The Book: Its History and DevelopmentDavenport, Cyril
History
The Book: Its History and Development
Davenport, Cyril
Bookbinding; Books; Books -- History; Printing -- History
Then Rowlandson, the caricaturist, aquatinted the illustrations for
Goldsmith’s _Vicar of Wakefield_ in 1817, and the inimitable _Tour
of Dr. Syntax_, by Combe, in 1820, thereby setting the fashion for
caricature in aquatint, which had a considerable vogue.
In Pyne’s _History of the Royal Residences_, the out-door views
are printed in coloured inks, blue for the skies and brown for the
foregrounds. They have additional hand-colouring. It is an important
book, and was published in 1819; the aquatints are engraved by T.
Sutherland, W. F. Bennett, R. Reeve, and others.
Then came a series of fine books on Indian scenery, mostly engraved by
T. Medland, Hassell and Ellis, and many books of English views, mostly
engraved by D. Havell, T. Sutherland, T. H. Fielding, J. Baily, or T.
Cartwright.
Of less importance, but now becoming more esteemed, are the numbers of
graceful costume and fashion plates which were done in aquatint and
coloured by hand from about 1790 to 1840. These books are already much
sought after, and will probably be more and more so in time; the plates
are generally anonymous.
William Daniell illustrated Ayrton’s _Voyage Round Great Britain_ with
beautiful coloured aquatints; it was published in 1825.
There are many cases in which several kinds of work appear on the same
plate; there may be aquatint and etching, mezzotint with etching,
engraving or aquatint, so it is very important to be able to judge from
the aspect of a line or dot or a point by which method it has been
produced.
The magnificent account of the _Coronation of George IV._, published
in 1825, under the care of Sir George Nayler, Garter King of Arms, is
illustrated with mixed engravings, stipple, etching, line, aquatint and
mezzotint, by S. W. Reynolds and other engravers, chiefly after designs
by F. and J. Stephanoff. The plates are coloured by hand, and several
of the special copies have much extra artistic work added. It is said
to be the most expensive book ever published, and it never repaid its
cost, but received a grant in aid from the Government of the day. The
majority of the figures are careful portraits, and it is the highest
authority for the State costume of the time.
Lithography is the art of drawing upon stone in such a way that prints
can be made from the drawing. The drawing has to be done upon a
particular sort of stone either directly or by means of transfer from
lithographic paper, and it can be done either with a point of solid
lithographic ink resembling black chalk, or by a liquid ink, in which
case the drawing is called a lithotint. J. M. Whistler was remarkably
successful in this latter manner, but it had been used long before by
Hullmandel and Cattermole.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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