note_), 153, 155, 159, 164, 210 (and see "_caroline of brunswick_"). "general frost shaving boney," 22. "general janvier," 306. "german popular stories," 180. "gheber worshipping the rising sun," 261. "ghosts," 181. "giant grumbo," 154. gillray, james, 3, 4, 24, 25, 33, 84. "gin shop, the," 168, 172, 184. gladstone, mr., 398. "going it by steam," 209. "going to hobby fair," 95. "golden foot-ball," 99. "gone!" 178. "good effects of carbonic gas," 29. government spies, 53. grafton, duke of, 27. graham, sir james, 252, 295. "grand entrance to bamboozlem," 80. graphic alliteration, 177. "great unknown lately discovered in ireland," 104. greek war of independence, 81. green bag, opening of the, 73. "greenwich hospital," 171, 175. grey, earl, 241, 244. habeas corpus act, suspension of the, 52. hamilton, lady anne, 73. "hare presumptuous," 106. "harp" (in russell street, drury lane), 87. haydon, b. r., 173. haynau, general, 298. hayne (see "_pea-green hayne_"). hb, 5, 235-276. heath, h., 84. heath, william, 84, 104, 238. hervieu, a., 194. "hint to the blind and foolish," 162. hobbies, the, 59. "hobby-horse dealer," 154. hogarth, william, not a caricaturist, 6. absurdity of comparing him with modern comic artists, 6. holy alliance, the, 98. "homburg waltz," 58. "horse chancellor obtaining a verdict," 159. "horse marine and his trumpeter," 91. "hostile press, or shakspeare in danger," 104. "how do you like the new whig?" 296. how to set up as a prophet, 39. hughes ball, 99. "i'll be your second," 241. "illuminated magazine," 286. _incroyables_, the, 91. "impostor, or obstetric dispute," 134. indian mutinies, 396. informers of 1817, 148. "ingoldsby legends," 289, 400. "interesting scene on board an east-indian," 152. "interior view of the house of god," 130. "introduction to the gout," 152. "ireland": an artist's dream, 384. irish coercion bill of 1833, 269, 270. "irish decency," 154. irish disaffection in 1833, 266. irish _festa_, 178. "jack o' lantern," 181. "jack sheppard," 172, 199, 343. "je vous n'entends pas," 122. "jemmy twitcher" (lord brougham), 265 (_note_). jerrold, douglas, 387. jim crow, 252. "john bull buying stones," etc., 146. "john bull brought up for a discharge," etc., 147. "john bull done over," 60. "john bull flourishing in an attitude of strict neutrality," 99. "john bull in clover," 60. "john bull _versus_ pope bull," 106. "jonathan wyld discovering darrell," 172. "johnny bull and his forged notes," 154. "john's dream," 143. josephine, the empress, 3, 20, 25. judge, mr., 102. kaleidoscope, the, 58. kean, edmund, 54, 103. "kean's head" (russel court), 86. kenny meadows, 355-363. kenyon, lord, 241. "key to the investigation," 67. "king at home, the," 117. "king gourmand xviii.," etc., 99. "la belle assemblée," 151. labedoyère, colonel, 138. "ladies' accelerator," 95. la diligence, 159. la douane, 159. "lancashire witches," 200. "landing at dover and overhauling the baggage," 95. lane, theodore, 84-88. "l'après-dîner des anglais," 24. "last cab-driver," 176. "leap year, or john bull's establishment," 50. leech, john, 233, 277-335, 337, 407-409. "sketches in oil," 315. leigh, percival, 282. leipzig, battle of, 24. lemon, mark, 201. leopold of saxe-coburg, prince, 145. _les graces_, 151. lever, charles, 200, 352, 375. "lewis arundel," 337. "libra--striking the balance," 177. "life of an actor," 85. "life of sir john falstaff," 205. "life in london," 109. egan's share of the work, 113. lines and dots, 151. literary black-mail, 115. "little boney gone to pot," 132. "lolly pop," etc., 162. "london barrow woman, the," 169. londonderry, marquis of: scene between him and lord brougham, 262. "louis the fat troubled with the nightmare," 162. louis philippe, 297, 383. louis xviii., 98, 143, 162. "love, law, and physic," 154. "loyalist magazine," 131. mcconnell, 372. maddison, president, 46. "man of taste and feeling," 209. "manners and customs of ye englishe," 385. "manslaughter men, the," 158. "march to finchley, the," 7. marriage act, the, 81. "martin chuzzlewit," 341, 344. massena, 21. "master cook and his black scullion," etc., 96. "master of the ordnance exercising his hobby," 95. "mat de cocagne," 143. "matheworama," 106. "mauger sharpening his axe," 186. maxwell's "history of the irish rebellion," 186. mayhew, h., 201. meadows (see "_kenny_"). medical profession, satire on, 35. "meditations amongst the tombs," 132. melbourne, lord, 252. melville, lord, 28. "mer de glace," 159. mercandotti, madamoiselle, 100. "meteor, the," 128. methodism, spread of, 129. metternich, prince, 150. milan commission, 96. "miss endeavouring to excite a glow with her dutch plaything," 41. "miss foote in the king's bench battery," 102. "miss foote putting her foot in it," 102. "miser's daughter," 173, 199. mitford, jack (editor of the "scourge"), 129 (_note_). mob, a cowardly, 247. "moments of prattle," etc., 102. moray minstrels, 374. "more plots!!!" 53. "morning after marriage," 97. "morning journal," 240. moscow, retreat from, 22. "mother's girl plucking a crow," etc., 91. "mr. punch's fancy ball," 287. "murder of sir rowland trenchard," 185. "mysterious fair one," 95. "nap nearly nabb'd," 22. _napoleon bonaparte_. his policy towards england, 13-18. proclaimed emperor, 17. intention to invade england, 17. lampooned by english caricaturists, 19, 24, 26. dislike to the revolutionists, 26. his star begins to wane, 22. retreat from moscow, 22. narrowly escapes capture, 22. leaves his troops in russia, 22. at elba, 132. return from elba till his fall, 137-142. french royalist caricatures on, 24. napoleon, louis, 299, 300-302, 396, 397. napoleon iii. (see "_napoleon, louis_"). "nap's glorious return, or the conclusion of the russian campaign," 24. navarino, battle of, 82. "nest in danger," 82. "new chancery suit removed," etc., 95. "newcomes, the," 377, 393. "new irish jaunting car," 95. new orleans, attack on (see "_america_"). "new readings of old authors," 221. newspaper stamp duty, 255. newspapers, cheap, curious arguments against, 256. ney, marshall, 139. "nicholas nickleby," 340. nicholas, the emperor, 303, 306, 395. "night mayor," 146. nile (see "_britannia_"). "non mi recordo," 128. "nosing the nob at ramsgate," 159. "notice to correspondents," 226. "novels by eminent hands," 375. "nun of arronca," 254. o'connell, 106, 236, 237, 252, 270-272, 295, and _note_. "old bags" (see "_eldon, lord_"). "old bumblehead the 18th," 162. "old curiosity shop," 341, 345. "old st. paul's," 199. "old thirty-nine shaking hands with his good brother the pope," 153. "oliver twist," 192. "o! o! there's a minister of the gospel," 159. "opening of sir william curtis' campaign," 141. "oppidans' museum, the," 117. origin of species, 371. orsini plot, 311. "ostend packet in a squall," 163. "our tough old ship," 154. oxenford, john, 201. "pair of spectacles, or the london stage in 1824-5," 106. "palais royal," 152. papal aggression, 299, 386. "parisian luxury," 163. "paul pry," 84 (and see "_heath, william_"). "paving the way for a royal divorce," 70. "paying off a jew pedlar," 175. pea-green hayne, 101. peace-at-any-price party, the, 383. "pedigree of corporal violet," 143. peel, sir robert, 272, 295, 296. "peel's dirty little boy," 296. "peep at the gaslights in pall mall," 29. "peep at the pump room," 57. pellegrini, carlo, 5. "peter schlemihl," 174. phiz (see "_browne, h. k_."). "pickwick papers," 230-234, 340, 364. pius ix., 298. "plebeian spirit, or coachee and the heiress presumptive," 40. "point of honour, the," 171. "points of humour," 119. "points of misery," 119. "polish diet with french dessert," 22. "political champion turned resurrection man," 95. "political fair, a," 19. "political shaver," 106. poole, john, 230. popple _v_. stockdale, 106. popular discontent of 1816, 51. "portrait of a noble lord in order," 297. "portraits of the english," 354. "preachee and floggee too," 153. "premier's fix," 296. "premium, par, and discount," 162. "preparing for a duel," 163. "preparing for the match," 145. "preparing for the witnesses," 96. "presenting a bill of indemnification," 83. prince of wales' theatre, its former titles, 225. prince regent (see "_george iv._"). "prisoners of war," 269. "probable effects of good living," etc., 295. "punch," 287, 383. rivals of, 367. purchase system, 305. "put out," 297. "queen caroline running down the royal george," 78. "randolph and hilda dancing at ranelagh," 173. rawkins, 279. "recollections of the court of common pleas," 171. "redgauntlet," 185. reform bills of 1831-32, 242-245. regent (see "_george iv._"). "religion à la mode," 311. religious credulity of english people, 37. "results of a northern excursion," 161. "return of hercules from a fancy ball," 279. "revolution at madame tussaud's," 178. rice, the american comedian, 251. "rival newsmongers," 258. rival richards, 55. robinson, mr. frederick, 135. robson, thomas frederick, 325. "roland cashel," 350. romeo coates, 49. roscius, the young, 28. "rose maylie and oliver," 192. rowlandson, thomas, 3, 83, 84 and _note_, 118. "r-y-l condescension," 149. "royal extinguisher," 159. "royal laundress," 143. royal levées, 308. "royal nuptials," 145. "royal red bengal tiger," 154. "royal rushlight," 156. russell, lord john, 236, 237, 242, 243, 244, 253, 254, 300, 306, 321, 398. russia and turkey, 82, 395. "russian bear's greece," 82. "russian condescension," 133. "russian dandy at home," 56. "sailors carousing," 175. "sailors' description," etc., 162. "saint shela," 162. "sales by auction, or provident children," etc., 153. sandford and merton, 121. "satirist, or monthly meteor," 131. "scene after the battle," 132. "scene in the new farce as performed at the royalty," 155. "scene in the new farce called the 'rivals,'" 61. "scene in the farce of 'lofty projects,'" 164. "scene from the pantomime of 'cock-a-doodle-doo,'" 103. "scotch fiddle," 161. scott, sir walter, 105. "scourge, the," 21, 128. "sealing up the people," 38. "secret insult, or bribery and corruption rejected," 95. "sergeant introducing his dutch wife," 169. seurat, claude ambroise, 104. seymour, robert, 208-234, 405. "seymour's humorous sketches," 218. "shadows," 372. shannon and chesapeake, 44. shiel, mr., 269. "shortshanks" (robert seymour), 208. "showing off," etc., 162. "sick of the property tax," 143. "sikes and the dog," 172. silver ball, 102. "simon renard and winwike," 172. "simpkin dancing," 175. skeleton, the living, 104. "sketches by boz," 172, 176. smith, albert, 287-289. smithfield, 297. "smoke jack the alarmist," 154. "snuffing and smoking," 220. "snuffing out boney," 133. southcott, joanna, 36-40, 134. "spa fields orator hunting for popularity," 151. spa fields riot, 51. spain, invasion of, by duc d'angoulème, 81. "spanish flies, or boney taking an immoderate dose," 20. "spanish mule and a french jackass," 162. speculation mania of 1825, 163. "spirit moving the quakers upon worldly vanities," 59. "sprig of shelalegh," 171. st. albans, borough of, 301. st. dunstan, 183. "st. james's, or the court of queen anne," 179, 199. st. john long the quack, 214-217. "st. swithin's chapel," 168. stanley, lord, 252. "state physicians bleeding john bull to death," 147. "steward at sea in a vain tempest," 95. "steward's court of the manor of torre devon," 78. "stroller's tale" in "pickwick," 232. sue's "orphan," 122. sullivan, arthur, 374. "sunday under three heads," 342. surgeon, an eccentric, 279. surtees, r. w., 320. sussex, duke of, 249. "t trade in hot water," 152. "table book," 201. "tables turned," 162. "taking an airing in hyde park," 247. tallien, madame, 25 (and _note_). "taurus, a literary bull," 177. "tea just over," 27. tenniel, john, 394-400. tenth hussars, 81, 100. terry, kate, 375. thackeray, w. m., 92, 201, 285, 316, 318, 387. as a book-illustrator, 375-380. "theatrical fun dinner," 378. "three courses and a dessert," 171. "through the looking-glass," 400. toleration acts, motion to amend them, 129. tom and jerry, 110. tom thumb, 173. "tower of london," 172. tozer, mr., 39. tract droppers, 112. transit, robert (robert cruikshank), 117. treadmill, 97. trenton's porter, 2. "triumph of cupid," 182. two elves, the, 180. "urgent private affairs," 307. "vagaries in quest of the wild and wonderful," 218. "vanity fair," 92, 378. "vaux and the grapes," 265. "venus de medici," 159. victoria, queen, 61, 275. "view in cumberland," 100. "virginians," 377. "vis-à-vis," 151. "visit to vesuvius," etc., 159. vitoria, battle of, 24, 132. "voila t'on mort," 154. "waiting on the ladies," 164. "waltzing," 107. wardle, colonel, 31. "washing boney's court dresses," 143. washington, burning of (see "_america_.") watts phillips, 372. waverley novels, 104, 176. wellington, duke of, 55, 141, 246-249, 395. westmacott, c. m., 100, 115, 119. wilkes, 7. william iv., 245, 261. williams, c., 84. "windsor castle," 199. "witches' frolic," 181. "wolves triumphant," 103. wood, alderman, 73. wood engraving, its injurious effect on caricature, 5. woodward, g. m., 3, 84. "worship of bacchus," 203. "wrekin" (long acre), 87. "xit," 186. year 1848, 383. york, duke of, 30. butler & tanner, the selwood printing works, frome, and london. 