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

GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG,

A most delightful children's magazine, which began as a sixpenny monthly under the editorship of Dr. Norman Macleod in 1869, bids fair to become one of those books peculiarly dear (in all senses) to collectors. There are many reasons why it deserves to be treasured. Its literature includes several books for children that in volume-form afterwards became classics; its illustrations, especially those by Arthur Hughes, appeal forcibly to the student of that art, which is called pre-Raphaelite, Æsthetic, or Decorative, according to the mood of the hour. Like all books intended for children, a large proportion of its edition found speedy oblivion in the nursery; and those that survive are apt to show examples of the amateur artist in his most infantile experiments with a penny paint-box. From the very first it surrounded itself with that atmosphere of distinction, which is well-nigh as fatal to a magazine's longevity as saintliness of disposition to a Sunday-school hero. After a career that may be called truthfully—brilliant, it suddenly changed to a periodical of no importance, illustrated chiefly by foreign clichés. How long it lingered in this state does not concern us. Indeed, it is only by a liberal interpretation of the title of this book that a magazine which was not started until 1869 can be included in the sixties at all; but it seems to have continued the tradition of the sixties, and until the first half of 1874, although it changed its editor and its title (to Good Things), it kept the spirit of the first volume unimpaired; but after that date it joined the majority of uninteresting periodicals for children, and did not survive its recantation for many years.

In 1869 Arthur Hughes has twenty-four drawings to George Macdonald's At the Back of the North Wind, and ten to the earlier chapters of Henry Kingsley's Boy in Grey. The art of A. Boyd Houghton is seen in three instances: Cocky Locky's Journey (p. 49), Lessons from Russia (p. 101), and The Boys of Axleford (p. 145). J. Mahoney has about a dozen; H. Herkomer one to Lonely Jane (p. 28); and G. J. Pinwell one to Black Rock (p. 255). Although, following the example set by its parent Good Words, it credits the illustrations most faithfully to their artists in a separate index, yet it developed a curious habit of illustrating its serials with a fresh artist for each instalment; and, as their names are bracketed, it is not an easy task to attribute each block to its rightful author. The list which I have made is by my side, but it is hardly of sufficient general interest to print here; as many of the sketches, despite the notable signatures upon them, are trivial and non-representative. Other illustrations in the first volume include one hundred and fifty-five grotesque thumb-nail sketches by W. S. Gilbert to his King George's Middy, and many by F. Barnard, B. Rivière, E. F. Brewtnall, E. Dalziel, F. A. Fraser, H. French, S. P. Hall, J. Mahoney, J. Pettie, T. Sulman, F. S. Walker, W. J. Wiegand, J. B. Zwecker, etc.

In 1870 Arthur Hughes contributes thirty-six illustrations to Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood, by George Mac Donald (who succeeded Dr. Macleod as editor), forty-eight to the continuation of the other serial by the same author, At the Back of the North Wind, four to the concluding chapters of Henry Kingsley's Boy in Grey, and one to The White Princess. A. Boyd Houghton has but two: Two Nests (p. 13), Keeping the Cornucopia (p. 33); Miss Jane 'wandering in the wood' (p. 44) is by H. Herkomer, while most of the artists who contributed to the first volume reappear; we find also E. G. and T. Dalziel, Charles Green, Towneley Green, and Ernest Griset.

PAUL GRAY

'THE QUIVER'

COUSIN LUCY

H. HERKOMER

'GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG'
1870, p. 44

WANDERING IN
THE WOOD

A. BOYD HOUGHTON

'GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG'
1870, p. 28

DON JOSE'S
MULE

ARTHUR HUGHES

'GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG'
1871, p. 100

BARBARA'S
PET LAMB

ARTHUR HUGHES

'GOOD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG'
1871, p. 145

MERCY

W. SMALL

'THE QUIVER'

BETWEEN THE
CLIFFS

In 1871, Arthur Hughes, the chief illustrator of this magazine, to whose presence it owes most of its interest (since other artists are well represented elsewhere, but he is rarely met with outside its pages), contributes thirty pictures to Dr. George Mac Donald's Princess and the Goblin, and fourteen others, some of which have been republished in Lilliput Lectures and elsewhere,—one, Mercy (p. 195), reappearing in that work, and again as the theme of a large painting in oils, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy 1893, and reproduced in The Illustrated London News, May 3rd of that year. A. Boyd Houghton, in Don José's Mule (p. 28), has a most delightfully grotesque illustration, and in two drawings for The Merry Little Cobbler of Bagdad (pp. 337–338), both in his 'Arabian Nights' vein, is typically representative. For the rest, W. Small in My Little Gypsy Cousin (p. 95), a good full page, and Ernest Griset with ten of his humorous animal pictures, combine with most of the artists already named to maintain the well-deserved reputation of the magazine. In 1872 Arthur Hughes supplies nine delightful designs for Gutta-Percha Willie, by the Editor; twenty-four to Innocent's Island, a long-rhymed chronicle by the author of Lilliput Levée, and a curiously fantastic drawing to George Mac Donald's well-known poem, The Wind and the Moon. Some one, with the initials F. E. F. (not F. A. F.), illustrates On the High Meadows in nineteen sketches; with the exception of two by J. Mahoney, the rest of the pictures are chiefly by F. A. Fraser, T. Green, F. S. Walker, W. J. Wiegand, and J. B. Zwecker.

In 1873 the magazine changed its name to Good Things. The most attractive illustrations are by Arthur Hughes: ten to Sindbad in England (pp. 25, 89, 129, 193, 236, 432, 481, 594, 641), two to Henry and Amy (pp. 72, 73), and one each to A Poor Hunchback (p. 17), The Wonderful Organ (p. 24), and My Daughter (p. 136). J. Mahoney has a small design, The Old Mill (p. 600). The rest are by Ernest Griset, W. J. Wiegand, and Francis Walker. On and after 1874 the cliché enters, and all interest ceases. At this time the business of trading in clichés had begun to assume large proportions. You find sometimes, in the course of a single month, that an English periodical hitherto exclusively British becomes merely a vehicle for foreign clichés. In this instance the change is so sudden that, excepting a few English blocks which we may presume had been prepared before, the foreigner is supreme. That, in at least three cases, the demise of the publication was merely a question of months is a sequel not to be regretted. But we need not assume too hastily that the cliché killed it—possibly it had ceased to be profitable before, and the false economy of spending less has tempted the proprietor to employ foreign illustrations.