- Museum number
- 1913,0415.195
- Title
- Object: India-Proofs of Wood-Engravings by The Brothers Dalziel
- Description
-
Album with hand-written title page: 'India-Proofs of Wood-Engravings by The Brothers Dalziel. General Work - Various: 1875. This Book was made up at the time the engravings shown in it were done.' Half-bound in brown leather and gilt; lettering on spine reads 'Wood-Engravings by the Brothers Dalziel. XXXIV. Various Works. 1875'. The album includes approximately 1459 wood-engraved proofs, with many touched proofs. Following the title-page there is a contents page written by the Dalziels; this provides an extremely useful reference for publishers and titles in the albums, although it is not necessarily a reliable finding aid.
Some useful notes in Dalziel's hand give suggestions as to their working practices (e.g.: ‘Drawing & Engraving’ or ‘Photographing & Engraving’ - see print nos. 713-716).
The album includes book, periodical and commercial illustrations of all sorts. There are numerous illustrations to fiction and poetry, many children's illustrations, and images relating to decorative and fine arts. In addition, there are illustrations for music, advertisements, imperial narratives and natural history. There are images of landscape, topography, travel, religion and history. Periodicals represented here include 'London society', 'Hood’s Annual', and ‘The Illustrated London News’.
Indiviual prints include the following:
No. 1: illustration showing fashionable domestic interior, with the address “134 Oxford Street”, and space left for letterpress text. This must have been an advertisement for the house furnishers Charles Hindley & Sons, who were based at that address. For information on the firm, see Laura Microulis, ‘The Furniture Drawings of Charles Hindley & Sons, 134 Oxford Street, London’, in ‘Furniture History’ Vol. 37 (2001), pp. 67-90.
No. 2: small advertisement for John Gosnell’s ‘Cherry Toothpaste / patronized by the Queen’.
No. 3: illustration of a life preserving wet suit, perhaps for the National Lifeboat Institution?
Nos. 8-9: poster and handbill for ‘The Scottish Widows Fund Mutual Life Assurance Society’. N.B. The large-scale poster is folded in the album.
Nos. 10-20: illustrations for George Ashdown Audsley and James Lord Bowes, ‘Keramic Art of Japan’ (Liverpool: Published for subscribers; London: Henry Sotheran, 1875). All proofed in black, but in the final publication, some were printed in red, blue or brown. No. 20, which in the publication is captioned ‘Fusiyama, from the Sea’, and is a reproducion of a Japanese book illustration, has here been erroneously captioned in pencil by Dalziel, ‘Copied from Chinese print’. For other contributions to this project, see the album for 1874, reg. no. 1913,0415.194.
No. 24: a ticket for the photographers Dickinson Brothers, 114 New Bond Street, to view ‘London Society’ (presumably a photographic exhibition: no apparent connection with the illustrated periodical of that name).
No. 25: handbill or advertisement for a fair and bazaar of the ‘Grand Illustrated Book Prize Union’, Manchester.
Nos. 26-28: a calendar for 1876.
Nos. 41-42: two wood engravings after William Blake. The first is a rather poor facsimile of plate 3 of the ‘Job’ engravings (‘The Fire of God is fallen from Heaven’). The second is a reduced, monochrome copy of one of Blake’s ‘Night Thoughts’ watercolours (Night VII, p. 36, ‘A Crime to Reason…’). Dalziel’s contents page lists this leaf under the word ‘Carr’ (or conceivably ‘Can’, but less likely). These wood engravings are almost certainly associated with J Comyns Carr, who wrote the Blake entry for the ninth edition of the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’, published in 1875, as well as periodical articles for ‘The Cornhill Magazine’ and ‘Living Age’. There was a flurry of interest in Blake’s work in 1875 and 1876. See Gerald Eades Bentley, ‘A Blake Bibliography’ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964).
Nos. 53-85: illustrations after J Mahoney for Charles Dickens, ‘Our Mutual Friend’, The Household Edition (London: Chapman & Hall, [1875]). First issued in parts. These are the final 32 of the 58 illustrations Mahoney designed for the novel, plus the title-page vignette. For impressions of the other illustrations from the novel, see reg. no. 1913,0415.194.
Nos. 86-144: illustrations after Frederick Barnard for Charles Dickens, ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, The Household Edition (London: Chapman & Hall, [1875]). First issued in parts. These are all of the 59 illustrations Barnard designed for the novel.
Nos. 145-157: illustrations after Francis A Fraser for Charles Dickens, ‘Great Expectations’, The Household Edition (London: Chapman & Hall, [1876]). First issued in parts. These are the first twelve of the 29 illustrations Fraser designed for the novel, not including the frontispiece or title-page vignette.
Nos. 163-164: illustrated cover and decorative spine for Anthony Trollope, ‘The Prime Minister’ (London: Chapman & Hall, [1876])
Nos. 166-169: illustrations after Arthur Hughes for Jean Ingelow, ‘The Shepherd Lady and Other Poems’ (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1876). Other designers working with other engravers also contributed to this book; for details see ‘list of illustrations’ in the final publication.
Nos. 174-296: numerous illustrations all apparently for the South Kensington Museum, probably made for one of the museum’s catalogues. Appears to include silverware, Asian art, and glassware. It also reproduces two sets of three panels fromWilliam Morris’s green dining room, with Andrew Reid as intermediary draughtsman.
Nos. 345-418: numerous comic illustrations for the magazine ‘Hood’s Annual’, which was published by Dalziel.
Nos. 419-580: numerous illustrations for a book published by Routledge, with many images of trains and railways, tunnelling, boats, weapons, telegraphy, optics etc. Dalziel’s contents page suggests this is for a ‘Book of Science’, but the publication has not yet been identified (titles on the contents page are sometimes provisional or informal).
Nos. 773-797: decorative cover and spines for Frederick Warne’s series ‘The Star Library’, with many substitutable inserts of lettering for different titles and authors. Writers include Elizabeth Wetherell, Grace Kennedy, Alice Gray and E. Prentiss.
Nos. 799: cover and spine for Warne’s series ‘Notable Novels’, for G P R James, ‘Philip Augustus…’ (London: Frederick Warne, 1875-6]).
Nos. 809-816?: notes in Dalziel’s hand indicate these are illustrations to Maria Edgeworth’s ‘Tales’; edition not yet identified.
Nos. 890-893: notes in Dalziel’s hand indicate these are illustrations to various poems by Byron; edition not yet identifed.
No. 924: large-scale image after Francis S Walker for ‘The Illustrated London News’.
Nos. 1104-1125: various illustrations of decorative ironware, including railings, and alterations to blocks not in this album. The section is titled ‘Coalbrook Dale Co’ (sic.) in Dalziel’s hand, and presumably these are illustrations for one of the Coalbrookdale Company’s catalogues.
- Producer name
-
Print made by: Dalziel Brothers (All)
-
Published by: Chapman & Hall (Nos. 53-164)
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Published by: Routledge (Nos. 419-580, and others)
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After: Frederick Barnard (Nos. 86-99(m), 100, 101-111(m), 112, 113(m), 114, 115-121(m), 122, 123-133(m), 134-144(m), 373-374(m), 1088(m))
-
After: William Blake (Nos. 41-42)
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After: Valentine Walter Bromley (Nos. 1445-1456(s))
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After: William Stephen Coleman (Nos. 717(m), 724(s))
-
After: George Cruikshank (No. 51(s))
-
After: Edward Gurden Dalziel (Nos. 347(m), 378-379(m), 926-927(m), 933(m), 937(m), 940(m), 945(m), 959-960(m), 965(m), 968(m))
-
After: Luke Fildes (Nos. 1421(s), 1424-1425(s))
-
After: Francis Arthur Fraser (Nos. 145-146(m), 147-157, 171(m), 343-344(m), 747(m), 941-942(m), 944(m), 947(m), 953(m), 964(m), 981(m), 1131(m), 1377(m), 1396(m) (NB nos. 747 & 1131 are erroneously attributed to Fairfield in the album))
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After: Henry French (Nos. 863-866(m), 939(m), 969(m), 1014-1016(m), 1022(m), 1027(m), 1082(m))
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After: Charles Green (Nos. 411(m), 412)
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After: Townley Green (Nos. 930(m), 1085(m))
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After: Ernest Griset (Nos. 376-377(s), 417(m))
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After: W Gunston (Nos. 834(s), 836-8(s), 844-847(s), 859-860(s), 862(s), 867-870(s))
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After: Arthur Hughes (Nos. 166-168(m), 169)
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After: Francis Wilfred Lawson (No. 1086(m))
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After: John Lawson (Nos. 984-985(s), 986, 987-988(s), 989, 990(s), 991(m), 992(s), 1003(s), 1004(m), 1005, 1006(m), 1007, 1008(m), 1009(s), 1010-1011(s), 1012(m) (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
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After: John Leighton (Nos. 21(m))
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After: Percy J Macquoid (Nos. 1443-1444)
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After: J Mahoney (Nos. 53-55(m), 56, 57-83(m), 84(s), 85(m), 772(s), 879-882(s), 951(m), 1074-1075(s), 1076(m), 1077(s), 1078-1079(m), 1388(m), 1389-1395(s), 1404-1407(s), 1408-1410(m), 1411(s), 1426-1428(s), 1429(m), 1430(s), 1431(m), 1432(s), 1433(m))
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After: William Morris (Nos. 294-295)
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After: George John Pinwell (No. 932(m))
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After: John Mc L Ralston (No. 43(m))
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After: Andrew Reid (Nos. 294(s), 295 (intermediary draughtsman; unsigned print attributed on grounds of context and continuity - see Dalziel's note at the top of the page))
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After: H Sanderson (Nos. 361-362, 363(m), 364-365, 366(m))
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After: Henry Courtney Selous (Nos. 1129-1130(m))
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After: William Small (Nos. 952(m), 1024-1025(m))
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After: John Moyr Smith (Nos. 348(m), 349, 350(m), 351 (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
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After: John Sturgess (No. 883(s))
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After: James Frank Sullivan (Nos. 359, 360(m))
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After: Thomas Sulman (Nos. 1084a(s), 1095-1096(m), 1097(s))
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After: John Gordon Thomson (Nos. 345(m), 355-356, 357(m))
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After: Harry Tuck (No. 400(m), 414(m))
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After: Francis S Walker (Nos. 924(m), 961(m), 994(m), 1002(m), 1021(m), 1127-1128(m))
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After: W J Wiegand (Nos. 358(m), 401-405, 406(m), 769-771(m), 935(m), 954(m), 958?, 970(m) (no. 958 attributed on stylistic and contextual grounds))
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After: Harrison William Weir (No. 38(s))
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After: Joseph Wolf (Nos. 715-716(m))
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After: Johann Baptist Zwecker (Nos. 713-714(m), 723(s), 725(s), 728-744(m), 955(m))
- Production date
- 1875
- Dimensions
-
Height: 447 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Thickness: 66 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Width: 301 millimetres (size of bound album)
- Curator's comments
- Catalogued by Bethan Stevens (University of Sussex) in partnership with the British Museum and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); digital photography by Sylph Editions, London (www.sylpheditions.com).
This is one in a series of 49 albums in the British Museum with proof impressions of wood-engravings by the Brothers Dalziel.
An overview of the album has been offered here, but it would be possible to identify more writers, titles, artists and publishers on inspection and with further research.
In many cases, designers have been listed for the wood-engravings. Where no attribution comments are given, evidence is clear and has been verified (e.g. through publication details, etc.). Further, some indication has also been given throughout when a designer's work is signed with signature or monogram. After the producer's name and the print number or range, the letter 's' in parentheses indicates a signature, the letter 'm' a monogram, and neither letter indicates a print that is unsigned by the draughtsman or draughtswoman. In addition, most of the proofs have the Dalziels' signature, although some do not. The presence/absence of the Dalziel signature has not been catalogued, since it is known that all these prints are by them.
The album includes some hand-written annotation, including brief notes written at the Dalziel office, and some designers and publication details added more recently, e.g. by Robin de Beaumont.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1913,0415.195
