The Golden Age of Illustration: 1880 - 1930

Appreciating that the more risqué subject matter he was already beginning to embrace would be at odds with a 15^th century version of the Arthurian legend, he reigned in certain elements, but, remarkably, he did so without sacrificing the quality of the work. This is true both in the sense of his penmanship and design, that sensibility of his that was so sui generis that over a century later we still recognise a Beardsley at a single striking glance, and, also, in his compulsion to subvert. When we discover the mermaids and the satyrs that he snuck into the pages of this ostensibly Christian legend, we share directly in Beardsley’s own delight in controversy.

In William Nicholson (1872-1949) we find a character very different from Beardsley – it is impossible to imagine the latter coming to public prominence thanks to a celebrated woodcut of Queen Victoria. But Nicholson, too, is an exemplar of illustration for its own sake. Even in the case of a poet so celebrated as Rudyard Kipling, we sense (as indeed was the case) the principal motive to publish An Almanac of Twelve Sports was to show off Nicholson’s prints. His London Types are among his most accomplished printmaking, simultaneously tinged with nostalgia in their subject matter and boldly innovative in their execution – and in that sense, it is fitting that it is Nicholson who has so shaped our idea of Victorian printmaking.

As a poet, David Jones (1895-1974) was admired by the greatest of his peers, Auden and Eliot, while Kenneth Clarke found him to be the greatest living British painter. Improbably, he achieved no less success in a third sphere, that of the wood engraving. As opposed to the older technique of the woodcut, wood engravings are cut along the end grain of a block, a harder, and thus more durable, surface. In addition to allowing greater print runs, this more resilient surface allows for far more gouging of the wood, and thus can produce images of much more intense detail. Typically used to great effect in depicting foliage, Jones was to take this potential for detail in an altogether different direction. His prints are often ferociously dark, prioritising texture over delineation. We have a sense of Jones's religiosity, not just from the subject matter of these works, but from their intensity. This is religion not on a grand, epic scale, but a personal, passionate level, for which the work is all the more effective.

- Luke Wallis, June 2022

In addition to serving as the principal political cartoonist for Punch for over 50 years, Sir John Tenniel was able to produce some of the most enduring illustrations of all time in his work for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. 

In 1981, after being presumed lost for decades, the original wood blocks from the nineteenth century were rediscovered unexpectedly. The prints below were made from these original wood blocks - now in the British Library's collection - in 1988.  Click here to read more about the history of these prints.