- Museum number
- 1913,0415.210
- 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. 1893. 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. XLIX. Various Works. 1893'. The album includes approximately 523 wood-engraved, line-block or halftone proofs, with some touched and annotated proofs. Following the title-page there is a brief contents page written by the Dalziels; this provides a reference for publishers and titles represented in the album, although it is by no means comprehensive. Interspersed throughout the album there are minimal notes in Dalziel's hand that give information such as working notes. For example, Dalziel often writes 'Process' to indicate a photomechanically produced print, rather than a wood engraving. Indeed, by 1893 process prints are increasingly dominating the archive.
The volume includes book and periodical illustrations of all sorts, and some commercial prints. There are numerous literary images, comic and children’s illustrations - including for nursery rhymes, for example. There are historical, religious and natural history illustration. There are decorative images and lettering. It is notable that the album includes process reproductions of earlier wood engravings and also contemporary process prints that were clearly made by another firm, Swain.
Individual prints include:
Nos. 15-17, 22-31: proofs of catalogue illustrations, with a copy of the catalogue tipped in, for ‘W J Pile, shirt tailor and outfitter’. Many are printed on pale blue paper. The images of men wearing Pile’s shirts include a painter, actor (as Hamlet), musician, military man, cleric, doctor, etc.
Nos. 37-39, 41: portraits of horses after Samuel Carter and P Palfrey (presumably a pseudonym). See also nos. 42-43, a line-block proof of a horse, repeated in two sizes, after F A Fraser – this time a caricature.
Nos. 44-264: numerous illustrations after John Leech for Gilbert Abbott A’Beckett, ‘The Comic History of England’ (London: Punch Office, 1847-1848). These process line-blocks reproducing the original prints were probably made for the 1894 reprint published by Routledge. In the previous volume of their archive, the Dalziels had experimented with using half-tone as well as line-block for these illustrations (see reg. no. 1913,0415.209, nos. 352-353). Presumably the intention was to differentiate between the wood engravings and the hand-coloured etchings in the original publication. However, the plan to use half-tone was abandoned, and the illustration in question has been re-done for this series as a line-block.
Nos. 265-266: two different cover designs for ‘The New ABC’ (London: Routledge, [n.d.]).
Nos. 273-5, 276?-277?, 299-300, 306-311, 339, 343, 345-347: most or all of these are illustrations and promotional material (and perhaps a part cover?) for Richard Lydekker and P L Sclater, ‘The Royal Natural History’ (London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co, 1893-1896). This was a profusely illustrated six-volume work. 1893 was the last year that Dalziel were in business as wood engravers, so they were only involved at the start of this project.
Nos. 286-295, 301-305, 313-318: various single illustrations for novels, perhaps in a uniform series and probably published by Warne. These are likely to be frontispieces for cheap editions of the novels, and include various recycled designs. For instance, one of them (no. 292), is copied from an earlier book cover for ‘The Scarlet Letter’, designed by E J Wheeler and published by Warne. Some are process reproductions after much earlier prints; nos. 301-302 are reproductions of illustrations to ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ and ‘Oliver Twist’ designed in the 1830s by Hablot K Browne and George Cruikshank respectively.Titles represented here are: Frederick Marryat, ‘Masterman Ready’ and ‘Poor Jack’; Edward Bulwer-Lytton, ‘Eugene Aram’, ‘Rienzi’, ‘Last of the Barons’, ‘Last Days of Pompeii’, ‘Harold’, ‘Paul Clifford’ and ‘Night and Morning’; Susan Ferrier, ‘Destiny’; Elizabeth Wetherell [Susan Warner], ‘The Wide, Wide World’; Nathaniel Hawthorne, ‘The Scarlet Letter’; G P R James, ‘Forest Days’; Charles Dickens, ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ and ‘Oliver Twist’; Charles Lever, ‘Harry Lorrequer’; Oliver Goldsmith, ‘The Vicar of Wakefield’; ‘The Arabian Nights’ [i.e. ‘The Thousand and One Nights’]; Alexandre Dumas, ‘The Three Musketeers’ and ‘Twenty Years After’; and Henry Cockton, ‘Valentine Vox’’.
Nos. 319-335: half-tone illustrations for an unidentified edtion of Frances Hodgson Burnett, ‘That Lass O’ Lowrie’s’, probably published by Frederick Warne in 1893 or 1894.
Nos. 350-523: illustrations, covers and advertisements for various titles and imprints published by Dalziel, with some colour printing. These include nos. 350-417, for ‘Hood’s Annual’ (1894); nos. 418-447, illustrations for the ‘Fun’ imprint, including ‘Fun’s Almanac’ (1894); nos. 448-450, adverts and titles connected with the ‘Judy’ imprint; nos. 451-509, illustrations connected with the comic series ‘Ally Sloper’, which was published by Dalziel but originally created by Charles H Ross; nos. 510-520, lettering and a large-scale illustration for the comic magazine ‘Larks’; nos. 522-523, lettering and a large-scale illustration for the story paper ‘Quips’.
- Producer name
-
Print made by: Dalziel Brothers (All)
-
Published by: F Warne & Co (Nos. 271-349)
-
Published by: Routledge (Nos. 44-270?)
-
Print made by: Joseph Swain (Nos. 420(s), 441(s))
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After: F Babbage (Nos. 276-277(s))
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After: Alexander Stuart Boyd (Nos. 344(s), 376(s))
-
After: Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) (No. 301 (monogram 'PZ' may be present; the printing quality makes this unclear))
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After: William S Brunton (No. 35(m))
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After: Samuel John Carter (No. 41(s))
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After: Joseph Clayton Clarke (Nos. 377-378, 379(s), 396(s), 398(s), 421-432(s) (signed 'Kyd'))
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After: Clayton & Bell (No. 1)
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After: George Cruikshank (No. 302(s))
-
After: Alfred Thomas Elwes (No. 299(m))
-
After: Francis Arthur Fraser (Nos. 42-43(m), 294(m), 391(m))
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After: G Gordon Fraser (Nos. 410(s), 438(s))
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After: George Gatcombe (Nos. 8(s), 267(s), 359-360(s), 375(s), 387(s), 411-413(s), 414, 443(s) (unsigned print attributed on grounds of style and continuity))
-
After: Ernest Griset (Nos. 363, 364(s))
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After: J M Hamilton (No. 373(s))
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After: Dudley Hardy (Nos. 351(s), 418(s))
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After: W J Houghton (Nos. 381(m), 383(s), 384(m), 433(s))
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After: Hal Hurst (No. 420(s))
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After: John Leech (Nos. 44-264 (one or two with signature, but the quality of printing makes this hard to differentiate))
-
After: Henry Stephen Ludlow (Nos. 348(s), 356(s), 441(s))
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After: Harold R Millar (Nos. 366(m), 367(s), 369-370(m), 372(m), 408(m))
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After: P Palfrey (Nos. 37-39(s))
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After: William Parkinson (No. 449(s))
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After: Warwick Reynolds (No. 442(s))
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After: P J Smit (No. 343(s))
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After: F Specht (Nos. 274(s), 345-347)
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After: William Luson Thomas (Nos. 271-272(s) (these process prints are probably by Dalziel after wood engravings cut by Thomas))
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After: Will T True (Nos. 397(s), 439(s))
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After: E J Wheeler (Nos. 292(m), 404(m))
- Production date
- 1893
- Dimensions
-
Height: 436 millimetres (size of bound album)
-
Thickness: 32 millimetres (size of bound album)
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Width: 289 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.
The album includes some hand-written annotation, including brief notes written at the Dalziel office.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1913,0415.210
