The wood engravers' self-portrait: the Dalziel Archive and Victorian illustration

Abstract

"The Wood Engravers' Self-Portrait tells the story of Dalziel Brothers, the leading image-makers of Victorian Britain. Between 1839 and 1893, the Dalziel firm made around 54,000 illustrations, collecting these in albums that constitute a unique visual memoir. This is the first major study of the Dalziels. It combines in-depth archival research with a distinctive methodology, incorporating detailed examination of printmaking techniques, an analysis of word-image relations in illustration, and a creative-critical approach. Dalziel's output includes engravings of global influence - such as the illustrations to Lewis Carroll's Alice books, novels by Charles Dickens, and landmark Pre-Raphaelite prints. The artists also made intricate and fascinating unknown works, which range from brilliant scientific illustrations, to keep-fit diagrams and Cadbury's advertisements. The Wood Engravers' Self-Portrait tells the multifarious stories of the Dalziel artists and employees, based on the author's extensive research in the Dalziel Archive, conducted in partnership with the British Museum. As well as exploring the Dalziel family and the works they made, this study addresses the challenges of uncovering and understanding creative work made by low-paid and supposedly mechanical artists (such as the precarious freelance engravers hired by Dalziel). It investigates the image firm's role in shaping aspects of Victorian culture that continue to have a strong and ambivalent legacy, from the fast and wide circulation of wood engravings, to the visualisation of gendered and imperialist texts. It contributes to current theoretical and methodological investigations of mass print culture and word-image relations."-- Back of cover.