The Art of the American Wood Engraver. Forty proofs to accompany the text of Philip Gilbert Hamerton

Book Description

Boston: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1894. Folio. (15 1/16 x 11 5/8 inches). 40 proof wood-engravings (38 signed by the engravers) all on india paper tipped onto thick paper backing sheets and preceded by thick paper matts each printed with the title, artist and engraver. With an autograph letter signed by Hamerton concerning Joseph Pennell, laid in. Red half morocco by R.W. Smith, spine in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second and third compartments. The atlas volume from a limited edition, with India proof plates and with an autograph letter by Hamerton concerning Joseph Pennell. In the text Hamerton gives biographical information for and discusses the artistic careers of Walter Aikman, George T. Andrew, C. Irving Butler, Charles W. Chadwick, William B. Clossen, John P. Davis, Edward H. Del'Orme, George H. Del'Orme, Francis E. Fillebrown, Frank French, Thomas H. Heard, Thomas Johnson, Frederick Juengling, Frank S. King, Elbridge Kingsley, Frederick A. Pettit, Stephen G. Putnam, George A. Teel, Richard G. Tietze, Robert M. Van Ness, Robert Varley, William B. Witte and Henry Wolf. The present work is essentially the atlas volume to Hamerton's text and includes work from all of the engravers covered in the text, with additional examples from Kruell and Peckwell, neither of whom are covered in the text volume. The plates are all numbered and are by W. M. Aikman (engraver of plate 21), George T. Andrew (engraver of plates 5, and 24), C. Irving Butler (40), Charles W. Chadwick (39), William B. Clossen (4), John P. Davis (34), Edward H. Del'Orme (9, 15), George H. Del'Orme (29), Francis E. Fillebrown (32), Frank French (10, 14), Thomas H. Heard (17), Thomas Johnson (25), Frederick Juengling (6, 7 [neither signed]), Frank S. King (11,12) Elbridge Kingsley (3), G. Kruell (not mentioned in the text, but engraver of plates 22, 23, and 31), Frederick A. Pettit (36, 37, 38), H.W. Peckwell (not mentioned in the text, but engraver of plates 19, 27, 28), Stephen G. Putnam (16), George A. Teel (30), Richard G. Tietze (18, 26) , Robert M. Van Ness (8), Robert Varely (35), William B. Witte (1) and Henry Wolf (2, 13, 20, 33). The examples chosen show a technical ability of a uniformly astonishing level to the modern eye, portray an interesting range of styles from genre work through decorative pieces and include some prints of unusual interest: an original landscape by W.B. Closson entitled "The Heart of the Woods"; William B. Witte's rendering of Childe Hassam's "The Crowd at Park Street Church, Boston"; a very fine orientalist image of a Japanese lady in a kimono "The Musmee" by Henry Wolf after Robert Blum; a view by Robert M. Van Ness of the City of London and St. Paul's from across the Thames by J. Bastien Lepage; there are also four after Sir Edward Burne Jones, by E H Del'Orme, Frank French, and two by F S King; the illustrative work of Howard Pyle is represented by six plates under the collective title "A Pastoral Without Words" each by a different engraver; F.A. Pettit engraves Edouard Manet's 'Fifer" and there are very fine portraits of Thackeray, Tennyson, Burne-Jones and Jean-Francois Millet.

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