Edward Dalziel

“ Now, we have it on good authority, that the intellect of a giant is generally as weak as his knees. We hear over and over again of giants in shows being awfully bullied by the 'smallest man in the world,' who travels with him, and who is exhibited outside on the parade in a largish-sized doll's house, through the roof of which he pokes out his head, whilst he rings a bell from the second-floor window, and rests his feet in the front parlour. ”

“ We must not omit to mention Ashby Sterry as one of the staff, and a contributor to Fun's pages of much graceful verse. He is well known for his volume, "Lays of a Lazy Minstrel." Then, Charles H. Leland, who gained considerable reputation as the genial Dutchman, Hans Breitmann. This gentleman contributed very liberally to the "Comic Annual." He is one of the most affable and interesting men it has been our good fortune to be associated with. He was full of entertaining anecdote, a true artist and no mean draughtsman—in appearance, a giant, in manner as simple as a child. ”

“ Be a good son, a good brother, and (when the time comes) a good husband, a good father, and a good member of Society. Peace of mind will then follow you like a shadow; and when your mind grows rich in integrity, you will fear the frowns of no man, and only smile at the plots and conspiracies which it is probable will be laid against you by envy, hatred, and malice.
"Thomas Bewick.
"To William Harvey, Junr.,
"Westgate." ”

“ The years of our boyhood having been spent in Newcastle-on-Tyne, we have constantly been identified as being natives of the Tyneside, and so became much associated with several artists of ability who hailed from that part of the kingdom. Among the foremost of those we would mention William Harvey, the justly celebrated artist and book illustrator, who was himself a favourite pupil of Thomas Bewick, and during his apprenticeship designed and engraved several of the smaller tailpieces to the "Fables," "Natural History," and other works published by his famous master. ”

“ Joseph Pennell, in his "Modern Illustration," says, "Henry Fenn's illustrations to 'Picturesque America' entitle him to be called the Nestor of his Guild, not only for the delicacy, truth and refinement of his drawing, but also because of the enormous success of the publication."
Charles Kingdon, by far the best engraver of the two, was also very popular in America, but he was of a restless nature and had not the persistent industry of his companion. He died young, and in his death the world lost a brilliant young artist. ”

“ Joseph Wolf, a German by birth, made a large number of drawings for the work, and gave the author every satisfaction. By many it is held that his birds are more correct than those by any other draughtsman; certainly his perfect manipulation gives them a beauty that cannot be excelled. There can be no doubt that his contributions are by far the best: take his lions, tigers, or his groups of monkeys and of birds—all denoting the artist of high culture. He was appointed Special Artist to the Zoological Society, and worked very much at their Gardens in Regent's Park and also at their Museum. ”

“ Alexander Strahan proposed that we should take the entire control of the art part of Good Words, we asked all our most distinguished artist friends to make drawings for the journal. Amongst others was Holman Hunt, who readily offered his co-operation, and also favoured us with the letter here given, which certainly foreshadowed the coming eminence of one who has made a lasting mark on the history of English art. ”

“ As many of Sir John Millais' charming drawings had been passing through our hands—among others we would mention some exceptionally beautiful work illustrating selected passages from poems by Byron and Coleridge, as well as his exquisite drawing of "The Finding of Moses"—it seemed to us that he would be a safe man to consult on the subject, and likely to give us something more original in treatment than any other artist who was doing this class of work. ”

“ No matter what other work he had in hand, he always contributed his weekly cartoon to Punch. The moral teaching of these drawings is beyond measure. Whether it be in caustic satire or exquisite pathos, he held the town for over fifty years, proving himself to be not only a great artist, but one who will rank amongst the highest of Britain's worthies. ”

“ On the death of Tom Hood we complied with his dying request and placed the "Bauble" in the hands of Henry Sampson, who had been a constant fellow worker with Hood for some two or three years previous. One of the first things Sampson did was to introduce George R. Sims upon the staff. It is superfluous for us to comment upon Sims' great ability as a dramatist, a writer of short stories and sympathetic ballads, because the voices of the reading and the play-going world have already proclaimed their high appreciation of his genius. ”

“ For a century from that date the art of wood engraving has been the most popular as well as the best method for the reproduction of all classes of drawings, and during that hundred years much beautiful work has been done. ”

“ But judged by his time, Meadows was a very clever man with much quaint fancy. Many of his initials are singularly pretty, and his "Shakespeare" will always have a place in the history of black and white work.
In Kenny Meadows' days, the artist in black and white had not thought of the advantages of drawing from the living model; neither William Harvey nor Sir John Gilbert ever drew from Nature, and George Thomas was one of the first, if not [Pg 42] indeed the very first, to draw on wood direct from life. ”

“ In 1860 our brother Thomas, who had been educated as a copperplate engraver, joined the "Brotherhood," and from that time devoted himself entirely to painting and drawing on wood, contributing much excellent work to the various books we produced. Among them may be mentioned "Dalziel's Arabian Nights," "Dalziel's Bible Gallery"—of which we will have much to say further on, and a beautiful edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress," as well as many very charming drawings for nearly all the Fine Art Books created by ourselves, or produced under our entire supervision. ”

“ I made drawing my principle study for a great many years, and consider myself at liberty to depart from mere correctness if necessary for my purpose; especially if the incorrectness resulting be more apparent than real. ”

“ The writer of a highly appreciative article in the Magazine of Art, says, "Though Sir John Gilbert painted art in every branch, it is only in one, and that not in the public estimation the one by which he defies the rivalry of all comers, that he showed himself head and shoulders above the draughtsmen of his time.... ”

“ One of his characteristics was his great love of children. It was a pleasure to him to get a party of young people together, and go off to the fields to romp and play all sorts of games and antics. His taste in that way is fully shown in the set of some thirty or more drawings he made for us of "Child Life," which we published, through Routledge, as "Home Thoughts." But he made other pictures of the little ones: "Kiss Me," done for Good Words, is an excellent example.
He had special advantages to assist him in his work on our edition of "The Arabian Nights." He was born in India. ”

“ Of the many high class drawings which appeared in the Cornhill Magazine, there is no one work more remarkable than that of "Cleopatra," by [Pg 177] Frederick Sandys, which for dignity and grandeur of design must always be regarded as a fine specimen of that artist's work. ”

“ For many years he stood prominently in the front of all others. Amongst his earliest works were "Henderson's Book on Wines," for which he not only made the drawings but engraved them all himself. It is further interesting as being the first work that bore his name. His great ability both as draughtsman and engraver is shown in the reproduction of an elaborate work from Benjamin Haydon's picture of "Dentatus"—which even in these advanced days must be held as a remarkable example of wood engraving, being, strictly speaking, a marvellous imitation of a copperplate, done in the grand line manner. ”

“ He made a few drawings for "Dalziel's Arabian Nights," but did not go far, as we had placed entirely in his hands our edition of "Goldsmith's Works," for which he made a wonderful set of drawings considering the short time allowed for their production. He, however, lost nothing in force of design or in excellence, the manipulation only being a little less painstaking but more suitable for rendering in the reproductions.
Pinwell always objected to working against time: he held that if a thing was worth doing at all it must be done at his best. He often said that "money was not enough for him." ”

“ The Holman Hunt drawing of "Eliezer and Rebekah at the Well" is a work of such simplicity of design and delicate treatment as might be expected from this distinguished artist, whose life has been mainly devoted to Biblical art. Of the three grand designs made for us by the veteran artist G. F. Watts, R.A., we have selected that of "Esau Meeting Jacob," as being a fine example of the artist, who has always worked with the highest and noblest aims. ”

“ We had for a long time cherished the idea of doing an important series of illustrations to "The Parables of Our Lord." This occupied much anxious thought and careful consideration, for we felt it would be useless attempting the subject unless the drawings were made by an artist of acknowledged high-class ability. We found our chief difficulty in fixing upon one capable of treating the subject with sufficient dignity, and at the same time likely to avoid the old conventional style in which at that time Biblical art was treated. ”

“ Our opportunities were favourable. We were equally fortunate in being so intimately connected with men possessing such exceptional talent, and it must ever be a great satisfaction to us that we were in a position to avail ourselves of their brilliant ability.
Our co-operation with Sir John Millais began about midway in the fifties, when, at his request, Moxon, the publisher, brought one of the Tennyson drawings for us to engrave, and continued for many years, during which time a large majority of the drawings he made for wood engraving were entrusted to us. ”

“ Coarse epithets have been used towards men who were devoting, with all possible earnestness, their skill to an art for the reproduction of work for popular issues. Wood engraving, being no exception to other arts, demands conditions necessary for the production of perfect work. First, the man who makes the drawing ought to know the capabilities of the material and should work accordingly; second, the engraver should have all the true instincts of an artist ”

“ In addition to the desire to satisfy your anxiety with respect to the illustration to Miss Mulock's poem, I write to speak of a friend of mine who I feel very strongly might be of great value to you in the illustrating of Good Words. He is perhaps the most remarkable of all the younger men of the profession for talent, and will, undeniably, in a few years fill the high position in general public favour which at present he holds in the professional world. ”

“ Almost as a matter of course we became associated with Kenny Meadows, a clever, erratic genius, and an artist of great ability. He had a wonderful and strangely fanciful imagination, and perhaps will be best known in time to come by his "Illustrated Shakespeare" and his "Heads of the People"; there is one other work which is not likely to be forgotten, "A Head of 'Old Father Christmas,'" which did good service for a Christmas number of the Illustrated London News. He was intimately connected with Orrin Smith, the distinguished wood engraver ”

“ John Ralston, another of the clever young Scotch artists who came to London, had three pictures, "The Ladies of the House—Beautiful Reading to Christian," being by far the finest. Sir James D. Linton, P.R.I., had four very powerful drawings, which were typical of all the work of this long-distinguished and painstaking artist, who always gives good sound readings of his subjects: "Old Honest" is an admirable example. Of Towneley Green's four pictures, "The Bundle Falls off Christian's Back," we like best; but all are good. The one picture by Joseph Wolf, "Lions in the Path," is simply grand. ”

“ Of Ford Madox Brown's three contributions we have chosen "Elijah and the Widow's Son," as being not only an original conception of the subject, but perhaps one of the most beautiful specimens of manipulative skill he ever produced. He called it an etching, and so it was to all intents, it being perfectly pure line work. Although more beautiful, it is in no way finer than "Joseph's Coat," or "The Death of Eglon."
[Pg 253]
Elijah and the Widow's Son. ”