- Museum number
- 1913,0415.199
- 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: 1879. 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. XXXVIII. Various Works. 1879'. The album includes approximately 987 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. There are minimal notes in Dalziel's hand that give information such as delivery dates, titles, and working notes.
The volume includes book and periodical illustrations of all sorts, and many commercial designs. There are numerous literary and children’s illustrations. There are images for natural history, imperial adventures, religion, travel and tourism. The album also includes nursery rhymes, picture books, topography, astronomy, architecture, landscapes and marine images. There are many pictorial capitals. Periodicals represented here include ‘Good Words’, ‘Peep Show’, ‘Day of Rest’ and ‘Social Notes’. The numbering in the album is slightly unreliable, and nos. 973-987 are unnumbered in the photographs of the pages.
Individual prints include:
No. 1: title for ‘Sketch: An illustrated Miscellany of Art, Music, the Drama…’ (London: 1879).
No. 3: cover for ‘All Saints’ Scarborough: Monthly Paper’ (February 1879), with manuscript corrections by the publisher.
Nos. 4-5: illustrations of livestock and a horse, made for the St Pancras Ironwork Company.
No. 6: commercial wood-engraving made for the Coalbrookdale company.
Nos. 17-19, 22: commercial wood-engravings for Pears’ Soap. No. 19 is one of the firm’s infamous racist adverts, captioned ‘Pears’ Transparent Soap / For Improving the Complexion / Pure, Fragrant, Durable’, and with pictures of a small white boy bathing a small black boy. For a postcolonial analysis of Pears’ advertising, see e.g. Anne McClintock, ‘Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest’ (London: Routledge, 1995).
Nos. 20-21: wood-engravings for the Life Boat Institution.
No. 23: advertisement for Clarke’s Pyramid night lights, ‘The Burglar’s Horror’.
Nos. 87-90: illustrations after an unidentifed designer (monogram ‘ACHL’) for William Henry Davenport Adams, ‘The Red Rose and the White: or, the Story of the Fifty Years’ War between the Houses of York and Lancaster’ (London: Routledge, 1880).
Nos. 104-126: illustrations after Edward Gurden Dalziel for Charles Dickens, ‘Christmas Stories from Household Words and All the Year Round’, The Household Edition (London: Chapman & Hall, [1879]). First issued in parts. These are all of the 23 illustrations Dalziel designed for the novel.
Nos. 127-154: 28 illustrations after Frederick Barnard for John Forster, ‘The Life of Charles Dickens’, The Household Edition (London: Chapman & Hall, [1879]). First issued in parts.
Nos. 168-171: four frontispieces after Francis A Fraser for Anthony Trollope, ‘The Chronicles of Barsetshire’, 8 vols (London: Chapman & Hall, 1878-1879). These frontispieces are for the final four titles in this set.
Nos. 178-180, 230-231, 257: pictorial covers for five titles in the ‘Notable Novels’ series published by Frederick Warne: Frederick Marryat, ‘Midshipman Easy’; C. P. R. James, ‘Attila’; Samuel Lover, ‘Rory O’More’; and [Susan Ferrier], ‘Inheritance’, ‘Marriage’, and ‘Destiny’.
No. 357, 359-360: commercial wood-engravings for ‘Eno’s Fruit Salt’; no. 357 features a light house and implies that the product guards against ‘unnatural deaths’.
Nos. 364-366, 369-371, 375-393: illustrations after John McL Ralston for installments of Dinah Mulock Craik’s novel ‘Young Mrs Jardine’, serialised in the periodical ‘Good Words’ January – December 1879. For the first two installments, see the previous volume (reg. no. 1913,0415.198).
Nos. 403-405: three urban scenes in Jerusalem, for an unidentified publication, and signed with an unidentifed monogram (F?).
Nos. 412-463: illustrations mostly after Frederick Barnard, for John Bunyan, ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ (London: Alexander Strahan, 1880). This was a big project that took several years to complete. Dalziel notes that the price of the publication was five guineas (‘A Record’, 1901). These are the smaller scale illustrations; for larger blocks, see reg. nos. 1913,0415.197 and 1913,0415.198.
Nos. 705-707: illustrations for ‘Mother Hubbard's Cupboard: for the Amusement of the Young of All Ages (London : Strahan, [1880]). No. 706 is printed with colour blocks.
Nos. 791-797: illustrations for the periodical ‘Social Notes’.
Nos. 798-816: apparently all illustrations for British railway guides.
Nos. 817-878: numerous comic illustrations for the magazine ‘Hood’s Annual’, which was published by Dalziel.
Nos. 879-950: numerous comic illustrations for ‘Judy’, a magazine published by Dalziel.
- Producer name
-
Print made by: Dalziel Brothers (All)
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Published by: Routledge (Nos. 87-90, and others)
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Published by: Chapman & Hall (Nos. 104-154, 168-171)
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Published by: F Warne & Co (Nos. 178-180, 230-231, 257, and others)
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Published by: Alexander Strahan (Nos. 412-463, 705-707, and others)
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After: Walter James Allen (No. 796(s))
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After: Frederick Barnard (Nos. 127-132(m), 133(s), 134, 135-138(s), 139(m), 140, 141(s), 142(m), 143(s), 144(m), 145(s), 146-149(m), 150-152(s), 153-154(m), 258(s), 259-260(m), 261, 262-266(m), 267(s), 268-269(m), 270(s), 271-274(m), 407-410(m), 412-416(m), 417(s), 418-420(m), 421(s), 422-431(m), 432(s), 433(m), 435-454(m), 455(s), 456-457(m), 459(m), 462(m), 780(s), 781-783(m), 834-835(s), 975-980(m), 981 (note that the final prints are unnumbered in photographic reproductions).)
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After: Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) (No. 891(s) (signed 'Phiz'))
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After: Archibald Chasemore (Nos. 879-881(m), 882(s), 903(s), 920-924(m), 927(m), 929(m), 931(m), 932-933(m), 936-937(m), 941(m), 943(m), 946-947(m), 958, 959-961(s))
-
After: Adelaide Claxton (Nos. 356-360(s), 362(m), 363(s), 883(s), 897(s))
-
After: Edward Gurden Dalziel (Nos. 104-122(s), 123, 124-126(m), 463(m))
-
After: Lucien Davis (Nos. 619-621(s), 709(s))
-
After: Alfred Thomas Elwes (Nos. 47-52(s))
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After: Francis Arthur Fraser (Nos. 43(m), 45-46(m), 53-56(m), 62(m), 65-68(m), 99(m), 168, 169-171(m), 286-303(m), 312-330(m), 336-348(m), 351-355(m), 507-509(m), 579-580(m), 582(m), 611(m), 613(m), 622-628(m), 635-636(m), 671-672(m), 697-698(m), 713(m), 732(m))
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After: Ernest Griset (Nos. 27-36(s), 77-82(s), 100-102(s), 103 (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
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After: Cyril Hallward (No. 894(s))
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After: C Harrison (No. 23(s))
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After: William J Hodgson (No. 892(s))
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After: Henry Holland (No. 887(s))
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After: Lizzie Lawson (Nos. 37?(monogram unclear), 38-42(s), 44(s))
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After: William Leighton Leitch (No. 406(s))
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After: Henry Stephen Ludlow (Nos. 181(s), 195-197(m), 198?-199?, 200(m), 201?, 202-203(m), 204?, 205(m), 206?, 207-209(m), 210?-212?, 213(m), 214?-215?, 216(m), 217?-218?, 229(m), 333(s), 334(m), 335(s), 480(m), 503(m), 525-528(m), 586(m), 588(m), 618(m), 678(m), 681-682(m), 702-703(m), 717(s), 718(m), 738-740(m), 786(m), 787(signature obscured), 788(m), 790(s), 820(m), 821-822 (queried prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
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After: Walter William May (Nos. 372-374(s))
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After: John Pettie (Nos. 558(m), 559(s), 560-561(m), 562(s))
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After: Georges Pilotell (No. 2(s))
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After: P R Rowse (No. 895(s))
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After: John Mc L Ralston (Nos. 364-366(m), 369-371(m), 375-393(m))
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After: Warwick Reynolds (Nos. 888(s))
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After: H Sanderson (Nos. 859-863, 864(m))
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After: Thomas S Seccombe (Nos. 841-842(m))
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After: William Small (Nos. 466-468(m), 470(m), 518-519(m), 669(m), 670(s), 710-711(m))
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After: John Moyr Smith (No. 865(s))
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After: Marcus Stone (No. 795(m))
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After: Matt Stretch (Nos. 848(s), 930(s), 934-935(s), 938(m), 939(s))
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After: James Frank Sullivan (Nos. 818(m), 849(m), 853-854(m))
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After: John Gordon Thomson (Nos. 817(m), 832(m), 833, 855?-857?, 858(m) (queried prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
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After: Harry Tuck (Nos. 232(s), 233-234(m), 235, 236-240(m), 241, 242-245(m), 246(s), 247-252(m), 253(s), 254(m), 255(s), 256(m), 481(m), 486(s), 488-489(m), 494(m), 495(s), 496-497(m), 498(s), 510(s), 564(m), 565(s), 597-598(m), 631-632(m), 667-668(m), 692(s), 693(m), 720(m), 729(m), 730(s), 731(m), 851, 852(s) (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
-
After: Francis S Walker (No. 708(m))
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After: W J Wiegand (Nos. 482, 483-485(m), 520-522(m), 523, 524(m), 538(m), 539?, 540-542(m), 543?, 544-545(m), 546?-548?, 549?(monogram unclear), 550(m), 551?, 600, 601(m), 602-603, 604(m), 605, 637-638, 639-640(m), 674-676(m), 677, 694-695(m), 696, 714, 715-716(m), 735(m), 736, 737(m) (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
-
After: Harrison William Weir (No. 4(s))
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After: Dower Wilson (No. 886(s))
- Production date
- 1879
- Dimensions
-
Height: 446 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Thickness: 62 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Width: 310 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
- 1913,0415.199
