The obituary of the past week records the death of Samuel Williams, a
self-taught artist, whose pencil and graver have illustrated very many
of the most popular works during the last forty years, and to whose
productions the modern school of book-illustrations owes its chief force
and character. Samuel Williams was born Feb. 23, 1788, at Colchester in
Essex; and during his very earliest years, his self-taught powers were
remarkable, as he could draw or copy with the greatest ease anything
he saw; and he would get up at early dawn, before the other members of
the family were stirring, to follow the bent of his genius. His boyish
talents attracted much notice, and, had he not been very diffident,
would have brought him before the world as a painter. In 1802, he was
apprenticed to Mr. J. Marsden, a printer in Colchester, and thenceforward
his pencil was destined to be employed in illustrating books. Whilst yet
a lad, he etched on copper a frontispiece to a brochure entitled the
_Coggeshall Volunteers_; and this was a remarkable production, as he had
never seen etching or engraving on copper; and he about the same time
taught himself engraving on wood, executing numerous little cuts for Mr.
Marsden: amongst others, a frontispiece to a _History of Colchester_.
So much was his talent seen by parties calling at his employer's, that
Mr. Crosby, a publisher of some note in his day, promised that, when his
apprenticeship ended, he {313} should draw and engrave for him a natural
history; and this promise was faithfully performed, and a series of
three hundred cuts given to him immediately. Besides these, he executed
numerous commissions for Mozley, Darton and Harvey, Arliss's _Pocket
Magazine_, and other works; in all which a strong natural feeling and
vigorous drawing were leading characteristics.
In 1809 he visited London for a short time, and returned to Colchester;
and resided there till 1819, when he settled in London. In 1822, Mr. C.
Whittingham published an edition of _Robinson Crusoe_, the illustrations
to which are drawn and engraved by the subject of this notice; and the
freedom of handling, as compared with cotemporary works, was conspicuous.
After these, Trimmer's _Natural History_, published by Whittingham; the
illustrations to Wiffin's _Garcilasso de la Vega_; and other works,
showed his talents as a designer as well as engraver.
In 1825, William Hone started his _Every-Day Book_, employing Mr.
Williams to make the drawings for the "Months," and other illustrations;
and the peculiar style, like pen-and-ink sketches, attracted much notice,
the freedom and ease of these drawings being greatly admired; and some
of our present artists confess to having been first taught by copying
the free off-hand sketches in Hone's _Every-Day Book_. A second volume
followed in 1846, and the _Table Book_ in 1847; in 1848 the _Olio_ was
published, and afterwards the _Parterre_; both works remarkable for their
spirited illustrations. Several of the engravings to the _London Stage_,
1847, displayed great variety of expression in the figures and faces.
Howitt's _Rural Life of England_, Selby's _Forest Trees_, Thomson's
_Seasons_ (the edition published by Bogue), Miller's _Pictures of Country
Life_, all drawn and engraved by him, exhibit exquisite rural "bits," in
which, like Bewick, Samuel Williams could express with the graver the
touch of his pencil, thus far excelling his cotemporaries. The _Memorials
of the Martyrs_ was the last work on which he exercised his double skill.
Of works not drawn by himself, Wiffin's _Tasso_ shows some of his best
efforts; but as for years past he had been engaged on most of the best
works of the day, it is impossible to specify all. Had he devoted his
time to painting, which the constant employment with pencil and graver
prevented, he would have taken high rank as a painter of rural life, as
his pictures of "Sketching a Countryman," and "Interior of a Blacksmith's
Shop," exhibited in the Royal Academy when at Somerset House, testify,
as they are marked by perfect drawing and admirable expression. Some
miniatures on ivory, painted in his very youthful days, are marvellous
for close manipulation and correct likeness. After a long and painful
illness, borne with great fortitude, Mr. Williams expired on the 19th
September, his wife having predeceased him not quite six weeks, leaving
behind him four sons.