English Illustration 'The Sixties': 1855-70 / With Numerous Illustrations by Ford Madox Brown: A. Boyd Houghton: Arthur Hughes: Charles Keene: M. J. Lawless: Lord Leighton, P.R.A.: Sir J. E. Millais, P.R.A.: G. Du Maurier: J. W. North, R.A.: G. J. Pinwell: Dante Gabriel Rossetti: W. Small: Frederick Sandys: J. Mcneill Whistler: Frederick Walker, A.R.A.: and Others

by Gleeson White

CASSELL'S MAGAZINE,

A popular monthly periodical that is still in full vigour under a slightly altered title, started in the decade immediately before the date that this book attempts to cover. As Cassell's Family Paper, a large folio weekly, beyond the fact that the ubiquitous Sir John Gilbert did innumerable good things for its pages, one is not greatly interested in it. But in 1865 it was changed to a quarto shape, and although L. Huard supplied the front page pictures to vol. i., and so the artistic position of the paper was not improved, yet soon after the change we find a great illustrator contributing the weekly drawing for its chief serial. For despite the indifferent engraving accorded to many of the blocks and the absence of any signature, the autograph of William Small is legible in every line of the illustrations to Bound to the Wheel which started with vol. ii. in August 26, 1866, and has sixteen half-page illustrations. This was followed by The Secret Sign, with the same artist for a few chapters. Then another hand appears, and soon after the monogram F. G. shows that the second Gilbert (a brother, I believe, of the more famous artist) has replaced W. Small. To one drawing of another serial, The Lion in the Path, the signature of T. Morten is appended.

In April 1867 its title is changed to Cassell's Family Magazine, and it is printed on toned paper. The serial, Anne Judge, Spinster, by F. W. Robinson, has thirty illustrations by Charles Green. No doubt the originals were worthy of that admirable draughtsman; indeed, despite their very ordinary engraving, enough remains to show the handling of a most capable artist. The succeeding serial, Poor Humanity, is illustrated by B. Bradley. J. D. Watson contributes occasional drawings—Ethel, on p. 22, being the first. M. Ellen Edwards also appears, with F. W. Lawson, F. A. Fraser, Henley, C. J. Staniland, R. T. Pritchett, M. W. Ridley, J. Mahoney, and G. H. Thomas. It is noteworthy of the importance attached to the illustrator at this date, that the names of those artists who have contributed to the magazine are printed in bold type upon the title-page to each volume. These, as later, bear no date, so that only in volumes bound with the wrappers in British Museum fashion can you ascertain the year of their publication. In vol. iii. (May 1868 onwards) you discover on p. 9 a drawing, Cleve Cliff, by G. J. Pinwell. Its serial, A Fight for Life, is illustrated by G. H. Thomas, whose pictures are not signed, nor have I found that the authorship is attributed to the artists within the magazine itself. But in the 'In Memoriam' volume, published soon after his death, several are reprinted and duly credited to him. They were all engraved by W. Thomas. The first appearance of S. L. Fildes, Woodland Voices, is on p. 137 of this volume. T. Blake Wirgman has also a notable composition, A Sculptor's Love, and in this and in volume iv. there are other drawings by Fildes, Pinwell, and many by F. Barnard, F. S. Walker, and other popular draughtsmen of the period.

FREDERICK SANDYS

'THE ARGOSY'
1866, VOL. I. p. 336

'IF'

In 1870 we find another change, this time to a page that may be a quarto technically, but instead of the square proportions we usually connect with that shape, it seems more akin to an octavo. The illustrations are smaller, but far better engraved and better printed. W. Small illustrates Wilkie Collins's cleverly-constructed story, Man and Wife, with thirty-seven pictures. His character-drawing appears at its best in 'Bishopriggs,' the old Scotch waiter, his love of beauty of line in two or three sketches of the athlete, 'Geoffrey Delamayne,' the working villain of the story. The dramatic force of the group on p. 305, the mystery of the scene on p. 529, or the finely-contrasted emotions of Anne Silvester and Sir Patrick on p. 481, could hardly be beaten. The other contributors to this vol. i. of the new series, include R. Barnes, Basil Bradley, H. K. Browne, W. R. Duckman, E. H. Corbould, M. E. Edwards, E. Ellis, S. L. Fildes, F. A. Fraser, E. Hughes, F. W. Lawson, H. Paterson, and others, most of whom it were kindness to ignore. For side by side with Mr. Small's masterly designs appear the weakest and most commonplace full pages. Hardly one, except S. L. Fildes's A Sonnet (p. 9), tempts you to linger a moment. In vol. ii. the serial story, Checkmate, is illustrated by Towneley Green. The drawings throughout are mainly by those who contributed to the first volume. In the third volume, Charles Reade's A Terrible Temptation is illustrated by Edward Hughes; a somewhat powerful composition by J. D. L[inton], p. 377; one by W. Small (p. 9), and others by J. Lawson, F. W. Lawson, M. E. Edwards, are all that can claim to be noted.