CHAPTER VI: SOME ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY PAPERS IN THE SIXTIES
PUNCH.--It is impossible to overlook the famous weekly that from its own pages could offer a fairly representative group of the work of any decade since it was established; a paper which, if it has not attracted every great illustrator, could nevertheless select a hundred drawings from its pages that might be fairly entered in competition with any other hundred outside them. But, at the same time, to give a summary of its record during the sixties, even as compressed as those of _The Cornhill Magazine_, _Once a Week_, etc., would occupy more pages than all the rest put together. Fortunately the labour has been accomplished quite recently. Mr. M. H. Spielmann's _History of Punch_ supplies a full and admirably digested chronicle of its artistic achievements. So that here (excluding the staff-artists, Sir John Tenniel, Mr. Du Maurier, Mr. Linley Sambourne, and the rest, and the greatest _Punch_ artist, Charles Keene, who was never actually upon its staff) it will be sufficient to indicate where admirers of the men of the sixties may find examples of their work for _Punch_; Sir John Millais appears twice upon p. 115 of vol. xliv. (1863) with a design to _Mokeanna_, Mr. F. C. Burnand's laughable parody, and again with _Mr. Vandyke Brown's sons thrashing the lay figure_, in the _Almanac_ for 1865, a drawing that faces, oddly enough, one of Fred Walker's two contributions, _The New Bathing Company, Limited, Specimens of Costumes to be worn by the Shareholders_. The other Fred Walker, _Captain Jinks of the 'Selfish,'_ is on p. 74 of vol. lvii. 1869; George J. Pinwell is an infrequent contributor from 1863 to 1869; Walter Crane appears but once, p. 33 (vol. li. 1866); Frederick Shields's three initials, which appeared in 1870, were drawn in 1867; M. J. Lawless is represented by six drawings, which appeared between May 1860 and January 1861; F. W. Lawson has some initials and one vignette in the volume for 1867; Ernest Griset appears in the _Almanac_ for 1867; J. G. Thomson, for twenty years cartoonist of _Fun_, is an occasional contributor between 1861 and 1864; H. S. Marks appears in 1861, and Paul Gray, also with a few initials and 'socials,' up to 1865; Charles Keene's first drawing for _Punch_ is in 1852, he was 'called to the table' in 1860, and on a few occasions supplied the political cartoon. The mass of his work within the classic pages is too familiar to need more than passing reference. The first drawing by 'George Louis Palmella Busson Du Maurier' appears in 1860, the _Legend of Camelot_, with five drawings, which are already historic, in 1866. These delicious parodies (here reproduced) of the pre-Raphaelite manner are as fascinating to-day as when they first appeared.
FUN
This popular humorous penny weekly, which is still running, would be forever memorable as the birthplace of the famous _Bab_ ballads, with W. S. Gilbert's own thumb-nail sketches: yet it would be foolish to rank him as an illustrator, despite the grotesque humour of these inimitable little figures. The periodical, not (I believe) at first under the editorship of Tom Hood, the younger, began in September 21, 1861. The mass of illustrations must be the only excuse for failing to include an orderly summary; yet there is not, and there is certainly no necessity for, an elaborate chronicle of the paper, like Mr. Spielmann's admirable monograph in _Punch_. But those who are curious to discover the work of less-known men of the sixties will find plenty to reward their search. A clever parody of Millais' pre-Raphaelite manner is given as a tail-piece to the preface of vol. i. A. Boyd Houghton supplied the cartoons for a short period, November 1866 to April 6, 1867. At least those signed A. H. are attributed to him, and the first would almost suffice by itself to decide it, did any doubt exist. Another cartoonist, who signed his work with the device of a hen, is very freely represented. F. Barnard was also cartoonist for a long time--1869 onwards--and J. G. Thomson, for a score of years, did excellent work in the same department. The authorship of many of the drawings scattered through its pages is easily recognised by their style--others, as for instance one on page five of the _Almanac_ for 1866, puzzle the student. It looks like a Paul Gray, but the monogram with which it is signed, although it is indecipherable, is certainly not 'P. G.' W. J. Wiegand, W. Brunton, H. Sanderson, Matt Stretch, Lieut. Seccombe, L. C. Henley, F. S. Walker, and F. W. Lawson (see for instance, _Almanac_ for 1865, p. 11) contributed a great many of the 'socials' to the early volumes.
Then, as now, you find unconscious or deliberate imitations of other artists' mannerisms. A rash observer might attribute drawings here to C. Keene (_Almanac_ for 1865, vi.), and credit Tenniel with the title-page to vol. iv. N.S.
Still, as a field to discover the work of young artists who afterwards become approximately great, _Fun_ is not a very happy hunting-ground. Despite some notable exceptions, its illustrators cannot be placed even upon the average of the period that concerns us; the presence of a half a dozen or so of first-rate men hardly makes a set of the comic paper essential to a representative collection. After renewed intimacy with its pages there is a distinct feeling of disappointment. That its drawings pleased you mightily, and seemed fine stuff at the time, may be true; but it only proves that the enjoyment of a schoolboy cannot be recaptured in after-life if the quality of the drawing be too poor to sustain the weight of old-fashioned dress and jokes whose first sparkle has dimmed beyond restoration.
JUDY,
The twopenny rival to _Punch_, began life on May 1, 1867. Although Matt Morgan supplied many of the early cartoons and 'socials,' the really admirable level it reached in the eighties is not foreshadowed even dimly by its first volumes. With vol. ii. J. Proctor, an admirable draughtsman, despite his fondness for the decisive, unsympathetic line which Sir John Tenniel has accustomed us to consider part and parcel of a political cartoon, is distinctly one of the best men who have worked this particular form of satire. Afterwards 'W. B.' contributed many. The mass of work, in the volumes which can be considered as belonging to the period covered by this book, contains hardly a single drawing to repay the weary hunt through their pages. Yet the issues of a later decade are as certain to be prized by students of the 'eighties' as the best periodicals of the sixties are by devotees of that period.
PUNCH AND JUDY,
Beginning in October 1869, yet another paper on similar lines, ran a short but interesting career of twelve weeks, and continued, in a commonplace way, for a year or two longer. The reason the first dozen issues are worth notice here is that the illustrations are all by 'graphotype process' (which must not be confused with the far earlier 'glyptography'), and so appeal to students of the technique of illustration. The principle of the graphotype process, it is said, was discovered accidentally. The inventor was removing, with a wet camel-hair brush, the white enamel from the face of a visiting-card, when he noticed that the printing on it was left in distinct relief. After many experiments the idea was developed, and a surface of metal was covered with a powdered chalky substance, upon which the drawing was made with a silicate ink which hardened the substance wherever it was applied. The chalk was then brushed away and the drawing left in low but distinct relief on the metal-plate, from which electrotypes could be taken in the usual way. The experiment gained some commercial success, and quite a notable group of artists experimented with it for designs to an edition of Dr. Isaac Watts's _Divine and Moral Songs_, a most curious libretto for an artistic venture. In _Punch and Judy_ the blocks are by no means bad as regards their reproduction. Despite the very mediocre drawing of the originals, they are nevertheless preferable to the cheap wood-engravings of their contemporaries. After its change, 'G. O. M.' (if one reads the initials aright), or 'C. O. M.,'contributes some average cartoons. When it first appeared, at least one schoolboy was struck with the curious difference of technique that the illustrations showed, and from that time onwards had his curiosity aroused towards process-work. Therefore, this lapse into anecdotage, in the short record of a venture otherwise artistically unworthy to be noticed here, may be pardoned.
WILL O' THE WISP
This, another periodical of the same class, started on September 12, 1868, but unlike its fellows relied at first solely upon a double-page political cartoon. From the second number these were contributed by J. Proctor until and after April 17, 1869, when other pictures were admitted. With the 31st of July another hand replaces Proctor's vigorous work. The volume for 1870 contains many woodcuts (I use the word advisedly), unintentionally primitive, that should please a certain school to-day. Whether the journal ceased with its fourth volume, or lasted into the seventies, the British Museum catalogue does not record, nor is it worth while to pursue the inquiry further.
THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS
To notice this important paper in a paragraph is little better than an insult, and yet between a full monograph (already anticipated partially in Mr. Mason Jackson's _The Pictorial Press_) and a bare mention there is no middle course. As a rule the drawings are unsigned, and not attributed to the artists in the index.
The Christmas numbers, however, often adopt a different method, and print the draughtsman's name below each engraving, which is almost always a full page. In that for 1865 we find Alfred Hunt, George Thomas, S. Read, and John Gilbert, all regular contributors, well represented. In the Christmas number of 1866 there is Boyd Houghton's _Child's Christmas Carol_, and other drawings by Corbould, S. Read, J. A. Pasquier, Charles Green, Matt Morgan, and C. H. Bennett.
OTHER ILLUSTRATED WEEKLIES
_The Illustrated Times_, first issued in October 1855, maintained a long and honourable effort to achieve popularity. A new series was started in 1867, but apparently also failed to gain a footing. The artists included many men mentioned frequently in this volume. The non-topical illustrations occasionally introduced were supplied chiefly by M. E. Edwards, Adelaide and Florence Claxton, Lieut. Seccombe, P. Skelton, and T. Sulman. Yet a search through its pages revealed nothing sufficiently important to notice in detail.
_The Illustrated Weekly News_ and _The Penny Illustrated Weekly News_ are other lost causes, but the _Penny Illustrated Paper_, which started in 1861, is still a flourishing concern; yet it would be superfluous to give a detailed notice of its work. _Pan_ (date uncertain[5]), a short-lived sixpenny weekly. Its cover was from a design by Jules Chéret. Facsimiles of _A Head_ by Lord Leighton, and _Proud Maisie_ by Frederick Sandys, appeared among its supplements.
THE GRAPHIC
That this admirably conducted illustrated weekly revolutionised English illustration is granted on all sides. Its influence for good or ill was enormous. With its first number, published on December 4, 1869, we find a definite, official date to close the record of the 'sixties'; one by mere chance, chronologically as well as technically, appropriate. Of course the break was not so sudden as this arbitrary limit might suggest. The style which distinguished the _Graphic_ had been gradually prepared before, and if Mr. William Small is credited with the greatest share in its development, such a statement, incomplete as most generalities must needs be, holds a good part of the truth, if not the whole. The work of Mr. Small introduced new qualities into wood-engraving; which, in his hands and those of the best of his followers, grew to be meritorious, and must needs place him with those who legitimately extended the domain of the art of drawing for the engraver. But to discuss the style which succeeded that of the sixties would be to trespass on new ground, and that while the field itself is all too scantily searched. Mr. Ruskin dubbed the new style 'blottesque,' but, as we have seen, he was hardly more enamoured of the manner that immediately preceded it.
Many of the surviving heroes of the sixties contributed to the _Graphic_. Charles Green appears in vol. i. with _Irish Emigrants_, G. J. Pinwell with _The Lost Child_ (January 8, 1870), A. Boyd Houghton has a powerful drawing, _Night Charges_, and later, the marvellous series of pictures recording his very personal visit to America.
William Small, R. W. Macbeth, S. L. Fildes, Hubert Herkomer, and a crowd of names, some already mentioned frequently in this book, bore the weight of the new enterprise. But a cursory sketch of the famous periodical would do injustice to it. The historian of the seventies will find it takes the place of _Once a Week_ as the happy hunting-ground for the earliest work of many a popular draughtsman and painter--that is to say, the earliest work after his student and experimental efforts. To declare that it still flourishes, and with the _Daily Graphic_, its offspring, keeps still ahead of the popular average, is at once bare truth and the highest compliment which need be paid.
The illustrated weeklies in the sixties were almost as unimportant, relatively speaking, as are the illustrated dailies to-day. Yet to say that the weeklies did fair to monopolise illustration at the present time is a common truth, and, remembering what the _Daily Graphic_ and the _Daily Chronicle_ have already accomplished, to infer that the dailies will do likewise before 1900 has attained its majority is a prophecy that is based upon a study of the past.