- Museum number
- 1913,0415.207
- 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. 1887 & 1888. 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. XLVI. Various Works. 1887-88'. The album includes approximately 634 wood-engraved, line-block or halftone proofs, with many touched and some annotated proofs. Following the title-page there is a contents page written by the Dalziels; this provides a useful reference for publishers and titles represented in the album, although it is brief and not necessarily a reliable finding aid. Interspersed throughout the album there are minimal notes in Dalziel's hand that give 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. 56-59).
The volume includes book and periodical illustrationsof all sorts. It contains many commercial designs and advertisements. There are numerous literary, comic and children’s illustrations, and several book covers. There are many illustrations for children's picture books. There are portraits, religious images and decorative capitals, orientalising illustrations and images for calendars.
Individual prints include:
Nos. 3-6, 7-8, 10-12, 20: halftone and wood-engraved prints of fireplaces, lettered advertisements, a bathtub and bowls. Some or all for The Coalbrookdale Co. Manuscript and printed lettering suggest that Joseph Swain and Georg Meisenbach (other commercial printmakers) were also involved with some of these images.
No. 23: advertisement for ‘Mr Cornish. Drill Instructor. 54 Adelaide Rd. N.W.’. Shows the instructor (?) with a fencing sword, fencing equipment, and two women exercising.
Nos. 54-55: commercial illustrations of upright pianos.
Nos. 56-66: commercial illustrations of paint brushes and scraper, for Hamilton & Co.
Nos. 106-108: three wood-engravings of children after designs by Alice Bach; the engravings were made from photographs, probably of paintings (or perhaps tonal drawings) by Bach.
Nos. 111-121, 135-140: illustrations after Phil Ebbutt and George Gatcombe, apparently for untraced editions of books by ‘Pansy’ [Isabella Macdonald Alden]. Unusually, captions are inked underneath the illustrations by Dalziel.
Nos. 153-176: illustrations after Edward J Wheeler for Harriet Martineau, ‘The Billow and the Rock’ (London: George Routledge, [1888] 1889).
Nos. 185-189, 206-221, 230-232: pictorial covers for cheap books published by Frederick Warne. Writers whose work is represented include Charles Dickens, Charles Lever, G P R James, Anne Marsh-Caldwell, Henry Cockton, Archibald Clavering Gunter, John Banim, Benjamin Disraeli, Joseph H Ingraham, Gay Parker, Susan Warner and Richard Cobbold. Most covers are proofed on white paper, but some are on yellow paper, similar to the final publication (nos. 211, 230-231). No. 232 is a partial proof for the author’s name for Anna Maria Porter, ‘The Hungarian Brothers’.
Nos. 268, 272-291: apparently all illustrations for a catalogue entitled ‘Frederick Warne and Co.’s Illustrated Catalogue of Publications, Christmas Season 1888-9’. Includes many miniaturised images of books and sets of books; also includes a tiny version of one of Edward Lear’s ‘Nonsense’ cartoons and verses. Note that there are various other miniature images of books in the Dalziel Archive, presumably for similar catalogues.
No. 292: colour-printed illustration of a railway worker.
Nos. 323-446: numerous comic illustrations for the magazine ‘Hood’s Annual’ (1888 and 1889), which was published by Dalziel.
Nos. 447-452, 541-616: poster, covers and illustrations connected with the comic series ‘Ally Sloper’, published by Dalziel. Includes invitations to exhibitions of paintings by A B Houghton (no. 450) and G J Pinwell (no. 452). No. 448, a portrait of Queen Victoria, is likely to be for a different project (?). Series 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.
Nos. 453-540: 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 1st to June 25th 1887.
Nos. 617-634: miscellaneous titles, adverts and illustrations, including some for the ‘Judy Annual’ (1888), which was published by Dalziel, and other projects particularly associated with Gilbert Dalziel, who ran ‘Judy’.
- Producer name
-
Print made by: Dalziel Brothers (All)
-
Published by: F Warne & Co (Nos. 181-293?)
-
Print made by: Georg Meisenbach (Nos. 6(s), 7(s))
-
Published by: Routledge (Nos. 68-180?)
-
Print made by: Joseph Swain (No. 4? ('Swain' inscribed in the margin in pencil, in Dalziel's hand))
-
After: Alice Bach (Nos. 106-108(s))
-
After: William Giles Baxter (No. 628(m))
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After: Lucien Davis (Nos. 177(s), 220, 369(s), 407(s), 443(s) (unsigned prints attributed from coded annotation in Dalziel's hand))
-
After: H P Dollman (Nos. 372(s), 408(m), 422(m), 425(m))
-
After: Phil Ebbutt (Nos. 73-74(s), 83(s), 111-119(s), 120, 121(s), 371(s), 374(s), 376(s), 385(s), 391(s), 453(s), 458-459(s), 461-462(s), 466(s), 467(s), 469-471(s), 473(s), 474-477(s), 479-480(s), 482-483(s), 485-488(s), 490(s), 492-493(s), 495-499(s), 501-502(s), 505-508(s), 510(s), 512-515(s), 519-521(s), 526-527(s), 529-532(s), 535, 536(s), 538-539(s) (unsigned prints attributed from coded annotation in Dalziel's hand, except no. 535, attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
-
After: Mary Ellen Edwards (Nos. 77-78(m), 81(m), 87(m), 89(m), 91(m), 93(m), 105(m), 110(m), 122-125(m), 141(m), 143-144(m), 151-152(m), 178(m))
-
After: Alfred Thomas Elwes (Nos. 381(m), 382(s), 383(m))
-
After: Henry H Emmerson (Nos. 182-183, 184(m) (unsigned prints attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
-
After: Francis Arthur Fraser (Nos. 68-70(m), 75-76(m), 79(m), 86(s), 88(s), 90(s), 92(m), 94(m), 145-146(m), 147-149, 150(m), 186-187(m), 206, 208, 211(m), 213-214(m), 217, 237-244, 302-305, 306(m), 307-309, 310(m), 384(m) (unsigned prints attributed from coded annotation in Dalziel's hand))
-
After: George Gatcombe (Nos. 135-140(s), 180(s), 218(s), 339-340(s), 342-343(s), 366(s), 368(s), 405(s), 414(s), 418-419(s), 424(s), 455(s), 460(s), 465(s), 468(s), 481(s), 494(s), 500(s), 504(s), 511(s), 517-518(s), 525(s))
-
After: Maurice Greiffenhagen (Nos. 364(s), 445-446(s))
-
After: Ernest Griset (Nos. 380(s), 441, 442(s) (unsigned print attributed on grounds of style and context))
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After: Arthur Boyd Houghton (No. 450)
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After: W J Houghton (Nos. 360(s), 361-363(m), 365(m), 403(m), 420(m), 426(s), 429-430(m), 433(s))
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After: Edward Lear (No. 289)
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After: Henry Stephen Ludlow (Nos. 353-355(s), 397(s), 406(s), 427(s), 431(s))
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After: Sir Bernard Partridge (No. 392(s), 421? (queried print attributed on stylistic grounds))
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After: George John Pinwell (No. 452)
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After: Ernest G Reynolds (Nos. 31-51(m), 179(m), 215(m), 219(m), 221, 256-264(m), 265(s), 266(m), 267(s), 269(s), 270-271(m), 357(m), 388(m) (unsigned print attributed from coded annotation in Dalziel's hand))
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After: Charles Henry Ross (Nos. 541-542(s), 543-545(m), 546-551(s), 552(m), 554(m), 556-558(s), 559-560(m), 565(s), 566(m), 569-571(m), 573-574(m), 576-581(s), 582-583(m), 583a-584(s), 585-586(m), 587(s), 588-589(m), 590-592(s), 617-625(m))
-
After: William Small (Nos. 311-314(s), 315-320(m), 321, 322(m) (unsigned print attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
-
After: Walter Sidney Stacey (Nos. 245-253(s), 254(m))
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After: Matt Stretch (Nos. 351-352(s), 379(s), 440(s))
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After: James Frank Sullivan (Nos. 345, 347(m), 348(s), 350(s), 393(m), 396(s), 398(s), 400(s), 402(s))
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After: William Fletcher Thomas (No. 631(s))
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After: John Gordon Thomson (Nos. 323-328(m), 331-334(m), 386(m), 389(m), 404(m))
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After: Harry Tuck (Nos. 377(m), 416(m))
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After: Charlotte J Weeks (Nos. 71-72(s), 109(s))
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After: E J Wheeler (Nos. 153, 154-161(m), 162(s), 163-170(m), 171, 172-176(m), 188, 189(m), 212(m), 230(m), 231?, 294-300(m), 301 (unsigned prints attributed from coded annotation in Dalziel's hand))
-
After: Leslie Willson (Nos. 338(s), 341(s), 395(s), 409(s), 413(s))
-
After: William Barnes Wollen (Nos. 201, 202-203(s) (unsigned print attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
- Production date
- 1887-1888
- Dimensions
-
Height: 449 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Thickness: 43 millimetres (size of bound album)
-
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
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1913,0415.207
