The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Coloured Books, by George Paston
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Title: Old Coloured Books
Author: George Paston
Release Date: September 9, 2010 [EBook #33682]
Language: English
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OLD COLOURED BOOKS
[Illustration: THE REVD. DOCTOR SYNTAX]
OLD COLOURED
BOOKS
BY
GEORGE PASTON
WITH SIXTEEN COLOURED PLATES
METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published in 1905_
CONTENTS
I
PAGE
RUDOLF ACKERMANN 3
THOMAS ROWLANDSON 5
WILLIAM COMBE 9
II
THE CRUIKSHANK BROTHERS 16
DAVID CAREY 21
CHARLES MOLLOY WESTMACOTT 23
PIERCE EGAN AND THEODORE LANE 26
GEORGE CRUIKSHANK 28
III
HENRY ALKEN 32
CHARLES JAMES APPERLEY 35
ROBERT SMITH SURTEES 39
IV
The _Pickwick_ Illustrators
ROBERT SEYMOUR 41
ROBERT WILLIAM BUSS 43
HABLÔT KNIGHT BROWNE 45
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE REV. DR. SYNTAX _Frontispiece_
From _The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of
the Picturesque_
DR. SYNTAX IN THE GLASS HOUSE 8
From _The Second Tour of Dr. Syntax in
Search of Consolation_
QUÆ GENUS OFFICIATING AT A GAMING HOUSE 9
From _Johnny Quæ Genus_
BY GAMBLERS LINKED IN FOLLY'S NOOSE 13
From _The Dance of Life_
SUBSCRIPTION ROOM AT BROOKS 14
From _The Microcosm of London_
VAUXHALL GARDENS 15
From _The Microcosm of London_
DEATH'S DANCE 19
From _The Dance of Death_--Volume I.
HUNTING THE SLIPPER 20
From _The Vicar of Wakefield_
TOM AND JERRY IN THE SALOON AT COVENT GARDEN 25
From _Life in London_
ADVENTURES IN A WHISKEY PARLOUR 28
From _Real Life in Ireland_
RACE HORSE 34
From _The National Sports of Great Britain_
A NEW HUNTER 36
From _The Life of John Mytton_
MR. RIDGEWAY'S GOOD HEALTH 38
From _The Life of a Sportsman_
"O, GENTLEMEN, GENTLEMEN!" 39
From Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities
MR. JORROCKS' LECTURE ON 'UNTING 40
From _Handley Cross_
COLOURED TITLE PAGE 41
From _The Analysis of the Hunting Field_
SOME OLD ILLUSTRATED
BOOKS
I
It is an unromantic fact, but one which cannot fail to be of interest at
the present time, that the remarkable development of the graver's art in
England during the latter part of the eighteenth century was due, in a
measure at least, to--Protection. In the middle of the century our trade
in engravings was still an import one, English print-sellers being
obliged to pay hard cash for the prints they bought in France, since the
French took none in exchange. But with the accession of George III. a
better prospect dawned for the artist and engraver. The young King,
unlike his immediate predecessors, desired to patronise native talent;
no budding Hogarth should draw unflattering comparisons between himself
and the King of Prussia as an "Encourager of the Arts." And in spite of
the gibes of Peter Pindar, in spite of the royal preference for Ramsay
over Reynolds, it is probable that George III. was sincere in his desire
to stimulate the growth of British art. In 1769 the long-talked-of Royal
Academy was founded; while, for the benefit of the rising school of
English engravers, bounties were granted on the exportation of English
prints, and heavy duties imposed on the importation of French prints.
Politics and patriotism were not without their influence upon the trade,
many a good courtier being willing to help the cause by the purchase of
an inexpensive print, though he was not yet prepared to patronise a
British painter. Immense sums were cleared by John Boydell over
Woollett's engravings after West and Copley; illustrated books, more
especially of travel, were eagerly bought up; illustrated magazines
flooded the market; print-shops multiplied, their windows "glazed with
libels" in the shape of coloured caricatures; and foreign artists,
engravers, and miniaturists flocked to the English Eldorado. In 1790 it
was stated in a trade pamphlet that the prints exported from England at
that time, as compared with those imported from France, were in the
proportion of five hundred to one!
RUDOLF ACKERMANN
The French Revolution, and the wars that followed, temporarily ruined
our foreign trade in prints, the great fortune that Boydell had made by
his judicious speculation in the talents of his countrymen, melting away
under these adverse influences, and leaving him a ruined man by 1802.
But as Boydell's star sank, that of another art-publisher, presumably
less dependent on foreign trade, rose above the horizon. Rudolf
Ackermann (1764-1834), the son of a Saxon coachbuilder, came to London
about 1775, and after ten years spent in making designs for
coachbuilders, set up for himself in the Strand as an art-publisher and
dealer in fancy goods. Ackermann proved himself a man of really
remarkable energy and initiative, with a mind always open to the
reception of new ideas, and a spirit of commercial enterprise that was
based upon artistic taste and sound judgment. He was also one of the few
men who have ever successfully combined business and philanthropy on a
large scale. During the years that followed the Reign of Terror, he was
the chief employer of the French _emigrés_ in London, finding occupation
for no fewer than fifty nobles, priests, and ladies, in the manufacture
of screens, card-racks, and other articles for his "fancy department."
Irrespective of his business as an art-publisher, this extraordinary man
patented an invention for rendering cloth and paper waterproof, made
experiments in air-balloons for the dissemination of news in war-time,
designed Nelson's funeral-car, introduced lithography for the purposes
of art-illustration into this country, raised and distributed a large
sum for the relief of sufferers after the battle of Leipsic, undertook
the same good offices for the Prussian soldiers after Waterloo, and was
a generous employer to the Spanish exiles who took refuge in England in
1815. His Wednesday evening conversazione at the Repository of Arts, 101
Strand, became quite a feature in the literary and artistic world after
1813, while he played the part of protector and adviser to the more
unpractical of the authors and illustrators who were employed upon his
various undertakings.
Turning to Ackermann's numerous and valuable art-publications, we find
that very early in his business career he was one of the chief employers
of Rowlandson, the caricaturist, to whom he eventually became a kind of
"foster-publisher," just as Humphrey was the foster-publisher of
Gillray.
THOMAS ROWLANDSON
Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) had received his artistic training partly
in the Academy schools, and partly, thanks to French connections, in
Parisian studios, where, in addition to a brilliant technique, he
acquired a taste for gaming and all kinds of dissipation. A brief
attempt to succeed as a portrait-painter was abandoned for caricature,
as soon as he perceived the success that had been won in that field by
his contemporaries Gillray and Bunbury, to say nothing of the easy
triumphs of such minor workers in the grotesque as Collings and
Woodward. The exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1784-87 of such
admirable studies in social comedy as _Vauxhall Gardens_, _The
Serpentine_, _French Barracks_, _An Italian Family_, and _Grog on
Board_, speedily established his reputation, and his future seemed
secure. But his temperament made havoc of his career. He threw away, not
only his earnings, but more than one substantial legacy, over the dice,
remaining at the tables sometimes for a day and a night together. Though
he had a horror of debt, and his I.O.U. was reckoned as good as sterling
coin, his losses troubled him but little. "I have played the fool," he
was accustomed to say when he came home with empty pockets, "but,"
holding up his famous reed-pen, "here is my resource." And for many
years his faith in his own powers was abundantly justified. But as time
passed on, his amazing rapidity of production began to spoil his market;
while his facile but not profound imagination showed signs of wearying.
The print-shops were flooded with his hasty sketches, and though his
admirers were numerous and his patrons liberal, the demand failed to
keep pace with the supply.
At this juncture it became apparent to the keen eye of Rudolf Ackermann
that some effort must be made to turn this fine talent into new
channels, and to organise its output. He had noted the popularity of
such connected series of comic designs as Woodward's _Eccentric
Excursion_ and Bunbury's _Academy for Grown Horsemen_, and it occurred
to him that humorous works illustrated with coloured etchings by
Rowlandson, and issued in monthly parts, or in volume form at a moderate
price, would have more chance of success than a multitude of detached
plates. _The Loyal Volunteers_, published in 1799, seems to have been
the earliest result of the connection between artist and publisher, and
this was followed by a series of popular productions, including the
well-known _Miseries of Human Life_. But the most sensational success
was made with _The Tour of Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque_,
which appeared in the _Poetical Magazine_ in 1810 and in book-form in
1812. The idea of a series of designs representing the adventures and
misadventure of a ridiculous old pedagogue during a tour among the
Lakes, appears to have been suggested to Rowlandson by his friend John
Bannister, the comedian, but the subject was versified by William Combe,
then an inmate of the King's Bench. Combe has described how every month
"an etching or drawing was sent to me, and I composed a certain
proportion of pages in verse, in which, of course, the subject of the
design was included; the rest depended on what would be the subject of
the second, and in this manner the artist continued designing, and I
continued writing, till a volume containing nearly ten thousand words
was produced." A contemporary states that Combe used to pin up the
sketch against the screen of his room, and reel off his verses as the
printer wanted them; but, owing to his dilatory habits, only one etching
was sent to him at a time.
The success of this not very promising system of collaboration
astonished the authors and delighted the publisher. The fortune of the
_Poetical Magazine_ was made, new editions being called for so rapidly
that the old plates were worn out and new ones had to be etched. Dr.
Syntax hats, coats, and wigs became fashionable, while the old
schoolmaster, his scolding wife and his ancient steed, were among the
most popular of public characters. The many inferior imitations to which
this success gave rise induced Ackermann to commission sequels from the
same collaborators, and these appeared under the titles of _Dr. Syntax
in Search of Consolation_ (the hero having lost his wife), _Dr. Syntax
in Search of a Wife_, and _Johnny Quæ Genus_, between 1820 and 1823. The
popularity of these works was doubtless mainly due to Rowlandson's
designs, in which British breadth of humour was combined with French
lightness of touch; but Combe's versified account of the adventures of
the long-suffering Doctor, though it has lost much of its savour for the
present age, seems to have been completely to the taste of his own
generation.
[Illustration: DR. SYNTAX IN THE GLASS HOUSE]
[Illustration: QUÆ GENUS OFFICIATING AT A GAMING HOUSE]
WILLIAM COMBE
William Combe (1741-1823) was a literary "bravo" of a type that was
common enough in the eighteenth century. If he had not the truculence of
John Churchill or the coarseness of Peter Pindar, he was little less
unscrupulous in his use of the pen. The son of a Bristol merchant, he
was educated at Eton and Oxford, and after making the grand tour he was
called to the Bar. But "Duke" Combe, as his friends nicknamed him, was
too fine a gentleman to work at his profession. He set up an expensive
establishment, kept a retinue of servants and several horses, and,
thanks to his good looks and attractive manners, obtained an entrance
into the most "exclusive circles." At the end of two or three years,
having squandered a small fortune left him by his godfather, Combe
disappeared from his fashionable haunts, and, if tradition may be
believed, underwent strange vicissitudes of fate. He is said to have
enlisted as a private, first in the English and afterwards in the French
army, and to have figured as a teacher of elocution, a waiter in a
restaurant, and a cook at Douai College, where he made such excellent
soup that the monks tried to persuade him to join their order. In 1772
he returned to England, and was induced to marry the _chère amie_ of an
English nobleman by the promise of a handsome annuity. The annuity not
being forthcoming, he wrote a versified satire called _The Diaboliad_
(1776), dedicated to the Worst Man in His Majesty's dominions, who has
been variously identified as Lord Irnham and Lord Beauchamp. The satire
having a _succès de scandale_, was followed by _The Diablo-lady_, and
other lampoons in the same style. Combe now settled down to literary
work--of a kind--and produced the spurious _Letters of the late Lord
Lyttelton_ (which deceived many of the elect), and the equally spurious
_Letters of Sterne to Eliza_. He had made the acquaintance of Sterne
during his travels in Italy, and used to boast that he had supplanted
the sentimental divine in the good graces of Eliza. In 1789, Combe took
service under Pitt as a political pamphleteer, with a pension of £200 a
year. This salary ceased when Addington came into office in 1803, but he
then obtained a post on the staff of the _Times_. Crabb Robinson, who
met him in the _Times_ office, said that he had known few men to be
compared with Combe, and states that he was chiefly employed in
consultation, important questions being brought to him to decide in
Walter's absence.
Combe's connection with Ackermann began when he was about sixty years of
age, and it is remarkable that his greatest successes should have been
won when he was nearing seventy. That he was able to produce so much
popular work at his advanced age, was probably partly due to the fact
that, unlike most of his contemporaries, he was a confirmed
water-drinker, and that his life within the Rules was free from anxiety
and responsibility. The Rules were jokingly said to extend as far as the
East Indies, and it is certain that they extended as far as Ackermann's
hospitable table in the Strand. Combe stoutly refused to allow his
friends to make any arrangement with his creditors, and no formal
contract regulated his dealings with his publisher. "Send me a
twenty-pounder," or "Send me a thirty-pounder," he wrote when funds were
low, and his employer knew his value too well to neglect his demands.
Besides contributing numerous articles to Ackermann's monthly, _The
Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, and Manufactures_ (1809-28),
Combe wrote the descriptive letterpress for several of the large
illustrated books published by the same firm, _The History of the
Thames_, _The History of Westminster Abbey_, and the third volume of the
splendid _Microcosm of London_, illustrated by Rowlandson and Augustus
Pugin (1762-1832),[1] the former being responsible for the figures, the
latter for the architecture. The first and second volumes were written
by W. H. Pyne, author of _Wine and Walnuts_, who is perhaps better known
by his pseudonym of "Ephraim Hardcastle." Combe is seen to most
advantage, however, in _The English Dance of Death_, which was published
in 1815, with illustrations by Rowlandson, and followed the succeeding
year by _The Dance of Life_.
Footnote 1: Father of the more celebrated Augustus Welby and Edward
Welby Pugin.
[Illustration: By Gamblers link'd in Folly's Noose,
Play ill or well, he's sure to loose.]
"The Infamous Combe," as Walpole unkindly dubbed him, was the author of
over a hundred books; but as he only put his name to one, there is
considerable doubt about the identity of his literary offspring. Though
nominally confined in a debtors' prison, Combe, on the death of his
first wife in 1814, married a sister of Mrs. Cosway's, but this union
was no happier than the first, and the couple were soon separated. In
his old age he appears to have amused himself with a platonic
love-affair with a young girl,[2] and in the composition of his
autobiography. If this was a truthful record of his career, it must have
been a more exciting document than all his other books put together;
but, unfortunately, in a fit of resentment at the marriage of his
adopted son, he burned the manuscript leaf by leaf.
Footnote 2: His letters to her were published the year after his
death.
Before quitting the subject of the triple alliance between Ackermann,
Rowlandson, and Combe, a word is due to the method in which the
delicately-tinted illustrations to their joint-productions were
executed. According to Delaborde, the copperplate engravings printed in
colour at the close of the eighteenth century, were usually printed from
one plate, done in stipple, and the various tints were rubbed in by the
printer, who used a sort of stump for this purpose instead of the
ordinary dabbing-brush. This was a lengthy process, and not always
satisfactory, since so much depended on the discretion of the printer. A
more common method was to print broadly with three tints of printing
ink, and afterwards to complete the colouring by hand with
water-colours. Mr. Grego has described in some detail the manner in
which the etchings of Rowlandson were produced by the conscientious
Ackermann. The artist would saunter round to the Repository from his
lodgings in the Adelphi, and call for reed-pens, drawing-paper, and
saucers of vermilion and Indian ink, which last he proceeded to combine
in his own inimitable fashion. "For the book-illustrations a finished
drawing was first made, and then Rowlandson etched the outline firmly
and sharply on the copperplate, an impression from the bitten-in outline
was printed upon drawing-paper, and the artist put in his shadows,
modelling of forms and sketchy distance in the most delicate handling
possible. The shadows were then copied in acqua-tint on the outlined
plate, sometimes by the designer, but in most cases by an engraver.
Rowlandson next completed the colouring of his own Indian-ink shaded
impression in delicate tints harmoniously selected. This tinted
impression served as a copy for Ackermann's famous staff of colourists,
who, having worked under his supervision for many years, attained a
degree of perfection and neatness never arrived at before, and almost
beyond belief in the present day." The result of this elaborate care may
perhaps best be seen in _The Microcosm of London_, _The Dance of Death_,
and the charming edition of _The Vicar of Wakefield_, published in 1817.
[Illustration: SUBSCRIPTION ROOM AT BROOKS]
[Illustration: VAUXHALL GARDENS]
II
ROBERT AND GEORGE CRUIKSHANK
In the early years of the nineteenth century, when Gillray was fast
drinking himself into imbecility, and Rowlandson had turned his
attention to book-illustration, English caricature, that once vigorous
plant, showed signs of premature decay. In the opinion of all lovers of
pictorial satire, the promise displayed in the as yet immature designs
of a couple of youthful brothers, Robert and George Cruikshank, held out
the best hopes for the future. The two boys were the sons of a Lowland
Scotchman, Isaac Cruikshank (_c._ 1756-_c._ 1811), who came to London
with his Highland wife some time in the "eighties," and made a modest
mark as a water-colour painter and caricaturist. He produced a large
number of political caricatures in the style of Gillray, which were
coloured by his wife and later by his two boys, who enjoyed but little
schooling, and only so much artistic training as he could give them. It
was owing, probably, to Isaac's passion for Scotch whisky, which is said
to have hastened his end, that the little household in Duke Street,
Holborn, had a hard struggle to make both ends meet, and George
(1792-1878), while yet a child himself, was set to illustrate children's
books for the trade. Before he was out of his teens he was producing
coloured caricatures, of which the arrest of Sir Francis Burdett is the
earliest important example, and contributing etchings to _The Scourge_
(1811-16), a scurrilous publication, edited by "Mad Mitford." The
principal subjects of his somewhat crude satire were the Regent,
Buonaparte, and a certain number of too notorious personages in "high
life." In 1814, George illustrated a _Life of Napoleon_ in Hudibrastic
verse, by Dr. Syntax, not our friend Combe, but some anonymous admirer
of his hero. Young Cruikshank's talent attracted the attention of
William Hone of _Table-Book_ fame, who employed him to illustrate a
series of radical squibs, including _The Political House that Jack
built_, _The Political Alphabet_, and _The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder_.
It was for Hone that George designed his famous Bank-note "_not_ to be
imitated," which, he fondly believed, put a stop to hanging for the
forgery of one pound notes. Hone seems to have been a very poor
paymaster, but his custom brought the young artist great notoriety, and
by 1820 "the ingenious Mr. Cruikshank" was firmly established as a
popular favourite.
After his father's death, George continued to keep house with his
mother, sister, and brother, and we are told that the wild ways of her
two boys gave the thrifty, serious Mrs. Cruikshank a great deal of
anxiety. She is reported to have chastised George with her own hands
when he came home tipsy o' nights, and she was accustomed to say, with
more than maternal candour, "Take the pencil out of my sons' hands, and
they are no better than two boobies." However, it was probably owing to
their familiarity with "the haunts of dissipation" that they became
acquainted with Pierce Egan (1772-1849), the pet of peers and pugilists,
an accomplished professor of Cockney slang, and the greatest living
authority on questions relating to boxing, bull-baiting, cock-fighting,
and all such "manly sports." Pierce, who handled a pen much as he might
have handled a quarter-staff, had already won fame as a sporting
reporter, and as the author of _Boxiana, or Sketches of Modern
Pugilists_, published in 1818. In 1821 he conceived, or had suggested to
him, the idea of a book on Life in London as seen by a young man about
town, and he engaged the brothers Cruikshank to illustrate it. It has
been claimed that the idea originated with Robert Cruikshank, who drew
the characters of Corinthian Tom, Jerry Hawthorn, and Bob Logic, from
himself, his brother, and Pierce Egan. George IV. gave permission for
the proposed work to be dedicated to himself, and in July 1821 it began
to appear in monthly numbers, under the title of _Life in London; or the
Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend
Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic the Oxonian, in their Rambles
and Sprees through the Metropolis_. The work was illustrated by
fifty-six hand-coloured etchings by the two Cruikshanks, as well as
numerous engravings on wood. The very first number took the town by
storm, and the colourists were unable to keep pace with the demand.
Scenes from the tale were painted on fans, screens, and tea-trays,
numerous imitations were put forth, even before the book was issued in
volume form, and more than one dramatised version appeared on the stage.
Every street broil was transformed into a "Tom and Jerry row," the
Methodists distributed tracts at the doors of the theatres in which the
piece was played, and it was declared that Egan had turned the period
into an Age of Flash. But all protests were speedily drowned in a
general chorus of admiration, to which the _European Magazine_ put the
climax with its public declaration that "Corinthian Tom gives finished
portraits; with all the delicacy and precision of Gerard Douw, he unites
the boldness of Rubens with the intimate knowledge of Teniers!"
Thackeray, in a charming essay, has recalled his early delight in the
book, in those far-off days when every schoolboy believed that the three
heroes were types of the most elegant and fashionable young fellows the
town afforded, and thought their occupations and amusements those of all
high-bred English gentlemen. Twenty years later, Thackeray describes how
he went to the British Museum to renew his acquaintance with his old
favourite, and was disillusioned by the letterpress, which he found a
little vulgar, "but the pictures," he exclaims, "the pictures are noble
still!"
[Illustration: DEATH'S DANCE]
[Illustration: HUNTING THE SLIPPER]
DAVID CAREY
The earliest imitation of _Life in London_ was called _Real Life in
London, or the Rambles and Adventures of Bob Tallyho, Esq., and his
Cousin the Hon. Tom Dashall. By an Amateur._ This book, which some have
supposed to be the work of Egan in rivalry with himself, was illustrated
by Rowlandson, Alken, and Dighton. A year later, in 1822, came _Life in
Paris, Comprising the Rambles, Sprees, and Amours of Dick Wildfire and
Squire Jenkins_, by David Carey; while _The English Spy_, by Bernard
Blackmantle, appeared in 1824. David Carey (1782-1824) was a young
Scotchman, son of a manufacturer at Arbroath, who began his career in
Constable's publishing house in Edinburgh but presently came south, and
devoted himself to literary journalism. He attracted some attention by
means of a satire, called the _The Ins and Outs_, and also wrote some
long-forgotten novels and sketches. In 1822 he went to Paris, where he
wrote his account of life in that city; and then, his health breaking
down, returned to his native town to die of consumption. It was claimed
for the illustrations to his book, which were from the pencil of George
Cruikshank, that "To accuracy of local delineation is added a happy
exhibition of whatever is ludicrous and grotesque in character." Now
George had never been in France, and therefore was obliged to take his
local colour from the "views" of other artists, but the ludicrous and
grotesque side of French life and character came only too easily to his
John Bullish imagination. To him, as Thackeray points out, all Frenchmen
were either barbers or dancing-masters, with "spindle shanks, pig-tails,
outstretched hands, shrugging shoulders, and queer hair and moustaches."
In his regenerate days, George was wont to assert, _à propos_ of _Life
in London_, that, finding the book was a guide to, rather than a warning
against, the vicious haunts and amusements of the Metropolis, he had
retired from the alliance with Egan, leaving about two-thirds of the
plates to be executed by his brother Robert. If this be true, he showed
some inconsistency in consenting to illustrate Carey's book, which is a
frank imitation of Egan's, though in a French setting.
CHARLES MOLLOY WESTMACOTT
A more ambitious book in the same genre was _The English Spy; an
Original Work, Characteristic, Satirical, and Humorous, comprising
Scenes and Sketches in every Rank of Society, being Portraits of the
Illustrious, Eminent, Eccentric, and Notorious_. The author, Charles
Molloy Westmacott, _alias_ Bernard Blackmantle, editor of _The Age_, has
been described as a typical editor of the rowdy school of journalism. He
claimed to be the son of Sir Richard Westmacott, the Royal Academician,
by a certain Widow Molloy, who kept the King's Arms at Kensington. The
system of journalistic blackmail was brought to a higher degree of
perfection by Westmacott than by any other free lance of the time. For
the _pièces justificatives_ relating to a certain scandalous intrigue in
which various exalted personages were implicated, Westmacott is said to
have received nearly £5000. With his ill-gotten gains he fitted up a
villa near Richmond, where for a time he lived in luxury, though not, it
would appear, in security. In 1830 he was soundly horsewhipped by
Charles Kemble for an insulting allusion to his daughter Fanny in _The
Age_, and he was threatened with the same punishment by Bulwer Lytton.
In his portrait by Daniel Maclise he is represented with a heavy
dog-whip, probably a necessary weapon of defence. In his later days
Westmacott took refuge in Paris, where he died in 1868.
In 1823, Westmacott published his _Points of Misery_, illustrated by
George Cruikshank, and in 1825 he brought out a _roman à clef_ called
_Fitzalleyne of Berkeley_, in which various scandals relating to the
Berkeley family were introduced. The book was eagerly bought and read,
and Westmacott, who had vainly tried to extort money for its
suppression, must have made a handsome sum by its publication. _The
English Spy_ was brought out in two volumes, and contained seventy-two
large coloured plates as well as numerous vignettes on wood, the
majority being from the designs of Robert Cruikshank, who figures in the
book under the pseudonym of "Robert Transit." Two of the coloured plates
were contributed by Thomas Rowlandson, notably a sketch of the Life
Academy at Somerset House, with the R.A.'s of the period busily engaged
in drawing from a female model. Most of the social celebrities of the
time are introduced into the book, Beau Brummell, Colonel Berkeley,
Pierce Egan, Charles Matthews, "Pea-green" Hayne, and "Golden" Ball;
while life at the University, in sporting and fashionable London, and at
the popular watering-places, is vividly described. On the last page is
an interesting little vignette representing the author and artist in the
act of handing the second volume of their work to an eagerly expectant
bookseller. The success of this book, and of many other imitations of
_Life in London_, induced Egan to compose a sequel to his work, which
appeared in 1828 under the title of _The Finish to the Adventures of
Tom, Jerry, and Logic, in their Pursuits through Life in and out of
London_, illustrated by Robert Cruikshank. In this curious book an
attempt is made to propitiate the Nonconformist conscience of that day
by bringing the majority of the characters to a bad end. Corinthian Tom
breaks his neck in a steeplechase, Corinthian Kate dies in misery, Bob
Logic is also killed off, and Splendid Jem becomes a convict; but Jerry
Hawthorn reforms, marries Mary Rosebud, a virtuous country maiden, and
settles down at Hawthorn Hall as a Justice of the Peace and model
landlord.
[Illustration: TOM AND JERRY, IN THE SALOON AT COVENT GARDEN]
PIERCE EGAN AND THEODORE LANE
In 1824, Egan had started a weekly newspaper called _Pierce Egan's Life
in London_, which, being sold to a Mr. Bell, enjoyed a long period of
popularity as _Bell's Life in London_. In the same year Pierce published
his _Life of an Actor_, dedicated to Edmund Kean, and illustrated by
Theodore Lane. Lane, who was born at Isleworth in 1800, was the son of a
drawing-master in poor circumstances. At the age of fourteen he was
apprenticed to John Barrow, an artist and colourer of prints, who was
living in St. Pancras. Thanks to the encouragement of his master, Lane
early came into notice as a miniaturist and painter in water-colours,
and he exhibited works of that class at the Academy between 1819 and
1826. But his real talent lay in the direction of the quaint and the
humorous. In 1825 he made a series of thirty-six designs representing
scenes in the life of an actor, which he took to Egan and begged that
popular author to write the letterpress. After some hesitation, Egan
undertook the task, chiefly, as he says, with the idea of introducing a
meritorious young artist to the public. For his designs Lane received
£150 from the publisher, and the book really proved a stepping-stone,
not to fortune, but to regular employment. His work was praised by the
two Cruikshanks, and a writer in _The Monthly Critical Gazette_ declared
that his designs would not discredit the pencil of Hogarth. Lane
illustrated Egan's _Anecdotes Original and Selected of the Turf, the
Chase, the Ring, and the Stage_ in 1827, and also published two or
series of humorous designs. In 1825 the young artist, though
left-handed, took up oil-painting with success, and attracted favourable
notice by his pictures _The Christmas Presents_ and _Disturbed by
Nightmare_, which were exhibited at the Academy in 1827 and 1828. His
best work, however, was _The Enthusiast_--a gouty angler fishing in a
tub of water--which is now in the National Gallery. On 21st May 1828
poor Lane's promising career was cut short in most tragical fashion.
While waiting for a friend at the Horse Repository in the Gray's Inn
Road, he stepped upon a skylight, and, falling through, his brains were
dashed out upon the pavement below. He left a widow and two children,
for whose benefit Egan published a little work in verse called _The Show
Folks_, with illustrations by Lane, as well as a short memoir of the
unfortunate artist. Of Egan's numerous other works it is only necessary
to mention his _Book of Sports and Mirror of Life_ (1832), and _The
Pilgrims of the Thames in Search of the National_ (1838), illustrated by
his son, and dedicated by express permission to the young Queen
Victoria. "The Fancy's darling child," as he has been aptly named, died
at his house in Pentonville in 1849, "respected by all who knew
him"--_vide Bell's Life_.
GEORGE CRUIKSHANK
To return to George Cruikshank, who was now in the full tide of success
and overwhelmed with commissions. It would be impossible here to give a
complete list of his productions, but mention may be made of his
illustrations to _Peter Schlemihl, the Man without a Shadow_, and to
Grimm's _Popular Stories_ (1824), which were so much admired by Ruskin;
of his Illustrations of _Phrenology_ (1826), which marks his first
appearance as an independent author; the famous _Mornings at Bow Street_
(1815); the _Comic Almanac_, which began in 1835; the series of etchings
for the _Sketches by Boz_ (1836), and those for _Oliver Twist_ in
_Bentley's Miscellany_ (1839), which led to his claim that he had
originated the story--a claim that naturally put an end to his
connection with Dickens. In 1839 began a long series of illustrations
for the novels of Harrison Ainsworth (1805-82), the editor of _Bentley's
Miscellany_. Ainsworth was born at Manchester, and bred up to "the law,"
but on coming to London to finish his legal studies, he neglected his
law books for literature. He attained his first success with _Rookwood_
in 1834, and in 1839 became editor of _Bentley's Miscellany_, in which
his novel _Jack Sheppard_, with illustrations by Cruikshank, first
appeared. In 1842 he started _Ainsworth's Magazine_, and engaged
Cruikshank, who had quarrelled with Bentley, as illustrator-in-chief, at
a salary of £40 a month. The engagement proved a fortunate one,
resulting in the excellent designs to _The Tower of London_, _The
Miser's Daughter_, _Windsor Castle_, and other novels, which Cruikshank
himself described as "a hundred and forty-four of the very best designs
and etchings I ever produced." The connection came to an end with the
usual quarrel, Cruikshank claiming to have suggested the plot and
characters of both _The Miser's Daughter_ and _The Tower of London_.
[Illustration: ADVENTURES IN A WHISKEY PARLOUR]
In 1847, Cruikshank was converted to teetotalism, and thenceforward
laboured in the cause with almost fanatic zeal. It was in this year that
he executed his famous group of eight designs called _The Bottle_, which
was reproduced in glyphography, and circulated at a cheap price by
temperance societies. In 1850 he was employed to illustrate the second
edition of Smedley's successful novel _Frank Fairlegh_. Frank Smedley
was born at Great Marlow in 1818, and, being crippled by a malformation
of the feet, he was educated at a private tutor's instead of at a public
school. He contributed his first story, _The Life of a Private Pupil_,
to _Sharpe's Magazine_ in 1846-48, and a couple of years later it was
published under the title of _Frank Fairlegh_. The book, in which
Smedley's love of open-air life and sympathy with outdoor sports are
strongly manifested, made a decided hit, and was followed during the
next few years by _Lewis Arundel_ and _Harry Coverdale's Courtship_.
Smedley has left an amusing account of his first interview with George
Cruikshank, who, on seeing a cripple in a wheeled chair, could not
conceal his wonder, but kept exclaiming, "Good God! I thought you could
gallop about on horses." Smedley, who died of apoplexy in 1864, was
editor of the ill-fated _Cruikshank's Magazine_, started in 1853, which
only reached its second number.
George Cruikshank's last years were taken up in great measure with his
work in the cause of temperance reform, and though he still occupied
himself in book-illustration, it became increasingly evident that he had
outlived his public. His large oil-painting, _The Triumph of Bacchus_,
did not attract the multitude when exhibited at Exeter Hall in 1863,
though he had devoted three years to its execution. Thanks to the
kindness of his friends, and the grant of two small pensions, actual
poverty was kept from his door, and he lived to a green old age,
bright-eyed and alert, the best of good company over his glass of cold
water, dancing a hornpipe at past eighty, or dressing up and singing
_The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman_, which he had illustrated in 1839.
He was taken ill early in 1878, and died on 1st February, finding his
final resting-place in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral.
George Cruikshank, his biographer Blanchard Jerrold tells us, always
worked with great care and deliberation, thinking out his subject
thoroughly before beginning to realise his conception. "He made, to
begin with, a careful design upon paper, trying doubtful points upon the
margin. The design was heightened by vigorous touches of colour. Then a
careful tracing was made, and laid, pencil side down, upon the steel
plate. This was carried to the printer, who, having placed it between
damp paper and passed it through the press, returned it, the black-lead
outline distinctly appearing on the etching ground. And then the work
was straightforward to the artist's firm hand."
III
HENRY ALKEN
The books illustrated in colour at the end of the eighteenth and
beginning of the nineteenth century may be classed under certain
well-defined headings--narrative, topography, costume, and sport, the
last being by no means the least important. Although neither Gillray nor
Rowlandson ignored the sport of kings, it was Bunbury who, drawing upon
his own personal experiences, set the fashion for hunting and "horsey"
books, which were most commonly conceived in a vein of broad humour. Of
such was Bunbury's _Geoffry Gambado, or the Academy for Grown Horsemen_,
of which several editions appeared between 1788 and 1808. The most
distinguished of Bunbury's immediate successors was Henry Alken, an
artist whose origin seems wrapped in mystery. It has been rumoured that
he began his career as stud-groom or trainer to the Duke of Beaufort in
the opening years of the nineteenth century. His early drawings were
produced under the pseudonym of "Ben Tallyho," and the first work to
which he signed his own name seems to have been _The Beauties and
Defects in the Figure of the Horse, comparatively Delineated_, which
appeared in 1816. This was followed by some sets of humorous etchings in
frank imitation of Bunbury, such as _Specimens of Riding_, _Symptoms of
being Amazed_, _A Touch at the Fine Arts_, and, in 1821, by a folio
volume, _The National Sports of Great Britain_. In 1824 we find a most
complimentary allusion to Alken's work in an article on the fine arts in
_Blackwood's Magazine_, probably written by Christopher North. The
writer, after observing that George Cruikshank failed in one subject
only--the gentlemen of England--proceeds: "Where Cruikshank fails,
there, happily for England and for art, Henry Alken shines, and shines
like a star of the first magnitude. He has filled up the great blank
that was left by the disappearance of Bunbury. He is a gentleman--he has
lived with gentlemen--he understands their nature both in its strength
and its weakness.... In this work [_A Touch at the Fine Arts_] there is
a freedom of handling that is really delightful. Yet I am not sure but I
give the preference to my older favourite, _The Symptoms_. The shooting
parties--the driving parties--the overturning parties--the flirting
parties--the fighting parties in that series are all and each of them
nearly divine. Positively you must buy a set of Alken's works--they are
splendid things--no drawing-room is complete without them." Alken, it
will be seen, had already made his mark, but it was his connection with
Mr. Apperley, _alias_ "Nimrod," that was to bring him his largest meed
of fame.
[Illustration: RACE HORSE]
CHARLES JAMES APPERLEY
Charles James Apperley was born at Plasgronow, Herefordshire, in 1778,
and educated at Rugby. His father, a man of literary tastes, who
corresponded with Dr. Johnson and read Greek before breakfast, had been
tutor and bear-leader on the grand tour to Sir William Watkin Wynn.
Young Apperley, who refused to be turned into a scholar, was gazetted
cornet in 1798 in Sir W. Wynn's regiment of yeomanry, and served in
Ireland during the Rebellion. On his return to England in 1801, he
married a Miss Wynn, a cousin of Sir William's, and settled at Hinckley
Hall in Leicestershire, where he hoped to add to his income by selling
the hunters that he trained. Three years later he moved to Bilton Hall,
near Rugby, once the property of Joseph Addison, where he hunted
regularly with the Quorn and the Pytchley, till another move took him to
Bitterly Court, in Shropshire, where he became intimate with that
amazing character John Mytton, of Halston House, whose life and death he
was afterwards to record in a book that made both subject and biographer
famous. Here we may suppose that Apperley was witness of some of those
escapades that are now familiar to every student of sporting literature:
the midnight drive across country, when a sunk fence, a deep drain, and
two quickset hedges were successfully negotiated; the attempt to leap a
turnpike gate with a tandem, when leader and wheeler parted company; and
the gallop over a rabbit warren to see whether the horse would fall,
which it very naturally did, and rolled upon its rider. It was perhaps
just as well for Apperley that he left this too exciting neighbourhood
after a few years, and moved to Beaurepaire House, in Hampshire. The
loss of money in farming operations brought him into difficulties, and
at this time he seems to have conceived the idea of writing a book on
hunting. He produced nothing, however, till some years later, when he
was persuaded by Pittman, editor of the _Sporting Magazine_, to become a
contributor, and his first article, on "Fox-Hunting in Leicestershire,"
appeared in 1822. This was followed by accounts of other hunting tours,
which proved so popular that the circulation of the magazine was soon
trebled. Apperley is said to have received £20 a page for his work,--the
highest price ever paid to a journalist at that time,--but apparently
this splendid remuneration had to cover his working expenses, which
included a stud of hunters. "Nimrod" soon became a celebrity in the
sporting world, and masters of hounds trembled at his nod. The news of
his arrival in a country set every member of the local hunt in a
flutter; the best horses were brought out, and the best covers drawn, in
the hope of a favourable notice from the great man.
[Illustration: A NEW HUNTER--TALLYHO! TALLYHO!]
In 1830 the _Sporting Magazine_ came to grief, in consequence of the
death of the editor, and Apperley, who had borrowed large sums of
Pittman, was obliged to take refuge from his creditors at Calais, where
he spent the next twelve years. Here, a year later, arrived John Mytton,
also a fugitive, having run through a splendid property, and ruined a
magnificent constitution by drink, before he was thirty-five. Apperley
seems to have done his best for his old friend and comrade, who, having
exchanged old port--of which his daily allowance had been from four to
six bottles a day--for brandy, was rapidly drinking himself to death.
Mytton, who seems to have been practically a madman in his last years,
returned to London in 1833, and was promptly thrown into the King's
Bench, where he died of delirium tremens in the following year.
Apperley occupied himself during his exile in writing sporting memoirs
and reminiscences, and contributing to Ackermann's _New Sporting
Magazine_. In 1835 he was invited by Lockhart to write three articles on
Hunting, Racing, and Coaching for the _Quarterly Review_, and these,
which represent some of his best work, were republished under the title
of _The Chase, the Turf, and the Road_, with coloured etchings by Henry
Alken. Lockhart was so much impressed by the powers of his new
contributor, that he told John Murray, "I have found a man who can hunt
like Hugo Meynell and write like Walter Scott,"--a criticism that did
more credit to his sporting than his literary acumen, though Apperley's
style is greatly superior to that of Pierce Egan and other of his
sporting contemporaries. In 1837 he published his _Memoirs of the Life
of John Mytton_, which had appeared serially in the _New Sporting
Magazine_, and was illustrated with plates drawn by Alken and etched by
Rawlings. This was followed by _The Life of a Sportsman_, illustrated by
the same artist, which has become one of the classics of hunting
literature. Apperley returned to London in 1842, and died in Pimlico the
following year.
[Illustration: MR. RIDGEWAY'S GOOD HEALTH--NOW!]
[Illustration: "OH GENTLEMEN! GENTLEMEN! HERE'S A LAMENTABLE
OCCURRENCE"]
ROBERT SMITH SURTEES
The death of Apperley was preceded by the rise of another famous
sporting writer, Robert Smith Surtees (1803-64), the second son of
Anthony Surtees, of Hamsterley Hall, Durham. Robert was educated at
Durham Grammar School, and afterwards articled to a solicitor. A
partnership was bought for him in London, but this proved
unsatisfactory, and the young man, turning his back upon the law,
started upon his literary career as contributor to the old _Sporting
Magazine_. In 1831, in connection with Rudolf Ackermann, the son and
successor of Rowlandson's employer, he started the _New Sporting
Magazine_, which he edited down to 1836, and in the pages of this
periodical the celebrated Mr. Jorrocks, humorist, sportsman, and grocer,
made his first bow to the public. These papers were collected under the
title of _Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities_ in 1838, with illustrations
by "Phiz"; but a later edition, that of 1843, contains fifteen coloured
plates by Alken. In the same year Surtees succeeded to the family
estate, but in spite of this change in his circumstances he did not lay
aside his pen. Lockhart had once remarked to Apperley _à propos_ the
creator of Jorrocks, "That fellow could write a good novel if he liked
to try"; and the compliment, being promptly repeated to Surtees,
resulted in the composition of _Handley Cross_ (1843), in which Mr.
Jorrocks makes his appearance as a country squire and master of hounds.
A later edition of the book was illustrated by a new sporting artist,
John Leech. _Handley Cross_ was followed by _Hawbuck Grange_, _Ask
Mamma_, and the ever-popular _Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour_, which
contained numerous coloured plates and woodcuts by Leech. "The
Yorkshireman," as Surtees was nicknamed, presumably because he was born
in Durham, also contributed papers to _Bell's Life_, some of which,
commemorative of the fine open winter of 1845-46, were afterwards
published as _The Analysis of the Hunting Field_, with illustrations by
Alken, who now disappears from our view, though he left two or three
sons in the same "line of business," with whom he has sometimes been
confused, while the popular name of Alken became a general patronymic
for a whole school of sporting artists. Surtees, who died at Brighton in
1864, was a fine horseman and a keen observer of social types, though,
so far from being the rollicking sportsman suggested by his books, he is
described as a man of rather reserved and taciturn nature. The
remarkable character of Mr. Jorrocks was evolved during long, lonely
journeys, when the shrewd ex-grocer, or rather his imaginary conception,
stood his creator in the stead of a travelling companion.
[Illustration: MR. JORROCKS' LECTURE ON "UNTING"]
[Illustration: COLOURED TITLE PAGE]
IV
THE _PICKWICK_ ILLUSTRATORS
ROBERT SEYMOUR
The success of the _Jaunts and Jollities_, and of Egan's _Finish to Life
in London_, suggested, it is said, to Messrs. Chapman and Hall the idea
of a work which should deal with the adventures of a club of Cockney
sportsmen, and serve as a vehicle for the humorous designs of Robert
Seymour. Leigh Hunt and Theodore Hook were asked, in the first instance,
to supply the letterpress; but, on their refusal, the young Charles
Dickens, then (1835) just three-and-twenty, and only known as the author
of some amusing sketches, was chosen to act as the literary illustrator
of the work. Dickens rejected the idea of a sporting club, though he so
far deferred to the publishers' suggestions as to create the immortal
Pickwick Club, into which Mr. Winkle was introduced expressly for the
exploitation of Seymour's peculiar talent. The young author also
stipulated that, instead of being expected to "write up" to the artist's
designs, he should be allowed a free hand with the letterpress, the
illustrations being allowed to arise naturally out of the incidents
described in the text. On 26th March 1836 it was announced that the
first number of _The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club_ would be
published on the 30th, the work to be issued in shilling monthly parts
under the editorship of "Boz," each part being illustrated with four
etchings on steel by Seymour. Robert Seymour (1800?-36) had already made
his name as a caricaturist and book-illustrator. He had published a
volume of humorous sketches (mostly dealing with sporting
misadventures), and had been employed to illustrate _Bell's Life_ and
_Figaro in London_. For _Pickwick_ he prepared seven illustrations, of
which four appeared in the first part. Whether from overwork, or from
the fact that his often hasty sketches did not invariably give
satisfaction to his employers, Seymour was in a depressed state of mind
at this time, and on 20th April, just before the publication of the
second number of _Pickwick_, he committed suicide by shooting himself
through the head with a fowling-piece.
ROBERT WILLIAM BUSS
In consequence of this catastrophe, the second number came out with only
three plates, and an apology to the public. In their dilemma the
publishers invited Robert William Buss (1804-75), a young artist of some
promise, to take up Seymour's work. Buss, who was the son of an
engraver, had studied under George Clint, A.R.A., and had been employed
to illustrate Cumberland's _British Theatre_. He was also an exhibitor
at the Royal Academy, where his most successful works had been in a
humorous genre. Buss consented to lay aside his Academy picture and
undertake the illustrations to _Pickwick_: but as time pressed, and he
was ignorant of the art of etching, he put the two first designs into
the hands of a professional etcher. The result was unfortunate, since,
although the technical part of the work was well executed, the free
touch of the original was entirely wanting, and Buss's name appeared to
designs, not one stroke of which was on the plates. While the artist was
busy designing other, and, as he hoped, more successful illustrations,
he received his dismissal from the publishers, who were dissatisfied
with the specimens already submitted to them. Although he admitted that
his first two plates were "abominably bad," Buss was much aggrieved at
this treatment, having been promised every consideration from the
publishers on account of his ignorance of etching, and the haste with
which the earlier designs had to be prepared. Later he became known as a
popular book-illustrator, executing plates for the novels of Mrs.
Trollope, Captain Marryatt, and Harrison Ainsworth; while, towards the
end of his career, he issued an elaborately-illustrated work on English
graphic satire.
HABLÔT KNIGHT BROWNE
In consequence of these early misfortunes, there was so poor a demand
for the first three numbers of _Pickwick_, that the publishers had
serious thoughts of stopping the publication of the work. However, on
the dismissal of Buss, several illustrators came forward to offer their
services, including "Alfred Crowquill" (Alfred Forrester), Leech, and
Thackeray, the last-named going himself to call on Dickens in Furnival's
Inn, and submitting his drawings to him. Needless to say, not one of the
three was successful in his candidature, the choice of the publishers
falling upon a very young artist, Hablôt Knight Browne (1815-1882), who
had served his apprenticeship to Finden, the line-engraver, and gained
some experience as a book-illustrator. He had already illustrated a
pamphlet by Dickens, called _Sunday under Three Heads_, and was engaged
in executing plates for Chapman and Hall's _Library of Fiction_.
The choice, as every one knows, proved a happy one, Browne, who took the
pseudonym of "Phiz" to correspond with the editorial "Boz," throwing
himself heart and soul into the spirit of the work, and proving an ideal
collaborator from the author's point of view. The ill-luck which had
dogged the early days of _Pickwick_ turned out a blessing in disguise
for Dickens, since he was no longer expected to exploit the talent of
his illustrator, and was enabled to impress his own ideas and wishes
upon "Phiz," his junior by three years. With the fourth number, which
saw the first appearance of Samuel Weller, the circulation of the work
began to go up by leaps and bounds; a Pickwick boom ensued, and many of
the designs had to be etched in duplicate, as the plates showed signs of
wear and tear. Owing to the lack of harmony between the illustrations in
the first three numbers and those that followed, Browne was employed to
redraw Seymour's plates, and to substitute two new designs for the
despised Buss plates. The latter, which only appeared in about seven
hundred copies of the original edition, are now as eagerly sought by
collectors as if they were miniature masterpieces, while the untouched
designs of Seymour rank far above those that were redrawn by Phiz.
The authorised illustrations to the _Pickwick Papers_ have been
supplemented by several series of "illegitimate" designs, chief among
which are the famous Onwhyn plates, published in 1837, when the book was
in the full tide of success. These consisted of thirty-two etchings on
steel, the majority of which were executed by Thomas Onwhyn (died in
1886), and are signed "Samuel Weller," though a few have Onwhyn's
initials. The plates were published by E. Grattan in eight monthly parts
at a shilling each, and were afterwards sold in volume form at nine
shillings. Onwhyn, who was the son of a bookseller, seemed determined to
make a _specialité_ of Dickens' illustrations, for in 1838 he issued
through Grattan no less than forty designs for _Nicholas Nickleby_,
signed "Peter Palette"; while in 1848 he executed a second set of
_Pickwick_ plates, which, in consequence of the republication of the
earlier set, were not brought out till 1894, eight years after the
artist's death. Though his technique was somewhat weak, Onwhyn's work
shows considerable humour, and his uninvited designs now add great
lustre, in the eyes of collectors, to an "extra-illustrated" copy of
_The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club_.
_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
THE ILLUSTRATED
POCKET LIBRARY
OF PLAIN AND
COLOURED BOOKS
_Fcap. 8vo,_ 3s. 6d. _net each Volume_
MESSRS. METHUEN are publishing a series in small form of some of the
rare and famous illustrated books of fiction and general literature,
faithfully reprinted from the first or best editions without
introduction or notes.
The particular and attractive feature of these books is the reproduction
of all the illustrations which appeared in the original issues:
illustrations which are part and parcel of the books, and which, from
their beauty or skill or humour, had often as great a share in their
success as the text itself. Most of these books had coloured
illustrations, and they are here similarly given. Wherever it is
possible the books are contained within one volume.
Of the coloured books there is also a large paper edition on Japanese
vellum, limited to 50 copies, the price of each copy being 30_s._ net
per volume.
METHUEN & CO.
36 Essex Street, W.C.
The following volumes are nearly all ready:--
Coloured
Books
3/6 Each
Old Illustrated Books. By GEORGE PASTON.
With 16 Coloured Plates. _Fcap._ 8_vo._ 2_s._ net.
This little book serves as an Introduction to the
Illustrated Pocket Library, gives notes of the authors and
artists of the famous books illustrated in colour which were
produced in great numbers in the beginning of the nineteenth
century, and describes the best known of them. Interesting
biographical touches are given concerning Rowlandson,
Cruikshank, Alken, Leech, Pierce Egan, Combe, Surtees, and
the great publisher of such books, Rudolph Ackermann.
The Life and Death of John Mytton, Esq. By
NIMROD. With 18 Coloured Plates by Henry Alken and T. J.
Rawlins.
The Vicar of Wakefield. By OLIVER GOLDSMITH. With 24
Coloured Plates by T. Rowlandson.
Handley Cross. By R. S. SURTEES. With 17 Coloured Plates and
100 Woodcuts in the Text by John Leech.
Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour. By R. S. SURTEES. With 13
Coloured Plates and 90 Woodcuts in the Text by John Leech.
Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities. By R. S. SURTEES. With 15
Coloured Plates by H. Alken.
Ask Mamma. By R. S. SURTEES. With 13 Coloured Plates and 70
Woodcuts in the Text by John Leech.
The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque. By
WILLIAM COMBE. With 30 Coloured Plates by T. Rowlandson.
The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of Consolation. By
WILLIAM COMBE. With 24 Coloured Plates by T. Rowlandson.
The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of a Wife. By
WILLIAM COMBE. With 24 Coloured Plates by T. Rowlandson.
The History of Johnny Quæ Genus: the Little Foundling of the
Late Doctor Syntax. By the Author of "The Three Tours". With
24 Coloured Plates by T. Rowlandson.
The English Dance of Death. With 76 Coloured Designs of T.
Rowlandson, with Metrical Illustrations by the Author of
"Doctor Syntax". _Two Volumes._ 7_s._ net.
The Dance of Life: A Poem. By the Author of "Doctor Syntax".
Illustrated with 26 Coloured Engravings by T. Rowlandson.
The Life of a Sportsman. By NIMROD. With 35 Coloured Plates
by Henry Alken.
Life in London: or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry
Hawthorn, Esq., and his Elegant Friend, Corinthian Tom. By
PIERCE EGAN. With 36 Coloured Plates by I. R. and G.
Cruikshank. With numerous Designs on Wood.
Real Life in London: or, the Rambles and Adventures of Bob
Tallyho, Esq., and his Cousin, the Hon. Tom Dashall. By an
Amateur (PIERCE EGAN). With 31 Coloured Plates by Alken and
Rowlandson, etc. _Two Volumes._ 7_s._ net.
Real Life in Ireland: or, the Day and Night Scenes of Brian
Boru, Esq., and his Elegant Friend, Sir Shawn O'Dogherty. By
a REAL PADDY. With 19 Coloured Plates by Heath, Marks, etc.
The Life of an Actor. By PIERCE EGAN. With 27 Coloured
Plates by Theodore Lane, and several Designs on Wood.
The Analysis of the Hunting Field. By R. S. SURTEES. With 7
Coloured Plates by Henry Alken, and 43 Illustrations on
Wood.
The Old English Squire: A Poem. By JOHN CARELESS, Esq. With
20 Coloured Plates after the style of T. Rowlandson.
The Adventures of a Post Captain. By a NAVAL OFFICER. With
24 Coloured Plates by Mr. Williams.
The Military Adventures of Johnny Newcome. By an OFFICER.
With 13 Coloured Plates by T. Rowlandson.
The Adventures of Johnny Newcome in the Navy. With 16
Coloured Plates by T. Rowlandson.
The National Sports of Great Britain. With Descriptions and
50 Coloured Plates by Henry Alken.
This book is completely different from the large folio
edition of "National Sports" by the same artist, and none of
the plates are similar.
The English Spy. By BERNARD BLACKMANTLE. With 72 Coloured
Plates by R. Cruikshank, and many Illustrations on Wood.
_Two Volumes._ 7_s._ net.
Life in Paris: Comprising the Rambles, Sprees and Amours of
Dick Wildfire, etc. By DAVID CAREY. With 21 Coloured Plates
by George Cruikshank, and 22 Wood Engravings by the same
Artist.
Gamonia: or, the Art of Preserving Game; and an Improved
Method of making Plantations and Covers. Explained and
Illustrated by LAWRENCE RAWSTORNE, Esq. With 15 Coloured
Plates by T. Rawlins.
An Academy for Grown Horsemen: Containing the completest
Instructions for Walking, Trotting, Cantering, Galloping,
Stumbling and Tumbling. Illustrated with 27 Coloured Plates,
and adorned with a Portrait of the Author. By GEOFFREY
GAMBADO, Esq.
Plain
Books
3/6 each
Illustrations of the Book of Job. Invented and Engraved by
William Blake.
These famous illustrations--21 in number--are reproduced
in photogravure. 100 copies are printed on large paper, with
India proofs and a duplicate set of the plates. Price 15_s_.
net.
The Grave: A Poem. By ROBERT BLAIR. Illustrated by 12
Etchings executed by Louis Schiavonetti from the Original
Inventions of William Blake. With an Engraved Title Page and
a Portrait of Blake by T. Phillips, R.A.
The illustrations are reproduced in photogravure. 100
copies are printed on Japanese paper, with India proofs and
a duplicate set of the plates. Price 15_s_. net.
Windsor Castle. By W. HARRISON AINSWORTH. With 22 Plates and
87 Woodcuts in the Text by George Cruikshank.
The Tower of London. By W. HARRISON AINSWORTH. With 40
Plates and 58 Woodcuts in the Text by George Cruikshank.
Frank Fairlegh. By F. E. SMEDLEY. With 30 Plates by George
Cruikshank.
Handy Andy. By SAMUEL LOVER. With 24 Illustrations by the
Author.
The Compleat Angler. By IZAAK WALTON and CHARLES COTTON.
With 14 Plates and 77 Woodcuts in the Text.
This volume is reproduced from the beautiful edition of
John Major of 1824.
The Fables of Æsop. With 380 Woodcuts by Thomas Bewick.
The Pickwick Papers. By CHARLES DICKENS. With the 43
Illustrations by Seymour and Phiz, the two Buss Plates and
the 32 Contemporary Onwhyn Plates.
This is a particularly interesting volume, containing, as
it does, reproductions of very rare plates.
LONDON: METHUEN & CO.
Transcriber's Notes:
Punctuation has been standardized.
Other changes made:
Added 't' to 'straighforward': ...the work was straightforward...
Changed 'Quae' to 'Quæ' in list of illustrations and advertisement,
for consistency with text and illustration.
Changed 'Racehorse' to 'Race Horse' for consistency with title of
illustration.
Changed 'Jorrocks's' to 'Jorrocks'' for consistency.
Note:
Possible word missing after 'or' in original: ...published two
or series...
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Coloured Books, by George Paston
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