- Museum number
- 1913,0415.206
- 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. 1886. 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. XLV. Various Works. 1886'. The album includes approximately 844 mostly wood-engraved or line-block proofs, with a few halftone illustrations, and many touched and some annotated proofs. Following the title- page there is a contents page written by the Dalziels; this provides an extremely useful reference for publishers, titles and clients represented in the album, although it is not necessarily a reliable finding aid. Interspersed throughout the album there are minimal notes in Dalziel's hand that give brief information such as delivery dates and working notes. For example, Dalziel writes 'Process' to indicate a photomechanically produced print, rather than a wood engraving. There are also some partial prints which record changes made to blocks (see e.g. nos. 67 and 229).
The volume includes book and periodical illustrations of all sorts. It contains many commercial designs, including advertisements and some images relating to design, architecture or building. There are numerous literary, comic and children’s illustrations, as well as several book covers. There are many illustrations for picture books and fairy tales. There are a few fashion and topographical images. Several of the illustrations are racist and/or sexist.
Individual prints include:
Nos. 1-2, 4-6, 9-24: commercial illustrations of lamps (including street-lights?) and various tools, including different kinds of brushes.
No. 27: a halftone process print after a photographic portrait, of an unidentified ecclesiastical sitter. The print is signed Meisenbach, and was made by Georg Meisenbach, who invented and patented a new halftone process in the early 1880s, and opened the first halftone business in London in 1884. Presumably, Dalziel acted as commissioners and/or printers for this image, since Meisenbach’s signature means they were unlikely to have been involved in manufacturing it.
Nos. 29-30: two commercial wood engravings of staircases.
No. 43: a line-block process print after E J Wheeler, signed by Joseph Swain as engraver. It is possible that Dalziel made the process block after a wood engraving by Swain.
Nos. 60, 62, 159-160: possibly for ‘Little Wide-Awake’ (see below)? Nos. 159-160 are earlier states of nos. 60 and 62, before the blocks were vignetted.
No. 69: a line-block process print depicting a cot in an institutional setting (?), with a small boy lying awake. Hanging on the wall above him is the motto, ‘Little Wide Awake Cot’. This illustration is certainly for the magazine ‘Little Wide-Awake’, which was edited by Lucy Sale Barker and published by Routledge, or for one of the magazine’s spin-off publications. No. 61 is also inscribed ‘Little Wide Awake’ in pencil, so is probably for the same publication, and others may be too (e.g. nos. 60 and 62?).
Nos. 71-75, 88-89, 162: pictorial covers for cheap books published by Frederick Warne. Writers whose work is represented include Nathaniel Hawthorne, Matthew Henry Barker, Charles Lever, G P R James, Frederick Marryat, Samuel Lover, Richard Cobbold and Anne Marsh.
Nos. 90-123: illustrations after H S Percy for two titles by William Adams, ‘The Shadow of the Cross’ and ‘Distant Hills’, both published in 1886 by Frederick Warne.
Nos. 124-152: numerous illustrations mostly after Francis Fraser for a new edition of Frederick Marryat, ‘Settlers in Canada’ (London: Frederick Warne and Co; George Bell and Sons, 1886). The new illustrations were printed in Marryat’s novel alongside earlier wood engravings for a previous edition, engraved by Dalziel after John Gilbert in 1869.
Nos. 234-240: wood engravings connected with The Colonial and Indian Exhibition held at South Kensington in 1886, including a plan of the exhibition.
No. 241: a map of London.
Nos. 299-314: tiny illustrations and one commercial colour print for ‘Nuttall’s Standard Dictionary’; likely for the 1887 edition published by Frederick Warne.
No. 315: a large folded poster after George Pipeshank [John Wallace] for Cope Brothers & Co, tobacconists. For a related illustration see reg. no. 1913,0415.205, no. 318. Lettered ‘Dir. Pho. Eng. Co’; this unidentified firm was probably also involved in making, printing or publishing the poster. See also no. 492 below.
Nos. 316-321: commercial illustrations for the Coalbrookdale company.
Nos. 322-328: striking large-scale advertisements, mostly after J B Browne, and mostly with images repeated in two sizes. Includes two different designs for Cadbury’s Cocoa, and one design for Brandauer’s pens.
Nos. 329-332, 424-525: titles, advertisements and posters associated with the comic series ‘Ally Sloper’, published by Dalziel. Includes illustrations for ‘Sloper’s Half Holiday’, ‘Ally Sloper’s Summer Number’, ‘Ally Sloper’s Comic Kalendar’ [sic] etc. The character Ally Sloper was originally created by Charles H. Ross.
No. 369: large-scale wood engraving for ‘The Illustrated London News’, after Hal Ludlow.
Nos. 370-419: numerous comic illustrations for the magazine ‘Hood’s Annual’, which was published by Dalziel.
Nos. 420-421, 586-587: cover image and frontispiece for John Latey, ‘The River of Life: a London Story’ (London: Fun Office, 1886). There are two impressions of each of the two prints. The cover image, a wood engraving, is signed ‘WHO’, an unidentified and presumably joke monogram. It is proofed in blue in (no. 420) and later in black (no. 586). The frontispiece is after Phil Ebbutt and is a process line-block. Dalziel owned the ‘Fun’ imprint; Latey’s novella ‘The River of Life’ also went into another edition published by Diprose and Bateman in 1894.
No. 542: a poster on the Irish Bill, featuring Britannia. It was designed by Gordon Thomson, and is also signed by Dalziel as printmaker. Additionally, the poster is lettered ‘Dir. Pho. Eng. Co’; this unidentified firm was probably also involved in making, printing or publishing it. See also no. 315 above. It is possible that this large line-block print print was made by ‘Dir. Pho. Eng. Co’ after a smaller image by Dalziel. The poster is misbound in the album between nos. 491 and 492.
Nos. 526-541: illustrations for the ‘Judy Annual’ (1887), which was published by Dalziel.
Nos. 569-580: these are almost certainly illustrations for Charles H Ross, ‘Our Lady Queen: events, public and domestic (1819-1886)’ (London: Judy Office, 1886). These are all process prints. The first is a halftone reproduction of a photograph, labelled in pencil by Dalziel, ‘Photo Engraving’; the others are line-block prints after drawings, and are labelled ‘drawing’. Dalziel’s annotation, ‘All Meisenbach Co.’, suggests that all of these prints were made by Georg Meisenbach’s London firm, which specialised in photomechanical process prints. Presumably the other designs were made by the book’s author, Charles H Ross, who was an artist and portraitist who worked with Dalziel. Dalziel owned the publishing imprint ‘Judy’.
Nos. 588-844: these appear to be illustrations for the magazine ‘Jack and Jill: a Weekly Illustrated Journal for Boys and Girls’. This magazine ran between 1885 and 1887. Pencil annotations in Dalziel’s hand give weekly dates – presumably of delivery of the blocks – from January 2nd to December 25th 1886.
- Producer name
-
Print made by: Dalziel Brothers (All)
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Published by: F Warne & Co (Nos. 71-212?, 242ff (approx))
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Print made by: Georg Meisenbach (Nos. 27(s), 569(s), 570-580 (unsigned prints attributed from annotations in the album by Dalziel))
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Published by: Routledge (Nos. 42-70? (approx))
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Print made by: Charles Butterworth (No. 152(s))
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After: William Giles Baxter (Nos. 331-332(s))
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After: J B Browne (Nos. 322(m), 324-328(m))
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After: Archibald Chasemore (Nos. 28(m), 543-545, 546(m), 547-549, 550(m), 551-553, 554(m), 555-557, 558(m), 559-561, 562(m), 563-565, 566(m), 567, 568(s) (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
-
After: Lucien Davis (No. 412(s))
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After: Phil Ebbutt (Nos. 341(s), 362-363(s), 396(s), 416(s), 421(s), 587(s), 589(s), 593-594(s), 604(s), 608-610(s), 619(s), 621(s), 624(s), 630-631(s), 638-639(s), 642(s), 646-647(s), 651(s), 659(s), 665(s), 670(s), 675(s), 684(s), 692(s), 700(s), 702(s), 706-707(s), 710(s), 712(s), 718(s), 720(s), 724(s), 729(s), 732(s), 736(s), 743-744(s), 747(s), 750(s), 754(s), 756(s), 758(s), 762(s), 773(s), 776(s), 781(s), 784(s), 787-788(s), 790(s), 795(s), 798(s), 800-802(s), 804-805(s), 810(s), 811(s), 815(s), 817-818(s), 821(s), 823-824(s), 826-828(s), 831-832(s), 834(s), 837(s), 839(s), 841(s), 843-844(s))
-
After: Francis Arthur Fraser (Nos. 50-52(m), 69-70(m), 124(s), 125-127, 128(m), 129-130, 131-132(m), 133-139, 140(m), 141-143, 144-145(m), 146, 147(m), 148, 149(m), 150-151, 154(m), 167(m), 168-173, 185(m), 213-216(m), 223(m), 224, 225-226(m), 227, 228(m), 413(s) (unsigned prints attributed based on coded annotations by Dalziel))
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After: George Gatcombe (Nos. 374-375(s), 408(s), 598(s), 602(s), 606(s), 614(s), 636(s), 669(s), 689(s), 721(s), 726(s), 738(s), 751(s), 764(s), 767(s), 772(s), 782(s), 791(s), 793(s), 797(s), 812(s), 816(s), 829(s), 835-836(s), 840(s))
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After: Ernest Griset (Nos. 418(s), 419(signature obscured))
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After: W J Houghton (Nos. 388-389(m), 398(m), 415(s))
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After: Henry Stephen Ludlow (Nos. 48, 217-219, 220(m), 221, 222(s), 369(s), 409(s), 588 (unsigned prints attributed based on coded annotations by Dalziel))
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After: H S Percy (Nos. 90-123(s))
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After: G Rénaud (Nos. 649(s), 656(s), 663(s), 668(s), 674(s), 683(s), 686(s), 693(s), 701(s), 705(s), 708(s), 714(s), 719(s), 730(s), 735(s), 741(s), 749(s), 753(s), 755(s), 765(s), 768(s), 775(s), 780(s), 786(s), 794(s), 799(s), 806(s), 809(s), 814(s), 819(s), 822(s))
-
After: Charles Henry Ross (Nos. 424(m), 425-428(s), 429-433, 434(s), 436(m), 437-438(s), 439-443(m), 444(s), 445-447(m), 448(s), 449-451(m), 453-454(m), 456-457(m), 461-463(m), 465(m), 468-469(m), 473-474(m), 481(m), 482(s), 483-486(m), 488-491(m), 493(m), 495-499(m), 528-535(m), 570-580 (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity, except nos. 570-580, for which see 'Object Description'))
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After: H Sanderson (Nos. 263-265(m))
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After: Matt Stretch (Nos. 391(s), 394(s), 715(s))
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After: James Frank Sullivan (Nos. 383-386(s), 404, 405(s), 407, 411(s), 414(s) (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
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After: Joseph Swain (No. 43(s) (this process print is probably by Dalziel after a wood engraving by Swain; the design is by E J Wheeler))
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After: Talbot (Nos. 595(s), 597(s), 599(s), 601(s), 603(s), 605(s) 607(s), 612(s), 615(s), 622(s), 625(s), 628(signature partially obscured), 637(s), 640-641(s), 643(s), 645(s), 671-673(s), 676(s), 679(s), 681-682(s), 685(s), 690(s), 694(s), 696(s), 711(s), 713(s))
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After: John Gordon Thomson (Nos. 370(m), 373(m), 376(m), 379(m), 542(m))
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After: Harry Tuck (Nos. 399(m), 402(s))
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After: E W Wade (Nos. 229, 230(s))
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After: W J Wiegand (Nos. 188-190(m), 192-193(m), 195-198(m), 259-260(m))
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After: E J Wheeler (Nos. 43(s), 44(m), 45(s), 46(m), 47(s), 49(s), 71(m), 88-89(m), 156-157(m), 162(m), 174-176(m), 177 (unsigned prints attributed based on coded annotations by Dalziel))
-
After: Richard Caton Woodville (Junior) (Nos. 53-58(s))
- Production date
- 1886
- Dimensions
-
Height: 448 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Thickness: 49 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Width: 302 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, 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's names added more recently, e.g. by Robin de Beaumont.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2022 17 May - 4 Sept BM, 90A Woodpecking Factory: Dalziel
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1913,0415.206