THE QUIVER
This semi-religious monthly magazine, published by Messrs. Cassell and Co., was not illustrated at first. It is almost unnecessary to describe it volume by volume, as a reprint of its principal illustrations was made in 1867, when fifty-two pictures were sandwiched between poems, and published in a small quarto volume entitled 'Idyllic Pictures, drawn by Barnes, Miss Ellen Edwards, Paul Gray, Houghton, R. P. Leitch, Pinwell, Sandys, Small, G. Thomas, etc' The curiously colloquial nomenclature of the artists on the title-page is the only direct reference to their share in the book, which is well printed, and includes some admirable illustrations. The book is now exceptionally scarce, and like its companion, Pictures of Society, selected from London Society, must be searched for long and patiently. Personal inquiries at all the accessible shops in London, Bath, and Edinburgh failed to find one bookseller who had ever heard of either book. Yet, in spite of it, single copies of both turned up alternately on the shelves of men who were at the moment of its discovery glibly doubting its existence. The ignorance of booksellers concerning this period is at once the terror and the joy of the collector. For when they do know, he will have to pay for their knowledge.
Yet it would be unfair to the reputation of a periodical which issued so many designs by representative artists of the sixties to dismiss it without a little more detail. Started as a non-illustrated paper on October 6, 1864, it entered the ranks with a very capable staff. In 1866 a third series on toned paper still further established its claim to be considered seriously, and the fact that these few years supplied the matter for the volume just mentioned shows that it fulfilled its purpose well. In volume i. third series (1866), pictures by A. Boyd Houghton will be found on pages 532, 585, 664, 728, 737, 776, and 868; and in vol. ii. 1867, he appears upon pages 88 and 456. Those by William Small (pp. 90, 232), G. J. Pinwell (pp. 60, 641), and J. D. Watson (p. 596) also deserve looking up. M. W. Ridley, an illustrator of promise, is also represented. In vol. iii. 1868, J. D. Watson's designs on pages 25, 57, 497, 680, 713, and 745 are perhaps his best. Drawings by John Lawson (p. 108), Hubert Herkomer (p. 73), A. Boyd Houghton (pp. 97, 705, 721, 737), S. L. Fildes (pp. 327, 417, 433), G. J. Pinwell (pp. 121, 193, 449, 481, 585 and 753), C. Green (p. 241), J. Mahoney (p. 328), and T. B. Wirgman (p. 649) all merit notice. In vol. iv. many of the above artists are represented—S. L. Fildes (p. 396), J. D. Watson (p. 407), W. Small (p. 696), and the designs by S. L. Fildes and J. D. Watson in the Christmas number being perhaps the most noticeable. Other frequent contributors include R. Barnes, C J. Staniland, M. E. Edwards, J. A. Pasquier, G. H. Thomas, F. W. Lawson, and Edith Dunn. Although not to be compared artistically with its rivals, Good Words and the Sunday Magazine, it is nevertheless a storehouse of good, if not of exceptionally fine, work.