CHAPTER IV. OF THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF DECORATIVE BOOK ILLUSTRATION AND

THE MODERN REVIVAL OF PRINTING AS AN ART.

Since the three Cantor Lectures, which form the substance of the foregoing chapters, were delivered by me at the rooms of the Society of Arts, some six or seven years have elapsed, and they have been remarkable for a pronounced revival of activity and interest in the art of the printer and the decorative illustrator, the paper-maker, the binder, and all the crafts connected with the production of tasteful and ornate books.

Publishers and printers have shown a desire to return to simpler and earlier standards of taste, and in the choice and arrangement of the type to take a leaf out of the book of some of the early professors of the craft. There has been a passion for tall copies and handmade paper; for delicate bindings, and first editions.

There has grown up, too, quite a literature about the making of the book beautiful--whereof the Ex-Libris Series alone is witness. We have, besides, the history of Early Printed Books by Mr. Gordon Duff, of Early Illustrated Books by Mr. Pollard. The Book-plate has been looked after by Mr. Egerton Castle, and by a host of eager collectors ever since. Mr. Pennell is well known as the tutelary genius who takes charge of illustrators, and discourses upon them at large, and Mr. Strange bids us, none too soon, to become acquainted with our alphabets. I have not yet heard of any specialist taking up his parable upon "end papers," but, altogether, the book has never perhaps had so much writing outside of it, as it were, before.

[Sidenote: MODERN TYPOGRAPHY.]

A brilliant band of illustrators and ornamentists have appeared, too, and nearly every month or so we hear of a new genius in black and white, who is to eclipse all others. For all that, even in the dark ages, between the mid-nineteenth century and the early eighties, one or two printers or publishers of taste have from time to time attempted to restrain the wild excesses of the trade-printer, with his terribly monotonous novelties in founts of type, alternately shouting or whispering, anon in the crushing and aggressive heaviness of block capitals, and now in the attenuated droop of italics. Sad havoc has been played with the decorative dignity of the page, indeed, as well as with the form and breed of roman and gothic letters: one might have imagined that some mischievous printer's devil had thrown the apple of discord among the letters of the alphabet, so ingeniously ugly were so many modern so-called "fancy" types.

We have had good work from the Edinburgh houses, from Messrs. R. and R. Clark, and Messrs. Constable, and in London from the Chiswick Press, for instance, ever since the old days of its connection with the tasteful and well printed volumes from the house of Pickering. Various artists, too, in association with their book designs, from D. G. Rossetti onwards, have designed their own lettering to be in decorative harmony with their designs. The Century Guild, with its "Hobby Horse" and its artists, like Mr. Horne and Mr. Selwyn Image, did much to keep alive true taste in printing and book decoration, when they were but little understood.[7] There have been printers, too, such as Mr. Daniel at Oxford, and De Vinne at New York, who have from different points of view brought care and selection to the choice of type and the printing of books, and have adapted or designed type.

[7] And they elicited a response from across the water in the shape of "The Knight Errant," the work of a band of young enthusiasts at Boston, Mass., of which Mr. Lee and Mr. Goodhue may be named as leading spirits--the latter being the designer of the cover of "The Knight Errant," and the former the printer.

[Illustration: SELWYN IMAGE.

FROM TITLE-PAGE. "THE SCOTTISH ART REVIEW" (SCOTT, 1889).]

[Sidenote: THE KELMSCOTT PRESS.]

But the field for extensive artistic experiment in these directions was tolerably clear when Mr. William Morris turned his attention to printing, and, in 1891, founded the Kelmscott Press.

So far as I am aware, he has been the first to approach the craft of practical printing from the point of view of the artist, and although, no doubt, the fact of being a man of letters as well was an extra advantage, his particular success in the art of printing is due to the former qualification. A long and distinguished practice as a designer in other matters of decorative art brought him to the nice questions of type design, its place upon the page, and its relation to printed ornament and illustration, peculiarly well equipped; while his historic knowledge and discrimination, and the possession of an extraordinarily rich and choice collection of both mediæval MSS. and early printed books afforded him an abundant choice of the best models.

In the results which have been produced at the Kelmscott press we trace the effect of all these influences, acting under the strongest personal predilection, and a mediæval bias (in an artistic sense) which may be said to be almost exclusive.

The Kelmscott roman type ("golden") perhaps rather suggests that it was designed to anticipate and to provide against the demand of readers or book fanciers who could stand nothing else than roman, while the heart of the printer really hankered after black letter. But compare this "golden" type with most modern lower case founts, up to the date of its use, and its advantages both in form and substance are remarkable. Modern type, obeying, I suppose, a resistless law of evolution, had reached, especially with American printers, the last stage of attenuation. The type of the Kelmscott press is an emphatic and practical protest against this attenuation; just as its bold black and white ornaments and decorative woodcuts in open line are protests against the undue thinness, atmospheric effect, and diaphanous vignetting by photographic process and tone-block of much modern illustration, which may indeed _illustrate_, but does not _ornament_ a book. The paper, too, hand-made, rough-surfaced, and tough, is in equally strong contrast to the shiny hot-pressed machine-made paper, hitherto so much in vogue for the finer kinds of printing, and by which it alone became possible. The two kinds--the two ideals of printing--are as far apart as the poles. Those who like the smooth and thin, will not like the bold and rough; but it looks as if the Kelmscott standard had marked the turn of the tide, and that, judging from the signs of its influence upon printers and publishers generally, the feeling is running strongly in that direction. (One would think the human eyesight would benefit also.) This is the more remarkable since the Kelmscott books are by no means issued at "popular prices," are limited in number, and for the most part are hardly for the general reader--unless that ubiquitous person is more erudite and omnivorous than is commonly credited.

[Illustration: WILLIAM MORRIS & WALTER CRANE.

A PAGE FROM "THE GLITTERING PLAIN." (KELMSCOTT PRESS, 1894.)]

Books, however, which may be called monumental in the national and general sense, have been printed at the Kelmscott press, such as Shakespeare's "Poems," More's "Utopia"; and Mr. Morris's _magnum opus_, the folio Chaucer, enriched by the designs of Burne-Jones, has recently been completed.[8]

[8] Completed, indeed, it might almost be said, with the life of the craftsman. It is sad to have to record, while these pages were passing through the press, our master printer--one of the greatest Englishmen of our time--is no more.

In Mr. Morris's ornaments and initials, nearly always admirably harmonious in their quantities with the character and mass of the type, we may perhaps trace mixed influences in design. In the rich black and white scroll and floral borders surrounding the title and first pages, we seem to see the love of close-filling and interlacement characteristic of Celtic and Byzantine work, with a touch of the feeling of the practical textile designer, which comes out again in the up-and-down, detached bold page ornaments, though here combined with suggestions from early English illuminated MS.

These influences, however, only add to the distinctive character and richness of the effect, and no attempt is made to get beyond the simple conditions of bold black and white designs for the woodcut and the press.

Mr. Morris adopts the useful canon in printing that the true page is what the open book displays--what is generally termed a double page. He considers them practically as two columns of type, necessarily separate owing to the construction of the book, but together as it lies open, forming a page of type, only divided by the narrow margin where the leaves are inserted in the back of the covers. We thus get the _recto_ and the _verso_ pages or columns, each with their distinctive proportions of margin, as they turn to the right or the left from the centre of the book--the narrowest margins being naturally inwards and at the top, the broadest those outwards and at the foot, which latter should be deepest of all. It may be called _the handle_ of the book, and there is reason in the broad margin, though also gracious to the eye, since the hand may hold the book without covering any of the type.

It is really the due consideration of the necessity of these little utilities in the construction and use of a thing which enables the modern designer--separated as he is from the actual maker--to preserve that distinctive and organic character in any work so valuable, and always so fruitful in artistic suggestion, and this I think holds true of all design in association with handicraft.

The more immediate and intimate--one might occasionally say imitative--influence of the Kelmscott press may be seen in the extremely interesting work of a group of young artists who own their training to the Birmingham School of Art, as developed under the taste and ability of Mr. Taylor. Three of these, Mr. C. M. Gere, Mr. E. H. New, and Mr. Gaskin, have designed illustrations for some of Mr. Morris's Kelmscott books, so that the connection of ideas is perfectly sequent and natural, and it is only as might be expected that the school should have the courage of their artistic opinions, and boldly carry into practice the results of their Kelmscott inspirations, by printing a journal themselves, "The Quest."

[Illustration: C. M. GERE.

FROM THE "ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE" (1893).]

[Illustration: (_By permission of the Corporation of Liverpool._) C. M. GERE.

FROM A DRAWING FROM HIS PICTURE "THE BIRTH OF ST. GEORGE."]

[Illustration: ARTHUR GASKIN.

FROM "HANS ANDERSEN." (ALLEN, 1893.)]

[Illustration: EDMUND H. NEW.

PROCESS BLOCK FROM THE ORIGINAL PEN DRAWING.]

[Sidenote: THE BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL.]

Mr. Gere, Mr. Gaskin, and Mr. New may be said to be the leaders of the Birmingham School. Mr. Gere has engraved on wood some of his own designs, and he thoroughly realizes the ornamental value of bold and open line drawing in association with lettering, and is a careful and conscientious draughtsman and painter besides. A typical instance of his work is the "Finding of St. George."

Mr. Gaskin's Christmas book, "King Wenceslas," is, perhaps, his best work so far as we have seen. The designs are simple and bold, and in harmony with the subject, and good in decorative character. His illustrations to Hans Christian Andersen's "Fairy Tales" are full of a naïve romantic feeling, and have much sense of the decorative possibilities of black and white drawing. Mrs. Gaskin's designs for children's books show a quaint fancy and ornamental feeling characteristic of the school.

Mr. New's feeling is for quaint streets and old buildings, which he draws with conscientious thoroughness, and attention to characteristic details of construction and local variety, without any reliance on accidental atmospheric effects, but using a firm open line and broad, simple arrangements of light and shade, which give them a decorative look as book illustrations. It is owing to these qualities that they are ornamental, and not to any actual ornament. Indeed, in those cases where he has introduced borders to frame his pictures, he does not seem to me to be so successful as an ornamentist pure and simple, though in his latest work, the illustrations to Mr. Lane's edition of Isaac Walton's "Compleat Angler," there are pretty headings and tasteful title scrolls, as well as good drawings of places.

[Illustration: INIGO THOMAS.

FROM "THE FORMAL GARDEN." (MACMILLAN, 1892.)]

The question of border is, however, always a most difficult one. One might compare the illustrative drawings of architecture and gardens of Mr. Inigo Thomas in Mr. Reginald Blomfield's work on gardens, with Mr. New, as showing, with considerable decorative feeling, and feeling for the subject, a very different method of drawing, one might say more pictorial in a sense, the line being much thinner and closer, and in effect greyer and darker. The introduction of the titles helps the ornamental effect.

[Illustration: INIGO THOMAS.

FROM "THE FORMAL GARDEN." (MACMILLAN, 1892.)]

Among the leading artists of the Birmingham School must be mentioned Mr. H. Payne, Mr. Bernard Sleigh and Mr. Mason for their romantic feeling in story illustrations; Miss Bradley for her inventive treatment of crowds and groups of children; Miss Winifred Smith for her groups of children and quaint feeling; Mrs. Arthur Gaskin also for her pretty quaint fancies in child-life; Miss Mary Newill for her ornamental rendering of natural landscape, as in the charming drawing of Porlock; and Miss Celia Levetus for her decorative feeling. It may, at any rate, I think be claimed for it, that both in method, sentiment, and subject, it is peculiarly English, and represents a sincere attempt to apply what may be called traditional principles in decoration to book illustration.

Among the recent influences tending to foster the feeling for the treatment of black and white design and book illustrations, _primarily from the decorative point of view_, the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society may claim to have had some share, and they have endeavoured, by the tendency of the work selected for exhibition as well as by papers and lectures by various members on this point, to emphasize its importance and to spread clear principles, even at the risk of appearing partial and biased in one direction, and leaving many clever artists in black and white unrepresented.

[Sidenote: ILLUSTRATION AND DECORATION.]

Now for graphic ability, originality, and variety, there can be no doubt of the vigour of our modern black and white artists. It is the most vital and really popular form of art at the present day, and it, far more than painting, deals with the actual life of the people; it is, too, thoroughly democratic in its appeal, and, associated with the newspaper and magazine, goes everywhere--at least, as far as there are shillings and pence--and where often no other form of art is accessible.

But graphic power and original point of view is not always associated with the decorous ornamental sense. It is, in fact, often its very antithesis, although, on the other hand, good graphic drawing, governed by a sense of style to which economy or simplicity of line often leads, has ornamental quality.

I should say at once that sincere graphic or naturalistic drawing, with individual character and style, is always preferable to merely lifeless, purely imitative, and tame repetition in so-called decorative work.

[Illustration: HENRY PAYNE.

FROM "A BOOK OF CAROLS." (ALLEN, 1893.)]

[Illustration: F. MASON.

FROM "HUON OF BORDEAUX." (ALLEN, 1895.)]

[Illustration: GERTRUDE M. BRADLEY.

THE CHERRY FESTIVAL. (FROM A PEN DRAWING.)]

[Illustration: MARY NEWILL.

PORLOCK. (FROM A PEN DRAWING.)]

[Sidenote: DECORATIVE PRINCIPLES.]

While I claim that certain decorative considerations such as plan, scale balance, proportion, quantity, relation to type, are essential to really beautiful book illustration, I do not in the least wish to ignore the clever work of many contemporary illustrators because they only care to be illustrators pure and simple, and prefer to consider a page of paper, or any part of it unoccupied by type, as a fair field for a graphic sketch, with no more consideration for its relation to the page itself or the rest of the book, than an artist usually feels when he jots down something from life in his sketch-book.

[Illustration: CELIA LEVETUS.

A BOOKPLATE.]

I think that book illustration should be something more than a collection of accidental sketches. Since one cannot ignore the constructive organic element in the formation--the idea of the book itself--it is so far inartistic to leave it out of account in designing work intended to form an essential or integral part of that book.

I do not, however, venture to assert that decorative illustration can only be done in _one_ way--if so, there would be an end in that direction to originality or individual feeling. There is nothing absolute in art, and one cannot dogmatize, but it seems to me that in all designs certain conditions must be acknowledged, and not only acknowledged but accepted freely, just as one would accept the rules of a game before attempting to play it.

The rules, the conditions of a sport or game, give it its own peculiar character and charm, and by means of them the greatest amount of pleasure and keenest excitement is obtained in the long run, just as by observing the conditions, the limitations of an art or handicraft, we shall extract the greatest amount of pleasure for the worker and beauty for the beholder.

[Sidenote: THE DIAL.]

Many remarkable designers in black and white of individuality and distinction, and with more or less strong feeling for decorative treatment, have arisen during the last few years. Among these ought to be named Messrs. Ricketts and Shannon, whose joint work upon "The Dial" is sufficiently well known. They, too, have taken up printing as an art, Mr. Ricketts having designed his own type and engraved his own drawings on wood. They are excellent craftsmen as well as inventive and original artists of remarkable cultivation, imaginative feeling and taste. There is a certain suggestion of inspiration from William Blake in Mr. Shannon sometimes, and of German or Italian fifteenth century woodcuts in the work of Mr. Ricketts. The weird designs of Mr. Reginald Savage should also be noted, as well as the charming woodcuts of Mr. Sturge Moore.

[Illustration: C S. RICKETTS.

FROM "HERO AND LEANDER." (THE VALE PRESS.)]

Another very remarkable designer in black and white is Mr. Aubrey Beardsley. His work shows a delicate sense of line, and a bold decorative use of solid blacks, as well as an extraordinarily weird fancy and grotesque imagination, which seems occasionally inclined to run in a morbid direction. Although, as in the case of most artists, one can trace certain influences which have helped in the formation of their style, there can be no doubt of his individuality and power. The designs for the work by which Mr. Beardsley became first known, I believe, the "Morte d'Arthur," alone are sufficient to show this. There appears to be a strong mediæval decorative feeling, mixed with a curious weird Japanese-like spirit of _diablerie_ and grotesque, as of the opium-dream, about his work; but considered as book-decoration, though it is effective, the general abstract treatment of line, and the use of large masses of black and white, rather suggest designs intended to be carried out in some other material, such as inlay or enamel, for instance, in which they would gain the charm of beautiful surface and material, and doubtless look very well. Mr. Beardsley shows different influences in his later work in the "Savoy," some of which suggests a study of eighteenth century designers, such as Callot or Hogarth, and old English mezzotints.

[Sidenote: THE STUDIO.]

[Sidenote: CONTEMPORARY ILLUSTRATORS.]

"The Studio," which, while under the able and sympathetic editorship of Mr. Gleeson White, first called attention (by the medium of Mr. Pennell's pen) to Mr. Beardsley's work, has done good service in illustrating the progress of decorative art, both at home and abroad, and has from time to time introduced several young artists whose designs have thus become known to the public for the first time, such as Mr. Patten Wilson, Mr. Laurence Housman, Mr. Fairfax Muckley, and Mr. Charles Robinson, who all have their own distinctive feeling: the first for bold line drawings after the old German method with an abundance of detail; the second for remarkable taste in ornament, and a humorous and poetic fancy; the third for a very graceful feeling for line and the decorative use of black and white--especially in the treatment of trees and branch work, leaves and flowers associated with figures.

Mr. J. D. Batten has distinguished himself for some years past as an inventive illustrator of Fairy Tales. In his designs, perhaps, he shows more of the feeling of the story-teller than the decorator in line, on the whole; his feeling as a painter, perhaps, not making him quite content with simple black and white; and, certainly, his charming tempera picture of the sleeping maid and the dwarfs, and his excellent printed picture of Eve and the serpent, printed by Mr. Fletcher in the Japanese method, might well excuse him if that is the case.

Mr. Henry Ford is another artist who has devoted himself with much success to Fairy Tale pictures in black and white, being associated with the fairy books of many different colours issued under the fairy godfather's wand (or pen) of Mr. Andrew Lang. He, too, I think perhaps, cares more for the "epic" than the "ornamental" side of illustration; he generally shows a pretty poetical fancy.

At the head, perhaps, of the newer school of decorative illustrators ought to be named Mr. Robert Anning Bell, whose taste and feeling for style alone gives him a distinctive place. He has evidently studied the early printers and book-decorators in outline of Venice and Florence to some purpose; by no means merely imitatively, but with his own type of figure and face, and fresh natural impressions, observes with much taste and feeling for beauty the limitations and decorative suggestions in the relations of line-drawing and typography. Many of his designs to "The Midsummer Night's Dream" are delightful both as drawings and as decorative illustrations.

[Illustration: CHARLES RICKETTS.

FROM "DAPHNIS AND CHLOE." (THE VALE PRESS.)]

The newest book illustrator is perhaps Mr. Charles Robinson, whose work appears to be full of invention, though I have not yet had sufficient opportunities of doing it justice. He shows quaint and sometimes weird fancy, a love of fantastic architecture, and is not afraid of outline and large white spaces.

[Illustration: C. H. SHANNON.

FROM "DAPHNIS AND CHLOE." (THE VALE PRESS.)]

Mr. R. Spence shows considerable vigour and originality. He distinguished himself first by some pen drawings which won the gold medal at the National Competitions at South Kensington, in which a romantic feeling and dramatic force was shown in designs of mediæval battles, expressed in forcible way, consistent with good line and effect in black and white. His design of the Legend of St. Cuthbert in "The Quarto" is perhaps the most striking thing he has done. I am enabled to print one of his characteristic designs of battles.

[Illustration: AUBREY BEARDSLEY.

FROM THE "MORTE D'ARTHUR." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

Mr. A. Jones also distinguished himself about the same time as Mr. Spence in the National Competition, and showed some dramatic and romantic feeling. The design given shows a more ornamental side.

[Illustration: AUBREY BEARDSLEY.

FROM THE "MORTE D'ARTHUR." (DENT.)]

Mr. William Strang, who has made his mark in etching as a medium for designs full of strong character and weird imagination, also shows in his processed pen drawings vigorous line and perception of decorative value, as in the designs to "Munchausen," two of which are here reproduced.

[Sidenote: THE EVERGREEN.]

The publication of "The Evergreen" by Patrick Geddes and his colleagues at Edinburgh has introduced several black and white designers of force and character--Mr. Robert Burns and Mr. John Duncan, for instance, more particularly distinguishing themselves for decorative treatment in which one may see the influences of much fresh inspiration from Nature.

[Illustration: AUBREY BEARDSLEY.

FROM THE "MORTE D'ARTHUR." (DENT.)]

[Sidenote: CONTEMPORARY ILLUSTRATORS.]

Miss Mary Sargant Florence shows power and decorative feeling in her outline designs to "The Crystal Ball." Mr. Granville Fell must be named among the newer school of decorative illustrators; and Mr. Paul Woodroffe, who also shows much facility of design and feeling for old English life in his books of Nursery Rhymes; his recent work shows much refinement of drawing and feeling.

Miss Alice B. Woodward ought also to be named for her clever treatment of mediæval life in black and white.

More recently, perhaps the most remarkable work in book illustration has been that of Mr. E. J. Sullivan, whose powerful designs to Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus" are full of vigour and character.

Force and character, again, seem the leading qualities in the striking work of another of our recent designers in black and white, Mr. Nicholson, who also engraves his own work.

[Illustration: EDMUND J. SULLIVAN.

FROM "SARTOR RESARTUS." (BELL.)]

Mr. Gordon Craig adds printing to the crafts of black and white design and engraving, and has a distinctive feeling of his own.

The revival in England of decorative art of all kinds during the last five and twenty years, culminating as it appears to be doing in book-design, has not escaped the eyes of observant and sympathetic artists and writers upon the Continent. The work of English artists of this kind has been exhibited in Germany, in Holland, in Belgium and France, and has met with remarkable appreciation and sympathy.

[Illustration: PATTEN WILSON.

FROM THE PEN DRAWING.]

[Illustration: LAURENCE HOUSMAN.

TITLE-PAGE OF "THE HOUSE OF JOY." (KEGAN PAUL, 1895.)]

[Illustration: L. FAIRFAX MUCKLEY.

FROM "FRANGILLA." (ELKIN MATHEWS.)]

[Illustration: CHARLES ROBINSON.

FROM "A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSE." (LANE, 1895.)]

[Illustration: CHARLES ROBINSON.

FROM "A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSE." (LANE, 1895.)]

[Illustration: CHARLES ROBINSON.

FROM A "CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSE." (LANE, 1895.)]

[Sidenote: BELGIUM.]

In Belgium, particularly, where there appears to be a somewhat similar movement in art, the work of the newer school of English designers has awakened the greatest interest. The fact that M. Oliver Georges Destrée has made sympathetic literary studies of the English pre-Raphaelites and their successors, is an indication of this. The exhibitions of the "XX^e Siècle," "La libre Æsthetique," at Brussels and Liège, are also evidence of the repute in which English designers are held.

[Illustration: J. D. BATTEN.

FROM "THE ARABIAN NIGHTS." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

[Sidenote: THE CONTINENT.]

In Holland, too, a special collection of the designs of English book illustrators has been exhibited at the Hague and other towns under the auspices of M. Loffelt.

[Illustration: J. D. BATTEN.

FROM "THE ARABIAN NIGHTS." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

At Paris, also, the critics and writers on art have been busy in the various journals giving an account of the Arts and Crafts movement, the Kelmscott Press, and the school of English book-decorators in black and white, and the recent exhibitions of "L'Art Nouveau" and "Le Livre Moderne" at Paris are further evidence of the interest taken there in English art.

[Illustration: R. ANNING BELL.

FROM "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM."

(J. M. DENT AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: R. ANNING BELL.

FROM "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST."

(J. M. DENT AND CO., 1894.)]

[Illustration: R. SPENCE.

FROM A PEN DRAWING.]

[Illustration: ALFRED JONES.

A TITLE-PAGE.]

[Illustration: WILLIAM STRANG.

FROM "BARON MUNCHAUSEN." (LAWRENCE AND BULLEN.)]

[Illustration: WILLIAM STRANG.

FROM "MUNCHAUSEN" (LAWRENCE AND BULLEN).]

Without any vain boasting, it is interesting to note that whereas most artistic movements affecting England are commonly supposed to have been imported from the Continent, we are credited at last with a genuine home growth in artistic development. Although, regarded in the large sense, country or nationality is nothing to art (being at its best always cosmopolitan and international) yet in the history of design, national and local varieties, racial characteristics and local developments must always have their value and historic interest.

[Illustration: H. GRANVILLE FELL.

FROM "CINDERELLA." (J. M. DENT AND CO.)]

[Sidenote: BELGIUM.]

We may, perhaps, take it as a sympathetic response to English feeling, the appearance of such books as M. Rijsselberghe's Almanack, with its charming designs in line, from the house of Dietrich at Brussels. M. Fernand Knopff's work, original as it is, shows sympathy with the later English school of poetic and decorative design of which D. G. Rossetti may be said to have been the father, though in book-illustration proper I am not aware that he has done much. In Holland in black and white design there is M. G. W. Dijsselhof and M. R. N. Roland Holst.

[Illustration: JOHN DUNCAN.

FROM "THE EVERGREEN." (GEDDES AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: JOHN DUNCAN.

FROM "THE EVERGREEN." (GEDDES AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: ROBERT BURNS.

FROM "THE EVERGREEN." (GEDDES AND CO., 1895.)]

[Illustration: MARY SARGANT FLORENCE.

FROM "THE CRYSTAL BALL." (BELL, 1894.)]

[Illustration: PAUL WOODROFFE.

FROM "SECOND BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES." (GEORGE ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Illustration: PAUL WOODROFFE.

FROM "NURSERY RHYMES." (BELL, 1895.)]

[Sidenote: GERMANY.]

In Germany, such original and powerful artists as Josef Sattler and Franz Stück; the former seemingly inheriting much of the grim and stern humour of the old German masters, as well as their feeling for character and treatment of line, while his own personality is quite distinct. While Sattler is distinctly Gothic in sympathy, Stück seems more to lean to the pagan or classical side, and his centaurs and graces are drawn with much feeling and character. We have already mentioned the "Munich Calendar," designed by Otto Hupp, which is well known for the vigour and spirit with which the artist has worked after the old German manner, with bold treatment of heraldic devices, and has effectively used colour with line work. The name of Seitz appears upon some effectively designed allegorical figures, one of Gutenberg at his press.

[Sidenote: "JUGEND."]

"Jugend," a copiously illustrated journal published at Munich by Dr. Hirth, shows that there are many clever artists with a more or less decorative aim in illustration, which in others seems rather overgrown with grotesque feeling and morbid extravagance, but there is an abundance of exuberant life, humour, whimsical fancy and spirit characteristic of South Germany.

[Illustration: M. RIJSSELBERGHE.]

"Ver Sacrum," the journal of the group of the "Secession" artists of Vienna, gives evidence of considerable daring and resource in black and white drawing, though mainly of an impressionistic or pictorial aim.

M. Larisch, of Vienna, has distinguished himself by his works upon the artistic treatment and spacing of letters which contain examples of the work of different artists both continental and English.

French artists in decoration of all kinds have been so largely influenced or affected by the Japanese, and have so generally approached design from the impressionistic, dramatic, or accidental-individualist point of view, that the somewhat severe limits imposed by a careful taste in all art with an ornamental purpose, does not appear to have greatly attracted them. At all times it would seem that the dramatic element is the dominant one in French art, and this, though of course quite reconcilable with the ornament instinct, is seldom found perfectly united with it, and, where present, generally gets the upper hand. The older classical or Renaissance ornamental feeling of designers like Galland and Puvis de Chavannes seems to be dying out, and the modern _chic_ and daring of a Cheret seems to be more characteristic of the moment.

[Sidenote: GRASSET.]

Yet, on the other hand, among the newer French School, we find an artist of such careful methods and of such strong decorative instinct as Grasset, on what I should call the architectural side in contradistinction to the impressionistic. His work, though quite characteristically French in spirit and sentiment, is much more akin in method to our English decorative school. In fact, many of Grasset's designs suggest that he has done what our men have done, studied the art of the middle ages from the remains in his own country, and grafted upon this stock the equipment and sentiment of a modern.

[Sidenote: LETTERING.]

In his book illustrations he seems, however, so far as I know, to lean rather towards illustrations pure and simple, rather than decoration, and exhibits great archæological resource as well as romantic feeling in such designs as those to "Les Cinq Fils d'Aymon." The absence of book decoration in the English sense, in France, however, may be due to the want of beauty or artistic feeling in the typographer's part of the work. Modern French type has generally assumed elongated and meagre forms which are not suggestive of rich decorative effect, and do not combine with design: nor, so far as I have been able to observe, does there seem to be any feeling amongst the designers for the artistic value of lettering, or any serious attempt to cultivate better forms. The poster-artist, to whom one would think, being essential to his work, the value of lettering in good forms would appeal, generally tears the roman alphabet to tatters, or uses extremely debased and ugly varieties.

More recently, however, French designers and printers appear to be giving attention to the subject, and newly designed types are appearing; one firm at Paris having issued a fount designed by Eugene Grasset.

The charming designs of Boutet de Monvel should be named as among the most distinctive of modern French book illustrations, for their careful drawing and decorative effect, although, being in colours, they hardly belong to the same category as the works we have been considering, and the relation of type to pictures leaves something to be desired.

A respect for form and style in lettering, is, I take it, one of the most unmistakable indications of a good decorative sense. A true ornamental instinct can produce a fine ornamental effect by means of a mass of good type or MS. lettering alone: and considered as accompaniments or accessories to design they are invaluable, as presenting opportunities of contrast or recurrence in mass or line to other elements in the composition. To the decorative illustrator of books they are the unit or primal element from which he starts.

[Illustration: WALTER CRANE.

FROM SPENSER'S "FAERIE QUEENE."

(GEORGE ALLEN, 1896.)]

[Sidenote: ITALY.]

The publication at Venice of "L'Arte della stampa nel Renascimento Italiano Venezia," by Ferd. Ongania--a series of reproductions of woodcuts, ornaments, initials, title-pages, etc., from some of the choicest of the books of the early Venetian and Florentine printers, may perhaps be taken as a sign of the growth of a similar interest in book decoration in that country, unless, like other works, it is intended chiefly for the foreign visitor.

A sumptuously printed quarterly on Art, which has of late made its appearance at Rome, "Il Convito," seems to show an interest in the decorative side, and does not confine its note on illustrations to Italian work, but gives reproductions from the works of D. G. Rossetti, and from Elihu Vedder's designs to "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam."

Certainly if the possession of untold treasures of endlessly beautiful invention in decorative art, and the tradition of ancient schools tend to foster and to stimulate original effort, one would think that it should be easier for Italian artists than those of other countries to revive something of the former decorative beauty of the work of her printers and designers in the days of Aldus and Ratdolt, of the Bellini and Botticelli.

It does not appear to be enough, however, to possess the seed merely; or else one might say that where a museum is, there will the creative art spring also; it is necessary to have the soil also; to plough and sow, and then to possess our souls in patience a long while ere the new crop appears, and ere it ripens and falls to our sickle. It is only another way of saying, that art is the outcome of life, not of death.

Artists may take motives or inspiration from the past, or from the present, it matters not, so long as their work has life and beauty--so long as it is organic, in short.

[Illustration: HOWARD PYLE.

FROM "OTTO OF THE SILVER HAND." (SCRIBNER.)]

[Sidenote: HOWARD PYLE.]

I have already alluded to the movement in Boston among a group of cultured young men--Mr. Lee the printer and his colleagues--more or less inspired by "The Hobby Horse" and the Kelmscott Press, which resulted in the printing of "The Knight Errant."

[Illustration: HOWARD PYLE.

FROM "OTTO OF THE SILVER HAND." (SCRIBNER.)]

Some years before, however, Mr. Howard Pyle distinguished himself as a decorative artist in book designs, which showed, among other more modern influences, a considerable study of the method of Albert Dürer. I give a reproduction which suggests somewhat the effect of the famous copperplate of Erasmus. He sometimes uses a lighter method, such as is shown in the drawings to "The One Horse Shay."

Of late in his drawings in the magazines, Mr. Pyle has adopted the modern wash method, or painting in black and white, in which, however able in its own way, it is distinctly at a considerable loss of individuality and decorative interest.[9]

[9] I am informed that the adoption of the wash method is not recent with Mr. Pyle, but that he adapts his method to his matter. This does not, however, affect the opinion expressed as to the relative artistic value of wash and line work.

[Illustration: WILL. H. BRADLEY.

A COVER DESIGN. (CHICAGO, 1894.)]

[Illustration: WILL. H. BRADLEY.

PROSPECTUS OF "BRADLEY HIS BOOK."

(SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 1896.)]

[Illustration: WILL. H. BRADLEY.

DESIGN FOR "THE CHAP-BOOK." (CHICAGO, 1895.)]

[Sidenote: "THE INLAND PRINTER."]

[Sidenote: AMERICAN ARTISTS.]

Another artist of considerable invention and decorative ability has recently appeared in America, Mr. Will. H. Bradley, whose designs for "The Inland Printer" of Chicago are remarkable for careful and delicate line-work, and effective treatment of black and white, and showing the influence of the newer English school with a Japanese blend.

[Illustration]