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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.