- Museum number
- 1992,0406.206.d
- Description
-
Good Words for 1864. Edited by Norman Macleod, D. D. And illustrated by J. E. Millais, John Tenniel, Frederick Walker, Robert Barnes, G. J. Pinwell, R. P. Leitch, Arthur Hughes and others. London: Alexander Strahan and Co., 32 Ludgate Hill, 1864. [London: Bradbury and Evans, printers, Whitefriars.] 974p. 73 plates and illustrations set into text. The plates are separate from the text throughout. [This may mean that electrotypes were used to reproduce the original wood engravings.] The illustrators, not on the title page, are listed as [full names where possible]: Mrs. Blackburn, John Pettie, Robert Taylor Pritchett, Philip Henry Gosse, Matthew James Lawless, John Mc Whirter, Joseph Wolf, J. W. Ehrenger, Thomas Sulman, Dean Henry Alford, Wellington Colomb, Florence Claxton, Frederick Eltze. Most of the engravings are signed “J. Swain”. The illustration facing page 33 is after Walker, signed with his initials bottom right, and is captioned: “Here’s Dame Hundley flying onto us sir.”, accompanying part I of “Oswald Cray”, by Mrs. Henry Wood. The illustration facing page 400 is after Thomas Sulman, captioned: “The Arch of Titus”, accompanying the text of “Letters from abroad. III. – Rome” by the Dean of Canterbury [i.e. Henry Alford]. The illustration facing page 704 is after Henry Alford, captioned “The Great Convent of Assisi.”, accompanying the text of “Letters from Abroad. VI. - Central Italy”. The illustration facing page 840 is after Florence Claxton, captioned: “They cry. ‘Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace.’” Robin de Beaumont’s notes regarding this copy are on the front endpaper verso and on a separate paper slip.
Binding: Gilt edges. Yellow endpapers and pastedowns. Purple wave vertical-grain cloth. The same design is blocked on both covers. A single fillet blocked in blind on the borders forms a “rule frame”. On the corners and the sides, patterns of stems, leaves and flower buds are blocked in blind. On the centre of the upper cover, the title: “/ Good/ Words/ 1864/”, are blocked in gold, in “floral” letters. The same lettering is blocked on the centre of the lower cover, in blind. The spine is blocked in gold and in blind. A single fillet is blocked in blind on the perimeter. From the head downwards, the decoration is: stylised plant decoration, blocked in blind; the words: “Good/ Words/ Edited By/ Norman Macleod D. D./” are blocked in gold. On the lower half of the spine, a diamond is formed by two fillets, blocked in gold; the diamond is surrounded by stylised plant decoration, blocked in blind; within the diamond, amidst plant decoration, the words: “/ With/ Illustrations//” are blocked in gold. The year: “/1864/” is blocked in gold at the tail.
- Production date
- 1864
- Dimensions
-
Height: 244 millimetres
-
Thickness: 62 millimetres
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Width: 180 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- From Gleeson White:
The volume for 1864 is distinctly less interesting. Nevertheless it holds some fine things. Notably five Millais', including Oh! the Lark (p. 65), A Scene for a Study (p. 161), Polly (p. 248), (a baby-figure kneeling by a bed, which has been republished elsewhere more than once), The Bridal of Dandelot (p. 304), and Prince Philibert (p. 481), another very popular childish subject, a small girl with a small boy holding a toy-boat. Frederick Walker, in his illustrations to Mrs. Henry Wood's novel, Oswald Cray (pp. 32-129, 202, 286, 371, 453, 532, and 604), shows great dramatic insight, and a certain domestic charm, which has caused the otherwise not very entrancing story to linger in one's memory in a way quite disproportionate to its merits. The remaining illustrations to Oswald Cray are by R. Barnes (pp. 691, 761, 827), the same artist contributing also Grandmother's Snuff, (p. 411), A Burn Case (p. 568), A Lancashire Doxology, (p. 585), Blessed to Give (p. 641), and The Organ Fiend (p. 697). M. J. Lawless is responsible for only one subject, a study of a man and a harpsichord, The Player and the Listeners; in this case, as, on turning over the pages, you re-read a not very noteworthy poem, you find it has lingered in memory merely from its association with a picture. Arthur Hughes has a graceful design, At the Sepulchre (p. 728), which seems to have lost much in the engraving; John Tenniel is also represented by a solitary example, The Way in the Wood (p. 552); G. J. Pinwell, in five full-page drawings, A Christmas Carol (p. 30), The Cottage in the Highlands (p. 427), M' Diarmid explained (p. 504), Malachi's Cove (p. 729), and Mourning (p. 760), sustains his high level. Other subjects, animal pictures by J. Wolf, and figures and landscapes by R. P. Leitch, Florence Claxton, F. Eltze, J. W. Ehrenger, R. T. Pritchett, and W. Colomb, call for no special mention. To John Pettie is attributed a tail-piece of no importance.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
-
Associated Title: Oswald Cray
-
Associated Title: Letters from Abroad
- Acquisition date
- 1992
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1992,0406.206.d
