Illustration Historiography Victorian Illustrated Books 1850-1870

 

Victorian Illustrated Books 1850 – 1870 Paul Goldman

Paul Goldman, Victorian Illustrated Books 1850-1870, the heyday of wood-engraving, (London: British Museum Press, 1994)

Introduction

Before the 1840’s book illustrations ‘had little function beyond decoration’ after the 1840’s, wood-engraved illustration, made specifically for literature became popular which in turn made improvements in the technology of printing.

Drawings were often reproduced by wood engravings, meaning two artists were involved in the process. Drawings were singular productions, transferring the design into print allowed the design to be recreated hundreds of times.

A popular thought was to create ‘ a series of designs illustrative of the moral subject that could be looked at in connection with each other, after the model of Hogarth.’ The shift in social reform and the importance of visual narrative emerges in the 1860’s changing the meaning of the phrase the illustrated novel. ‘A collection of illustrated literature of the 1840’s would be diminutive compared to the one assembled here, since there are simply fewer books which are relevant.’

‘A markedly increased emphasis on realism, sincerity, and truthfulness, albeit often tinged with nostalgia and even sentimentality, is a hallmark of the sixties.’

The Explosion in Popular Publishing

Reasons for the increase came under three main headings: social/educational, economic and technical/mechanical.

‘social and educational developments at this period encouraged a growth in the production of religious and improving literature both for adults and for children. There had been a massive increase in working-class literacy, brought about to a great extent by the influence of religious organisations.’ Gaskell was a unitarian and believed in education for both men and women, poor or rich. ‘The state also played its part in the increase in literacy with the introduction of Payment by Results.’ A Victorian forerunner for the National Curriculum. Robert Lowe prescribed two thirds of all children in school the subjects to be taken, the books to study and which exams were to be sat. Every failure cost the school money. Matthew Arnold, critical of the method noted that ‘the whole use that the Government… makes of the mighty engine of literature in the education of the working classes, amounts to little more, even when most successful, than the giving them the power to read the newspapers.’

Economic Conditions

Economic developments taking place at the same time allowed a market to develop where more people could afford to read. 1855 compulsory newspaper stamp was removed along with the abolition of paper duty in 1861 meant that there were now no fiscal disincentives to publish either books or periodicals. The introduction of a North African grass, esparto was turned into papermaking as a cheap substitute for rags, helped to further reduce production costs.

Newspaper Press Directory 1865, lists 1271 newspapers and 554 periodicals published in the UK.

The formation of Illustrated magazines Once a Week, Good Words, and The Cornhill Magazine.