@21072017; edited 09052019; edited 16012024
Prints,
Provenance and decorated book covers.
Cataloguing The British Museum Robin de Beaumont Collection
Cataloguing The British Museum Robin de Beaumont Collection
Edmund
M B King
Introduction[2]
This essay is a small addition to the story of the
collection donated by Robin de Beaumont to the British Museum in 1992. His gift
of some 400 volumes, together with individual prints and woodblocks is commemorated
in Paul Goldman’s book: Victorian
illustrated books. The heyday of wood engraving, published in 1994.[3]
In his essay for this work entitled Collector’s
Progress, Robin de Beaumont provided a detailed account of how he made his
collection; how he prized the condition of the books and their illustrations so
highly. Additionally, Antony Griffiths recognised in his Preface that the Department of Prints and Drawings already had a
significant resource of mid-Victorian illustration, having acquired the Dalziel
(Brothers) guard books, which contained some 54,000 proof prints of their work
for the years 1839-1893. Griffiths stated:
“But, despite having so many proofs for the
illustrated books of the 1860s, the Department lacked the books themselves –
and, as Mr de Beaumont explains, many of these editions are not to be found in
the British Library, or, if there, are now in a poor condition after years of
handling.”
I was inspired by the 1994 British Museum exhibition which
accompanied this gift, to start a bibliography of the designs blocked onto the
covers of Victorian books. Examining the de Beaumont books for the first time
in the mid-1990s was like being in a sweet shop full of wonderful things.
Compared to similar copies in the British Library, the condition of the paper, of
the bindings and of the designs on them –all sparkled. It was possible to
include a number of these books in my own bibliography of trade bindings,
published in 2003.[4] A resolution to return and to catalogue the other
books was formed.
However, the time available to undertake this task was
lacking until I retired from the Library in 2012. I started work by converting
all of the records in my 2003 bibliography, scanning all of the book covers,
and placing these on the British Library Database of Bookbindings.[5] In the autumn of 2013, the work of cataloguing each
of the British Museum de Beaumont books was started and has proceeded. Descriptions
for each book and selected scans of the covers and of the illustrations, have
been entered directly into the British Museum’s Merlin system, the records of
which are made available via the British Museum online internet portal.[6] Names of authors, editors, artists, engravers,
publishers, printers, booksellers, bookbinders, previous owners – all can be
searched for.
Soon after my cataloguing began, the long planned
listing of the Dalziel Archive of proof copies was commenced, a process
accompanied by photography of all of the proof plates. This project has been
led by Dr. Bethan Stevens and George Mind of the University of Sussex.[7] Consequently, the cataloguing of the de Beaumont books,
together with a limited number of scans of the engraved illustrations, offers a
comparison between original Dalziel proof plates and their reproduction in
books.
The primary impulse for the work has been to describe the designs on the covers. This meant scanning the book covers, and also to make digital copies of other items, such as binders’ tickets or bookseller tickets. It was acknowledged at the outset that there were far too many illustrations in each book to scan them all. So, it was agreed to scan the frontispiece of each book, where there is one. If there is not one, then an illustration from within the book would be scanned. Additionally, bookplates, or prize labels and bookbinder’s tickets (or stamps) have been scanned and made public. Another aim has been to capture the names of the illustrators and engravers cited in the books. There are very many of these, and recording them has slowed the work, but enriched the entries, as all of the names are searchable online. At the time of writing this essay in 2017, some three hundred books have been catalogued, and some four hundred in total by 2018. What follows is a summary of the information that is now available online via the British Museum portal Collections Online.
This essay is divided into three portions. Without
knowing much at all about the prints of the mid-Victorian period at the start
of the cataloguing work, my interest has been stimulated by close contact with
them, so a portion is devoted to prints. The prints in the majority of the de
Beaumont books are wood-engravings. A second feature is provenance: Robin de
Beaumont’s eye for book labels, bookseller’s labels, bookplates of owners,
prize labels, inscriptions – these are numerous, and provide evidence of those who
wanted or gave these books, often at the time of their publication, as well as
thereafter. The third part looks at the designs on the book covers, for these
amplify work already undertaken at the British Library.
Prints
BM 1992,0406.261
The period of 1850-1870 is now seen as the heyday of
wood engravings, in illustrated books and periodicals. There are three hundred
and twenty-nine artists cited in Section 3 of Robin de Beaumont’s catalogue.[8] The Dalziel Brothers[9] produced wood-engravings of many of these. The roll
call of artists who worked for them is numerous: Millais, George du Maurier,
Arthur Boyd Houghton, George John Pinwell, Frederick Pickersgill, John Tenniel,
John Gilbert, Arthur Hughes, Charles Keene – these are just some of those whose
fame has endured. However, there are many artists whose contemporary reputation
has not stood the test of time. There is a ‘long tail’ of such artists, many of
whom produced good illustrations for wood-engravings.
BM 1992,0406.194
So far, some twenty books in the collection have illustrations after Gilbert, and three books feature illustrations by him alone. Gilbert’s illustration above in The Salamandrine, Ingram, Cooke, 1853 p. 67., was accompanied by the verse:
‘ His Mother she prepares a feast
Great stores of venison and wine,
And foaming ale and rich conserves
That a thousand guests may dine:’
Another striking illustration is ‘The Skeleton in Armour’, reproduced on page 103 of Longfellow Poetical Works, Routledge 1857, a work for which Gilbert provided all the illustrations.
BM, 1992,0406.181
This is
accompanied by the verse:
‘Speak! Speak! Thou fearful guest!
Who, with thy hollow heart
Still in rude armour drest
Comest thou to haunt me!’
It is an evocative illustration, possibly looking back
to the figure of the Commendatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and forward possibly to Darth Vader in the Star Wars films.
BM, 1992,0406.71
Foster provided all the illustrations for this work .
It was quite common to have an engraving on the title page, and in this
example, the landscape fits with the text, not dominating it.[15]
Foster’s illustration on page 12 of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Bell & Daldy, 1860,
shows a ‘grotto’ scene, ‘before the cell of Prospero’. [16] Illustration
and verse, in this example, are combined on the same page.[17]
One of the few women artists of this period was Jane
E. Benham, a friend of Anna Mary Howitt.[18]
She shared illustrations in four books, with Birket Foster. All were published
by David Bogue, and all illustrated poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who
was hugely popular at this time.[19] Longfellow. Poetical
works, Bogue, 1856, p. 104, shows her illustration to the poem ‘Twilight’.
Verse one of the poem reads:
‘The twilight is sad and cloudy, The wind blows wild
and free,
And like wings of sea-birds
Flash the white caps of the sea.’
Benham’s monogram ‘JEB’ is printed on the right hand
corner.[20]
The work of Mary Ellen Edwards is represented within
ten books in the de Beaumont collection, all published between 1864 and 1867. [21] these were published by six different publishers;
four of the ten being published by
Cassell.
BM, 1996,1104.33
For one work, Family
Fairy Tales, John Camden Hotten, 1865, she alone provided the five
illustrations, which were engraved by Horace Harral.[22] We see a
comfortable, middle class interior, with the family gathered together.
The two verses of ‘Work and Rest’ are:
‘Home! Is this home, where she sits so cold and
lonely,
Working, still working, from morning till night?
Life! Is this life, which is pain and pain only –
Only dark shadows, not one gleam of light?’
Pale, haggard cheeks, frozen, comfortless fingers;
Eyes wild with watching, head yearning for rest.
Working, still working, each moment she lingers
Takes bread from the baby she warms at her breast.’
Edwards’s initials are just underneath the end of the
table cloth on the left hand side. Details of the life and work of Mary Ellen
Edwards are available in Simon Cooke’s article in the Victorian web.[24] He notes: ‘…her real strength lay in her
illustrations of the 1860s. Her images in black and white were distanced from
the conventional imagery of her paintings, and while some of her illustrations
are ‘feminine’ in the gender-marked terms of meaning purely ‘sentimental’ or
‘domestic’, most of her engravings on wood combine a hard-headed appreciation
of the mores of contemporary society with an intense awareness of psychological
complexity and the ramifications of difficult situations. These apparently
masculine qualities equipped her as the illustrator of the most unsentimental
of writers.’
Both Mary Ellen
Edwards and Eleanor Vere Boyle lived to be over ninety. The former became well known for her illustrations to
Trollope’s novel The Claverings,
published first in serial form in the Cornhill Magazine.[26]
Of Boyle's work, Goldman wrote: ‘EVB illustrated at least two works alone –
Tennyson’s The May Queen 1861, and
her own Child’s Play [1852] – and
both provide convincing evidence that she was an artist of genuine
originality.’[27] [28]
BM 1992,0406.151
Excluding second editions, the de Beaumont collection has six works that include Boyle’s illustrations, of which two have illustrations by her only.[29] The frontispiece, above, for The Magic Valley show the full use of the landscape head to tail, drawing the eye into the Dram handing over the key.
BM, 1992,0406.105
The two illustrations by Boyle, accompanying the poem,
The May Queen, on pages 352 and 353
of Favourite English Poems provides
the opportunity for the artist to offer us both interior and exterior views –
the one of the girl looking out to the work beyond a room in a cottage, the
other showing the young would be lover looking from the garden wall, whose head
is turned away from the cottage to look at the young girl walking away from
him. The interior of the cottage room and the spinning wheel are particularly
finely drawn, even if the expressions on the faces of the two young women seem
somewhat flat. Verses are printed on the same page as both illustrations.
BM, 1992,0406.109
Philip Hermogenes Calderon, RA was a painter who
became Keeper of the Royal Academy.[30] He is represented in but one work in the de Beaumont
collection, Margaret Gatty’s Parables
from Nature, both the 1861 and 1865 editions. Here we are looking at the
title page and frontispiece of the 1861 edition, with the illuminated capital
letters of the title, and the centred device of Bell & Daldy. Calderon is
cited on the title page with several other artists.[31] The frontispiece is not a memorable image, but
conveys the tone of the book well enough.
BM, 1992,0406.240
Henry Courtney Selous was a pupil of John Martin; he mainly painted historical pieces.[32] He is represented in the de Beaumont collection in seven books. In his illustrations for Our Life Illustrated by Pen and Pencil, Religious Tract Society, 1865, Selous conveys the sense of drama of the verses, with both David on the left hand page, and Nebuchadnezzar on the right, both declaiming their messages in suitably commanding poses.[33]
BM, 1992,0406.271
Selous’s illustration for the frontispiece of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, shows a
tableau of the family, finely drawn, conveying a sense of calm before the
events to come. Selous provided all the illustrations for this work.[3]
BM,1992,0406.263
He composed two
similar scenes for battles. The illustration above: ‘Battle of Flodden Field’ is in Poems
and pictures: a collection of Ballads, Songs, and other Poems, Sampson Low,
1860, p.71.[35]
BM,1992,0406.20
The illustration above shows a scene of the flight of
the Israelites, pursued by Pharaoh’s
army, and is captioned : ‘Pi-Hahiroth’. Here, we see a military force (i.e. the
soldiers of Pharaoh’s army) being overwhelmed by the Red Sea. It is in Baynes,
Robert Hall. The Illustrated Book of
Sacred Poems, Cassell, 1867.[36]
You can see Selous’s monogram at the base of the oval containing the capital
letter “H”.
Labels
– booksellers, prize, private ownership,
inscriptions
Booksellers Labels in books
Bookseller’s labels are numerous in the collection.[37] There is quite a geographical spread of premises, from Glasgow to Brighton. One book, Thomas James, Aesop’s Fables: John Murray, 1848, has two bookseller’s labels – which are W. Prichard of Carnarvon; and that of Wm George’s Sons, Bristol.[38]
One example is notable. Wilhelm Hey’s Picture
fables, Routledge, 1858 has the label of Miller’s Fancy Repository, of 32
Lowndes Street, Belgrave Square. Books were but some of the many objects they
sold. [39]
Prize labels
Many of the books in the collection have prize labels.
Mostly these relate to attainments in school or in religious classes. Some of
the labels are part printed, with the awardee’s name and details of the nature
of the award being filled in by hand.
BM, 1992,0406.4
Above, the School prize label reads: "/ Young
Ladies/ Seminary/ Dowanhill./ Glasgow./ Presented/ to/ Miss Mary Gray/ Third
Prize III class/ for/ English/ by/ Geo. A. Panton/ May 29th 1867./" It is in:
John and Anna Atkin’s Evenings at Home,
Warne 1867.[40]
The binding is mostly blocked in blind, implying a price of perhaps 3/6 or 4/6.
The book and the label bear the same year, 1867.
The label above is entirely handwritten, and is the
only one so far found in the collection. It reads: “/ Testimonial of High
Merit/ (Grade 15th)/ awarded to/ Walter Barron/ Aged 14/ Bruce Castle,
Christmas/ 1865./” It is within: Cervantes. Adventures
of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Illustrations by A. B. Houghton , Warne, 1866.[41] The date of the award of Christmas 1865 is
evidence that the book was already available, despite the date on the title
page being 1866. The cover design is of an ornate ‘Moorish’ design.
BM,1992,0406.74
This label, reads: “/ The Collegiate School [in Gothic
lettering]./ Newark-upon-Trent/ [rule]/ Class prize/ awarded to/ Master George
A Matterson/ for Arithmetic & English/ according/ to result of final
Examination held 10 December 1880/ J. Burt, Principal./” The label is within: Days of old . Three stories from old English
history, Macmillan, 1859.[42] It is interesting to see the book used in this way,
in 1880, eleven years after its publication. The binding is of half leather,
possibly costing between 7/6 to 10/6.
BM, 1992,0406.384
The School prize label: : “/ Bank House School/
Keighley June 1869/ Prize/ awarded to/ Fred[eric]k Laude/ for/ Mechanical
Drawing/ & general good conduct/ W H. Jackson/ Principal/”. This label has
ornate coloured borders and letters pre-printed by Smallman, London. It is
within a copy of John Tillotson, John. Our
Untitled Nobility. James Hogg, [1863].[43] There
is a ‘tracery’ design blocked in gold on the upper cover and the spine.
BM, 1992,0406.115
Above,, the label reads: “/ Mount Zion/ School
for Men,/ Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton./ Officers Class/ Annual Prize/
Awarded to F Kandley/ For Regular Attendance./ Price Lewis, Superintendent/ R.
Franklin, Secretary./ March 26th, 1894./”. It is within a copy of: Goldsmith, Oliver. Dalziel’s Illustrated
Goldsmith. Ward & Lock, 1865.[44]
Nearly thirty years after its publication, the book was used as a prize of
Regular Attendance. The binding is full gilt on the spine and upper cover, so
this may have retailed in the 1860s at a purchase price of 10s/6d.
BM, 1992,0406.29
The ornately bordered label of: “/
South Hampstead Collegiate School 120, Belsize Park Gardens, Haverstock Hill,
London, N. W. – is inscribed in the oval
frame: “/ Prize Arithmetic/ 3rd class/ W. G. Frazer 1877./” It is in a copy of Anne Bowman. The boy pilgrim, Routledge, 1870.[45] This may be a bespoke binding, as there is the gilt stamp of the South
Hampstead Collegiate School blocked on the
upper cover. Although such blocking of the awarding organisation on a
full leather binding may have been common at the time, this is the only example
in this collection.
BM, 1992,0406.128
In the collection, there is one example of ownership
that is neither a prize nor a book plate. The ownership stamp of Henry Hoare: “/
H. Hoare, F. S. Sc./ [rule]/ 119, Abbeyville Rd./ Southwark Park, S.L. [i.e. South
London?]/ Elocutionist/”.[46] His initials “H. H.” are tooled onto the
spine of the book, at the tail. This binding is ordinary in a half morocco
case, and it is possible that it was made for him.
Bookplates
BM,1992,0406.94
BM,1992,0406.70
Moving on to bookplates, there are a number relating to the Dalziel family. Above is that of Edward Dalziel[47] - Below is John Dalziel.[48]
BM,1992,0406.94
BM,1992,0406.70
Moving on to bookplates, there are a number relating to the Dalziel family. Above is that of Edward Dalziel[47] - Below is John Dalziel.[48]
BM, 1992,0406.104 BM, 1992,0406.157 BM, 1992,0406.124
Bookplates with coats of arms. on the left that of
Charles R. Robinson, together with a later one of W R H Jeudwine.[49] In the centre, there is the bookplate of Francis Gray
Smart.[50] On the right
is the bookplate of William Gibson Reeves.[51]
BM, 1992,0406.302 BM,
1992,0406.78a BM, 1992,0406.295
These bookplates employ a variety of motifs, loosely
labelled as ‘emblematic’. Above left, we see the bookplate of Gleeson White, the
art critic and author.[52] Above middle is the bookplate of Vivian de Sola Pinto, poet and literary critic,
authority of the work of D H Lawrence.[53] Above right, there is the bookplate of
Frederick H. Evans, photographer, in a copy of proof
plates for Houghton’s Illustrations to
Don Quixote. [54]
Inscriptions
BM, 1992,0406.342
Families of all kinds gave books to their children. There
is James Kaye’s gift of the 1862, first edition of Goblin Market, to Alice V. Kaye – possibly his daughter. Two other
members of the Kaye family, Ethel and Gertrude also owned and read the poems.[55]
BM, 1992,0406.336
The inscribed gift of the Nursery Times in August 1867, to Margaret Mitford Amherst was from
her mother, Margaret Susan, daughter of Admiral Robert Mitford, of Hunmanby
Hall, co. York. Margaret Susan was
married to William
Amherst Tyssen-Amherst (1835-1909), 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney, a notable
book collector.[56]
BM, 1992,0406.35
Gifts of books to members of publishing families are recorded. A fine copy of Robert Buchanan’s North Coast and other poems, 1868, was given to Gordon Dalziel by his Uncles, the Dalziel Brothers.[57
BM,1992,0406.156
The Dalziel Brothers gifted a copy of Lays of the Holy Land to Mrs. Frederick
Warne [i.e. Louisa Jane Warne, neé, Fruing] , a copy bound in full morocco by
Edmonds and Remnants.[58]
Book
covers and bookbinders
In looking at book covers and their designs, the matter of who bound the books is of interest. Robin de Beaumont carried out much work on this, as he was keen to follow up on Douglas Ball’s List of Binder’s Signatures, published as part of his Victorian Publishers’ Bindings.[59] De Beaumont compiled his own list of binders’ tickets within the books.[60] In giving me a copy of this list in 2001, he noted: ‘Of course they [the binders’ tickets] ought to be scanned in colour.’ This is a matter now attended to, for a colour scan of each of the binders’ tickets has been made and placed adjacent to the online descriptive entry for each book. The binders’ tickets listed are mainly those of the large London premises: Bone & son, Burn, Leighton, Son & Hodge, Edmonds & Remnants/ Remnants & Edmonds, Westley. The main interest here lies in the number of variant tickets printed and used by each bookbinder. You can search for these via the British Museum online collection search.[61] There are also many more of these to be found on the British Library Database of Bookbindings.[62]
In looking at book covers and their designs, the matter of who bound the books is of interest. Robin de Beaumont carried out much work on this, as he was keen to follow up on Douglas Ball’s List of Binder’s Signatures, published as part of his Victorian Publishers’ Bindings.[59] De Beaumont compiled his own list of binders’ tickets within the books.[60] In giving me a copy of this list in 2001, he noted: ‘Of course they [the binders’ tickets] ought to be scanned in colour.’ This is a matter now attended to, for a colour scan of each of the binders’ tickets has been made and placed adjacent to the online descriptive entry for each book. The binders’ tickets listed are mainly those of the large London premises: Bone & son, Burn, Leighton, Son & Hodge, Edmonds & Remnants/ Remnants & Edmonds, Westley. The main interest here lies in the number of variant tickets printed and used by each bookbinder. You can search for these via the British Museum online collection search.[61] There are also many more of these to be found on the British Library Database of Bookbindings.[62]
Cataloguing the cover designs of the books in the de
Beaumont collection complements descriptions done for the British Library
database of Bookbindings. Some of these book covers were shown in my talk of
2015 to the Bibliographical Society and
subsequently published in the British Library electronic journal.[63]
There are a number of books in the de Beaumont collection for which there are
details of price. These are frequently within lists of publisher’s titles,
either bound at the end of the book[64],
or in another book issued by the same publisher.
BM, 1992,0406.152 BM,1992,0406.164
BM, 1992,0406.152 BM,1992,0406.164
Above, Keats’s Eve of St. Agnes, Sampson Low, 1856, was published at a price of 7s. 6d.[65] There was the same price as for Mark Lemon. Tinykins transformations, Bradbury Evans & Co., 1869.[66]
BM, 1992,0406.20
Above, Robert Hall Baynes, was the Editor of The Illustrated Book of Sacred
Poems, Cassell, 1867, issued at a price of 7s. 6d. The advertisement in the paper bound edition,
states that the ‘full gilt’ binding cost 10s. 6d. [67]
BM,1992,0406.145
BM,1992,0406.145
Douglas Jerrold. Mrs
Caudle’s curtain lectures, Bradbury, Evans & Co., 1866, was issued at 10s.
6d.[68]
The cover design is by John Leighton, and this copy was bound by Leighton, Son
& Hodge. Robin de Beaumont has noted
that this copy is the first issue of the first edition. A (probably later)
issue with the same date, was bound by Edmonds & Remnants, using the same
cover design. This implies that the brass blocks were shared between two
binders; or, that the cases were made up in one bindery, with the brasses (the same or additional ones), plus extra copies of the sheets being passed to another binder.
BM,1992,0406.259
BM,1992,0406.259
It has been possible to ascertain the price of some books issued for one
guinea. Above is Pictures of English landscape,
Routledge, 1863. This has a design by Owen Jones. It was sold for one guinea.[69]
BM,1992,0406.371
Tennyson’s, Enoch Arden, Edward Moxon, 1866, has a cover design is after Arthur Hughes and the book was priced at 21s. This copy has brown honeycomb-grain cloth.[70] In the de Beaumont collection, there is additionally an Album of 25 proof plates after Hughes pasted on backing sheets. This may possibly be a specimen book. It has the same cover design as for the published copy.[71] There are two copies of Enoch Arden in the British Library.[72]
Tennyson’s, Enoch Arden, Edward Moxon, 1866, has a cover design is after Arthur Hughes and the book was priced at 21s. This copy has brown honeycomb-grain cloth.[70] In the de Beaumont collection, there is additionally an Album of 25 proof plates after Hughes pasted on backing sheets. This may possibly be a specimen book. It has the same cover design as for the published copy.[71] There are two copies of Enoch Arden in the British Library.[72]
The Dalziel Fine Art Gift book, Wayside Poesies, published by Routledge in 1867, was also priced at
one guinea.[73]
BM 1992,0406.230
Works of popular authors were issued by different
publishers quite quickly one after another. For example, there are two copies
of Moore. Lallah Rookh in the
collection. Above is the Routledge edition of 1860, with a design possibly by
Albert Henry Warren.[74] The illustrations were after various artists, all
engraved by Edmund Evans.
BM, 1992,0406.231
The Longman edition of 1861, has illustrations after John Tenniel.[75] Both books have binder’s tickets of Leighton, Son & Hodge. The Routledge copy is bound in blue morocco vertical-grain cloth, and the Longman copy is bound in purple coarse pebble-grain cloth.
BM,1992,0406.25
The Longman edition of 1861, has illustrations after John Tenniel.[75] Both books have binder’s tickets of Leighton, Son & Hodge. The Routledge copy is bound in blue morocco vertical-grain cloth, and the Longman copy is bound in purple coarse pebble-grain cloth.
BM,1992,0406.25
It seems likely that books with such dense
ornamentation in gold were sold for a guinea each. Full blocking on both covers probably
indicates an early issue. Above is the Book
of Job, Nisbet, 1857, which has a design influenced by Islamic patterns. [76] Bound
by Leighton, Son & Hodge.
BM,1992,0406.300
BM,1992,0406.300
The Proverbs of Solomon, Nisbet, 1858,
has a ‘Renaissance’ oval central panel, held in place by ‘clasps’.[77] Bound
by Leighton, Son & Hodge.
BM,1992,0406.185
Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha, W. Kent
& Co., 1860, above, has design featuring central oval panels with on lays and multiple border medallions.[78] Bound
by Leighton, Son & Hodge.
BM,1992,0406.48
The elaborate design for Byron. Childe Harold, John Murray, 1859,
shows gilt ‘dentelle’ borders, with the straps on the corners of the central
diamond. These hint at eighteenth
century tooling patterns.[79] This
book was bound by Edmonds & Remnants.
BM,1992,0406.32
The collection contains some humorous books, such as
Oliver Ormewood’s account, written in Lancashire dialect, of the visit of the
‘Rachde Felley’ to the Greyt Eggshibshun
(Great Exhibition) of 1851.[80]
The price of sixpence indicated the publisher’s desire for large sales.
Conclusion
The three strands of this essay: Prints, Provenance,
and Book Covers – all offer a view of the many avenues for research into the de
Beaumont collection. The recording of individual prints, of their artists and
of their engravers, together with the details of previous owners has been one
of the most rewarding aspects of exploring the collection. The cover designs
speak for themselves, being such a strong instrument for attracting they eye of
the purchaser.
The artists mentioned in this essay are but a few of those represented in the de Beaumont collection. They form part of the ‘long tail’ of artists, their work and contemporary reputations eclipsed by time. In their favour was the decision of the publishers, the printer, or the engraving companies (such as Dalziel Brothers), to employ them. (They would not have been employed if their work was not of an acceptable standard.) Together, they created work intended to sell books. The book illustration work was frequently but a small part of lives spent in pursuit of wider artistic endeavour. Moreover, illustrations for periodicals (and probably for more expensive books) paid reasonably well.[81] Whilst the ‘lesser’ artists have not achieved the eminence of a Rossetti, a Millais, a Hughes, a Houghton or a Pinwell, they nevertheless enrich the landscape of Victorian book illustration.
The artists mentioned in this essay are but a few of those represented in the de Beaumont collection. They form part of the ‘long tail’ of artists, their work and contemporary reputations eclipsed by time. In their favour was the decision of the publishers, the printer, or the engraving companies (such as Dalziel Brothers), to employ them. (They would not have been employed if their work was not of an acceptable standard.) Together, they created work intended to sell books. The book illustration work was frequently but a small part of lives spent in pursuit of wider artistic endeavour. Moreover, illustrations for periodicals (and probably for more expensive books) paid reasonably well.[81] Whilst the ‘lesser’ artists have not achieved the eminence of a Rossetti, a Millais, a Hughes, a Houghton or a Pinwell, they nevertheless enrich the landscape of Victorian book illustration.
Above all, the Robin de Beaumont collection is a
testimony to his energy, and his connoisseurship, exercised over many years. He
tirelessly pursued the best copy he could find, and had a discerning eye for
interesting provenance. In bringing some of these aspects into the online
environment, it is hoped that his skills as a collector and knowledgeable researcher
will be yet more widely admired.
Edmund M B King
St Albans 2019
[2] I
am grateful to Sheila O’Connell, Curator of British Prints, British Museum, for
reading this paper, and for making suggestions for its improvement.
[3]
Goldman,
Paul. Victorian Illustrated Books
1850-1870. The heyday of wood-engraving. The Robin de Beaumont Collection.
London, British Museum Press, 1994. Checklist of the de Beaumont Collection,
nos. 1-592, pp.126-142.
[4] King, Edmund M.
B. Victorian
decorated trade bindings 1830-1880. London: The British Library, 2003.
[5] The database is
online at: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/bookbindings/ Entering my name Edmund M B King in the home page search box returns all of
the records entered by myself.
[6] A useful summary
of the Merlin system was presented by Tanya Szrajber to the 2008 Annual
Conference of CIDOC. See: http://network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/cidoc/ConferencePapers/2008/82_papers.pdf (visited 6.12.2016)
[7] Details of the
work at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/english/dalziel/the-project/ (visited
12.2.2017)
[8] Robin De Beaumont Collection. 1860s Illustrators. Books, Drawings &
Proofs. Combined 1992 & 1996 Gifts. March 2000. Section 3: Schedule of
Artist Publications & Illustrations. [Unpublished.] My work of descriptive
cataloguing this collection is a continuation of de Beaumont’s work of the
1990s, and
has
sought to draw out as many elements of each book as possible, to place the
results online.
[10] An example of
Gilbert’s stamina is the Staunton edited Works
of William Shakespeare, Routledge 1881. Gilbert provided all of the
illustrations, engraved by the Brothers Dalziel, and he made and signed a large illustration for the upper cover
centrepiece. The British Library copy is at shelf mark 11765.g.5. See: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/bookbindings/LargeImage.aspx?RecordId=020-000023809&ImageId=ImageId=60378&Copyright=BL (Visited
10.12.2016)
[12] Dalziel, George
& Dalziel, Edward. The Brothers
Dalziel. A record of their Work 1840-1890. London: B. T. Batsford, 1978, p.
138.
[13] Gleeson
White. English Illustration, The Sixties 1855-1870. pp.101 ff.
[14] These five are:
1992,0406.71 Cowper. The Task;
1992,0406,104 Falconer. The Shipwreck;
1992,0406.116. Goldsmith. The Traveller;
1992,0406,119 The Sabbath; 1992,0406.178
Kavanagh.
[16] 1992,0406.358 Shakespeare,
William. The Tempest. Illustrated by
Birket Foster, Gustave Dore, Frederick Skill, Alfred Slader, and Gustave Janet.
[Device of Bell & Daldy.] London: Bell & Daldy, 186, Fleet, Street,
1860.
[17] As, for example
in 1992,0406.24 The Farmer’s Boy,
1857.
[18] Her married name
was Jane Benham Hay. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Benham_Hay (visited
12.12.2016)
[19] The four books
with illustrations by Benham are: 1992,0406.176 Longfellow. Evangeline, Bogue 1854. [Another copy is at 1996,1104.24, Bogue,
1850]; 1992,0406,177 Longfellow. The
Golden Legend, Bogue, 1854; 1992,0406.179 Longfellow. Poems, Bogue, 1852; 1992,0406.180 Longfellow. The Poetical Works, Bogue 1856. She is cited as providing the
tail-pieces for 1992,0406.336 Rhymes and Roundelayes in praise of a Country
Life, Bogue, 1857
[21] Eight of these ten
books are: 1996,1104.33 Pennell. Family
Fairy Tales. Hotten, 1864; 1992,0406.20 Baynes, Robert Hall. The Illustrated Book of Sacred Poems,
Cassell, 1867; 1992,0406.106 Foxe, John.
The Booke of Martyrs, Cassell,
1866; 1992,0406.110 Gatty, Margaret. Parables
from nature, Bell & Daldy, 1865; 1992,0406.128 Hood, Tom. [Editor.] Cassell’s Penny
Readings, Cassell, 1867; 1992,0406.136 Idyllic
pictures, Cassell 1867; 1992,0406.261 Pictures
of Society. Grave and Gay, Sampson Low, 1866; 1992,0406.270 Proctor,
Adelaide Anne. Legends and lyrics,
Bell & Daldy 1866.
See: http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/edwardsme/cooke.html (visited 09.02.2017.); see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ellen_Edwards
(visited 7.2.2017.)
[25] The portrait
belongs to the National Portrait Gallery. See: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw43162/Eleanor-Vere-Boyle-ne-Gordon?LinkID=mp51598&role=sit&rNo=1 (visited
10.2.2017); for more information on Boyle, see:
http://www.victorianweb.org/victorian/painting/boyle/index.html (visited
10.2.2017); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Vere_Boyle (visited
10.2.2017)
[26] Published from
February 1866 to May 1867. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Claverings (visited
10.2.2017)
[27] Goldman, Paul. Victorian Illustrated Books 1850-1870. The
heyday of wood-engraving. The Robin de Beaumont Collection. London, British
Museum Press, 1994, p.87.
[28] Child’s Play. ‘Boyle’s first book. Text taken from an
old copy of Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes’ See:
[29] These six are (in
P&D register no. order): 1992,0406.30 Child’s
Play, Addey 1852; 1992,0406.105 Favourite
English Poems, Sampson Low, 1862; 1992, 0406.151 The Magic Valley, Macmillan, 1877; 1992,0406.373 The May Queen, Sampson Low, 1862;
1996,1104.13 Early English Poems,
Sampson Low, 1863; 1996,1104.18 Gray. Elegy
in a Conutry Churchyard, Cundall, 1854.
[31] 1992,0406.109.
Gatty, Margaret. Parables from nature,
Bell & Daldy, 1861. The other artists were: C.W.Cope, R.A. [i.e. Charles
West Cope], W. Holman Hunt [i.e. William Holman Hunt], Otto Speckter, G.Thomas
[i.e. possibly George Houseman Thomas] and E. Warren, Lorenz Frölich, W. B.
Scott [i.e. William Bell Scott], E. B. Jones [i.e. probably Edward
Burne-Jones], Harrison Weir [i.e. Harrison William Weir], John Tenniel, Joseph
Wolf, W. P. Burton [i.e. William Paton Burton], M.E. Edwards [i.e. Mary Ellen
Edwards], and Charles Keene.
[32] For details, See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Courtney_Selous
(visited 12.2.2017); and http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/selous/bio.html
(visited 12.2.2017)
[33] 1992,0406.240 Our Life Illustrated by Pen and Pencil,
Religious Tract Society, 1865, pp 162-163.
[35] 1992,0406.263. Poems
and pictures: a collection of Ballads, Songs, and other Poems, Sampson Low,
1860, p.71.
[38] The labels shown
are within the following books [bookseller name and P&D register nos.]:
Smythe & Co., Liverpool – 1992,0406.1; David Bryce & Co., Glasgow –
1992,0406.4; H. Gaskarth, Bradford –
1996,1104.13; J. Gale, Chatham – 1996,1104.17; T & M Kennard, Leamington
Spa – 1992,0406.42; G. G. Walmsley, Liverpool – 1996,1104.2; H. & C.
Treacher, Brighton – 1992,0406.158; U. B. Mattocks, Colchester – 1992,0406.184;
A. Farr, Swaffham – 1992,0406.236; W. Pritchard, Carnarvon – 1992,0406.144; Wm
George’s, Bristol – 1992,0406.144; Henry Hollobone & Co., London –
1992,0406.153; S. & T. Gilbert, London - 1992,0406.10 and 1992,0406,363;
Harrison, London – 1992,0406.257; C. H. Bensberg, London – 1992,0406. 23; Mann Nephews,
London – 1992,0406. 352.
[39] 1992,0406.126. Hey,Wilhelm. Picture fables, Routledge, 1558. Miller’s Toy and Fancy Repository: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O26440/blocks-millers-toy-fancy/ (visited
15.07.2017)
[40] 1992,0406.4. Atkin.
Evenings at Home, Warne 1867. School prize label on upper pastedown:
"/ Young Ladies/ Seminary/ Dowanhill./ Glasgow./ Presented/ to/ Miss Mary
Gray/ Third Prize III class/ for/ English/ by/ Geo. A. Panton/ May 29th
1867./"
[41] 1992,0406.62.
Cervantes. Adventures of Don Quixote de
la Mancha. Illustrations by A. B. Houghton, Warne, 1866.
[44] 1992,0406.115.
Goldsmith, Oliver. Dalziel’s Illustrated Goldsmith.
Ward & Lock, 1865.
[47] 1992,0406.194. Bookplate of Edward Daziel. In: Mackay,
Charles. The Salamandrine. Ingram, Cooke, and Co., 1853.
[48] 1992,0406.70. Bookplate of John Dalziel. In: Cornwall, Barry. Dramatic
scenes and other poems, Chapman and Hall, 1857.
[49] 1992,0406.104. Charles R. Robinson and Wynne Rice Hugh
Jeudwine. In: Falconer, William. The
shipwreck. A poem. Adam and Charles Black,1858. Details of Jeudwine at: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=119739 (visited
19.2.2017)
[51] 1992,0406.124. Richard Gibson Reeves. In:
Hall, Samuel Carter. The Book of British
Ballads. Jeremiah How, 1844.
[52] 1992,0406.302.
Gleeson White. In: Rands, William
Brighty. Lilliput lectures. Strahan
& Co., 1871. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Gleeson_White (visited
19.2.2017.)
[53] 1992,0406.78a.
Vivian de Sola Pinto. In: Defoe, Daniel. History
of the Plague of London. Thomas Murby, Simpkin, Marshall & Co, [1865?].
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_de_Sola_Pinto (visited
19.2.2017)
[54] 1992,0406.295.
Frederick H. Evans. Houghton’s
Illustrations to Don Quixote. [London: Dalziel Brothers, 1866.]. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_H._Evans (visited
19.2.2017)
[56] 1992,0406.236. Margaret Mitford
Tyssen Amherst of Hunmanby Hall. In:
Nursery Times, 1867. William Amherst Tyssen-Amherst (1835-1909), 1st
Baron Amherst of Hackney. See: http://landedfamilies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/122-tyssen-amherst-later-cecil-of.html (vsited 23.3.2017); and see: http://landedfamilies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/122-tyssen-amherst-later-cecil-of.html (visited 23.3.2017.)
[58] 1992,0406.156.
Mrs. Frederick Warne from the Dalziel Borthers. In: Lays of the Holy Land,
Nisbet, 1858.
[59] Ball, Douglas. Victorian publishers’ bindings. London,
Library Association, 1985, Appendix E, Nineteenth
Century Edition Binders’ Signatures, pp. 176-192.
[60] Robin de Beaumont.
Binders’ Tickets in the Robin de Beaumont
Collection of 1860s Illustrators Books, British Museum Prints & Drawings.
Based on the listings found in Douglas Ball Victorian Publishers’ Bindings The
Library Association 1985, Appendix E. [Unpublished: colophon has: ‘Robin de
Beaumont, Chelsea, August 2001’.] One hundred and ninety one tickets are noted
in this list.
[61] https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx A search on:
bookbinder ticket de Beaumont
yields twenty-six results. (visited 15.2.2017)
[62] http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/bookbindings/ A search on:
Binders ticket 19c yields over
three hundred and twenty results (visited 17.2.2017)
[63] Illustrations and
details of the many book covers mentioned in 2015 are available at: http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2016articles/article2.html (visited
22.022017.)
[64] Normally, the
publisher’s titles would be bound into a later issue, or a later edition of the
first edition.
[66] 1992,0406.164. Mark Lemon. Tinykins transformations, Bradbury Evans & Co., 1869. 7s.
6d. This has a cover design by John
Leighton.
[67] 1992,0406.20 Baynes, Robert Hall. Sacred Poems, Cassell, 1867. 7s. 6d. The upper cover of part XI of
the British Library copy at shelf mark 11651k3 (which is bound with parts in blue paper covers) advertises the ‘Complete volume of Cassell’s
Illustrated Book of Sacred Poems’: “…published at 7s.6d. cloth gilt, 10s 6d.
full gilt cloth, and at 21s full morocco antique. It will form one of the most
beautiful gift books of the forthcoming season.” See:
[68] 1992,0406.145 Mrs Caudle’s curtain lectures, Bradbury,
Evans & Co., 1866. 10s. 6d. In the
publisher’s titles bound at the end of Douglas Jerrold, The Story of a Feather (1992.0406,147), this work is advertised as:
“Handsomely bound, price 10s. 6d.” The British Library copy at shelf mark
C.109.c.11 has the same design on a full leather binding, probably priced at
one guinea. See:
[69] 1992,0406.259. Pictures
of English landscape, Routledge, 1863. Binding design after Owen
Jones. The advert at the end of The Golden Harp, Routledge, 1864
[1992,0406.94], [which describes this copy as:] ‘superb binding, designed by
Owen Jones – One Guinea’.
[70] 1992,0406.371.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden, Edward Moxon,
1866. Printed on the title page verso: “The illustrations and cover from
drawings by Arthur Hughes.” On page four of the list of books published by
Edward Moxon bound in at the end, this work is described as: “ In foolscap 4to,
elegantly printed and bound price 21s.”
[71] 1992,0406.296. [Enoch Arden. No imprint or date.] Album of 25 plates
pasted on backing sheets. [A specimen book?] Robin de Beaumont’s notes state:
‘25 proof engravings of Arthur Hughes’s illustrations to Tennyson’s ‘Enoch
Arden’, Moxon 1866. In the 1866 publisher’s binding.’
[72] For details of the
British Library copies, see: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/bookbindings/LargeImage.aspx?RecordId=020-000018706&ImageId=ImageId=57250&Copyright=BL (accessed
23.022017.)
[73] 1992, 0406.395.
Buchanan,
Robert. Wayside poesies: original poems
of the country life, 1867. Printed on the title page verso: ‘Dalziel’s Fine
Art Gift Book 1867’. In North coast and
other poems (British Library shelf mark 11651.g.13.), the binding design is
described in the publisher’s titles as a: “Superb binding [in cloth], designed
by Albert Warren, One Guinea; or, Morocco elegant and antique, Thirty-six
shillings.”
[78] 1992,0406.185.
Longfellow. Song of Hiawatha, W. Kent & Co., 1860. Bound by
Leighton, Son & Hodge.
[80] Ormewood, Oliver. O Ful, Tru, un Pertikler Okeawnt o bwoth wat
aw seed un wat aw yerd, we gooin too the Greyt Eggshibishun e Lundun. Third
edishun. [In the Lancashire Dialect.] Rachde: Printed bee Wrigley un Son;
sowd by Hamilton, Adams un Ko, Un routledge un o., Lundun; Abel Heywood, Un
Kelley un Slater, Manchesstur; G. Philip un son, Liverpule, [1856].
[81] For a discussion
of the relationships between publisher(s) and the artist, see: Cooke, Simon. Illustrated periodicals of the 1860s,
contexts and collaborations, 2010, pp. 50-54.
