Id I ■ I" - i^- .- ■«S ■•jf,. '* , ' '•>!■. ^ . -. . . , I ^ f ' ■H , ‘ ^ • M K 7 =^‘ ! ' >Va ■' t.:; ^ ■ ■.••■r' '‘\. -.9 m ■!^:i r- .. 8 > '. ¥' •- ■> • . Pv • •r 4 • A(' I hl*> i9- 9 , '» -^‘ • . ■*■ k ■. ■ t •: tt I X . Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/workofcharleskee00penn_0 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. ri,;^ y v-a « f P HOTOGRAVURE reproduction by Swan Electric Engraving Company of the Old House at Witley. THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE WITH AN INTRODVCTION & COMMENTS ON THE DRAW INGS ILLVSTRATING THE ARTIST’S METHODS lOSEPH PENNELL TO WHICH IS ADDED A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BOOKS KEENE ILLVS TRATED AND A CATA LOGVE OF HIS ETCH INGS BY W. H. CHESSON PRINTED AT THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, FOR T. FISHER UNWIN AND BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., LONDON, MDCCCXCVII. London & Tonbridge PREFACE. I WISH to State that I am only responsible for the Introduction to this volume — a volume which has grown far beyond its original limits, though I believe it to be in its present form a vast improvement on the plan which was first proposed. I should like also to acknowledge the assistance I have received from Mrs. Edwin Edwards and Mr. Henry Keene. Mr. Chesson desires to acknowledge particularly the kindness of Mrs. Edwards, Mr. J. P. Heseltine, and Mr. Henry Keene in according him the privilege of examining their collections of Keene’s drawings and etchings. For assistance, given or intended, thanks are also due from him to Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., Messrs. Chatto and Windus, Mr. H. M. Cundall, Mr. Joseph W. Darton, Mr. Joseph Day, Mr. W. Dent [T/ie Book-Fimier), Mr. Edmund Evans, Mr. W. Faux, Mr. Birket Foster, Messrs. Foulsham & Co., Mr. J. Garmeson, Sir Alfred Baring Garrod, and his son. Dr. Archibald Garrod, Mr. H. Garside, Mr. Horace Harral, Mr. A. J. Hipkins, F.S.A., and his son, Mr. John Hipkins, Aliss Nora Hopper, Mr. Mason Jackson, Mr. W. MacKenzie (Editor of Black and White) ^ Mr. H. S. Marks, R.A., Mr. Edward Marston, Mr. David Mathewson, Mr. G. H. May, Mr. J. H. Murray, Mr. Claude Phillips, Messrs. Routledge & Sons, Mr. Henry Silver, Mr. R. F. Sketchley, Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., Mr. M. H. Spielmann, Mr. Edward F. Strange, Mr. Gleeson White, and the Editor of “ Zadkiel’s Almanac.” Separate and grateful acknowledgment must be made to Mr. George Somes Layard tor his courtesy in reading Mr. Chesson’s proof with a view to contributing to its accuracy and fulness, a courtesy which is the more remarkable, since it is understood to. be that gentleman’s intention to publish at some future time another bibliography of the works of Charles Keene. J- p- CONTENTS PREFACE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE, BY JOSEPH PENNELL— INTRODUCTION SELECTED DRAWINGS, WITH COMMENTS. BIBLIOGRAPHY BY W. H. CHESSON— NOTE LIST OF ETCHINGS BY CHARLES KEENE . LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE PAGE 11—36 37—263 265 271 277 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Old House at Witley .......... Frontispiece Photogravure reproduction of etching by C. Keene, by Swan Electric Engraving Company. Portraits of Charles Keene, drawn by himself . . . ii, 13, 17, 20, 24, 28, 31, 34, 36 Pen and pencil drawings. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. Punch Pocket-Book .............. 39 Etching, “The Matrimonial Hurlingham,” by C. Keene. Printed from original plate. Study for “A Call for the Manager” . . . . . . . . -41 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study for “ A Call for the Manager ” . . . . . . . . . . 43 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. “A Call for the Manager,” P/uic/;, September 30th, 1876 -45 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “Reminiscences”. ............ 46 Pen drawing. Photo-engraved by W. H. Ward & Co. “Reminiscences,” Punch., March nth, 1871 . . . . . . . . -47 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Original Drawing for “ Delicate Attention ” ........ 48 Pen drawing. Photo-engraved by Walker & Boutall. “Delicate Attention,” Punch Almanack, 1877 49 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “ High Life Below Stairs 50 Pen and wash drawing. Photo-engraving by A. and C. Dawson. “High Life Below Stairs,” Punch, May 13th, 1876 . 51 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study of a Maidservant . . . . . ... . . . . . . 52 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. “Manners,” Punch, April nth, 1868 .......... 53 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “ Reaction ” ............. 54 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “Reaction,” Punch, November 6th, 1869 .......... 55 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Photogravure of Pen Drawing of Old Man’s Head. . . . . . • • 57 Art Reproduction Company. Study for “ Perspective 59 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving unsigned. From the Gazette des Beaux Arts. b LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Study for “Perspective” ............. 6i Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “Perspective,” Punch Almanack, 1868 63 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “ Mind and Matter ”... 64 Pen drawing. Photo-engraved by Carl Henschel & Co. “Mind and Matter,” Punch, October 19th, 1872 65 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “ Proof Positive 67 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. “Proof Positive,” Punch, February 22nd, 1868 69 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “The Unrecognised Visitor” .......... 70 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “The Unrecognised Visitor,” Punch, July 21st, 1866 71 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “Artful — Very!” ............ 72 Pen drawing. Photo-engraved by W. H. Ward & Co. “Artful — Very!” Punch, September 28th, 1867 ........ 73 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Original Drawing for “ During the Cattle Show ” . . . . . . . 74 Pen, brush, and pencil. Photo-engraved by W. H. Ward & Co. “ During the Cattle Show,” Punch, December 9th, 1882 ...... 75 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “A Woman-Hater” ............ 76 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. “A Woman-Hater,” Punch, October 26th, 1867 ........ 77 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Original Drawing for “Culture for the Working Classes” . . . . . 78 Pen and wash. Photo-engraved by W. H. Ward & Co. “Culture for the Working Classes,” Punch, August 25th, 1877 ..... 79 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Studies for “Nae that Fou !” . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Pen drawings. Photo-engraved by W. H. Ward & Co. “Nae that Fou !” Punch, October 8th, 1870 ......... 81 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Original Drawing for “Responsibility” 82 Pen and wash. Photo-engraved by W. H. Ward & Co. “ Responsibility,” Punch, February i8th, 1888 ......... 83 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study of Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Pencil. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. “A Bad Season,” Punch, October 12th, 1867 ......... 87 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE “Encouraging,” Punch, August 2nd, 1868 .......... 89 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study of Foliage .............. 91 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel Sc Co. Study of a Lady .............. 93 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study for “ ’Arry on the Boulevard ” . . . . . . . . . -95 Pencil. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Original Drawing for “ ’Arry on the Boulevard ”. . . . . . . . 96 Pen, pencil and wash. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. “’Arry on the Boulevard,” Punch, August i6th, 1890 ....... 97 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “ A Broad Hint 98 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “A Broad Hint,” Punch, February 17th, 1872 ........ 99 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. “Register! Register!” Punch Almanack, 1869 ......... loi Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “Robert” ............. 103 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “Robert,” Punch, March 19th, 1881 ........... 105 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “Robert” . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “ Robert,” Punch, September 4th, 1880 . . . . . . . . . . 109 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “ Robert ” . . . . . . . . . . . . .111 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “Robert,” Punch, August 14th, 1880 . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “The Old Shepherd and his Pipe” . . . . . . . -115 Pen drawing. Photo-engraved by Clark & Co. Study for “The Old Shepherd and his Pipe” . . . . . . . . 117 Pen and wash. Photo-engraved by W. H. Ward & Co. Study for “The Old Shepherd and his Pipe” . . . . . . . .119 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by A. and C. Dawson. “The Old Shepherd and his Pipe,” Once a Week, August 24th, 1867 . . . . 121 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Illustration for “Evan Harrington,” Once a Week, April 28th, i860 .... 123 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study of an Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by A. and C. Dawson. Study of a Horse and Cart . . . . . . . . . . . .126 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Study of a Horse and Cab . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. Charcoal Drawing 129 Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Charcoal Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Study for “The March of Arthur” 133 Charcoal. Photo-engraved by Clark & Co. Breton Peasants singing “The March of Arthur,” Once a Week, April nth, 1863 . 135 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study for “My Brother’s Story,” Once a Week, May 30th, 1863 . . . . . 137 Charcoal. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. Study for “The Painter Alchemist” . . . . . . . . . -138 Pen and Chinese white. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. “The Painter Alchemist,” Once a Week, p. 43, 1867 139 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. A Battle ................ 141 Wash drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Sketch of Hever Castle ............. 143 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Sketch supposed to be Turnham Green . . . . . . . . . • 145 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Sketch of a Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Study of a Man reading ............ 149 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Study of a Lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study for “The Cambridge Grisette ” . . . . . . . . . .152 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Drawing of a House in Hammersmith . . . . . . . . . . 155 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Lady seated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • U 7 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Study of an Interior, with Figure of Youngish Girl . . . . . . . 159 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “Punch” Study : Drunken Man in a Chair . . . . . . . .161 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraved by Art Reproduction Company. “Punch” Study ; An Astonished Man . . . . . . . ■ • • 163 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraved by Art Reproduction Company. Study for “A Caudle Lecture” . . . . . . . . • • .164 I’en drawing. Photo-engraved by Carl Henschel & Co. “A Caudle Lecture” 165 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE “Punch” Study : Man with Book, sleeping . . . . . . . . .167 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Hcnschcl & Co. Model for “Punch” Subject: Lady reading ......... 169 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. Study for a Book Illustration, Unknown . . . . . . . . • 171 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study of an Old Lady . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study of same Old Lady seated . . . . . . . . . . • Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Charles Keene as a Volunteer . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. Study of a Pioneer .............. 179 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Study of Woman and Child ............ 181 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Study of a Female Figure writing .......... 183 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Study of a Seated Figure with a Fan .......... 185 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. Study of a Man reading . . . . . . . . . . . .187 Wash. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. Study of a Woman with Parasol ........... 189 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “Real Irish Grievance,” Punchy March 25th, 1871 ....... 191 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study of an Irish Peasant . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by A. and C. Dawson. Portraits of Himself ............. 195 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. Study of a Jew ............... 197 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Repioduction Company. Study for “Autumn Leaves” . . . . . . . . . . . .198 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “ Autumn Leav^es,” Punch • ■ . . . . . . • • • • ^99 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Study of a Head ; Man in Black Cap and Comforter ...... 201 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study of an Old Man’s Head ............ 203 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Study of a Little Girl ............. 205 l^encil drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. Man and Little Girl seated on a Sofa .......... 207 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Study of Drunken Man passing a Bank ......... 2og Brush drawing. Photo-engraving by Walker & Boutall. Study of a Head in the Manner of the Pre-Raphaelites . . . . . . 211 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Clark & Co. Study of a Head in the Manner of the Pre-Raphaelites . . . . . -213 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. Study of a Head in the Style of Lawrence . . . . . . . ..215 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. A Model in Costume . . . .217 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. “ Dundreary 218 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by W. H. Ward & Co. “Once a Week” Study : Seated Figure 221 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study of a Child, with Helmet and Boots ......... 223 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study of Landscape, with Elm Trees 225 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study of a Nun or Sister 227 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Head of a Dog .............. 229 Pencil drawing. Photo-engraving by Art Reproduction Company. A Langham Model in Spanish Costume . . . . . . . . . . 231 Pen drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. Study for Figure in “Penny Wise” .......... 232 Pen and wash drawing. Photo-engraving by Carl Henschel & Co. “Penny Wise,” Punch , February 15th, 1873 ......... 233 Wood-engraving by J. Swain. Miss Lavinia Brounjones — All are engraved on wood by J. Swain, and were published in Punch. No. I. — “Miss Lavinia Brounjones prepares for a Sketching Expedition in the Highlands 235 No. 2. — “Settled in her Country Lodgings, Lavinia finds she has forgotten her Bath, but her Ingenuity enables her to overcome the Difficulty by develop- ing THE Resources of the Place,” August 25th, 1866 . . . . . . 237 No. 3. — “Having secured a Model for ‘The Flocks’ in her Picture, ‘Cattle- Lifting,’ ” September ist, 1866 .......... 239 No. 4. — “The Model proves Refractory !” September 8th, 1866 . . . . 241 No. 5. — “Overcome by Fatigue and Excitement, she has slept profoundly, but TOWARDS Morning suffers severely from Nightmare. On awaking, she finds HER Model where she least expected it,” September 15th, 1866 . . . 243 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Miss Lavinia Brounjones { continued ) — No. 6 . — “Lavinia arrives at a Waterfall and asks its Name. The Shepherd (not understanding English) informs her that it is called (as Lavinia supposes) ‘ Vicharoobashallochoggilnabo.’ Lavinia thinks it a very pretiy Name,” September 22nd, 1866 ........... 245 No. 7. — “A Bright Idea strikes the Shepherd, and before Lavinia can remon- strate, HE transports HER IN THE USUAL MaNNER TO THE OTHER SiDE,” September 29th, 1866 .............. 247 No. 8 .— “She comes suddenly on a Strange Structure, apparently a Native Fort, and is just going to sketch it, when a Savage of Gigantic Stature, AND ARMED TO THE TeETH, STARTS FROM AN AmBUSH AND MENACES HER IN Gaelic,” October 6th, 1866 ........... 249 No. 9 . — “Lavinia takes a Siesta,” October i3tli, 1866 . . . . . . 251 No. 9 { continued ). — “And the Frighfful Situation she finds herself in at the end of it,” October 13th, 1866 .......... 253 No. 10 . — “The Return Home,” October 20th, 1866 . . . . . . . 255 An Old Man about to seat himself . . . . . . . . . .257 Pencil and white chalk. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. Irish Peasants ............... 259 Black and white chalk. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. Interior of Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261 Pen and wash. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. Man playing on a ’Cello . . . . . . . ... . . . . 263 Brown ink and wash. Photo-engraving by Swan Electric Engraving Company. THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. INTRODUCTION. R ecently fault w^as found with the notice of Charles Keene in my book on Pen Drawing, because it was less than half a page in length, and, therefore, it was said, ludicrously inadequate. My desire was to show my great admiration for the distinguished artist in the small space then at my disposal. But, apparently, warmth of appreciation is not to be weighed with lengthy wordiness. It was also suggested that the drawings I gave to represent Keene seemed to have been chosen at haphazard. But this was really what I myself had admitted, and, indeed, intended. For, it is only when a man’s work is of unvarying excellence that 1 1 B THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. there is no need to select any one particular example rather than another. And so my critic, unwittingly, had but stumbled upon my argument, and emphasised the truth I wanted to express — that Charles Keene is, with the possible exception of Hogarth, the greatest artist England has produced, that his work is uniformly of supreme merit, that it is all worth the acquisition, the consideration, and the loving study of the collector, the writer, and the artist. Now, however, there has come to me the chance of trying to make, for the first time, a completely representative selection and exhibition of his drawings, and the opportunity to discuss them fully. It is not my intention to speak of Charles Keene, the man. His life has been written by Mr. George Somes Layard, and I imagine there is little still unrevealed, little to be concealed, little not already recorded. In his History of Punch Mr. M. H. Spielmann has given the dates and the facts of Keene’s connection with that paper. Here and there may be found a chance article upon his personality or his published drawings. But no one has yet attempted to describe his art work as a whole ; and, I may add, no one, save a few of his most intimate friends, has any idea of its variety and extent. But, simply because I have been granted the opportunity of seeing and studying Keene’s work would not of itself qualify me to write about it. In fact, to write as a cataloguer, a compiler, a comparer, without technical know- ledge, of any artist, seems to me an impertinence, and the result is usually worse than useless, save to the newest critic, the self-appointed disciple of Morelli. If there are other reasons why I am considered competent for the task these are known to his friends, his executors, and his publishers, and it is not necessary for me to explain them. It is enough to say that now, some six years after his death, I have been accorded certain privileges by his brother, Mr. Henry Keene, who has allowed me to reproduce any of the drawings that belong to the estate or to himself, and by Mrs. Edwin Edwards, who has in her possession so many beautiful examples of Keene’s work. Again, the publishers of Punchy Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, have placed all their wood engravings and colour prints from his drawings at my disposal. I have also gone through the national and private collections of the country for the purpose of selecting designs which I thought would further testify to the greatness of the artist. Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, who owns a large number of preliminary sketches and studies for Punch pictures, has given me permission to use any or all of them. For it was out of his collection, really, that the idea of this book was developed. Originally the intention was to take the preliminary sketches, each 12 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. in as many different states and versions as we could find, and face them by the completed wood-engravings made for Punch by Mr. Swain, from whom, it is interesting to know, Mr. Unwin obtained his collection. But as I went further into the matter it struck me, more and more, that to include only these studies and the finished engravings would be but to add another imperfect chapter to the history of the work of this great artist, and that, to-day, before his drawings are scattered, as they must be scattered in the near future, to become the treasures of private collectors and public museums, it would be well to make as representative a showing as I could of the different forms of art of which he was tEe master.'" And I think besides that too much cannot now be said about Keene, too much of his work cannot be exhibited, whether in print or elsewhere, as some slight amends for the general indifference which was his portion during life. I need not point out how small a fraction of the popularity of the Punch artists fell to him. To the many. Punch meant Leech or Doyle or Du Maurier ; only the few looked to it for Keene. The little that has been written about him proves the little that was thought of him. His drawings, as a rule, were received in silence or with a silly guffaw. It is curious to note the attitude of a critic like Mr. Ruskin, who could be so generous in his recognition of lesser men. As Mr. Layard has said, and I am unable to disprove his assertion, “ Mr. Ruskin did not find that Keene was worthy even to be mentioned when he took upon himself to discuss the Punch artists.” In his Lecture on Leech and Tenniel Keene’s name never appears, though there are con- tinuous references to Du Maurier, though he and Leech and Tenniel, and even Lady Butler, Mrs. Allingham, Miss Kate Greenaway, and Miss Alexander, are exalted here or elsewhere. However, Mr. Ruskin could not quite ignore Keene. When, in Ariadne Florentina (vol. vii.), he sneers at the illustrators of cheap Ladies' Pocket Books, as he has just been praising Du Maurier and the others, it is clear that it can only be Keene * Even before this book appears some of the finest will have been dispersed from Melbourne to San Francisco. 13 B 2 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. who has so incensed him. And Keene again must be the object of his wrath in that unfortunate, but conveniently forgotten, passage in the Art of England^ in which he says : “ Cheap popular art cannot draw for you beauty, sense, and honesty, but every species of distorted vice, the idiot, the blackguard, the coxcomb, the paltry fool, the disgraced woman, are pictured for your honourable pleasure on every page. These are thoroughly representative of the entire art industry of the modern press. With clumsy caricature struggling to render its dulness tolerable by insisting on defect — if perchance a penny or two more may be coined out of the Cockney-reader’s itch for loathsome- ness.” This delectable sentiment was inspired by the illustrated books and magazines and papers of the year 1867 in particular, and all modern English illustrated books and papers in general. As Charles Keene was among the most distinguished contributors to these publications, it is safe to assume that he came in for a sufficient share of Mr. Ruskin’s anathema. But it is neither wise nor fair to judge Mr. Ruskin by any one of his criticisms. He has a way of contradicting himself, as, by this time, we all know. Certainly, with charming unconsciousness of the denunciation he had uttered, or was going to utter — I am not sure in what order these lectures were given — he did not hesitate to confess in Aratra Pentelici that “ it chanced as I was preparing this lecture, one of our most able and popular prints gave me a woodcut of the self-made man, specified as such, so vigorously drawn and with so few touches that Phidias or Turner himself could scarcely have done it better ” ; and the woodcut, really a wood engraving, which thus charms him, and is worthy to be ranked with the work of Phidias, and to be compared to a Greek coin, is after a Punch drawing by Charles Keene, the man whom Mr. Ruskin, so far as I know, cannot condescend to mention by name. These are in- consistencies of criticism, it might be thought, better forgotten, but they help one to understand why Keene was so little known to the public, while draughtsmen of infinitely less merit were glorified. Is it any wonder that English art and English criticism are a laughing-stock to the world when such pronouncements can be seriously delivered from a professorial chair, and even more seriously printed with the official sanction of the University of Oxford .? But if Keene, as the most accomplished draughtsman in England, was never rightly recognised, there seems to be a prevailing impression that this was a matter of indiffer- ence to him. I am not able to analyse the mental attitude of an artist, to “ reconstruct his psychology ” by scientific study of his work. But still, for all that has been written and said about Keene’s indifference, for all the proof that his own letters may be declared 14 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. to give, I cannot help thinking his supposed independence of appreciation something of a pose, concealing beneath it a feeling more akin to despair, which grew upon him with years of continued neglect. In writing of him it has been pleasanter to speak, as one may now speak freely, of his delightful personality, of his quaint traits, of his love for music, of his more or less eccentric habits, of his dogs, his bagpipes, his clays, of the fact that he hardly ever rode in a hansom cab, and often cooked his own dinner. Why not forget the discreditable truth that, when alive, he was all but unknown, that to most people the initials “ C. K.” meant nothing, the drawing, unless of his tipsy men and Sandies, less, and the legend below everything, especially when it was quite pointless and unintelligible as supplied to him by the professional purveyor of jokes. And, after all, you are reminded, in England artists at least always knew his value, while he was for long received and respected on the Continent. If this be true, then certainly English artists had a curious fashion of expressing their pleasure and belief in his work. It was all very well for Lord Leighton to utter platitudes after his death, all very well to revive the legend that he had actually once been invited to an Academy dinner. But if there is any history to be written about the Royal Academy of Arts during the last thirty years, it will be to record that James McNeill Whistler, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Charles Keene did not belong to it — a scandal no whitewashing by Lord Mayors, Presidents, and Prime Ministers can remove. Nor, in reality, was he appreciated, as the report is, on the Continent. At the time of his death he had barely been heard of in France, despite the Gold Medal awarded him at the Exhibition of 1889. For it was then M. Jacques Blanche could only hope that prochaine merit il sera Reconvert a Paris . . . par quelquuu de nos hardis lanceurs de nouveautes et declare homrne de gihrieP This was written after the Universal Exhibition. And it was also a few years after his death that Bracquemond, who, with Blanche, had got to know him, not from the pages of Punchy but from casual visits to London, wrote, “ Keene est pen comm en France^ though the eminent artist thinks he is worthy to rank with Daumier, with Gavarni. Even Beraldi, whose monu- mental Gravenrs du XIX^ Siecle gives him a position of authority in France, says, “ Keene est de ceiix que la critique met du temps a decouvrir. Son nom ti est pas crie sur les toitsP These are the verdicts of three of his French admirers, and the only other article about him I have been able to find in a F'rench journal was contributed by an English- man. I do not believe that the German public showed itself more sympathetic. The friendliness of Menzel is accepted as a sign of Keene’s popularity in Germany. But the 15 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. Menzel episode, as I have heard the story from Keene’s own lips, points to anything but a triumph in the studios of Berlin. As a tribute of his admiration of the German, Keene sent several of his drawings to Menzel. In return, and after an unflatteringly long interval, Menzel presented photographs and proofs of his own work, and eventually, I believe, some originals to Keene. However, Keene was too generous to go into these details in any of his letters. It was only in terms of sincere eulogy he could write or speak of the great German illustrator. But if this foreign neglect cannot affect Keene’s position, it does show that Punch is not so well known on the Continent as in England. That he himself felt his position seems to me very likely, though he was the last to let the world know that he did. And the world, having failed to see the beauty and greatness of his art, was as comfort- ably blind to the fact that, beneath a quaint and charming and always delightful exterior, lay hidden much pain and sorrow and disappointment. There is the less excuse for the public’s unanimity in ignoring him since the one phase of his art hitherto given to the public is his illustration, essentially the most popular. The current impression is that, if you look through the back numbers of Punch, and an occasional old magazine or book, you have learned all there is to be learned about Charles Keene as an artist. But this is by no means the case. His work may be divided properly — though the division has never been made — into two great classes : that done in one medium or another for his own study and delight, and that intended for publication. You may imagine, if you have not seen examples of the former class, that the engravings in Punch represent him fully and satisfactorily. Unfortunately, they do not. For me, however, fortunately, as it is the reason I now have the pleasure of showing that there existed an entirely different artist, drawing in absolutely another style than that foisted upon him by the wood- engraver — an artist of whom only slight glimpses have been had in Mr. Layard’s book and one or two stray magazine articles. I shall begin by speaking of the unpublished work because it is the least known, much of it not being known at all, and because, in many cases, the designs that were not engraved, if complete in themselves, were still but preliminary studies for illustra- tions. Many, of course, were done with no such intention. There are the costume poses which he drew at the Langham Sketching Club. There are the series of studies which he made upon his few and rare journeys with his friend, Mr. Stacy Marks, or during the summers he spent sketching in Warbleswick and other places with Mr. and i6 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. Mrs. Edwin Edwards, or Mr. Heseltine, or Mr. Birket Foster, or in the north with Mr. Crawhall and Sir George Reid. Drawn mostly in pen-and-ink, with a firm yet exquisitely delicate touch, these studies were portraits of his friends and the people he got to pose for him, or drawings of landscape and architecture done for pure delight in the subject, though most afterwards appear as backgrounds to his published designs. For Keene’s sketches, unlike those made by many artists, were really of use to himself for future reference, and even the world some day may also appreciate them. The average painter makes hundreds of notes and sketches which he puts away, only to find, when he wants to refer to them, that they are not of the slightest use. Everything that Keene did was a valuable record, expressed in an artistic fashion. Much credit has been given to Keene and some of his contemporaries because they actually took the trouble to go to Nature for the backgrounds of their illustra- tions. Frankly, I cannot see that they deserve great glory for doing only what every true artist does. It was no sur- prise to me to find a large number of landscapes among Keene’s unpublished drawings. One has only to look at the moors and meadows and hills that stretch away beyond his gillies and rustics and sportsmen to be sure they were never faked. But I was amazed at the beauty and perfection of execution he put into these sketches. Some drawn with a pen in old sketch books, often on a nasty blue paper, are delicate and exquisite to a degree that makes me fear they must ever remain single works of art, so entirely are they beyond the possibility of any method of reproduction. However, there was another means of expression capable of even greater delicacy and refinement, with the multiplication of a design as its chief end, of which Keene was master — etching. His few plates are as varied in subject as his drawings. Landscapes, Langham models, portraits — all these he drew with his needle. But from most of his plates so few proofs have been printed that his etchings practically have escaped even the dealer and the collector. The unpublished drawings may be arranged under several different heads. I do not propose to classify them according to date, because dates are rarely given, and without THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. dates any classification according to time would not be possible. The drawings them- selves offer no clue, Keene’s style, once he had perfected it, scarcely changing from the beginning until he ceased to make those elaborate pen-drawings, many years evidently before his death. It is true there was a period of tightness, probably when he first attended the Langham Sketching Club. But this quickly disappeared ; and afterward, save from the fashions in dress, it is out of the question to tell to what years the different drawings belong, unless, indeed, they are found under some other form in Punchy when an approximate date may be arrived at. But dates are of comparative unimportance, and the drawings which, in a way, can most appropriately be considered first, are the life studies — studies from the nude. Where they were made, whether at his own studio or in a life class, I have no means of deciding. His letters throw no special light on the subject. The drawings are owned chiefly by the South Kensington Museum, where they are bound up in a small portfolio. These do vary in their style of handling. One or two are evidently boyish efforts, for they are hard, and tight, and square, and almost wooden, with scarce a suggestion of the later freedom and breadth of his style. Others are as obviously very much more mature work, the softness, the roundness, the fleshiness of flesh being wonderfully rendered with a pen. And then, too, among them is a study, a most amusing thing, of a fat man whom he often used as a model — clothed naturally — for the Punch drawings. They are all frankly for practice, for study. In them is no attempt to make a picture of the model, as in those by Leighton, no attempt to produce drawings which shall be beautiful as compositions, or to serve as arrangements for future pictures. There is no formula, as with most art students ; there is never the predetermined expression or attitude unmis- takable in most beginners’ work. Each is a distinct impression — for if any one was an impressionist it was Charles Keene — of the flabby, or fat, or tired, or swaggering, or bored model, before him. He used the same models over and over again, one of them, it is amusing to see, a woman of the type drawn repeatedly by Etty and Mulready ; a plump, heavy, ungraceful, clumsy sort of female animal, sagging and flopping and sprawling about — the real early Victorian woman, innocent of all elegance and grace and distinction. She must have sagged and flopped and sprawled when she posed for Etty and Mulready, but in their work is little to show, whether or no, they saw that she did. There is no mistaking that Keene did see her as she was, not as he fancied she would look well, on paper or canvas. Critics who say that Keene could not draw a lady or a beautiful face, meaning that he did not draw conventional fashion plates, will turn to these life studies i8 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. as additional proof. But others will think they prove nothing more than that Keene drew the faces which his models happened to have been given by Nature. If a model has a fine figure it does not follow that she must have a beautiful face. Keene in his nudes paid as much attention to the face as to the figure ; and often his record of the combina- tions arranged by Nature is too true to be beautiful in the eyes of those who cannot see beauty in the old men of Rembrandt, the dwarfs of Velasquez, or the ballet girls of Degas. Perhaps at the Langham he made many more similar studies. But I am writing only of the few I have seen or own — all characteristic — nor does my introduction pretend to be an iconography. Mr. Layard speaks of Keene’s acquaintance with Millais and Mr. Holman Hunt, and the chances are he knew Rossetti. But remembering his objection to what he called the “ Gurgoyle School,” I was unprepared to discover that in certain of his un- published drawings he was, if not influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, using their models, with, as result, a series of pencil studies of female heads that remind one of Millais or of Mr. Holman Hunt at his very best. With no group of artists could he have had less in common, at least in choice of subject ; he caring above all for the romance of the every-day life and people about him, the Pre-Raphaelites seeking romance in litera- ture or the past. And yet, two or three drawings I have included look as if they had been inspired by Millais’ “ Isabella ” at Liverpool. But I am so sure of Keene’s unfailing truth and realism that to me they merely confirm my belief that the Pre- Raphaelites, or rather Mr. Holman Hunt and Millais, were tremendous realists. However, should I venture to assert that Rossetti, Mr. Holman Hunt, and Millais had been influenced by Keene, I know what an outcry there would be from critics who think it dims the greatness of an artist to hint that he had looked at any work but his own. No doubt I should be assured that the Pre-Raphaelites never as much as knew of Charles Keene’s connection with Punchy and much honour would be attributed to them for their igno- rance. But whatever critics may think, Keene was so true an artist that he could afford to admit there were artists beside himself in the world, and he was not too stupid, too pigheaded, too insular, to study them, to admire them, to imitate them. It may be well, before going further, to insist upon his intelligent interest in the work of other distinguished draughtsmen. Menzel to him was always the “ great German artist,” whom all his life he had “ set up as the great master in Europe,” and Chodo- wiecki, in whose track he thought Menzel a follower, appealed to him no less. His collection of the older illustrator’s prints was large at a time when few Englishmen could 19 c THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. have told who Chodowiecki was. “ Ed bet that four British R.A.’s out of seven would not know his name,” was Keene’s way of putting it ; and they would not to-day. For Stothard’s unsigned contributions to the magazines — there was no mistaking Stothard’s “ fist,” he thought — he was ever on the look out. Bewicks, too, he collected in a mild way. Toward the end of his life he subscribed to Fliegende Blatter. Often at first his admiration was practically expressed in his own drawings. I have reproduced on page 141 a study in Indian ink of a military subject which, in his every touch, in his arrangement, in his effect, follows the lithographs of Raffet as closely as it is possible to follow them. The drawing was done, Mr. Henry Keene tells me, as a study for his own pleasure, because he liked soldiers. What would not one give to see some of the original designs on the wood block, butchered to make an Illustrated News ? When I have looked through the numbers of that paper published during the years he drew for it, I am unable, save in a few instances, to recognise which were his contributions, so completely could the wood engraver adapt a design to the Illustrated News audience, an audience always superior to considerations of art. Even the rare drawings to which his name is signed would never otherwise be attributed to him. The wash-drawing, so reminiscent of Raffet, is not Keene’s only experiment in that medium. One or two others are reproduced here. There are many in the style of Cattermole’s drawings and lithographs, though very much smaller, and they have a charm that is due to Keene rather than to the men copied. In Mark Lemon’s yest Book there are several wash-drawings, and at times one might think he had taken as model for them the tile of the South Kensington Grill Room ; they might be called decorative were they not, like those decorations, so bad. Charles Keene was never very successful in what nowadays is called decorative drawing, unless the realistic initials and head and tailpieces he was for ever doing are to be considered decorative. His rare attempts were simply the worst things he ever did in his life, and it is not in them I would seek the qualities or characteristics that, as I have said, show him in sympathy with the Pre-Raphaelites. Mr. Walter Crane is of the opinion that his illustrations to Charles Reade’s Good Fight are marked by a feeling for the decorative effect of the old German woodcut. 20 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. To me they seem little more decorative conventionally than the headpieces which Sir John Tenniel was contributing to the same magazine at the same time. As to the primitiveness, is it not expressed almost as obviously in Leech’s drawings The Good Fight, moreover, was a mediaeval story, and Keene was careful enough to try to give it a mediaeval character. The tables, the chairs, the architecture, the costumes, the style of the drawing, are all quite in keeping with the period — that is, in the beginning — up to page 151 of the first volume of Once a Week. After that the primi- tiveness dwindled, disappeared altogether with the completion of the story. Keene, doubtlessly, would have been more astonished than any one had he been told his drawings were conventionally decorative, when all he had tried to do was, as an honest illustrator with a conscience, to read the MS. intelligently, and to the best of his ability make his illustrations harmonise with it. His drawings for Evan Harrington in the very next volume are as modern as Mr. Meredith’s novel ; and there was not afterward the slightest suspicion of a relapse into medisevalism, except in 1865, when apparently he proposed to use a mediasval subject in the decorations, never painted, of Mr. Birket Eoster’s summer-house. A small proportion of Keene’s drawings are in colour. Many of the designs are excellent. Little studies made, I believe, at Woolwich are full of life and go, and the Langham sketches — costume and nude models — are admirable of their kind. Some- times he gives little more than a tinted drawing on grey paper, an old-fashioned method that might be revived with advantage. Again, others are put in with big, bold, simple masses without any hesitation. But still others are stippled and elaborated to such a degree that one begins to fear, had he persevered, the world would but have gained a second William Hunt and lost an original artist. Some larger renderings of his studio and other rooms are delightfully quiet in tone and simple in arrangement. The Langham studies of men in armour and costume are admirable. There are little heads so full of character and so good technically that they alone should give him high rank as a painter in water-colours — a medium in which his work was never known, though that of men far his inferiors was lauded to the skies, and bought by royalties and struggled for by collectors. I know of only two or three works in oil* by him, but I have seen a few in distemper — one example, owned by Mrs. Edwards, having been done, like so much else, at the Langham. It was in distemper, too, that he meant to paint the never-painted mediaeval pictures on the walls of Mr. Birket Foster’s summer- * Mr. Heseltine has a portrait in oils. 2 I C 2 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. house ; for that there was a moment when his preoccupation with this medium was very great his long letters of instruction to Mr. Edwards are the proof. He did a few charcoal drawings. Mr. Henry Keene has informed me that these have never been shown anywhere. As I look at them, I read in every line and touch the influence of Menzel, which he would have been eager and proud to acknowledge. And I realise also that they are not surpassed by Menzel’s drawings in the same medium, that they are no less varied in subject and execution. The eighteenth-century arrangement is done in straightforward, simple fashion with the point of the charcoal, but the other, a King Charles in hiding I imagine, has been worked out most elabo- rately. Had Keene in the pages of Punch been able to take advantage of the mechanical methods of reproducing tone work, the world, I am sure, would have been richer by innumerable charcoal drawings. Had he had the chance he, like Menzel, would have been quick to avail himself of photo-engraving, which so increases the variety of methods at the service of the illustrator. It is said, in fact, that in his few experiments for process he was greatly pleased with the results. There is no question of his plea- sure in working with charcoal. But what could Punch have got out of such designs by wood engraving Of course there are endless studies in crayon and chalk and pencil, the studies which all artists make, but I see no reason to refer to them separately. There are still, however, his etchings to be spoken of before one comes to the bulk of his life work. Artists who could appreciate Keene knew that he had produced a series of etched plates, but they probably might not have been able to tell you how many of these there were. M. Beraldi catalogues twenty, while Keene himself was so delightfully vague that he seemed to think there were only about a dozen, too few to be catalogued seriously. “ I am amused at the idea of putting me down as a Graveur du XIX^ Siecle^'’ he wrote to Mrs. Edwin Edwards in a letter quoted by Mr. Layard. “ I have only scratched a few studies or sketches, not more than a dozen all told, I should think — the merest experiments ! Titles they have not. To save my life I couldn’t tell the dates, and as to writing my life-story, ‘ God bless you, sir, I’ve none to tell.’ A quotation to that effect. The most stirring incidents in my life are a visit to the dentist (date forgotten) and certain experiences of the last few days. Try and choke the French biographer off.” Little as was the help Keene gave him, M. Beraldi managed to make out a list of twenty plates. Bracquemond was moved to enthusiasm and rapture when he saw THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. them : “ Par la liberte^ Vampleur de leiir dessin et de leur execution, ces gravures doivent kre classees parmi les eaux fortes modernes du pre?nier ordreP I do not pretend that the longer list is final, but after looking in the albums of collectors and the British Museum I find that, not counting those he contributed to the Pocket Books, he etched thirty plates. Only two have ever been published.^' The first was issued by the Junior Etching Club in 1862, and was called The Plague, a subject which the next year Mr. Shields was to make use of to such fine purpose in illustrating Defoe. Keene’s plate is not by any means satisfactory ; it is black and over-bitten, and badly printed in all the copies I have seen. It shows a cavalier, with a cloak held close over his mouth, passing hurriedly through the empty streets of the pest-stricken town. The other, much later in date, is Soutliwold Pier, printed in the Etcher for March, 1881. Twenty-four plates of more or less varying merit have disappeared, and unfortunately Mr. Henry Keene and Mrs. Edwards know of no one who has a complete set of proofs. The remaining four plates are still in existence. Two owned by Mrs. Edwards are portraits of herself and her husband. Two, in the possession, I believe, of Mr. Keene, are landscapes, or rather land and seascapes at Dunwich, the “ charming lonely place ” where Keene used to take his beloved bagpipes to the beach “about 10 p . m ., when the populace were asleep, and skirl away by the sad sea waves for an hour or so ” — the “ poor old Dunwich ” of so many of Fitzgerald’s letters. Church and beach were done on the same plate, which was then cut in half, but they were never finished, and, more im- portant, they are not successful enough, as far as he carried them, to represent him worthily. Therefore, as Mrs. Edwards objects to have the portraits published, I am unable to give prints from any of the original plates. The etchings may be grouped under four heads : studies at the Langham and from models, portraits, landscapes, and one humourous subject. As with his drawings, it is impossible to trace any progress, any development. They are the work of an accom- plished artist, with whom etching was but another responsive medium. If three or four are not successful it is because they were meant to be elaborated, to be carried much further, and without the intended elaboration they are simply uninteresting. Keene may have become tired, may have been dissatisfied, but for one reason or another he did not go on with them. They must not be confused with sketches ; they are frankly designs but half worked out, and then thrown aside by the artist. Among the Langham studies the model with the ’’cello is the most distinguished. * Mr. Chesson has found another ; see Catalogue of Etchings. 23 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. Though in subject it might suggest Meissonier, in handling there is a suppleness and a painter-like quality of line that the more notorious artist never approached in his life. And it is astonishing that a man who etched so little had such a command of the richness and depth of colour to be obtained from a copper plate. This and the woman in the costume of Elizabeth, seated, at her side a lute, in a corner, the head of an artist leaning over his drawing, are both signed, so I suppose Keene considered them finished, and was pleased with them. A third is a study of costume, presumably of Henry VIII. ’s time, though it scarcely seems to belong accurately to any one period. It is clear that the man has been drawn for the sake of the dress, but the figure is dignified and firm, the design altogether complete. Two or three more of the Langham sketches are very similar to these. In one the model is at an open window, and the evident dramatic intention — the man, who has been shot, is falling over backward — explains that the illustration of a story or of some historical event has been the subject of the sketch competition. That Keene delighted in costume for its own sake, the stories of the wonderful collections in his studio prove. But I find the costume arrangements — I except the man with the 'cello^ if indeed it is to be classed with them — of less interest than the character studies, which are merely other versions of his drawings done with a needle instead of a pen. Surely there is not more character in his waiters and cabbies, than in the little old man standing before the studio stove on which a kettle boils, while there is the same care he always gave to the backgrounds of his drawings in the way he has suggested the carved oak chest beyond and the bench on which he himself used to sit and work. It is curious to note that the artist has written on the plate the number of bitings, and the time which each took. The same grim, solemn old man in a frock coat and top hat, no doubt studio properties, reappears in a large plate, which, however, was underbitten, and then never worked on again. I have also found a plate evidently done at the Langham — two studies of a nude, bearded man carrying a water pot or a jug on his shoulder. On the left is a half-length figure, while the right is taken up by a full-length drawing of the same model. This is the only print I have ever seen, and it is possibly unique. 24 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. But of all his etchings none can surpass the portraits. The finest, I think, is one of Edwin Edwards seated in a garden chair, under a tree, reading a book. The way the man sprawls at his ease, as Keene had probably seen him sprawl hundreds of times, is wonderfully expressed with the finest and most eloquent lines. Keene had no dearer friends than Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, at whose house in Dunwich many of his holidays were spent, so that it is no surprise to come upon a second portrait of Mr. Edwards, this time painting, and a charming study of Mrs. Edwards, she also seated in the garden, her white cap telling with good effect against the darkish background. No less charming is the portrait of another lady — Mrs. Heseltine, perhaps, or Mrs. Birket Eoster — on a lounge in front of a richly figured wall-paper. In this, even the old-fashioned bell-pull, even the picture on the wall as in Mr. Whistler’s portrait of his mother, become important in the wonderful scheme of decoration, and the colour is richer, more effective, more deliberately introduced as an essential quality than is the rule in his plates. This is unsigned. There are several other etchings of people reading or working, and three or four which might be, or might not — it is now hard to ascertain — Langham studies ; or, like the Calais fisherwoman in her big fluted cap, subjects which he came across during his rare journeys on the Continent, not one lovelier than the female figure seated reading a book, and dressed in the great voluminous skirts of the sixties, held out by the swaying crinoline which Mr. Morris would have had us believe is not beautiful, which Mr. Whistler and Millais and Boyd Houghton have shown us was far more graceful than the shapeless draperies of a later aesthetic generation. Their drawings and Keene’s etchings will endure. The opinion of Morris when confronted with them must prove but empty words. Were it necessary again to refute the oft-refuted assertion that Charles Keene could not draw a beautiful face or a graceful woman, his etchings would be more ample proof that he could than anything I might say. He drew, painted, or etched the women about him, whether they were beautiful or not. That he did not become a tiresome-mannered conventionalist like Du Maurier is fortunately true — some- thing to be thankful for. If the last insipid prettiness of Du Maurier is prized above the masterly realism of Keene, or, more blindly, above Du Maurier’s own early drawings, what else is to be looked for from a world that prefers the Kailyard to Literature } Keene used to say that a man who could draw anything could draw everything. To understand how true this was of himself you have but to turn from the portraits to the landscapes, the bits of sea-shore, the old houses. Who was first responsible for the striking similarity in the styles adopted by Whistler and Keene and Millais 25 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. and Du Maurier and William Small in the etchings and drawings of the late fifties and early sixties I do not know ; and Mr. Whistler has told me that he does not. If Mr. Whistler’s Thames Series^ if his figures are perfect, are a little better — -just the little better that makes all the difference — than Charles Keene’s, still Keene’s landscapes, his hoch^ his Pier at Southend^ the marvellous study of boats on the shore at Seaton, South Devon, are not to be ranked below the Unsafe Tenement or the Black Lion Wharf. They have not quite Mr. Whistler’s suggestiveness of line, not quite the apparent freedom in the touch. But everything is right, and it is amazing that they have been so long ignored. Even from the dealer’s point of view, they are of extraordinary value because of their rarity. The one humourous plate is done more in the manner of a pen-drawing, and, with great breadth and vivacity, represents a gendarme., booted, spurred, and armed, bumping, clattering, and rattling down a French highroad. It is a happy record of momentary action which Charles Keene, more supremely well than any other English artist, could see and seize and fix for ever. True it is funny, for a French gendarme is rather funny to look at ; though so, too, for that matter, is an English judge. Keene has etched him, not with the brutal ignorance of Leech depicting a Frenchman, but with the gay, kindly fun of a man who could appreciate all that was humourous in this bumping, lumbering, rattling embodiment of the majesty of the law, fulfilling his duty. With this plate I come to the last of Keene’s etchings — not very many compared to the hundreds that can be claimed by most modern etchers. But art is not measured by quantity; and to examine the little series carefully is to agree with M. Bracquemond, that Keene will henceforth be ranked with the great etchers of all time. But Keene’s drawings in colour or in wash, his charcoal studies, and his etchings were done but for his own diversion, his own pleasure, or, as in the case of the wash- drawings for the Illustrated News and early books, to meet the special want or directions of his editors and publishers. His chief work really was in pen-and-ink. But his pen- and-ink drawings must also be classified, falling naturally into two divisions : First, the studies which were complete works of art in themselves, drawn with no thought of the engraver, comparatively few having ever been seen save by friends and visitors to his studio ; second, the preparatory sketches and studies and the finished drawings made expressly for use in Punch. When the Keene Exhibition was held at the Fine Arts Society a few years since, besides the more familiar Punch designs on the walls, there were portfolios containing a limited number of pen-and-ink drawings of figures — mostly single figures — and of land- 26 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. scapes, done with a touch so delicate and so refined that no wood-engraver, unless he were a master like Timothy Cole, could have engraved them on the wood-block ; at any rate, no Englishman ever did. Many are studies of models posed at the Langham or in his own studio ; many, like the etchings, are portraits of his friends. Others are drawings of landscape and architecture, which, whether or not intended to serve as back- grounds for Punch drawings, are unquestionably complete and perfect in themselves. A few are renderings of foliage or of foregrounds. Almost all the landscapes are as English in subject as his illustrations. Hever Castle, Southwold Pier, Warbleswick, Whitley, Godaiming, and now and again the lower river, are his favourite sketching grounds, the scenes he knows best. True, there are also Scotch Moors, occasional notes on the Continent, and one Venetian drawing distinguished for its carelessness. But as some of the sketches were given away — he liked friends rather than strangers to have his sketches — some, as his brother tells me, he used to light pipes with, it is impos- sible to assert positively that he did little of importance on the Continent or out of England. Mr. Layard has reproduced several English drawings, and Mr. Stacy Marks has given his reminiscences of the holidays of which many others were the result. Those I have seen were mostly in sketch-books, made with a small steel pen, and usually with pure black or slightly browned ink, which he carried in an excisem^an’s bottle hung from his waistcoat button. Mr. Stacy Marks says that he drew straight away in ink, “ without any preliminary pencilling, as a means of obtaining certainty and sureness of hand.” He was very particular in selecting the sketch-books, which were of old Whatman or thin white paper, or of that pale blue used by our fathers for correspond- ence. Again, I cannot say whether Mr. Whistler or Millais or Du Maurier or Keene or Mr. William Small first adapted the methods of etching to pen and ink. But there is no doubt that they all did draw as they would have etched, and etched as they would have drawn. Mr. Whistler’s illustrations for wood-engraving, not more than four or five in number, and all published in Once a Week and Good Words, were, I believe, done mainly with a hard lead pencil in much the same way, and yielding much the same effect, however, as if he had used a pen. In many of Du Maurier’s early Punch drawings are traces of this same refinement and delicacy of handling ; but whether they were as distinguished in the originals as Keene’s there is now no possible way of judging, for they were drawn on the block, and hence disappeared in the engraving. In Millais’ Fram/ey Parsonage for the Cornhill, in Rossetti’s St. Cecilia for the Palace oj- Art, also, there has survived at least an indication of the same exquisite line-work 27 D THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. which the wood-engraver and the printer could not, or would not, follow. But curiously the artist whose drawings future generations will value as highly as Mr. Whistler’s etchings, developed a much bolder style when he came to design on the wood block. And this brings me at last to Keene’s illustrations. Now the illustrator has to concern himself not only with the quality of his drawing, but its adaptability to repro- duction, and his work, therefore, must be judged according to quite another standard. If I praise Keene the illustrator enthusiastically, as I propose to praise him, it must not be thought for that reason I would exalt him above such masters of illustration as Menzel and Vierge. Let me explain. No one can now say how well or how badly Menzel’s drawings for the Frederick the Great and the other books of the same period were engraved by Kreutzmar, Bentworth, Unzelmann, and the Vogels, since the drawings were made upon the wood and engraved all to pieces. But for some years Menzel has given up working for the wood-engraver, and we know that his drawings, when reproduced, if reproduced at all, by lithography or mechanical engraving, come admirably, losing little in the process. Vierge made the illustrations for Pablo de Segovia in pen- and-ink expressly for the photo-engraver, and in so doing achieved a triumph of craftsmanship, a triumphant union of artistic and mechanical knowledge such as, in illus- tration, had never been seen before. Vierge is not, as he has been called, the father of modern illustration. He is not, as I am told 1 have said, the greatest illus- trator who ever lived. But he is the craftsman of modern times who is most like the craftsman of the Middle Ages — the artist who could deliberately design and draw his illustrations so that the engraver Gillot could engrave them perfectly and the printer Lahure print them on the same page with letterpress. It is for this reason I wrote, as I am glad now to repeat, that “ if there have been any more artistic drawings, or engravings of drawings, produced from the time of Diirer or Bellini, Rembrandt or Piranesi, I have yet to find them. ... In comparison with Vierge, Diirer knows nothing of light and shade, Bellini and Vandyck and Holbein are heavy and laboured in their handling, while Piranesi and Canaletto have but an historical interest.” Pablo de Segovia revolutionised the art of illustration, and created a new school of illustrators. THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. the influence of which is now felt throughout Europe and America. I scarcely expect any one to understand what I mean, or to admit it if he does. But I will say again what I do mean, as plainly as I can, though I have little doubt that that part of the world which thinks it cares about illustration will continue to rejoice and glory in its ostrich-like ignorance. My meaning then is, that Daniel Vierge, who is a very great draughtsman, invented a style of illustration for books by drawing with a pen in Indian ink on white drawing paper with certain sets of lines in a certain fashion — and you have only to consult Pablo to see what this fashion is — so that the drawing can be photographed upon a zinc or copper plate, and this plate mechanically etched into a relief block, which will print upon the same page with type more perfectly than by any other method of reproduction yet devised. This is true craftsmanship, true art, and some day Vierge, for the important innovation he made in Pablo, will hold a place alongside of Albert Diirer and Caxton. When I consider the work of Charles Keene, who in some ways is a far greater artist than Vierge, who is mainly a realist, while there is little realism and much grotesque in Vierge, I find not merely that Keene did not originate a school, having had few followers, but that his work, done with no other object than the illustration of magazines or papers, could not, and even now cannot, be perfectly reproduced to print with type. It is a curious fact that Keene’s unpublished drawings, executed in a style which he was compelled to give up because no wood-engraver could do it justice, to-day can be reproduced mechanically better than the drawings made for Punch to be engraved on wood. Either Keene did not care how his designs would look on the pages of Punch, or he did not know how to attend to certain mechanical but all-important details. In a word, as an illustrator, Keene was never, as Menzel or Vierge, the Master Craftsman. There was a certain essential side of the art of illustration to which to the very end Keene was indifferent ; for in so accomplished an artist, indifference it must have been, rather than incompetence. Whatever the reason, there is no denying that he set an impossible task to the engraver. Therefore, greatly as I admire the published engravings after Keene’s work, I must be allowed to regret that he did not think more of the engraver and the printer. The prints after his drawings are fine, but the drawings themselves are amazing. The truth is, that in all the applied arts, and illustration is one of them, the artist who wishes a perfect reproduction or multiplication or adaptation of his design must attend to the technical requirements and limitations inevitably imposed upon him. 1 29 D 2 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. do not say that the illustrator must imitate slavishly the imperfections of the medieval artist, and produce sham woodcuts by process and sham art from his inner vacancy. We are, I fear, upon the verge of a revival of conscious primitiveness and unconscious ignorance of the Fine Arts quite unparalleled. But it will be lived through, and the truly great illustrator will always be the man who, unmoved by fads, the laughing stock perhaps of his contemporaries, or the object of their final ignorant admiration, goes his own way, working hand in hand with the printer and the engraver. If he neglects his fellow-craftsmen he is bound to suffer, even if it be only as Charles Keene has suffered, by having his technical shortcomings foolishly exalted into merits. In his very early work for the wood-engraver you can see that Keene was influ- enced, more or less, by Leech, whose drawings could be engraved, I imagine, fairly well. They were far bolder and simpler, infinitely less artistic, and vastly more popular than Keene’s. I do not doubt that, in the beginning, Keene was told how he should draw by the wood-engraver, especially as he had served an apprenticeship with the Whympers. I think he must first have broken loose, have refused the restrictions they would have imposed on him, in his illustrations for Evan Harrington, so obviously is he here trying to express himself in his own fashion, so unmistakably has the refinement and delicacy characteristic of his unpublished drawings survived, though too often his exquisite modelling of a face has been translated into the simplest lines or cut out alto- gether. Not one is more like his beautiful unpublished work of the same early period than the design on page 375 of Once a Week for April 28th, i860. It fails, it may be, in some ways, but it is probably the best he ever at any time did for wood-engraving,* and the engraving, probably, is the most faithful and sympathetic ever made from his drawings. One cannot help thinking how different would have been the results had he worked like Vierge for the photo-engraver. Possibly for publication by cheap engraving and rapid printing, a wood-engraver may produce blocks which will give the fatness and the richness and the fulness of some line drawings better than process. But Keene’s line work was not originally full or rich or fat. It was exquisitely delicate, wonderfully refined ; it depended for its beauty either upon one line rightly placed, or a multitude of lines so subtle, so close, that the brutal point of a graver in the hands of an ordinary man could never penetrate their interstices. When the engravings were the work of two or three engravers it is still less to be wondered at that the prints gave but a faint suggestion of the drawings. Often one man, I am told, did the face, another the figure, a third the background. * See page 123. 30 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. Wvvi M \v Vi A"> F- f>. ^ ; #/■/ ^ /: ! Wri . ?i .V %r A fVi;'¥i ■■ • / / 1 ‘ I / ^ '■ fe-i |;C 1 li . r,'%.v. Wv Keene’s style of drawing for publication became bolder and bolder as time went on. For his own pleasure he continued to make, with his pen, little masterpieces, which in their refinement are worthy to rank with the etchings of Rembrandt and Whistler. In his studies, and he made innumerable studies for Pi/nc/i pictures, he never varied his handling. But when working for Punch he either began to think more about the engraver, or else despaired of him and gave him up as hopeless ; and that this latter was the case is implied in the few references to the subject in his letters. “ They’ll spoil it in the engraving, but you shall have the draw- ing,” he wrote of a certain design to Mr. Crawhall, from whom the subject had been obtained. And to tbe same friend he maintained his belief “that Bewick was a greater artist than wood-engraver, and that he worked in and was hampered by an ungrateful material. ... We have not beaten the Old Masters of wood-engraving (wood- cutting) in my opinion, but have tried to do too much, and failed.” Would he not have modified this opinion had masters like Cole and Jungling, Florian and Hendrikson, been his interpreters I have seen piles of proofs covered with elaborate instructions to the engraver often quoted as evidence of his great care for the work and his satis- faction with it. Every artist does care, but to criticise and advise one’s engravers is not to profess oneself satisfied with their reproductions. All the refinement which was at least attempted in the Evan Han-ington period, by i866 has vanished from the Punch drawings. Instead of the elaborate cross-hatching by which the modelling and the fleshy look of his faces was obtained, short straight lines have been substituted, and a more open cross-hatching in the background, in striking contrast to the delicate, beautiful, tender studies, impossible to reproduce, made by him for the finished illustra- tions. For example, take the Lesson in Perspective. The head of the pretty cousin, as pretty as anything in English art, could not possibly be more daintily modelled. And yet, if you will compare the three drawings of this subject which I am now publishing, pages 59 et seq., you cannot fail to see that Keene ceased to hope that the subtleties of his drawing could be preserved by the wood-engraver. In another, Nae that fou ! it is 31 |h J 'v- ^ V- --I' 1 V THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. only necessary to compare the gardener in the finished drawing with the same figure in the three studies facing it. See pages 8o and 8i. Of course, it may be argued that no one can now know whether the early engravings gave the character of the drawings on wood more truly than the later blocks reproduced the drawings on paper. I have no means of deciding, as I have never come across one of Keene’s drawings on the wood unengraved. But I have drawn on the block myself, and I have seen many drawings on wood — untouched by the engraver, and still in existence — by the artists of i860, the Golden Age of English Illustration, and I there- fore understand how much the draughtsmen of that period depended upon the rosy or yellowish hue of the wood block, which lent a beautiful transparency and a silvery quality to their pencil, pen, or brush lines. I know that the brush work— these illus- trators usually drew in Indian ink with a brush instead of a pen — sank harmoniously into the wood, that washes of ink, when used, were translated by the engraver into lines, that Chinese white, wherever possible, was introduced by the draughtsman, but that the engravers then either cut the drawings thus made in simple line, and printed them on white paper, or translated them into tone without any reference to the originals. It may take years to convince even artists that these drawings — that is, the drawings of Millais, of Boyd Houghton, of Pinwell, of Walker — possess distinct charm of their own which no wood-engraver could reproduce, and that the few unengraved which are still in existence are veritable masterpieces. Judging from the surviving drawings on the wood block which I have seen, Frederick Sandys was the man of the i860 group whose work was most faithfully reproduced, and the reason is simple. Mr. Sandys did think of the engraver and the limitations of the printing press. He drew on the wood in pure black line with a brush, and he did not depend at all upon the colour of the block or upon Chinese white. He treated the wood block as though it were a piece of white paper, and he bore in mind the final appearance of his drawing when it would be printed on a piece of white paper. If Charles Keene in his later drawings on paper never thought of the engraver, the chances are that his earlier ones on wood were marked by an equal disregard for mechanical requirements. It may be said that this showed his greatness, his independence as an artist. But I am afraid it showed only his indifference, or perhaps his certainty that no engraver could reproduce the exquisite passages which he put into them and which the engraver ruthlessly destroyed. His attitude towards the engraver, in his drawings on paper, is a matter of fact, not of opinion. After 1872 he was emancipated from the wood block. He could make his 32 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. drawing on paper, and have it photographed on to the wood, so that the actual drawing in every case survives to prove what an impossible task he set the wood-engraver, and also that if he did relinquish his original style for a more conventional method, it was not because of any appreciation of, or sympathy with, his engravers. Only the most accomplished wood-engravers and printers could have rendered his earlier drawings adequately ; no wood-engraver or printer could have rendered most of his later drawings at all. The first were done upon the block, I presume in black, as in the beginning his drawings on paper were made in pure black or brown with a pen, or brush used as a pen. The later finished drawings, existing in hundreds, as well as the sketches for them, almost all on paper, were drawn in black, blue, brown, and red lines, put down with pens, brushes, sticks, and his fingers ; the various colours and methods are found combined in the same design, with very delightful results for everybody except the poor engraver. His paper alone was a serious drawback to excellence of reproduction. He liked to work on dirty brown scraps, upon the backs of old envelopes, or any odd pieces, in which the texture, the very imperfections, would add a quality that was amusing. And on these grey or brown bits, he drew with grey watery ink, with blue ink, with purple ink ; he mixed up pencil and wash, pen and Chinese white, with which he gave modelling and relief to forms, afterwards to be photographed on to the wood, and engraved as well as they could be engraved, by Swain, into pure black outline blocks, and printed upon pure white paper. Even if the originals were on white paper, nothing but the most elaborate colour block printing, by hand, could pretend to show the drawing as it really is. I myself own a drawing, in very grey ink on brown wrapping paper, that relies for much of its effect upon touches of Chinese white and the dirt of the paper. And yet it was engraved in pure black line, and printed on the staring white pages of Punch. When the beauty of Keene’s drawings in Punch is extolled even by artists and intelligent critics, it must be remembered that it is really only the engravers’ translation that appears on the printed page. Too often the engrav- ings look nothing like the drawings. It is the more remarkable that Keene was so loth to make the necessary concessions, since he had gone so far as to change his style for the benefit of the wood-engravers. If not for their benefit, why did he do it That it was a change for the worse I think must be proved, by the little known drawings done for his own pleasure, that are here reproduced. In conclusion, I should like to say a few words about Keene’s work generally. As some one has written, there is in it a wonderful feeling for character, a sense of move- 33 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. ment and proportion, and a suggestion of living things in living nature. It is in this power of making things live that Charles Keene has excelled, that he is the equal of any of the world’s master draughtsmen. Though all his figures are studied, they are never, in his finished compositions, mere models posing. They are doing what he wanted them to do, and he has seized them at the appropriate, the psychological, the most expressive moment. He had no scheme, as some one else has pointed out, to which country and town must be reduced, no formula for the expression of day or night. The wind blows across the moors, and the sun glints through the pine woods, and falls rightly on the old buildings that he loved to draw. The or the waves roll in and break upon the shore. For, as he himself said, and the saying does not lose by repetition, “ If you can draw anything, you can draw everything.” You can even make the political cartoon a thing of interest to other people besides those delineated in it ; and, though his few attempts as cartoonist, an artless expression for a childish scribble, may be unintelligible in subject, they are interesting in design. He felt everything he drew, and he often acted his subjects, and posed for himself. Frequently it was impossible for him to make a professional model take the pose, or especially the expression he wanted. This is the reason for the endless ± portraits of himself, under all conceivable sorts of circumstances, that appear over and over again in his studies and sketches, and more or less disguised in his finished drawings, and have been reproduced as excellent portraits in this introduction. Though the earlier drawings are so elaborate, and the later ones, or the engravings from them, so simple, all are right. His draw- ings have been also praised for their straightforwardness, their economy of line. I do not know whether this is a merit or a misfortune. But if to-day the few Frenchmen who have seen the drawings would accept him as the equal of Degas, of Gavarni — and it was a Frenchman, and no Briton, who gave him this place — to me he is, as a draughtsman, to be placed upon the same plane as Whistler — a more eminent, a much more distinguished position. Beauty, his critics like to lament, he could not see ; his eyes, they think, were quite 34 gaslight glitters in the city restaurant. THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. blind to it, not knowing the trouble to be their own short-sightedness. It was left for one ingenious writer to put the general verdict into words, and to declare, after the artist’s death, that Keene “ failed in the portrayal of beauty, elegance, respectability. A pretty woman never lurked about the point of his pencil ” — How could she, might one venture to ask .? — “ as she does so delightfully about those of his principal collaborators on Punch. His gentlemen are snobs, his aristocracy and his clerks are cast in the same vulgar mould, and his brides are forbidding, models of virtue perhaps, but lacking every outward feminine charm.” This is the real British critical estimate of Charles Keene. The true beauty in his drawings must necessarily be hidden from such a writer. It was not revealed to Ruskin ; how can Ruskin’s successors be expected to know better .? But why should their eyes be opened, why should they see \ The artist who cares, already knows well enough, that there is beauty, and of divers kinds, in Keene’s drawings — greatest of all, beauty in the method of expression, in every line set down, whether it gives the sweep of the wide moorland or the repeated house fronts shutting in a London street, the greasy creases in Robert’s coat, or the rags hanging about the little guttersnipe. And beauty there is, too, in his landscapes — masterpieces some of them are — and in his people, the women in voluminous skirts, the little girls in simple frocks ; and, above all, there is the beauty essential to show character, how- ever hideous in itself or insignificant, in a mere moral or social aspect. ’Arry and ’Arriet, policeman and publican, slavey and Sandy, as he shows them, have their beauty, though it may not be the prettiness of the Keepsake or the Christmas Number., the British standard. And that he could even produce the typical beautiful woman if he wanted this book proves for ever. That his critics failed to appreciate him is inevitable. And his humour .? Because he did not always invent his legends, he was no humourist, it has been argued. True, his drawings did not, like Gavarni’s, depend equally for their wit and meaning upon the lines written below — these, more often than not, being the contribution or creation of a friend. But the humour is in the drawing which needs no literary interpretation, and is therefore misunderstood. His figures, his faces, his groups tell their story — a story of delightfully humourous quality, though not as brilliantly satirical as Gavarni’s, not perhaps as romantically audacious as Daumier’s. His humour was more kindly, more genial, more sympathetic, never fantastic, seldom whimsical, the humour rather of a man who could see, and found his pleasure in seeing, his fellow-men as they are — weak, foolish, vain, pert, pretentious, as it might be, but who loved them none the less for it. 35 E THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. Besides this, in none of his drawings is there the slightest shadow of the vulgarity — the appalling vulgarity that humourists like Rowlandson and Gillray substituted for the cleaner, because franker indecency of the French draughtsman ; there is none of that spirit of riskiness, of suggestiveness, much more cultivated to-day in Anglo-Saxon nations than elsewhere. If he delighted in delineating tipsy men and servant girls and cabbies and snobs and soldiers and railway porters and waiters, is it not because the greater part of our intercourse is with just these interesting people.? They are the only inhabi- tants of this country who have character. If he did not draw the Johnnie, the masher, the swell, the clumsy elongated female fashion-plate, it is just as well, for had he drawn them it must have been with so much truth that no publisher or editor would have dared to print the drawings. Had Charles Keene chosen Mr. Ponsonby de Tomkyns or Sir Gorgius Midas as his subject the result would have been too cruel. He respected the feelings of such people too much to expose their follies. He was not a Zola, for all his realism ; he was not a Phidias, with all due deference to Mr. Ruskin. He was just C. K., the greatest English artist since Hogarth. The sketches in the Introduction arc all portraits of the artist drawn by himself. 36 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE, WITH COMMENTS ON THE DRAWINGS. 37 E 2 i O RIGINAL copper-plate by Keene. A number of these plates were etched by the Artist, and afterwards coloured by hand, and printed in that form in the Pocket Book. A Call ■ FOR the Manager. ' I 'HIS slight sketch and the finished drawing on the next page show the artist’s practice, as well as his care, in preparing his drawings for publica- tion. This is but his first suggestion. It has not even the movement and go he afterwards put in ; it is but the first impression, the first idea for the principal figure. It was drawn evidently from a model on roughish white paper with pencil. 41 ' I 'HOUGH, doubtless, there were other studies made before Keene got his scheme for the cartoon into shape — and this is one of the few cartoons he drew for Punch — one cannot help being struck by the movement, the action now evident in the figures. This finished, or almost finished, drawing was traced on the block — for it is reversed — and then carried out still further and then engraved. The drawing is on slightly tinted paper in the greyest of grey inks. Those drawings which arc reversed in the Punch blocks were drawn upon the wood by Keene himself. Those which are not reversed were photographed and then engraved. 43 A Call for the Manager. Mr. Punch. “The House is in an uproar. Somebody must go on. It’s getting serious ! ’ Lord Beac-nsf-Id. “All right, Mr. P. I’ll say what I can to quiet them.” 45 Punch, Sept. 30, 1876. F ' I 'HOUGH I have never seen any other studies, either for the remaining figures or the background of this subject, they were doubtless made. No wood- engraver even could render the fleshiness of the face and hands. This figure has been entirely redrawn, and an umbrella replaces the stick. The drawing was made probably with a brush in very grey ink. 46 Reminiscences. Governess. “Show Mr. Smithers your New Doll, Ada.” 0 /d Rustic. “Ah — lor’ — deary me, Mum, if it ain’t the very moral of my Old Woman when she was in her prime ! ! ” Punch, Nov. II, 1871. 47 F 2 A N early drawing photographed on the wood. This is from the original finished design. As it was executed in black ^ ink on white paper, the engraver was able to follow the original most faithfully. Keene at this time, 1877, had not begun to set the engraver the impossible tasks of his later years. — Process Block. 48 Delicate Attention. Confiding Spinster. “I’m afraid the sea is too cold for me this morning, Mr. Swabber.” Bathing Man. “ Cold, Miss ! Lor’ bless yer, I just took and powered a kittle o’ Bilin’ Water in to take the chill oft, when I see you a-comin’ ! ” — Wood Engraving. Punch Almanack, 1877 . 49 A MODEL, simply posing for the footman, ^ merely drawn for the costume ; yet even the face, more or less a portrait, has been as carefully studied as any other detail. Grey ink and brush. “‘High’ Life below Stairs!” Master {stiiffing). “There’s a most extraordinary smell, James. I’ve noticed it several Ha// Porter. “ I don’t wonder at it. Sir, I’ve spoke about it down-stairs. The Butler, Sir, you see, is ‘’Igh Church,’ which he ’as fit up a horatory in the pantry, and burns hincense. We could stand that ; but the Cook is the ‘ Low Church ’ persuasion, and she burns brown paper to hobviate the hincense. It’s perfeckly hawful on Saints’ Days, Sir !! ! ” 5f Punch, May 13 , 1876 . ' I 'HOUGH not a study for the maid on the opposite page — I have never seen the figures for that drawing — yet the sketch shows the care for and the love of his work so character- istic of the artist. No doubt this figure could be found in some one of his finished drawings. Pen and ink on tinted paper. 52 Manners ! Young Mistress. “Jane, I’m surprised that none ol you stood up when I rvent into the Kitclien just now ! ” Jane. “ Indeed, Mum ! which we was su’prised ourselves at your a-comin’ into the Kitching while we was a’ avin’ our Luncheong / / ” Piuk/i, April II, 1868. 53 G 7 ' I 'HOUGH the above is really a finished drawing, one may, by comparing the two designs, see how much Keene changed his original scheme when working on the block. In this case he did not improve it ; at any rate, the engraving is far less free and spontaneous than the pen-drawing reproduced by process. The old gentleman has not half the character ; detail has been added which is mechanical and superfluous. Brown ink, impossi- ble to reproduce on white paper. The ponderous joke may have affected him. 54 Reaction. Talented Authoress. “ Sensational ? ! Oh dear, No ! They are all plain ‘Goody Goody’ people, tvho call on each other, and talk the mildest scandal. The only incident of any kind is a Wedding in the third volume.” Editor. “ Ah, well. I’ll look it over ! ” Punch, No-x'. 6 , 1869 . 55 G 2 ROTOGRAVURE, by Art Reproduction Company, of pen drawing, in brown ink. This alone shows adequately the extreme delicacy and refinement of Keene’s handling. ni tgniwBib naq lo ,-{n£qrnoO noiJonboiqaM tiA yd ,35IUVA5IOOTOH bnB amaiJxa ariJ ylaiBiipabi; aworla anols eiriT .dni nwoid .^nifbnBrf a'anaa3 Jnamarrfta-f r> - _-i-: it- ■ ^ ■■ft ^'• ?i- -F ‘ : '.^r' •'*f' 7'^ •!.■•*’, *v4‘ ' • ,VV’- • ^ >''w 1 '• ■ ^ - ■ s}^'.?: .V..- i.'' p-> •,. , r ‘ .^S ■^■■' fH- ■ • '■ ■' ' ••■*’' V;> V .-.V'. “ Perspective ! ” pIRST suggestion in pen and ink for the finished illustration on page 63. 59 “ Perspective ! ” /^NE of the most charming drawings the artist ever made. He must have loved his pretty model, whom he has drawn over and over, always improving her, always finding her more charming. Note the hands and the face, the delightful rendering of the crinoline, the sug- gestion of old wall, studied from somewhere, the single figures in black ink on white paper. He could not draw a lady ! 6i 3 “ Perspective ! ” In criticising and correcting his pretty Cousin’s Perspective, of course Frederick’s face must be as .nearly as 'possible in the , same place as hers ! — TABLEAU ! — Pa (in the background) Is evidently making up his mind to see about this ! Note. — Fred hasn't a rap. Punch Almanack, 1868. 63 H % 1_J OW much has been lost in character is amply proven by this drawing. True the expression has been changed by the artist, but the character of the line has vanished. Black ink, white paper. Mind and Matter. Augtistus {poetical). “ Look, Edith ! How lovely are those fleecy cloudlets dappled over the ” Edith {prosaic). “ Yes. ’Xactly like gravy when it’s getting cold. Isn’t it ! ! Punch, Oct. 19, 1872. 65 n 2 HE figure in the engraving on the following page is a great improvement on this study ; possibly it was drawn anew on the block. Brown ink, white paper. 67 Proof Positive. Mistress. “Your character is satisfactory, but I’m very particular about one thing ; I wish my Servants to have plenty, but I don’t allow any waste.” Page. “ Oh, no, ’M, which I’d cat and drink till I busted, ’M, rather than waste anythink, ’M ! ! ” Punch, Feb. zz, 1868. 69 A GAIN, the engraving on opposite page is vastly better than ^ ^ the sketch ; the first is but a model, the last the Beadle incarnate, rampant. Black ink, white paper. The Sister is, for Keene, very poor and wanting in character. One of the few cartoons. 70 The Unrecognised Visitor. Buynble. “You’re the Sister of Mercy, is you Well, we arn’t got that name in the House ; so toddle 1” Funcli, July 21, 1866. 71 I A LTHOUGH the pose of the head has been changed, the rest of the figure ^ is the same ; but the face is vastly improved, and the feet have wonderful expression in the engraving. Grey ink, ^vhite paper. 72 Artful — Very ! Mary. “ Don’t keep a screougin’ o’ me, John ! ” “ Wh’ 01 bcan’t a screoiigin’ on ycr ! ” Mary {ingenuously). “ Well, y’ can i’ y’ like, John ! ” Punch, Sept. 28 , 1867 . 73 I O A N impossible drawing to engrave and print save by hand. Drawn in vermilion, each stroke of different strength, with much pencil work left, Swain’s block is a clever, much-reduced translation. This was photographed on the wood. 74 During the Cattle Show. Old Fiirmer Wuzzle {readhig the Bill of Fare). “ Dinners har lar cart ! What does that mean, Polly ?” Miss W uxzle [who has been to a fashionable Boarding-school to be finished., who has been taught French and how “ to spank the grand piannerf and zvho is never at a loss). “Allcr cart. Father ? Why, that means a small, simple dinner. If you want something heavy and first-rate, you order what they call a dinner waggon ! ” Punch, Dec. 9, 1882. 75 pENCIL study for the figure. The “Old Party” is vastly developed. ^ However, all the folds of the coat are carefully copied from the study j colour and quality have been added. Pencil drawing. 76 A Woman-hater. Spiteful Old Part‘d [tvho is tarring the stays of the Flagstaff). “Striped Gownds seem all the ‘go’ with ’em, eh [Chuckles.) I’ll stripe ’em ! Put a extra streak o’ ile in, o’ purpose — won’t dry for a month ! Come lollopin’ about here with their crin’lynes and tr’ines, they must take the consckenscs ! ! ”i Punch, Oct. 26, 1867. 77 78 Culture for the Working Classes. P hilanthropic Employer {who has paid his workpeople' s expenses to a neighbouring Fine Art Exhibition'). “Well, Johnson, what did you think of it ? Pick up an idea or two ? ” Foreman. “Well, yer sec. Sir, it were a this way. When us got there, we was a considerin’ what was best to be done, so we app’inted a Deppertation o’ three on us to sec what it were like ; an’ when they come out an’ said it were only Picturs an’ such, we thought it a pity to spend our shillins on ’em. So we went to the Tea-Gardens, and wery pleasant it were, too. Thank yer kindly. Sir ! ” Punch, Aug. 25, 1877. 79 K /^NE of the most amazing “ drunks” he ever did. The studies are but for the action, or inaction ; the expression he reserved for the block, and it has been preserved by the engraver. The glass house has been drawn again and again. 8o “ Nae that Fou ! ” Countr-^ Gentle7nan [zvho thought he a got such a treasure oj a nezo Garaener). “Tut, tut, tut ! Bless my soul, Saunders ! How — what’s all this ? Disgracefully intoxicated at this hour of' the morning ! Ain’t you ashamed of yourself ? ! ” Saunders. “ ’Sh-hamed ! [Hie.) Na, na, ’m nae sae drunk as that comes t’ ! Ah ken varra weel what a’m aboot ! ! ” Punch, Oct. 8, 1870. 81 K 2 T he old lady’s face is marvellous ; no re in it. A finished drawing in greys which the delicacy has been quite omitted by the engraver. production could show the refinement of line and browns, photographed on wood, one in 82 “ Responsibility.” Grandmamma {quoting last School Report). “ ‘ Idle ! — Insubordinate ! Playing truant ! ’ Oh, Herbert ! I was shocked to hear this ! And your Papa and Mamma, how distressed they must have been ! — and you their only child, too ! When you ought, on that account, to be all the more a comfort to them.” Herbert. “ Oh yes, Gran ma’, ’s all very fine ! But it’s rather rough on a fellow to have to be so jolly good for a lot of bro’ers and sis’ers he hasn’t got ! ! ” 83 Punch, Feb. 18 , 1888 . I A . - '•' •/3- -• .■' ' "’ J ’''’ ' 1 "Mt, ' ' '* ;., ^ . ■ v'fcv. ■'■':7f,-' K.-'^v-','/- / “ ■' t ■' - ■ ■ \ y \ fu, ': ■ ’ \ ^ ff y.4 k-’' '' A LANDSCAPE background, used on more than one occasion. See the i following pages. Every sketch he -ever ^ made was used, or could have been. He never wasted a line, or a bit o! paper. The drawing of the trees and pool made in pencil on white paper. Simplified much in the engraving — the vital lines well kept, but the colour suppressed — and rightly, too, in this case. 85 A Bad Season. Sportsman. “ I can assure you, what with the rent of the Moor, and my expenses, and ‘ what not,’ the birds have cost me — ah — a Sovereign apiece ! ! ” Keeper. “ A’ weel. Sir ! ’Deed it’s a maircy ye didna kill mair o’ ’em 1 ! ” Punch, Oct. 12, 1867 87 L Encouraging. First Bystander [evidently Village Schoolmaster — ignorant set of people generall') !) “Don’t seem to be making much of it, do ’e ” Second Bystander [you'd have thought him an intelligent Farmer, ly the look of him). “ Ammy-toor, seemin’ly ! ! ” Punch, Aug. 22, 1868. 89 L 2 A STUDY of foliage with pen and various coloured inks, quite beyond any sort of engraving save photogravure ; as carelul as a Diirer, yet absolutely modern. 91 93 T T IS last Punch drawing. I am not certain that he made this sketch on the Boulevards, but he has followed the character in the drawing, though the waiter looking out of the door in the finished engraving is more English than French. First sketch, pencil ; second, various coloured inks. 95 M 96 ’Arry on the Boulevards. Punch, Aug. i6, 1890. 97 M 2 ILJERE one secs just what he would have done if he could — that is, if he could have always worked for process. Every touch in the sketch is full of meaning, every graven line is hard and tight. Brown ink, white paper. Compare sketch with the two following drawings, in which the same two figures are used. 98 -* A Broad Hint. Bob') {solemnl'f : be has been left at Grandnuu?una' s for a fezu hours, and begins to find it rather slozvl') “ Gran’ma’ ! I wasn’t to cat too much Plum Cake ! ! ” [ Grandmaznma feels the rebuke, and rings the bell. Punch, Feb. 17, 1872. 99 Register ! Register ! ! Aunt Sophy. “ Now suppose, George, as a single woman I should have my name put on the register, what should I get by it ? ” Pet Nephew. “Oh, a good deal. You’d be allowed to serve on coroner juries, common juries, annoyance juries, pay powder tax and armorial bearings, act as parish beadle and night constable of the Casual Ward, and Inspector of Nuisances, report on fever districts, and all jolly things of that sort.” Punch Almanack, 1869 . lOI ^TUDY in ink for Robert. Punch, March 19, 1881. 105 N 2 9 ^TUDY in ink for Robert. 107 Pujx/i, Sept. 4 , 1880 . 109 ^TUDY in ink for Robert. 1 1 1 O Punch, Aug. 14, 1880. IT3 O 2 1 ' I 'HE largest number and the most elaborate series of studies I think he ever made for one illustration [Once a Week, Aug. 24, 1867). Commencing by a simple line drawing in pen and ink, he finished with the greatest elaboration. Curiously, the position of the hands and feet and the smock arc the same in the first sketch as in the finished engraving. II5 II? II9 p rvi.. 121 P 2 ' I 'HE best engraving, it seems to me, ever made from one of his early drawings, April 28, i860, tor Evan Harrington^ in Once a Week. Sharp, clear, clean work, excellent in its way, one of Swain’s best blocks. 123 ■ STUDY of the greatest freedom, never, so far as I know, used. Brown ink on white paper. 125 rUDIES of horses, cart and cab, probably for Punch. Note the different quality he gets in the pen lines in one drawing, and the pencil in the other. 126 127 Q ^HESE two charcoal drawings have never been reproduced. They are, it seems to me, equal to Menzel at his best. 129 Q 2 I3I ^HARCOAL sketch for a figure on following page. The drawing was printed in ^ Once a Week, April 1 1, 1863. 133 Breton Peasants singing “The March of Arthur.” Once a JFeek, Fol. 8 , p. 434 . 135 R C KETCH in Charcoal, for Once a Week, Vol. 8, p. 617. Only a ^ project for a drawing, yet what care for each line, and what bigness of composition ! 137 R 2 OTUDY in ink on yellow paper, slightly brightened with Chinese white. ^ Note the beauty of line, which will scarcely be found in the engraving. 138 The Painter Alchemist. Once a Week, 1867 , />. 43 . 139 W ASH drawing, possibly made for the Illustrated London News. Indian Charlet. Each little figure instinct with life, movement, character. ink, white paper, very like the work of Raffet or I4I V Hever Castle. gTUDY in ink on blue paper. The architecture perfectly understood, and expressed. Each line, too, in the foreground, tells its story. 143 .S I know what town was the subject of this sketch. Mr. Chesson thinks it is a difterence. The drawing is excellent. Drawn in ink on blue paper. piece of Turnham Green. It makes little H5 S 2 V TNK on blue paper. Note the way he concentrates his blacks, and so gets brilliancy in the lights, the study he has given each pane in the windows, and the delighthil trees in the distance. 147 •l 9 0 ■X 9 A PROSPEROUS person, evidently, drawn in the studio, as one may see from the details. Brown ink, blue paper. 149 Jtf "y^ERY free drawing in blue ink on white paper ; probably for Punch. I5I T /^NE of the most elaborate full-length studies he ever made. An uncompromising, and, therefore, beautihil rendering of the i860 costume, from the cloth boots to the bonnet. Study for the frontispiece of “The Cambridge Grisette.” Brown ink, white paper. 153 T 2 LJOUSE in Hammersmith, possibly not so on white paper. free as some of the other drawings, yet a marvel of careful and accurate work. Brown ink 155 C'lGURE probably for Ptmch ; face and hands exquisite, dress has been painted in with pen. Note the way in which the 157 9 A VERY early study, I should imagine, though only because the room looks something like an architect’s office, and it ^ was as an architect that Keene began his career. Brown ink, white paper. 159 U A- m A PUNCH study. A real study; no one could imagine the inconsequent ^ action of the legs. Pencil on grey paper, drawn on the back of an old envelope. U 2 i6i 4 A NOTHER Punch study. There is as much real study of astonishment in this sketch as of helpless abandonment in the previous one. Pencil on old grey paper. 163 gTUDY for a Caudle lecture. Ink on white paper. 164 i6s pUNCII study. The sleeper of the Club is drawn over and over again. Keene may have made this drawing from life. If so, that ever-present nuisance really was once of some use. Ink on white paper. 167 X JVJODEL posing for Punch subject. Ink on white paper. 169 X 2 *ir PROBABLY the most painter-like drawing he ever made; possibly for '*■ Once a Week, but I cannot trace any finished engraving made out ot it. Still, it was not his way to waste things. Brown ink, white paper. ^HE same old lady seated will be seen on page 175. A model whom Keene frequently used. Watery-grey ink, white paper. /^NE would imagine that he must have persuaded this little old lady to come into his room, just as she was, to have her portrait drawn. Yet he was careful enough of her comfort to give her a cushion which didn’t fit the chair. Ink on white paper. *75 Y pORTRAIT, I think, of himself, as a volunteer. Brow n ink. 177 Y 2 ' I 'HE British pioneer. The back view of the grenadier and volunteer appealed to him. And some of his most amusing drawings have been made from behind the line of fire. 179 jpROBABIjY for Punch. Ink on greyish paper. So many tones that it -*■ would not come in line. i8i ^^ERY elaborate pencil drawing, so delicate that no one could reproduce it. amazingly suggested. 'I'he velvet dress 183 Z ^IMPLE, bold pencil sketch of pose of figure and spaces of colour. 2 185 z pINISHED wash drawing in Indian ink. I imagine never used. 187 ' I 'O some this will be the forbidding temale, to others a sincere study of the face and the figure ; every detail perfectly expressed. Real Irish Grievance. Irish Model {requested to put on rather a dilapidated costume). “ The blissed Saints dirict me into this coat, Sor ! ” Punch, March 25, 1871. I91 A A y DO not know if Keene ever was in Ireland, but he seems to have had a number of peasant costumes, as this is evidently a model posing. In tact, a Punch drawing called “ A Real Irish Griev- ance,” shows the model saying, “The blissed Saints dirict me into this coat, Sor ! ” Our People, p. 193 A A 2 rvT^r pORTRAIT of- himself, studied for action and mirror. Pencil on brown paper. expression in a 195 ' I 'HE only sketch of a Jew that I have ever seen by Keene. Yet the whole Twelve Tribes and all their belongings are on this bit of paper. Pencil on brown paper. 197 pUNCH drawing, probably photographed and elaborated, ink. Note the little studies of the barber’s hand. Pink 198 Autumn Leaves. Operator {commencing attack). “’Hair’s falling off very fast, sir !” Patient {carelessly). ‘‘ Y-e-e-s.” Operator. “I can rec ” Patient {gaily). “’Generally does this time o’ year. Fresh crop in the spring, y’ know !!” {Snores.) [Operator sigh, and raises siege. Punch, Nov. 20, 1875. 199 B B ' I "'HERE are a number of these completely modelled heads, which could only be properly reproduced if Keene had etched them. There is all the elaboration of the “ little masters ” and all the freedom of the moderns. Brown ink, white paper. 201 B B 2 A NOTHER head similar to the last, primarily a study, but doubtless used somewhere. The character of the line exactly like etching. Black ink. 203 /GRACEFUL little person. Pencil study on the ever-uselul, never-wasted back ot envelope. 205 207 c c ' I 'HE swing of the brush line is only equalled by the swing ot the figure. The first, however, is sure, the last most uircertain. Tottering to the fall. Pen or his favourite bit of stick, and very grey washy ink. 209 C C 2 ' I 'HIS and the following pencil dravv- ^ ings are carried out with much of the feeling of the Pre-Raphaelites, or, more probably, the two drawings are of models used by those painters. 2 I 1 213 A STUDY, possibly a copy, in the style of Lawrence. Had he wished to do the “pretty” face there would have been little chance for any one else. Pencil on white paper. 215 D D '\7’ERY early sketch, probably at ’ the Langham. Brown paper and ink. A DUNDREARY character, whom ^ ^ he probably foun-d in real life. Pen and ink. 2 19 0 NCE a JJ'eek subject. Painted in with a pen. 22 I /^NE of his fine “baby” drawings. He could have made Christmas supplements, no doubt, but thank goodness he did not. Pen and ink. 223 E E i ¥ • f I , r .'y ^ M V, ; ..■•V; -. 7 *j ■ 'j;' ;:■« " r T^ELIGHTFUL suggestion of light and air movement of the trees and slope of the hillside. I neither know where this pen drawing was made, or it it was ever used. 225 E E 2 T ITTLE figure from a sketch book, probably to be re- , drawn an inch or so high for some scarcely-looked-at background for- Punch. Pen and ink. 227 ' j 'HOUGH he seldom drew animals, when he did they were excellent, save sometimes his Scotch Cattle, which are not very terrifying. Pencil drawing. 229 9 A LANGHAM model in Spanish costume, drawn at the Sketching 'Club. Black ink on white paper. A MOST elaborate arrangement of pen ^ and wash used in Punch. Not even a principal figure, and in the engraving by no means so good. A positive proof of the great interest and care Keene took with every bit of his work. Penny Wise. Natiofial Schoolmaster {going round zvith Government Inspector). “ Wilkins, how do you bring shillings into pence ?” Pupil. “ Please, Sir, ’takes it round to the public-’ouse. Sir ! ! ” Punch, Feh. 15, 1873. 233 F F 2 Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. i. Miss Lavinia Brounjones prepares for a 1 Sketching Expedition in the Highlands. Leaving the beaten track, she will establish herself in some remote farmhouse, where she can find ready access to fine scenery, and quiet opportunities for practising her Art. She superintends the packing up of a tew necessaries. Punch, Aug. i8, 1866. ' I 'HIS story of Lavinia Brounjones is almost the only series he ever published in Punch, and shows his method of working out a story. Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 2. Settled in her country lodgings, Lavinia finds she has forgotten her bath, but her ingenuity enables her to overcome the difficulty by developing the resources of the place. Punch, Aug. 25, 1866. 237 Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 3. Having secured a model for “The Flocks” in her picture of “Cattle Lifting”- Punch, Sept, i, 1866. 239 G G Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 4. The model proves refractory ! Punch, Sept. 8, 1866. 241 (i G 2 Overcome by fatigue and excitement, she has slept profoundly, nightmare. On awaking, she finds her model where she least expected it Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 5. but towards morning suffered severely from Punch, Sept. 15 , 1866 . 243 Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 6. Lavinia arrives at a waterfall, and asks its name. The Shepherd (not understanding English) informs her in Gaelic that it is called (as Lavinia supposes) “ Vicharoobashallochoggilnabo.” Lavinia thinks it a very pretty name. Punch , Sept . 22, 1866. 245 * ■.»• «4 / V/ f^k ^1* %'f I? , ^ i -Vf^*' ■' ■ ■■ ta ♦ Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 7. A bright idea strikes the shepherd, and before Lavinia can remonstrate, he transports her, in the usual manner, to the other side. Punch, Sept. 29, 1866. 247 H H Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 8. She comes suddenly on a strange structure — ^apparently a native fort — and is just going to sketch it, when a savage of gigantic stature, and armed to the teeth, starts from an ambush, and menaces her in Gaelic ! Pufick, Oct. 6, 1866. 249 H H 2 Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. 9. Lavinia takes a siesta, Punch, Oct. 13 , 1866 . 251 No. 9. — continued. And the frightful situation she finds herself in at the end of it. Punch, Oct. 13 , 1866 . 253 V Miss Lavinia Brounjones. — No. lo and last. The return home. Punch, Oct. 20, 1866. I I 255 ir ■T 4' ir' ■ ■* ,♦ - ^ - ■ tv^ : V i , 1,,. . . Vi ", y -* • iL4 - . •j: , ». "^ . • ' ■'. . • -■V-vV "• c.#* , - . . - ,■■• / !*■>'-. /• ' '■-(i • -.W ,.-' ' v;.- ■ » ' . WV ^-■^ :V ■ '^Tf. ^ V'fcsl;' w "■ • -F;' ^ t, ■ V T-Su.^ 1K,- .. 'i ;■ . . :. .. '. .. t ■•'4 '-^'•' '■'"'.'i^'- / * •. • 1 '- , ' -.- . .?■ . . il!>•.- ‘i? -44'.. , -V:.> ;, .,.*, '^•T . • V' »-■ - , "• .'--it- ^ >if' ■- - «■ ■ — A,. .....' vi^-^ ■■•' • ■•• •• -X8?- • •' ■■•.’ ■ •-.' i-i ■'iT’’ I ■ ■,-'.' -^^vif:'. '■♦-' -'!i ■> .■^■- ■■i 4 ... ■«- r ^ V •'.» ’.■ .V ^ J .-' . . ir;A , ;A- •-.#' .. i,’ ■■ ^ . '■^.•■l'\.-y'^‘i; iiii ■'/ &-.^' ■;<* ■■■ ' av • •’ . '••'?■ 4,- ’ tfc ‘ ■' ' %' ■ •• v,''aI''''-..^ . , ......... V'- ’ V-sS-,. '. 'rj • '.: -V •*? -. ■ . : :', ■ . ■* y^ :' -. .y. ^ ■ . ■■,* 4'’'..‘, • ■- ;■ 'r^SI # , , .--. X. - " - ' ■■ ' ■ ' "" .V i ' X "S’- .4 ■v■;.i■.■.--.^ ;■■ -'^V yyb’ '‘i^’ ■ . ■ .■A---''. ' ' ’'-. ;f' V.;. .y ■■ ■'■'' ■.■.■'■ ■■ '■-■•w'"‘^v'' - '-T' ‘-^v .. - .',•. .; - '. r-. ' v« '-. ‘.i;/. ■ V'-T; '^i'- '' . . ’-■■^i- • ‘’a> . ’ - <¥■; I ■ 'fL ■ ■ V- ■ A-'"*-. ,‘. '.-• - ■’■y^ ‘' ■ *■- ^ >/y: .'i. 4'i' , • ■ *:* '■. •" ^ ‘' 5 ^ . iX. - .i - .:..VyVS- . 'ij ' ®t* <1 SWAN ELECTRIC ENGRAVING C l^RAVVlNG in chalk and white on tinted paper; one of his most perfect studies of character. 2S7 k:c - «*-‘r^ ►> 'A ^ S '■* '-^ _* . ( i \ ^'^■^ 5 ^-' i‘ > ’■.t i'./^ :*#? < . -^ .•% j, 4 * •" r* -fc- - '- ijWiSf*.;. , ^ »• '-•?■ '.'■'!t- •<' ._ ■ '*i e -Z ^ J./'J >v-". ,» ’,' w.-fe V ■ ■.'■■'»■ '■ ■ ? g ? 1^ ■' A- V-*-, -'r • *■ .1 -V;-'-!*S‘“-''‘^' j';'" ^ ' .Jlj; ■-/■ ;. '.'S' =‘•. 1 . ' -'- HB '' ■t... mi-i^ -j!f ^ 1- '^'i '■'’ 7 * •- j 1 :- ' ■ ■■ - '.. ' * - ■ • F * i S^^AN ELECTRIC ENCRAVINC C3. OTUDIES of Irish peasant costume in black chalk on brown paper, touched ^ with white. At the bottom of the sheet, a slight portrait of the artist. RAWING in black and brown inks, reinforced with washes. There are several drawings, all very elaborate, of the interior of this or other workshops near the sea. 261 ^ I 'HIS study, reproduced in colour, gives some idea of Keene’s ordinary '*■ method of work. It will be seen that both black ink and sepia have been used, while the sepia has been diluted with water to get variety — so much in places that it has run. Quite impossible to reproduce and print in one colour. 26^ THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE NOTE. The Bibliography that is here attempted is, of necessity, incomplete. The jounialistic and early ’prentice works of Charles Keene are scarcely to be recognised, or chronicled with any degree of thoroughness, by his most penetrating admirers. The difficulty begins directly alter an examination has been made of London Society and Once a Weeky the two magazines for which Keene worked that made a point of ascribing to each of their artists, in the table of contents, his exact share in the production of the volume. His work in The Illustrated Times and The Illustrated Lo?idon News* partook of the nature of reporting, or, at least, was not distinctive enougli, alter it had passed through the engraver’s hands, to be recognised as his without his signature ; and he seldom signed his early work. His contributions to Punchy during a connection of forty years, defy any efforts at selection or enumeration. Nor does any one require to be reminded of the strictly comic side of his art. It was distinctly useful, however, that a list of Keene’s etchings should be prepared, not only because most of the plates have mysteriously disappeared, but because they form the subject of a foreign appreciation of the artist in a standard work of reference. I refer to the article on Charles Keene in the eighth part of the dictionary by Henri Beraldi, entitled, “Les Graveurs du XIX® Siecle : Guide de I’Amateur d’Estampes Modernes” (Paris: Librairie L. Conquet, 1889). Beraldi briefly describes twenty of Keene’s etchings, a number which Mr. Pennell increased to thirty, and which, by adding the coloured plates of the “Punch Pocket-Books,” I have succeeded in more than doubling. As Mr. Horace Harral, the engraver, remarks in a letter to me, “At one time he [Keene] was devoted to etching, and was constantly experimenting [in] ‘biting in’ and ‘ dry point.’ He, and Edwin Edwards, and J. P. Heseltine, were all enthusiastic etchers.” I may here remark that, if any vigilant reader notes the absence in my list of Keene’s etchings of the interior of a workshop (4^ X ’]\)y lately to be found in the Print Room of the British Museum under that artist’s name, the explanation lies in the fact that the etching in question is really the work of Keene’s friend, the late J. M. Stewart, to whom the Museum authorities have, at my suggestion, based on information supplied by Mr. Henry Keene and Mr. Pennell, at last decided to attribute it. The search for Keene’s etchings led to the accumulation of a few notes which have relevance enough to be informally submitted to the reader in this place. Mr. Henry Silver, who, as he has explained in Mr. Layard’s “ Life,”t was, in a great measure, the cause of Keene’s beginning to draw for Punchy has a large number of rough sketches and completed drawings by that artist. Eor the most part they appeared in Punchy and at least a score of them are the finished drawings which were photographed direct on to the wood-block. Mr. Silver * Miss Bessie M. Anderson, who has searched the periodicals, attributes to Keene the undermentioned contributions : — No. of Drawings contributed. First appeared. Punch . - . 2,350 April ist-2gth, 1854. The Illustrated London News 5 March 7th, 1857. Once a Week - - - 134 July 2nd, 1859. London Society 4 September, 1862. Good Words - - - I July 2nd, 1870. To this list must be added The Cornhill Magazine, for July, 1864, to which Keene contributed two illustrations for ‘‘ Brother Jacob,” an unsigned story by George Eliot ; and The Illustrated Times (see " Narrative of the Indian Revolt,” in the catalogue of books, p. 279). With regard to The Illustrated London News, Mr. Mason Jackson further informs me: “The last work done by Charles Keene for The Illustrated London News appeared in the Christmas numbers for 1856-1858 — ‘Bell Ringing,’ p. 626, December 20th, 1856; ‘Snap Dragon,’ p. 614, December 25th, 1858. His earlier work for the paper was only casual, and would be very troublesome to find at this late date. When he became a regular contributor to Punch he ceased to work for The Illustrated London News." According to Mr. Gleeson White (“ English Illustration,” p. 26), Keene’s last contribution to Once a Week appeared by way of illustrating “ The Heirloom ” (vol. ix., pp. 435, 463). Keene’s last drawing in Punch appeared August i6th, i8go. It is reprinted in this volume. t “ The Life and Letters of Charles Samuel Keene,” by George Somes Layard. 265 L L THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. frequently supplied Keene with subjects, and has many of the drawings which ' were thereby suggested. Among them I noticed that of the old gamekeeper, who, being rebuked by the parson for his absence from church, replied, “ If I had been there you would have lost pretty nigh half your congregation.” It was about the time when the pheasants lay their eggs, which were saleable for a shilling apiece, and needed careful watching. The old keeper was so pleased to see himself in Ptmch that he framed the wood engraving, and hung it in his cottage. An inspection of Mr. J. P. Heseltine’s collection enabled me to state in my notes on the “ Punch Pocket- Books ” that Keene made colour-sketches for the comic frontispieces and titles which, it must be admitted, have been very imperfectly followed in the prints, and it will be noted how carefully he selected and studied ideas for these burlesque performances. Mr. Heseltine also possesses a drawing done in red chalk and Indian ink of a game of croquet as played in India, with natives holding torches ; and an oil painting done on millboard. The subject of the latter is a Langham model — a lady standing with music in her right hand, looking left. She wears a red skirt and a blue bodice. Mrs. Edwin Edwards, for her part, possesses a large work alluded to by Mr. Pennell, roughly done in distemper, which might almost serve as a design for tapestry, and a water-colour signed by Keene — a picture of soldiers in knickerbockers and armed with spears, standing in front of a castle. Jacques Blanche is probably alluding to the latter when, in his article on Keene in La Chronique des Arts for January 17th, 1891, he described the only painting by that artist which he knew of as “ une aquarelle de guerriers romantiques.” Mr. Henry Keene owns some fine examples of his brother’s charcoal drawing, and many other examples of his art. His collection has been drawn on to illustrate this volume. Fourteen of Keene’s drawings are preserved in the Print Room of the British Museum. They include a crayon drawing of a lady at the Zoo, whom an elephant has picked up by the waistband, and a humorous study in colours of a modern ignoramus gazing at Egyptian antiquities. It may now be noted that Mr. Heseltine possesses what is probably the most interesting of all the extant works in oil by Keene. It is a portrait of himself, entitled “The Artist at Work,” given originally to J. M. Stewart, and sold at Christie’s, April 3rd, 1882. The size is about 12 X 7. Keene is seated in his studio looking front, painting. He sits in his shirt-sleeves in a Oueen Anne chair, a red smoking-cap on his head. A chest of drawers, with a frame on the top, is behind him. The floor is bare ; there is no ceiling. There are, besides innumerable drawings of himself, which he made in default of other models or by choice, the portrait in oils by Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A. ; the drawing by Professor Herkomer (dated 1870), published in Mr. H. S. Marks’ “Pen and Pencil Sketches;” the painting done by Mr. J. D. Watson, in Wales (dated 1870), “and considered at the time to be striking in its resemblance ; ” a memorial tablet containing a portrait in high relief by G. J. Frampton, A.R.A., in Hammersmith Public Library; and, for its humour, I would add a “ croquis a I’eau forte,” done by Bracquemond in 1871, and contributed, with a letter to the editor about Keene, to the number of L' Artiste* for May, 1891. In the latter the artist has not forgotten Keene’s “ cornemuse qu’il appelait bug-pipe ” {sic). Keene’s likeness is also preserved in a number of photographs, thirteen of which have come under my notice through the courtesy of Mr. Henry Keene and Mr. John Hipkins, the engraver, whose father, Mr. A. J. Hipkins, F.S.A., author of “ Musical Instruments,” possesses Keene’s Northumbrian bagpipes and stockhorn. Three of these photographs were hy Mr. Harral. The earliest, taken when the subject was about 20, shows him seated looking front, wearing a dark beard, his right hand being over his vest and his left in his pocket ; in the second he is seated looking right, hands clasped (age between 25 and 30) ; in the third he is standing looking left, smoking a short pipe, legs crossed (age between 30 and 35). There are two photographs by the late Mr. Wynfield, designed for Rembrandtesque effects ; in one the subject, dressed as a cavalier, looks right ; in the other, left. In the former he wears a large hat, in the latter none, and in each case a broad collar. Messrs. Elliott and Fry took at least two photographs, one of which (taken in 1869) is the frontispiece to Mr. Layard’s “ Life.” A second shows the subject standing, wearing an overcoat and a Scotch cap, and looking right, smoking. This photograph is one of two (the other taken by an amateur) which show Keene with long moustaches and no beard. I may add that Mr. Layard tells me that at Crail, a village in Fifeshire, he came across a water-colour caricature of Keene signed “ L. M. S.,” of which he obtained a facsimile. Mr. David * Other French articles about Charles Keene appeared in L'Art Moderne and the Gazette des Beaux Arts for April, i8gi. The latter was ■written in French by Mr. Claude Phillips, who also contributed the Prefatory Note to the Catalogue of the Exhibition of Keene’s drawings (see p. 288). Of the articles that appeared in 1891 in the English illustrated periodicals at the time of Keene’s death, those contributed by Mr. Joseph Grego and Mr. M. H. Spielmann, to the March numbers of The Art Journal and The Magazine of Art respectively, and the contri- bution by the latter to Black and White, for March 2ist, may be cited. Mr. Layard was the author of the article on Keene in No. 64, vol. xii.,. of Scribner’s Magazine, and Mr. Pennell wrote the one which was published in The Century, for October, 1897. 266 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. Mathewson, of Crail, is the owner of the original, which, he tells me, “ was said to be dashed off and sold as a potboiler by a young French artist.” It was presented to Mr. Mathewson “about twenty-five or thirty years ago.” The caricature, which he kindly lent me, is done in the style of a Vanity Fair cartoon, and depicts Keene standing in his shirt sleeves, looking left, and stirring a flaming punch-bowl with a crayon-holder. He holds the bowl in his left hand, and has a napkin, adorned with a portrait of Punch, slung over his left arm, after the manner of a waiter. It would be equally tedious and unprofitable to describe the vast majority of the drawings in the possession of Mr. Silver, Mr. J. P. Heseltine, and other collectors, excepting, perhaps, the artist’s brother. Nearly all have been published in books and periodicals. But we will give a final glance at Mr. Heseltine’s portfolio, in order to mention a few drawings with associations of interest. One is a quaint reminiscence of Mark Lemon’s visit to Barmouth : an industrious climber, with an umbrella, discovered with a horned goat looking down on him from above, and a truculent bull glaring up at him from below. Another depicts a pathetic incident in a snowstorm, the artist having collapsed, or taken refuge, under his canvas. A picture of Polly riding back to Beckley Court with Evan Harrington — a subject from the novel under the hero’s name — reminds one of a Keene book that ought to be done. The illustrations to “Evan Harrington,” which appeared in Once a Week (vols. ii. and iii., beginning Eebruary iith, i860, and ceasing October 13th, i860) are reported by Mr. Layard to have given Mr. Meredith “ entire satisfaction,” and Mr. Meredith told me himself that he “ thought them generally apt,” but they have never been dissociated from the magazine for which they were drawn. They have no footlines, but the subjects are as follows : — 1. The tradesmen discussing the death of the Great Mel. 2. Lady Roseley viewing the corpse. 3. Evan talking to Rose on board the locasta (printed "J ocasta in the book). 4. Evan shaking hands with Andrew Cogglesby. 5. Evan and the postillion. 6. Evan pressing his mother’s hand. 7. The two Cogglesbys dining. 8. The Countess talking to Evan. 9. Evan meets Susan for the first time. 10. Evan meets Raikes. 11. Evan joins Tom Cogglesby’s party at the Inn. 12. Evan holds up the child in the cricket field. 13. The three young men discuss “the snipocracy.” 14. The Countess in Church. 15. Rose gives Evan the roses (reprinted in this volume). 16. Raikes leaning outside the Inn. 17. Polly riding behind Evan. 18. The Countess reading Rose’s album. ig. The removal of Evan to the carriage after “ Break-Neck Leap.” 20. Rose and Evan by the stream. 21. Raikes “acting” for the benefit of the footmen of Bcckley Court. 22. Eerdinand on his knee to Rose. 23. Tom Cogglesby, Mrs. Mel, Mrs. Hawkshaw, and the trunk. 24. Mrs. Shorne remonstrates with Rose. 25. Tom Cogglesby in the donkey-cart, and the footman. 26. Harry consoling Juliana. 27. Scene in the park during the picnic — Harry “half-eaten up by the Conley girls.” 28. Lady (? the Countess) to right leaning against a tree to left with a handkerchief pressed to her lips. Scene — the Picnic. 29. Dancing in Beckley Park. 30. Harry wringing Evan’s hand. 31. The Countess trying to dissuade Evan from telling Lady Jocelyn about the forged letter. 32. Evan tells Lady Jocelyn. 33. Caroline and the Countess in their bedroom. 267 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. 34. Raikes knocked down by Ferdinand. 35. Raikes walking with Frank Remand. 36. The two Cogglesbys laughing over their plot. 37. Sir Franks (?) and Lady Jocelyn (?) at breakfast. 38. Andrew Cogglesby assaulting the “man in possession.” 39. Evan riding and meeting Rose, Harry, and Ferdinand. 40. Rose and Evan in the drawing-room of the tailor’s house at Lymport. The idea of adding a bibliography of books to the list of etchings had the excuse of practicability. At least it promised greater success than could be won by the pursuit of Keene through the periodicals. Still it has proved difficult of execution. I confess I was tempted to begin at the beginning and start with “Ingram’s Complete Treatise on Practical Arithmetic” (1830), which (it seems) Keene as a boy illustrated with strict irrelevancy and much spirit; but I feared to place my enthusiasm under a suspicion of drollery, or to claim for Keene’s very own work which might some day prove to be that of a contemporary. On the other hand, to redeem from oblivion even his signed book-work has not, in every case, proved easy, as Mr. Layard has demonstrated in respect of the “ Crusoe.” I should have liked, moreover, to have found the almanac illustration to which allusion is made by Mr. J. G. Hollway in a letter contributed to The Times in 1891, and reprinted by Mr. Layard. The writer descants on a “ prophetic picture,” which he mentions that Keene was commissioned to do for one of the almanacs upwards of “ forty years ago.” Mr. Silver thought that the almanac was Zadkiel’s. “ What a design it was ! ” apostrophises Mr. Hollway. “ Death, as a skeleton, poised his dart over a crowned hooded figure ; demons hauled on ropes fixed to a church ; a stately throne seat tilted to its fall ; ships went down ; powder magazines went up.” I can only say that I have examined the deceased astrologer’s “Astronomical Ephemeris ” for the years 1849 to i860 inclusive, but I have not discovered a sketch precisely answering to that description. Zadkiel, alias Mr. Richard James Morrison, began to publish “hieroglyphics” in 1847. In the almanac of that year is a picture containing a man in bed partially enveloped in smoke, a lighthouse, ships, a viaduct, and a church steeple struck by lightning. This is a mere suggestion of what Keene is alleged to have drawn. In 1848 Death appeared as a skeleton under Zadkiel’s auspices. He held the tri-colour flag of France in his left hand and a dart in his right. By him stood an armed man with a vizor on, a sword held under the hilt in his right hand and a scroll in his left. Between them was the Gallic cock on an hour-glass. At the right lay the Pope’s tiara on the ground. But there is not much evidence of Keene in all this ; the skeleton is the common property of symbolists. Perhaps Zadkiel revised the first lively draft of Keene’s fancy ; perhaps it was Old Moore who gave the artist the commission, after all. In fact. Old Moore’s prophetic moods during the fifties were translated pictorially in a style scarcely inferior to that of Zadkiel I. One discovers in his hieroglyphics a wealth of disaster that would satisfy the hungriest appetite for horrors ; and it is not surprising, therefore, to find stray reminiscences in one or other of his almanacs of the panorama described by Mr. Hollway. For instance, in “Old Moore’s Almanack” for 1855 (London, 1854), a hand with a dagger threatens a crowned head ; Death as a crowned skeleton holds a scythe significantly, and ships go down. “Justice, Woe, Prepare to Die,” shrieks the prophet. Or, again, in his “almanack” for 1858, we find that animated skeleton. Death, wielding a dart in his right hand, with the legend, “ Prepare, Royalty,” by way of explanation. The successor to Zadkiel I. (the latter died in February, 1874) writes that, for his part, he can find no such hieroglyphic as Mr. Hollway mentions. He refers to the hieroglyphic for 1849, containing a skeleton poising his dart, a scorpion creeping towards a ram with a sword in its mouth, and a ship sailing in the offing ; and adds, “If Charles Keene did really design any hieroglyphic for Zadkiel, I should think it was that for 1849, which is certainly superior to any before or after that year (for several years).” It is only proper to add that, at the time when this alleged drawing is supposed to have appeared, the mystic Raphael was issuing gaudily-coloured plates which, I am informed by Messrs. Foulsham & Co., were the work of artists who occasionally rose into great prominence. In these, as in the other hieroglyphics, one is confronted with an array of public catastrophes ; ships go down or are blown into the air, and churches, if not hauled down by demons, are at least threatened by the mob. I have submitted a number of these plates to Mr. Henry Keene, who is “unable to discern anything in them which would appear to [him] at all like [his] brother’s work at that period.” Here, then, the inquiry must rest, with the expression of my opinion that, since Mr. Henry Keene’s recollections are of a coarsely-coloured print, the claims of Raphael to be considered an early employer of Charles Keene are at least as strong as those of Zadkiel and Old Moore. 268 THE WORK OF CHARLES KEENE. Another matter upon which I am only able to speak with diffidence is the coloured book-cover work alleged to have been done by Keene. Routledge’s edition of “ The Boy Tar” (1884) is the only book so distinguished that has come under my notice, and, in this case, the illustration on the cover is merely a coloured reproduction of one of the plates published in Kent’s edition (i860). Mr. Edmund Evans, however, informs me that Keene made some drawings on wood for him, which included designs for novels by Bulwer Lytton. These I have not succeeded in cataloguing. They may or may not have been used for the purpose in question. I have not come across any “ex-libris” work by Keene. His own book-plate was designed by Frederick Conway Montagu, and is published in Mr. Egerton Castle’s “English Book-Plates Ancient and Modern” (George Bell & Sons, 1894). Mr. Harral alludes to a drawing of an engagement in which Admiral Jervis took part. Whether this was published or not I cannot say, though it may have been designed for the book entitled, “The Wooden Walls of Old England” (1847), in which, however, it does not appear. If it were the fashion to produce illustrated editions of novels, I should have had, in addition to the serial already mentioned, to include a work of Mrs. Henry Wood’s among the list of books illustrated by Keene. “Verner’s Pride” appeared as by the author of “East Lynne” in Once a Week, beginning June 28th, 1862, and finishing February 7th, 1863, with 17 pictures by Keene. An interesting feature attaches to one of Keene’s illustrations to “ Benjamin Harris and his Wife Patience,” by H. K., another of the Once a Week serials. The wood-engraving, originally published November loth, 1859, was reprinted in three different sizes, in the same magazine, in an article entitled “An India Rubber Artist,” published August 25th, i860. Two of these are mechanical reproductions, and the third is from the original block. The writer showed how a wood-block could be printed on to india-rubber, which could be stretched or compressed according to the size in which it was desired that the illustration should appear. This had been done with the block in question, after which the rubber surface had been inked with lithographic transfer ink, and a print of it made upon a zinc plate. The latter was then etched exactly as is done to-day. The novelty of this method of reproduction was unquestionable at the time, but it will be perceived that the principle underlying it is closely akin to that of reproduction by “ process ” as now practised. Just as on that occasion Keene’s work served as an object-lesson, so on another occasion it distinctly pointed a moral, namely, that what is drawn appropriately to illustrate one set of circumstances, cannot conveniently be made to illustrate a totally different set of circumstances. Consequently, when a picture of Keene’s illustrating A. W. Dubourg’s serial narrative of “ Lilian’s Perplexities ” found its way into Mr. Thornbury’s sporting ballad of “ Silver Shoe,” Mr. Thornbury’s ballad became slightly ambiguous. It may save confusion if I remark that, in 1886, Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) A. Stewart Harrison, a contri- butor to Once a Week, published with Mr. T. Fisher Unwin a collection of tales entitled, “The Queen of the Arena, and Other Stories,” in the Preface of which he acknowledged his indebtedness to certain artists who had helped to give popularity to his work. Among tlie artists named is Keene, who illustrated one of these very tales in its serial form {viz., “Where is the Other?” Once a Week, vol. ii., December 31st, 1859); drawing by him appears in “ The Queen of the Arena.” I have excluded from my catalogue books that merely reproduce Keene’s published work with a view to illustrating remarks about his art, among which may be classed the first edition of Mr. Pennell’s “ Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen ” (Macmillan & Co., 1889), in which Keene is represented by merely a reprint from a Punch block; Mr. Charles G. Harper’s “English Pen Artists of To-Day” (Percival & Co., 1892), containing reprints of some Punch drawings; and Mr. Walter Crane’s “Decorative Illustration” (George Bell & Sons, 1896); which, together with Mr. Gleeson White’s “English Illustration [1S55-70]” (Constable & Co., 1897), republishes the same illustration from “A Good Figlit ” {Once a Week, vol. i., p. 91). Just as I am going to press, I learn that an exhibition of the works of Cliarles Keene has been held this year (1897) in New York by Messrs, f'rederick Keppel & Co. One hundred and ninety-four examples of his art were displayed, including seventeen works described as etchings. Sixteen of the latter I recognise, but No. 194, “ Mr. Caudle and Miss Prettyman (unpublished),” is unknown to me. Mr. Henry Keene writes to me : “ I do not know of any etching of the subject ... in the sense of a copper-plate.” The note to the catalogue is signed “Frederick Keppel.” In conclusion, I may be permitted to observe that the number of books associated with the name of Charles Keene in the General Catalogue of the British Museum is ten. In bringing this number up to sixty-three, a sense ot the unknown has stolen over me, and I feel now that I have been prevented only by limits of time and space from making furtlier discoveries. W. H. C. 269 LIST OF ETCHINGS BY CHARLES KEENE. All the plates of these etchings must be understood to be lost or destroyed, except in cases where the contrary is stated. In no instance is it known how many proofs were pulled of the unpublished ones, and no single individual or institution possesses a complete set. 1 . * Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6| x 4- Cottage with big roof near Witley. One chimney to right. Watering-can in foreground. This is presumably the “coin de ferme,” No. i 5 on Beraldi’s list. 2 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, X 3I. Portrait of Mrs. J. P. Heseltine, seated to right under a picture on a sofa, netting. Rich wall-paper behind ; bottom halt of the picture visible at top. This was done by lamplight. 3. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, yS x 4I. Two studies of same nude bearded model on same plate. In each case he carries leather bottle on left shoulder. Top study is a half-length portrait ; the other, underneath and at right angles to former, is a full-length portrait and much smaller. Number of bitings (three) in top left-hand corner. Probably unique. The only known proof is owned by Mr. Pennell. 4. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 5I x 3j. Model in eighteenth-century costume ; white coat ; seated to left, playing ’cello ; bow in wrong hand, owing to the reversion in printing. Probably done at Langham Sketching Club. This is No. i on Beraldi’s list. He describes it as “ tres curieux comme travail. On pourrait comparer cette piece a une eau-forte dc Meissonier.” 3. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 42 x 3I. Model in top-hat, long frock-coat ; looking left. Scene in artist’s studio ; stove with kettle on in background. Number of bitings (two : 1st, 25 m.; 2nd, 10 m.) in left-hand side. This is the “croquis d’un homme se chauffant, le dos a un poele,” No. 19 on Beraldi’s list. 6 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, x 4. Portrait of Edwin Edwards (at Sunbury-on-Thames) in spectacles, reading a book in a garden chair ; looking left. Tree and brick wall in background. This is No. II on Beraldi’s list. Plate owned by Mrs. Edwards. 7. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, x 3I. A room in Edwards’ house at Sunbury-on-Thames. Portrait of Mr. Edwards in a chair painting, looking right, wearing spectacles. Window in top right-hand corner. Plate owned by Mrs. Edwards. 8 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 4I x 4. Portrait of Mrs. E. Edwards in sunbonnet (at Sunbury-on-Thames). She is leaning back in a lounge chair, knitting, a large book on her knee, and looking right. The scene is a field. This is No. 12 on Beraldi’s list. Plate owned by Mrs. Edwards. 9. Size of Plate, 6i x 5. Etched Surface, 6x5. Lady of i860 seated, reading a book. Wears crinoline and Montero hat with two white feathers and a chignon. Strong shadow at left hand. Number of bitings (two) in top left-hand corner. Mrs. A. J. Hipkms was told it was a portrait of the artist’s sister. This is the “dame . . . coiffee d’un toquet,” No. 7 on Beraldi’s list. * All dimensions given in inches, with a minimum of one-eighth of an inch. 271 LIST OF ETCHINGS BY CHARLES KEENE. 10 . Size of Plate, 6\ x 4. Etched Surface, (>\ x 3|. Man in doublet, slash-breeches, and white cap, looking right, holding bagpipes. Right hand on hip. This is, presumably, the “lansquenet debout,” No. 2 on Beraldi’s list. 1 1 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6i x 3g. Lady in Elizabethan dress, seated with her head on her hand ; lute at left. In top right-hand corner, sketch of the head of a man who is drawing. Signed “ C. K.” at left. Done at the Langham Sketching Club. This is No. 3 on Beraldi’s list. 12 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6 x 3|. French gendarme galloping with uplifted sword. Signed “C. K.” at foot. It is No. 20 on Beraldi’s list. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a sketch of this. 13 - Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 3^ x 61 . Interior (a) of “The Hill,” Witley, the residence of Mr. Birket Foster. Elizabethan room, with three windows at back, viewed from the top of a staircase. Little girl seated on bench under the left-hand window ; another girl stands by her side. Balusters in foreground. This is No. 18 on Beraldi’s list. 14 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 4x6. Interior (b) of “The Hill,” Witley. Same Elizabethan room as 13, showing two lattice windows. Bench underneath them. At right, a large chair without arms. Glimpse of windows of another room to right. A staircase in foreground at right. The subject was etched in reverse direct from nature. This is presumably the “chambre a boiseries,” No. 17 on Beraldi’s list. 15 - Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 5I x 3I. Model drawn at the Langham Sketching Club. Stern-featured woman seated, looking left, wearing a Normandy cap (costume of Calais) ; hands clasped on right knee. This is the “ paysanne a bonnet tuyautc,” No. 5 on Beraldi’s list. 16 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 7I x 4I. Man (Langham model) seated in wooden chair, looking left. Profile face, with moustache ; hat on head ; cloak hangs over back of chair ; gaiters below the knee ; left shoe with large buckle thrust forward. He is putting on a large glove or gauntlet, which he holds firmly in left hand. This is presumably the “homme assis, en pourpoint [doublet] et petit manteau,” No. 4 on Beraldi’s list. 17 - size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6 x 5. Elderly man seated in large armchair, looking right ; lips tightly pressed, hands clasped ; overcoat buttoned at top, large top-hat on floor to left. Number of bitings (three : 1st, 5 ; 2nd, 10 ; 3rd, 20) in top right-hand corner. Same model as No. 5. This is the “homme age,” No. 10 on Beraldi’s list. 18 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 5I x 7. Dunwich. Sea to left. Ruin of Dunwich Church with tower to right on cliff. Foreground of grass, etc. Signed “ C. K.” at bottom left-hand corner. 19 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 2I x 7I. Dunwich. Sea to left. Boats and shingle in foreground. Ruined church indistinctly seen on cliffs to right. Signed “C. K.” in right-hand bottom corner. This and the next etching were made together on one plate, owned by Mr. Henry Keene. The plate was afterwards cut in half, and this and No. 20 printed from it. 20 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 2I x 7I. Dunwich. Sea to right. Church to left. The name “Dunwich” etched in top left-hand corner, “Southwold” in top right-hand corner, and “ Walberswick ” between in the same line. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner (see note to 19). 21 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, x 6|. Seaton, South Devon. Boats in foreground. Cliffs at back. Sea to right. This is presumably No. 14 on Beraldi’s list — “canots sur le sable.” 22 . Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 61 x 4. Etched Surface, 4I x i|. Portrait of Mile. Zambaco, looking left, sketching. Left hand on drawing-board. The bottom of the etching curves indeterminately with the girl’s skirt. This is the “jeune fille,” No. 9 on Beraldi’s list. 23 - Size of Plate, 3I x 4g. Etched Surface, 2X3 (the top of the Etched Surface is cur ued, so that it is a little higher in the centre than at the side ). A sailor-boy at sea, looking right, pulling with both hands at one oar. He looks afraid ; the weather seems threatening. There is a deep shadow at back. The copy in the Print Room of the British Museum, from which my description is made, looks as though it were a leaf torn from a book. 272 LIST OF ETCHINGS BY CHARLES KEENE. 24. Sl%e of Plate and Etched Surface, 4I x 3. Man standing, cap on head, looking left. Right hand in pocket ; left grasps the handle of something that might be a stick, bat, or fishing-rod. His trousers are wide ; the right foot is thrust forward. Number of bitings (two: 1st, 20 m.; 2nd, i 5 m.) in top left-hand corner. 25 - Size of Plate, 6 x 5 . Etched Surface, x 2 |- A brigand, or similar ruffian, with a bushy beard and large boots, falls heavily back to the left, gazing upwards into a strong light, apparently just shot. His right hand grasps the stock of a gun, his left the edge of a partition, which seems to be his sole support. A sheathed sword hangs at his left ; a number of cartridges depend from his waist. A pouch and lantern are slung from his shoulder. Strong lights and deep shadows. The scene is probably a garret. 26. Etched Surface, 42 x 3 . (?) A man, looking left, standing, feet wide apart, holding a sword in left hand. Strong light falls on sword-hand ; deep shadow on right leg. Right arm has only partially come out. Breeches a little below the knee. This description was made from the bad proof in the British Museum. 27. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6 i x 3 ^. Gamekeeper in high boots. Second head of same figure to left. This is the “homme du peuple debout, chausse de grandcs bottes,” No. 6 on Beraldi’s list. In Keppel & Co.’s catalogue to the exhibition held in New York (1897), this man is described (erroneously, I think) as a “’Longshoreman.” 28. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6 X 3|. Lady seated, looking left, sewing, or crocheting, with a pillow behind her. Her dark hair is neatly parted in the middle and brushed back. She wears the dress of i860. At back is a curtain apparently before a window; floral pattern indicated. Deep shadow in right bottom corner. Low down on right the words, “2nd B., 10 m.,” and on the left side “3rd B., 10 m.” Duration of first biting not given. This is, presumably, the “dame travaillant a I’aiguille,” No. 8 on Beraldi’s list. 29. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6x4- Male Puritan standing, looking right. Right hand on hip, left on a desk or box. The model was a man surnamed Wall, the caretaker of the Langham Sketching Club. 30. Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6 x 3|. Lock on the canal between Watford and King’s Langley in deep shadow. Elaborate landscape. Portion much underbitten in lower right-hand corner. This is presumably the “ecluse,” No. 16 on Beraldi’s list. 31- size of Plate and Etched Surface, X 9 . Southwold. River to right. Cottages on left bank. Rivulet to left. Open sky. The word “ Walberswick ” in bottom left-hand corner. 32. Size of Plate arid Etched Surface, 4I x 6|. Published in The Etcher iox March, 1881. Southwold Harbour. Piers left and right. Shanty at back. Foreground or shingle. Walberswick to right. This is presumably the “extremite d’une estacade avec cabane, pres de la mer,” No. 1 3 on Beraldi’s list. Mr. H. M. Cundall informs me that the number of impressions printed was 450. The plate is still in his possession. 33 - Size of Plate, 61 x 4^. Etched Surface, 4I x 3I. Published in “Passages from the Poems of Thomas Hood” (1858). Illustrates “The Lee Shore.” The seaman is standing upon the boat, clean-shaven, with a tarpaulin hat on his head, looking right. His left hand grasps the helm, his right holds a rope which is fastened to it. Above him is a glimpse of the sails of his boat. The sky and the sea are black with — “ Winds that like a Demon Howl with horrid note Round the toiling seaman In his tossing boat.” 34 - Size of Plate, 6 i x 4 - Etched Surface, 5I X 3 I. Published in “Passages from Modern English Poets” (1862). Illustrates the line in Lctitia Elizabeth Landon’s “Scene of the Plague ” — ” Friends in the distance watched for friends, watched that they might not meet.” A cavalier is walking, muffled up in his cloak, looking left. Behind him, to the right, is a door bearing a cross, and showing this piece of an inscription : — Lord Merc upon us 273 M M LIST OF ETCHINGS BY CHARLES KEENE. ‘ 35 - Size of Plate, 5| x 14- Etched Surface, 4I x From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1865,” illustrating a sketch signed “A. M. G. M.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled “ Punch’s Sporting Lamp — Awful Explosion.” It depicts a table in centre of a room. A man is rising up to the ceiling, face downwards, attached by a string to a man standing with a bell. In the foreground is a man looking right, pressing the under edge of the table. An old lady sitting in a chair by him looks left with a horrified expression of face. Other spectators are round about. At back, to left, is a cupboard, through a hole at the top of which issues a trumpet. Between the words and date on the title Punch stands, hat in left hand and open pocket-book in right. He is looking left. Behind him is a background of drapery. 36. Siz£ of Plate, X 14. Etched Surface, x ii| From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1866.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled, “Mrs. Professor Fogey’s Reading Class. Subject ; Wonders of the Deep.” It illustrates a letter by the writer of “A Mermaid’s Diary” (a paper in Punch). Scene, the seaside. Mrs. Professor Fogey, with spectacles on, sits under a large boulder looking left, seaward. Two are flirting behind her with their backs to the sea, and two more at her right-hand side. Others are in an attitude of attention. The ladies wear crinolines. Lunch-basket on shingle in foreground. On title-page. Time with scythe under left shoulder and sacks and hour glass slung over it, and sandals on his feet, is looking right at a pocket-book which is standing on its end showing flap. On the book are these words, “Oh ! must stop and have a look at this.” Signed “C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a sketch of the frontispiece. See also description of 44. 37 - Size of Plate, 5I X 13. Etched Surface, 4§ From “Punch’s Pocket Book for 1867.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled, “The Matrimonial Arrangement Association (Limited).” Men and women (latter in crinolines) bargain for wives and husbands respectively in front of a counter. Background of wall covered with photographs, busts, and bills. Glass door at left inscribed “ Waiting Room. Ladies.” Various appropriate remarks issue from the mouths of the characters. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a sketch of this frontispiece. Title-page shows Punch, holding a pocket-book with the flap visible, with gloved hands high above his head. He is surrounded by ladies, who catch hold of him entreatingly. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has an uncoloured sketch of the frontispiece, and what seems to be a study for the title-page, bearing this remark of Punch, “I don’t hold with them stone (?) girls.” 38. Size of Plate, X i2|- Etched Surface, x 12. From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1868.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled ‘“The Person’ in Parliament — Chairing the new Member.” This illustration is founded on a humorous prophecy which time has falsified. The leading article of the second part of the “Pocket-Book” is an imaginary extract from the Pimes of April ist, 1878. It comments on the ability of women to enter Parliament. In the picture the lady candidate is standing up looking right, in a carriage drawn by two white horses, of which the near one is mounted by Punch, who wears favours in his hat and coat. Women policemen to right, banners at back. Various ladies make suggestions to the candidate, which issue from their mouths. Title- page shows a female Speaker, seated, wig on head, looking front. The mace lies on a table under her. On some tapestry below appears the date, 1868. Signed “C. K.” in right-hand corner of the fringe. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a water-colour sketch of this title-page. 39 - Size of Plate, 42 X 12. Etched Surface, 4® X II From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1869.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled “The Ladies’ Cricket Club — Matches to come.” Scene, ground in front of a mansion with glass house in front ; trees. Girls in knickerbockers are playing cricket. Batsman in foreground ; a girl with long falling hair, tied with a bow behind, has skied the ball, which is about to be caught by the fielder behind. Lady spectators left and right. Near the glass house an archeress is firing at a target. Between the words “ Mr. Punch’s ” and “ Pocket-Book ” on title, is a picture of Punch, screened on either side by the covers of the “ Pocket-Book,” which he bears on his back. A lady cricketer, in knickerbockers, looking left, is shaking hands with him. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a water-colour drawing of the frontispiece, and a sketch of the title-page. 40. Size of Plate, x ii|. Etched Surface, x ii|- From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1870.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled, “The Ladies’ New Gallery, 1870.” Scene, the Ladies’ Gallery in the House of Commons. Under a notice, “Silence is requested,” a number of ladies are chatting [z'ide letterpress issuing from their mouths). Some, with opera-glasses, are looking through the grating to left; others, holding books in their hands, are drawing up rules; others are drinking tea. At centre-right a young woman nurses a baby. At extreme right a group is playing cards. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. Between the words and the date on the title-page is a picture of Punch in hunting-dress, leaping through the air, whip in left hand, hunting horn in right. A “Pocket-Book” standing on end, showing flap side, serves for background. * All the etchings in the " Punch Pocket-Books” (Nos. 35 to 45) were printed in outline and coloured by hand. The plates are owned' by Messrs. Bradbury, Agnew & Co. In each case a plain typographical title-page followed the artist's. 274 LIST OF ETCHINGS BY CHARLES KEENE. 41. Size of Plate, ^ x i2|. Etched Surface, x 12. From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1871.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled “Gallant Rescue off the Bachelor Rocks.” Lifeboat manned by women to left. Figures of men in sea and on rocks to right. One is being conveyed into the boat by a net fastened to a long pole, one by a boat-hook. Doves fly in top left-hand corner. Background of rock, with a woman sitting under an umbrella at top. Heavy shower to right; blue sky to left. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. On the title-page, between the words “Mr. Punch’s” and the words “Pocket-Book, 1871,” Punch is represented in sailor dress, sailing over the waves on a “Pocket-Book.” He sits astride its thickness, looking left, with Toby in front. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a study of this title-page, in which the breadth of the “ Pocket-Book ” lies on the sea. Punch is rowing, looking left, with Toby between his legs. 42. Size of Plate, x 12. Etched Surface, x ii|. From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1872.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled “The Matrimonial Hurlingham.” Various winged men in morning dress are flying through the air. Ladies are firing ; one has missed. Comic letterpress issues from four feminine mouths. In foreground two ladies seated. Background of trees, a house and a church. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. Between the words and date on the title-page stands a naked Cupid, looking left, with a mask of Punch on his face, and holding in his right hand a string attached to a pigeon-trap on the right of frontispiece. A reprint from the original copper-plate is given in this volume, of which 750 copies are issued. The British Museum has a tinted study for the frontispiece in which the Cupid is included. 43 - size of Plate and Etched Surface, 4| x 12. From “Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1873.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled “Sweetness and Light; or. Science in Her Silver Slippers.” Scene, a reception. Men and women in evening dress converse on geology, harmony, metaphysics, etc., as indicated by letterpress issuing from their mouths. At left is a man looking right, playing the piano, and talking to a lady looking left. Two are sitting in left-hand bottom corner. Title-page shows Punch standing in front of a curtain, looking right, clad in a fancy dress, a plumed hat in his right hand, and in his left a trumpet, which he is blowing vigorously, as indicated by his swelling cheeks and starting eyes. Toby, seated on his haunches, with a frill round his neck, looks left contemptuously. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a sketch of the frontispiece, entitled “The Social Science Ball.” 44. From Size of Plate, 12 x 5. Etched Surface, 12 x 4|. ■Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1874.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled “ Mr. Punch’s School of Cookery, Courtship, and Conjugality.” Punch, in cook’s costume, is presiding at a centre table laden with saucepans, etc., looking left, and dispensing the products of his art. A mixed audience, seated to left, applauds, and makes various remarks, which are given in the plate. Dresser containing plates to right. Young female cooks in foreground. Title-page shows a clown tilting a gallipot in his left hand, and conveying a spoon to his mouth with the other. The gallipot bears the inscription “Jam, 1874.” At back is a “Pocket-Book” standing on end, concealing right leg of an old man in fancy dress and nightcap, with peaked beard, holding a stick or sword in his left hand. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a sketch of a similar subject, which was originally conceived for the “Pocket-Book” of 1866. In this sketch the clown and the old man are engaged in holding up the “ Pocket-Book ” between them. 45 - Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 12 x 4|. From “ Punch’s Pocket-Book for 1875.” Frontispiece and title on one plate. Former is entitled “The Androgynceceum Club,” and is illustrative of a “ dream of the future ” — “ a joint sex as well as a joint stock Club . . . meant to bring together the Lords and Ladies of Creation on a footing of perfect equality.” Scene, a room in which a number of ladies and gentlemen, both young and old, standing and seated, are talking {vide letterpress issuing from their mouths). To left a young couple is flirting. At right is a door, with a young lady entering. At back a footman enters with a tea-tray. Wall, with pictures ; chandelier from ceiling. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a sketch of this frontispiece. Between the words and date on the title-page is a picture of Punch mounted on a stool, looking right, and putting a cloak over the shoulders of a young and pretty lady in evening dress, who is looking right. Toby, with a frill round his neck, is standing on his hindlegs, with his forepaws on the stool, looking right. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has a sketch for an 1875 title-page, in which a hobby-horse figures prominently. The authority for the following two is doubtful : — 46. Surface, 6x4. A man standing looking left, hat on head. His left arm is in a sling ; his right hand holds a sword. The words “Charles Keene, Esq. Copy of Etching,” are written on right-hand side. It is doubtful, however, that this is an etching. It is probably only a photographer’s notion of one. On the other hand, it might have been etched on glass and printed as a photograph. Whatever it is, the plate or block is lost. This description was made from a photograph in the possession of Mr. Henry Keene. 47 - Size of Plate and Etched Surface, 6i x 4. Tall cliffs on right, with deep black hollow at base. Boulders in foreground. Thin line of cliff to left. No sky. Mr. Henry Keene, from whose copy (the first proof) this description was made, thinks it was possibly the work of a friend of his brother. It is possibly a portion detached from some larger plate. 275 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. Note. — The l/inding is onlj tnentioned where it is desired to call attention to some special feature. By point mg., and the use of capitals., German lettering, and italics, an attempt has been made to indicate the display of the title-pages. 1842. THE ADVENTURES | OF | DICK BOLDHERO* | IN | SEARCH OF HIS UNCLE ; | OR, | DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. | Edited by | PETER PARLEY. | London : | DARTON & CO., Holborn Hill. * This is preceded by a kind of half-title, or pseudo title-page, running “ The Life, Travels | and Adventures | of j [picture of old man reading, etc.] | Dick | Boldhero.” There is also an illuminated title-page of the series to which the book belongs : “ Darton’s Juvenile Library. London: Darton and Clark, Holborn Hill.” The illuminated title-page is followed by an advertisement containing a letter from S. G. Goodrich (“ Peter Parley”), dated London, Aug., 1842, in which he remarks that his future works are to appear in England “with the advantage of Mr. S. Williams’s illustrations.” [i2mo (5f X 3^), xii (excluding illustrated cover) + 203 pp.] Including the illustrated title-page, the book contains 38 pictures, engraved on wood by James Cooper, and it is to be presumed that they are mainly designed by S. Williams. But the frontispiece is signed “ Chas. Keene.” It represents a man and a woman riding on separate horses, looking left. The man, who is in the foreground, is being assaulted by a man on foot. His hat is falling off his head. A pistol, apparently dropped in the struggle, lies on the ground. The volume was reprinted in 1845 and 1864. 1847. [SELECT LIBRARY EDITION] | THE LIFE | AND | SURPRISING ADVENTURES | OF | ROBINSON CRUSOE, I OF YORK, MARINER. | Written by Himself. \ A New Edition, | with Illustrations. I London : JAMES BURNS, | mdcccxlvii. [8vo (6f X 4J-), xiv (half-title, title, and preface) -f- 364 pp. ; 6 plates, and title leaf to Part First, not paginated, and 12 pp. advts.] The frontispiece is the subject of the study in pencil which occupies the bottom right-hand corner of the “Studies for Illustrations to ‘ Robinson Crusoe,’ ” facing p. 12 of Mr. Layard’s “ Life.” A bearded Crusoe is sitting looking left at a table, his head supported by his right hand. His dog is under the table ; his parrot is perched at the back of the chair. Two cats occupy the top of a basket to the right. A ladder leans against the wall at back, and the latter is covered with utensils. The second picture illustrates Chapter II., Part I., facing p. 31. Crusoe, clean shaven, stands on his raft, a long pole in his hands, looking left. He is surrounded by boxes and casks (see top left-hand study in the “ Life ”). The third picture, facing p. 90, minutely illustrates Defoe’s Sketch beginning, “I had a great shapeless cap, made of a goat skin (Chapter III., Part I. See bottom left- hand study in the “ Life”). The fourth picture, facing p. 140, illustrates the words from Chapter V., Part L, “ Friday took his aim,” etc. It is the “Reproduction from a Proof of Mr. Cooper’s Wood Block” given in the “Life” (p. ii). It is the subject of the top right-hand study. The fifth picture, facing p. 1 81, illustrates Chapter VII., Part I. The wolf is attacking the guide, who is leaning back on his horse, looking left. Friday, close behind, on horseback, is shooting the wolf through the head. The sixth picture, facing p. 212, illustrates Chapter L, Part II. Friday, kneeling on the ground, looking left, holds his father’s right hand, and, with his right, strokes the latter’s forehead. A tropical tree shades them. Crusoe and a Spaniard in the distance ; sea and ship at back. All the above bear the names of the artist and the engraver, J. Cooper, at foot. There are decorative chapter headings and tailpieces, and a vignette of a large ship (p. 304). 1847. GREEN’S I NURSERY ANNUAL | [Coloured Picture of Children playing Blind Man’s Buff. | London: | DARTON & CLARK. I 1847. This fancy title-page is followed by another with a fancy border in red running : “Green’s Nursery Annual. | [Picture of a boy and girl playing with a kite and doll respectively.] | London : Darton & Co., Holborn Hill, mdcccxlvii.” [8vo X 5J), coloured frontispiece with blank reverse, first title with blank ditto, second title with imprint of Cook & Co., the printers, at back, 124 pp. ; with fancy borders in red, and two coloured prints in text with blank reverse.] Keene contributed and signed the wood engraving to “I don’t see why! ” (p. 68). The father and mother are seated at breakfast or tea, and Caroline, the naughty girl of the story, is standing with her hand on the- man’s knee. The details arc mainly irrelevant. Engraved by J. Cooper. Several of the drawings in the book are unsigned. Harrison Weir drew the frontispiece. 277 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. 1847. THE DE CLIFFORDS : | AN | HISTORICAL TALE. | By Mrs. SHERWOOD. | London : | DARTON & CO., Holborn Hill. | mdcccxlvii. The above is preceded by a title-page, designed by C. Keene, and engraved by J. Cooper. In the centre is the interior of an oratory, where two persons are sitting, holding converse. On either side of the frame of this picture is a mediaeval armed man holding a flag. Above, are the turrets of a castle ; below, a floral wreath. On the former are engraved the words, “ The De Cliffords ” ; on and within the latter, the words, “ By Mrs. Sherwood.” [i2mo (6-| X 4^), frontispiece, engraved title, typographical title, with imprint of W. Lewis & Son at back, i p. preface with blank reverse, 314 pp., 16 unpaginated illustrations in text, and 6 pp. advts. of Darton & Clark.] In addition to the designed title-page the book contains illustrations, entitled respectively, (i) “Lord de Clifford taking leave of his Family” (frontispiece), (2) “The Procession to the Christening,” (3) “The Pageant of the Bower,” (4) “The Knight’s Departure,” (5) “The Yawning Match,” (6) “The Knight’s War-Horse,” (7) “Riding on the Bear,” (8) The Visit to the Old Witch,” (9) “Henry entreating the Audience,” (10) “The Pageant of the Dolphin,” (ii) “Wilfrid and the Revellers,” (12) “The Discussion in the Cottage,” (13) “The Game of the Quintain,” (14) “The Shepherd talking with Henry,” (15) “Alice at the Well,” (16) “The Old Man at the Castle,” and (17) “Henry discovering the Secret of Colin’s Birth.” Nos. 10, II, 13, 15, and 17 are unsigned. All the rest are signed by both C. Keene and J. Cooper, with the exception of the frontispiece, which is signed by the engraver alone. 1847. THE I WOODEN WALLS OF OLD ENGLAND: | OR, | THE LIVES | OF | CELEBRATED ADMIRALS. | By | MARGARET FRASER TYTLER, | Author of j “Tales of the Great and Brave,” and “Tales of Good AND Great Kings.” | London : | J. HATCHARD & SON, 187, Piccadilly. | 1847. Lettered at back “ Lives of Celebrated Admirals.” [8vo (6|- X 4), X (including frontispiece) 4- 331 pp. and 32 pp. catalogue.] The book contains a frontispiece signed by C. Keene, and J. Cooper, the engraver. The artist has chosen an incident in the career of Sir Edward Pellew (Viscount Exmouth), connected with the wreck of the Dutton (1796). A mother is entrusting her baby of three weeks to Sir Edward, who, in the absence of the captain, has assumed command of the doomed vessel. It is possible (see p. 269) that Keene drew an illustration for the chapter on Admiral Jervis (Earl St. Vincent) in this volume, but it does not appear in the first edition. A new edition, which I have not seen, was published in 1864. 1852. THE ! WHITE SLAVE : | A STORY OF LIFE IN VIRGINIA, | Etc. | Edited by R. HILDRETH, Eso. | Author OF “A History of the United States. I SSittf) numerous iSngrabtngS. | [Vignette of the slave AUCTION.] I London : INGRAM, COOKE, & CO., 227, Strand. | mdccclii. This is followed by another (unillustrated) title-page, in which the story is called “The White Slave ; | Or, Memoirs of a Fugitive. | A Story of | Slave Life in Virginia, etc.,” and a quotation is given from the “Virginia Bill of Rights,” followed by the words, “First English Illustrated Edition. | With Eight Engravings.” [8vo (7§ X 5)5 ^ + 3°^ PP- 5 six plates in the text are not paginated.] The illustrations, which are engraved by Smyth, are entitled respectively “The White Slave and his Wife,” “The Slave Auction,” “ The White Slave and the Overseer,” “ Reading the Proclamation of the Reward,” “ The Slave-Owners’ Duel,” “Wreck of the Slave Ship,” “Avenging an Old Injury,” “First View of the Land of Liberty.” The first, third, fourth, and seventh are signed “ C. K.” Mr. Layard calls my attention to the fact that the last illustration is signed by something resembling a face let into the side of a K. There is possibly a latent pun here — '■‘■see K.” Subsequent English editions of the book bear the words “Tenth Thousand,” and “Fifteenth Thousand,” on the title-page respectively. 1852. A STORY I WITH | A VENGEANCE ; | OR, | maitg (joints mag go to a Cale. | Inscribed to the Greater Number of Railway Travellers, | and Dedicated to the Rest. | By | ANGUS B. REACH and SHIRLEY BROOKS. I With a Steel Engraving by John Leech, | And Ten Cuts by Smyth. | London : | 227, Strand. [8vo (7 X 4I), vi -f 90 pp.] The volume is a collection of stories. On the title-page is a boy handing in a paper at a railway carriage window. An initial T (a boy selling The Illustrated London News) begins the story of “The First-Class Carriage an initial I (a lady and gentleman seated at left of a first-class railway compartment) begins “The Theatrical Lady’s Promptings,” and an initial O (a young lady with clasped hands, seated, looking left) begins “The Young Lady’s Contribution.” All these are signed “ C. K.” There are other illustrations whose source is doubtful. Mr. Layard, who has examined Ward & Lock’s third edition, would also ascribe to Keene the initial I of “The President’s Donation,” the initial T’s of “The City Man’s Subscription,” and “The Clerical Gentleman’s Discourse,” the initial C of “The Logical Lady’s Deduction,” and the initial T of “The Medical Gentleman’s Dose,” although these drawings are unsigned. A “Second Edition, Revised, with a Frontispiece and Ten Cuts by Smyth” (London : Nathaniel Cooke), was issued in 1853. Ward & Lock published another edition in 1856. 278 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. 1853- MARIE LOUISE : | or, | THE OPPOSITE NEIGHBOURS. | By EMILIE CARLEN. | [Circular Picture of a Snowed-up House, entitled “Counsellor Utter’s Visit to the Cottage.”] | ?12^itf) lUUUCrOU.S lUuStratlOUS. | London ; INGRAM, COOKE, & CO. | mdcccliii. [8vo (7|- X 4f), frontispiece to “Marie Louise,” with blank reverse, title with ditto, i to 286 pp. and 4 full-page illustrations unpaginated, in that story ; also frontispiece to “Passages in the Life of James Leganger,” title to ditto, 287 to 318 pp., and list of illustrations to both stories, with blank reverse.] The illustrations to “Marie Louise” are entitled, respectively, “The Engineer at the Bow Window” (frontispiece), “Coun- sellor Utter’s Visit to the Cottage” (vignette in title), “ The Broken Flask of Rum,” “The Meeting in the Wood,” “ Pellander’s Interview with Von Walden,” and “Williamson and Marie in the Garden.” The fourth and sixth of these are signed “ C. K.” There is a suggestion of the “C. K.” in the right-hand bottom corner of the vignette, in the bottom left-hand corner of which is the name “ S. V. Slader.” The latter surname appears also in the frontispiece. The illustrations to “Passages in the Life of James Leganger,” included in the same book, are entitled, respectively, “The Count, the Provost, and the Painter,” and “The Travelling Norwegian Artist.” The initial “ S. V. S.” appears in right-hand bottom corner of the former. 1853- THE I GIANTS OF PATAGONIA ; | (ffaptain -i]3ounir’s arrount | OF his | captivity amongst the EXTRAORDINARY | SAVAGES OF PATAGONIA. | With Six Fine Engravings. | To which is added, the Painfully Interesting Narrative | of the Fate of the Patagonian Society’s | Mission in Terra Del Fuego. | [Engraving; “Listening to the Ticking of the Watch.”] | London: INGRAM, COOKE, & CO.; | and all BOOKSELLERS. | 1853. [8 VO (6J- X 3f), iv -t- 160 pp.] The six engravings are entitled, respectively, (i) “Signalling the Ship” (the frontispiece), “Listening to the Ticking of the Watch” (the vignette on the title and cover), (3) “ Patagonians,” (4) “The Captive addressing the Giants,” (5) “The Escape,” (6) Arrival of the Ships.” The first is signed “ C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. The name of the engraver, Smyth, appears on the third, fourth, and sixth illustrations. The book was issued in a bright yellow paper cover, on which the title-page was copied with the words, “ One Shilling,” in lieu of the date. 1856. iirije I JiSoofe of d., and in a volume with “Mrs. Bib’s Baby,” with an introductory memoir by Mr. Blanchard Jerrold. 1 866. LEGENDS AND LYRICS. | By | ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTOR DICKENS. I New Edition, with Additions. | Illustrated by | J. Tenniel, George H. Thomas, Charles Keene, J. M. Carrick, & DALDY, 186, Fleet Street. I With an Introduction by | CHARLES W. T. C. Dobson, A.R.A., Samuel Palmer, Lorenz Frohlich, W. H. Millais, G. Du Maurier, W. P. Burton, | J. D. Watson, M. E. Edwards, T. Morten. | [Ornament, Bell and Anchor.] | London : | BFILL 1866. [410 (8-|- X 6-5), half-title and blank reverse, one steel engraving, xx -)- 330 pp., and 20 full-page engravings on wood.] Keene contributes two illustrations : — I. “The Settlers” (facing p. 158). The picture suggests the lines — “ Two stranger youths in the Far West, Beneath the ancient forest trees, Pausing, amid their toil, to rest. Spake of their home beyond the seas.” There are two men, one leaning his face on his hand, the other clasping both hands and leaning his gun against his shoulder. The knapsack of the former lies on the ground ; that of the latter has not been taken off. A forest tree shades them. Both have a far-away, wistful look. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has two distinct studies for this picture. II. “Rest” (facing p. 239). The picture suggests the lines — “ The battle-field lies still and cold. While stars that watch in silent light Gleam here and there on weapons bright. In weary sleepers’ slackened hold.” The faces of four recumbent soldiers are clearly seen, one looking right and three left. Their cloaks, muddled with those of their comrades, produce an appropriately confused effect. Mr. J. P. Heseltine has two studies for this drawing, both slightly coloured, one with crayons. It is stated under the list of illustrations that “the engravings are by Mr. Horace Harral.” The steel engraving of the frontispiece portrait, not included therein, is by C. H. jeens. 1867 [1866]. TOUCHES OF NATURE | By Eminent Artists and Authors | [Picture, Two Boys, One Playing on a Pipe.] | ALEXANDER STRAHAN, Publisher ] 56, Ludgate Hill, London | 1867. [410 (12 X 9-f), title, with printers’ imprint at back, dedication with blank reverse, iv pp. contents (two of them blank), -b 98 pp., and 98 full-page plates on thicker paper than the letterpress.] Keene illustrated “Crowned,” by Adolph Saphir, No. 24. The foreground contains five figures, all, standing, viz. : — Conrad, the soldier, looking right ; his sweetheart, Nannerl, looking left ; her mother. Else, and her father, Hans, looking right ; and Carl, the baby, playing with “papa’s chako,” which serves as a crown. The background shows another room, wherein a woman is working. Engraved by Dalziel. Some of the other illustrations are engraved by Swain. 1867 [1866]. MR. PUNCH’S POCKET-BOOK | [Picture] [ 1867. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1866, with the exception of the date. [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv + 192 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 274, No. 37. 1868 [1867]. MR. PUNCH’S POCKET-BOOK [Picture] 1868. This is followed by a typographical title-page, running — “Punch’s Pocket-Book | for 1868, | containing | Ruled Pages for Cash Accounts and Memoranda | for Every Day in the Year ; | an Almanack ; | and a Variety of Useful Business Information. | With I Illustrations by John Tenniel, C. Keene, and G. Du Maurier. | In Two Parts. | [Contents of Part L] | London : Punch Office, 85, Fleet Street. | And Sold by All Booksellers. | [Price 21. \ Bradbury, Evans and Co.] [Printers, Whitefriars.” [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv 192 pp. and 8 pp. advts.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 274, No. 38. 283 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. 1868. DOUBLE MARRIAGE ; | OR, | WHITE LIES. | By CHARLES READE. | [PrcxuRE.] | A New Edition. [ London : | BRADBURY, EVANS, & CO., ii, Bouverie Street, E.C. | 1868. | ^All Rights reserved^] [8vo (7^ X 5), iv + 366 pp. and advt.] This is a member of a uniform edition of Charles Reade’s novels, with illustrations. There are two illustrations by Keene. The story represents the fusion of two stories, entitled respectively, “White Lies ” and “The Double Marriage,” which appeared with illustrations, some signed “ W. Corway,” and some unsigned, in The London ‘Journal (Vols. XXV. and XXVI., 1857). The first of Keene’s pictures (the frontispiece) illustrates the lines from Chapter XXl. : “ Colonel Dujardin walked quickly down between the two lines, looking with fiery eye into the men’s eyes on his right.” The second picture, which appears over the words “ A New Edition ” on the title-page, represents two ladies walking to left, and a gentleman in late eighteenth-century dress raising his hat. Both are signed “ C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. Engraved by Swain. The book was re-published by Chatto and Windus in 1890, with Keene’s illustrations. 1869 [1868]. MR. PUNCH’S I [Picture] | POCKET-BOOK. | 1869. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1868, with the exception that L. Sambourne takes the place of G. Du Maurier, and the alteration of the date. [i6mo (4f X 3I), vi -H 192 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 274, No. 39. 1870 [1869]. MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK. | [Picture] [ 1870. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1869, with the exception of the date. [i6mo (4I X 3I), vi + 192 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 274, No. 40. 1871 [1870]. MR. PUNCH’S I [Picture] | POCKET-BOOK. | 1871. This is followed by a typographical title-page, running — “Punch’s Pocket-Book | for 1871, | Containing | Ruled Pages for Cash Accounts and Memoranda | for Every Day in the Year ; | an Almanack ; | and a Variety of Useful Business Informa- tion. I With Illustrations by John Tenniel, C. Keene, L. Sambourne, | &c. | In Two Parts. | [Contents of Part I.] | London : Punch Office, 85, Fleet Street. | And Sold by All Booksellers. | [Price zs. (sd.^ | Bradbury, Evans, & Co.] [Printers, Whitefriars.” [i6mo (4I X 3I), vi + 192 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 275, No. 41. The cover contains a picture of Punch riding a pocket-book, with a quill pen for head and tail. 1872 [1871]. MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK [Picture] FOR | 1872. This is followed by a typographical title-page, running — “Punch’s Pocket-Book | for 1872, | Containing | A Calendar, Cash Account, Diary and Memoranda | for Every Day in the Year, | and a Variety of Useful Business Information. | Illustrated by I John Tenniel, Charles Keene, L. Sambourne, &c. | London : | Punch Office, 85, Fleet Street, E.C. | and | Bradbury, Evans, & Co., 10, Bouverie Street, E.C. | 1872.” [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv + 176 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 275, No. 42. There is a picture of Punch making his bow, on the cover. 1872. ROUND THE TABLE. | NOTES ON COOKERY, | AND | PLAIN RECIPES, | with a | SELECTION OF BILLS OF FARE FOR EVERY MONTH. | By j “The G. C.” | London : | HORACE COX, 346, Strand, W.C. | 1872. [8vo X 5J), viii 4 303 pp. (last page with blank reverse), and 8 pp. advts., besides some on the end papers.] Sixteen figures of “ How to Truss Fowls,” “ How to Bone Fowls,” and “ How to Cut up Fowls,” appearing in this book are said by Mr. Layard to be Keene’s handiwork. An edition was imported into the U.S.A., by J. B. Lippincott & Co. A second English edition appeared in 1873. 1873 [1872]. MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK. | [Picture partially hiding the last two words.] [ 1873. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1872, with the exception of the date and the name “Agnew” instead of “ Evans ” in the imprint. [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv + 192 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, sec p. 275, No. 43. 284 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. 1874 (1873). MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK. | [Picture containing the words JAM, 1874]. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1873, with the exception of the date. [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv + 192 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 275, No. 44. 1875 [1874]. MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK. | [Picture] | 1875. Th is is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1873, with the exception of the date and the addition of “ 8, 9, &” to Bradbury’s address in Bouverie Street. [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv + 192 pp.] For description of Keene’s etching, see p. 275, No. 45. 1876 [1875]. * MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK | [Picture] | 1876. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1875, with the exception that the lines between the sixth and the imprint run “ | Illustrated by | John Tenniel, Charles Keene, | And | Linley Sambourne. | ” [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv + 192 pp.] Keene contributes a coloured frontispiece, entitled “The Modern Babylonian Marriage Mart (Respectfully dedicated to E. L. Long, Esq., the painter of the ancient one,)” and a coloured title-page. Punch officiates as auctioneer at the left, hammer in right hand, pince-nez in left. Both he and Cupid, who stands at a little rostrum under Punch, are looking right. Row of young ladies in the foreground. Subject of the bidding stands on a platform just over them. The Print Room of the British Museum contains the original drawing for this frontispiece. Its dimensions are more than one foot by two. On the title-page, between the words and the date. Punch, looking left, clad in armour, with a tourney lance in his right hand, rides a hobby- horse. He is bearing off the ring. The horse’s body is encased in a pocket-book, the flap showing. Toby worries him from behind. 1876 [1875.] HISTORICAL & LEGEND ART \ BALLADS 07 VG 5 . | By WALTER THORNBURY. | lUustiatftl | J. WHISTLER, F. WALKER, JOHN TENNIEL, J. D. WATSON, W. SMALL, \ F. SANDTS, G. J. PIN WELL, T. MORTEN, M. J. LAWLESS, \ AND MANY OTHERS. \ [Oval Ornament of Two Figures supporting a Vase.] | iLOlltlOU 1 | CHATTO and WINDUS, Piccadilly. | 1876. | \_All rights reserved [4to ( 9 i X 7^), xxiv -I- 281 pp. and 2 pp. advts.] Reprinted from Once a Week. Keene contributes the illustration to “Silver Shoe: Molton Steeple Races — 1858” (p. 183), taking, according to the list of illustrations, the lines, "Together went our double shoes, Together went our stride.” H is illustration, originally published September 14th, 1861, really refers to an incident in “Lilian’s Perplexities,” by A. W. Dubourg (z’ide Once a Week, vol. v., p. 309). Two men on horseback are galloping. The one in foreground, clad in a long overcoat and trousers, with top-hat, turns his back on the spectator, showing nothing of his physiognomy but bushy side whiskers at right. The horseman at back shows full face surmounted by a top-hat. In background to left is a mounted lady, looking right. Other persons indicated. Engraved by Swain. 1877 [1876]. MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK | [Picture which partly hides the last word] | 1877. This is followed by the typographical title-page which, with the exception of the date and the omission of the “ And ” before “Bradbury,” is the same as that for 1876. [i6mo (4f X 3i), iv + 208 pp.] Keene did the coloured frontispiece and title-page. Former is entitled “The Autumn Matrimonial Manoeuvres.” At right centre various mothers — “The Generals” — stand in council ; at left centre a game of tennis is in progress. To right various loving couples walk in pairs. To left are sundry pretty young women — “artillery in reserve.” At back is a huddled group of men fleeing from mounted women — “Light Horse.” Trees here and there. Title-page shows Punch as sentry standing in front of a “Pocket-Book ” turned on its end. He is looking left, holding a halbert perpendicularly in both hands. Mounted women are about to pass. Foremost salutes with right hand. Toby is galloping behind the pocket-book. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. From 1876 to 1881 the fronts and titles were woodcuts engraved by Swain, and coloured by hand. 285 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. 1878 [1877]. MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK | [Picture containing the last two words and the date]. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1877, with the exception of the date. [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv -f- 208 pp.] Keene did the coloured frontispiece and title-page. Former is entitled “ Mr. Pundi’s Reading Party.” Scene, a meadow. Punch in centre, reading aloud, surrounded by admiring ladies. One at left leans on his shoulder, another is sitting at her feet, with Toby by her side. Tennis party at right. To left more ladies conversing. Remarks issue from the mouths of the characters. Title-page shows Punch in evening dress, his opera hat in his right hand, taking the hand of a lady who wears a college cap and her hair in a bun. She has a roll in her left hand bearing the date 1878. Toby stands on his hindlegs between the pair. Background of pocket-book standing on end, showing flap. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. 1879 [1878], MR. PUNCH’S I 1879 I POCKET-BOOK [ [Picture containing LAST three words]. This is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that of 1877, with the exception of the date. [i6mo (4f X 3I), iv + 208 pp.] Keene did the coloured frontispiece and title-page. Former is entitled “A World on Wheels, 1879 — (A Development from the Dandy Horse, 1820).” Scene, open space by a park, filled with people riding bicycles with very small hind-wheels. In centre. Punch on bicycle, lifting hat ; looking left. To right large bicycle with wife riding side-saddle behind her husband on the same machine. Various remarks issue from the mouths of the characters. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. Title-page shows Britannia on a large bicycle looking right, grasping handle-bars with her left hand and holding trident with her right. Punch, looking right, is standing with right hand on tyre, and left arm akimbo, holding cap. Toby sits on his haunches between bicycle and Punch. Background of “ Pocket-Book” standing on end opened, showing the inscription, “ 1879 Pocket- Book.” 1879. THE WORKS I OF | WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY | In Twenty-Six Volumes | Volume XXII | ROUNDABOUT PAPERS | and | THE SECOND FUNERAL OF NAPOLEON [ London | SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15, Waterloo Place | 1879. This is followed by the title of the volume itself, which runs thus : “Roundabout Papers | (from the Cornhill Magazine) | To Which Is Added The | Second Funeral of Napoleon | By | William Makepeace Thackeray | With Illustrations | by the Author, Charles Keene, and M. Fitzgerald | London | Smith, Elder, & Co., 15, Waterloo Place | 1879.” [4to (lof X 7^), X -p 347 pp. and ii full-page plates.] Eight of the full-page plates are by Keene, engraved by Swain. They are entitled respectively, “ Father, or Uncle }” (“On Two Children in Black ”) ; “A Great Battle” (“On some late Great Victories”) ; “The Evening Post” (“Thorns in the Cushion”) ; “A Riding Lesson ” (“Tunbridge Toys ”) ; “ Youthful Pirates” (“On a Chalk Mark on the Door”); “Tweedledumski and Tweedle- deestein” (“Small-Beer Chronicle”) ; “A Sentence” (“On Letts’ Diary”); and “An Interviewer” (“Nil Nisi Bonum”). Mr. Layard publishes in the “Life” a study for the second of these plates. Keene also contributed the initials for^pp. 3, 10, 29, 36, 45, 52, 83, 143, 181, and 189 of the volume under discussion. The description is made from a copy of the Edition de Luxe. 1880 [1879]. MR. PUNCH’S I 18 POCKET-BOOK 80 | [All these words appear in the Picture itself]. This is followed by a typographical title-page running “Punch’s | Pocket-Book. | A.D. 1880. | Illustrated by | Charles Keene, | Linley Sambourne | and John Tenniel” [Imprint as 1877]. [i6mo ( 4 f X 3J), vi + 256 pp.] Keene did the coloured frontispiece and title-page. Former is entitled “The ‘Seven Ages’ at Lawn Tennis.” Scene, tennis courts ; large tent at back. In centre, soldier and judge playing ; at left, young man and young woman ; at right, a baby in arms with small racquet. Many other details suggest the game. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. 1881 [1880]. MR. PUNCH’S I POCKET-BOOK [Picture]. The above is followed by a typographical title-page similar to that for 1880, with the exception of the date. [i6mo (4f X 3I), X + 256 pp.] Keene did the coloured frontispiece and title-page. Former is entitled “Polo for the People.” A melee of people play polo. To right a lacquey on a donkey looks left. To left a typical ’Arry bawls “Yah !” while people at left look on from a bus and a lady from a hansom cab. Three-quarter length portrait of Punch in white hat, hands joined behind back, looking right, in bottom left-hand corner. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. Title-page shows Punch climbing on to the left side of a hobby-horse which is looking right. Its body is encased by a “ Pocket-Book.” Right-hand stirrup attached to flap. Toby is leaping towards the animal, which is shying violently. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom left-hand corner. 286 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. i88i. OUR I PEOPLE I 65 I CHARLES KEENE. | ,-fFrom tijf aToUrction of “ifWr. lundj I London : | BRADBURY, AGNEW, & Co., Bouverie Street. | 1881. [Fo (14J X 10), viii + 156 pp.] The volume contains 404 comic pictures with footlines to 402 of them. The title-page after the above reads, “Our People. Sketches from Punch by C. K.,” and contains a caricature of the artist, with a flower in his buttonhole, taking off his hat to the reader. By way of tail-piece to the “Contents ” (which is really an Index) is a full-length portrait of a Highlander in a kilt, who drops the work with the exclamation (issuing from his mouth) : “Toots ! there’s no’ a Jok’ i’ th’ ’hale beuk !” Engraved by Swain. The first two lines of the title-page are illuminated ; the fourth and seventh are rubricated. 1885. Fro?n PUNCH"] \ ROBERT; | Or, | NOTES FROM THE DIARY OF A j City Waiter. | [Picture of Waiter] | With Illustrations by Charles Keene. | London : | BRADBURY, AGNEW, & Co., 10, Bouverie St., E.C. [8vo (7 X 4f), vi (two blank) -f- 122 pp.] The book contains l 5 illustrations, exclusive of the duplicate of the first full-length portrait of the waiter v/hich is reproduced on the cover. All are by Keene, Mr. Layard tells me, except the one on p. 75 by Harry Furniss, and the one on p. 1 10 by E. J. Wheeler. It is stated on the cover that the price is “one shilling.” The dedication is dated “Horgust, 1885.” Engraved by Swain. 1885. SONGS I OF THE NORTH, | GATHERED TOGETHER FROM | THE HIGHLANDS AND LOWLANDS | OF SCOTLAND. [ Edited by | The Music | Arranged by | A. C. MACLEOD and | HAROLD BOULTON. MALCOLM LAWSON. | London : | FIELD & TUER, The Leadenhall Press, E.C. [ SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & Co. ; HAMILTON ADAMS, & Co. 1 New York ; SCRIBNER & WELFORD. [4to (12 X 9-|-) xii + 202 pp., 21 plates with no page no.] Charles Keene illustrates “ Glenlogie,” and may be supposed to have taken for his subject the lines — “ ' Where will I get a bonny boy to win hose and shoon, Will gae to Glenlogie and come again soon ? ' O here am I, a bonny boy, to win hose and shoon, Will gae to Glenlogie and come again soon.” The mother stands in centre of a room in a castle. The daughter looks out of the window at left, her hands clasped and a kerchief over her head. A long-haired boy is seated at a table at right resting his head on his left hand. Signed “ C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. Printed in brown ink, apparently b]^ some photographic process. Mr. Henry Keene possesses the original pen-and-ink drawing. 1886. IMPRISONED 1 IN A SPANISH CONVENT : | JN ENGLISH GIRL’S EXPERIENCES. \ With Other Narra- tives and Tales. | By E. C. GRENVILLE-MURRAY, | Author of “Under the Lens,” “Side Lights in English Society,” Etc. | lUuStfatfll | With Numerous Engravings. I London: | FIZETELLT iX CO., 42, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. \ 1886. [8vo (8j X 5f), 434 pp. (including preliminaries), and a slip acknowledging indebtedness to the Editor of Harper s Magazine.] There are 13 full-page illustrations, with blank reverses, included in the pagination, and 51 smaller illustrations in the text- Several of the drawings are signed “A. B.” It is difficult to say what was Keene’s exact share in the volume. The story entitled “ALP., in Spite of Himself,” contains a full-page illustration of a deputation calling on their late M.P., Meeking, whom they afterwards re-elected ?nalgre lui. It is signed “C. K.” in bottom right-hand corner. It has no engraver’s name. The names of W. Thomas, and the Direct Photo-Engraving Co. are attached to other drawings as the reproducers. A second edition was published in 1886. 1887. GRASS OF PARNASSUS | FROM | THE BENTS O’ BUCHAN. | [Quotation from Wordsworth in Small Type.] | Peterhead : | DAVID SCOTT, 14, St. Andrew Street. | 1887. | \^AU Rights Reserved!] [4to (iij X 8|-), X + 96 pp., and 30 full-page illustrations not paginated.] This was a book produced at two prices {2s. 6 d. and ir. 6 d.) in aid of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Peterhead, Keene contributed nine sketches, which were lithographed on to one page by D. Scott. They are entitled “Unpublished Scraps from Sketch Books of Charles Keene.” They include a portrait with the inscription, “Fred Walker, A.R.A., long ago. 287 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. 1888. From punch:’] | ROBERT; | Or, | NOTES FROM THE DIARY OF A | City Waiter.] [Picture of Waiter] | With Illustrations by Charles Keene | SECOND SERIES I London : I BRADBURY AGNEW & Co., 10, Bouverie St., E.C. ’ ’ [8vo (7 X 4f), viii (two blank) + 144 pp.] The book contains 21 illustrations, exclusive of the reproduction of that on the title-page which appears on the cover and on p. 84. All arc by Keene, Mr. Layard tells me, except three — viz., that on p. ii (probably by Harry Furniss), that on p. 132 (probably by E. J. Wheeler), and that on p. 135, by W. Ralston. The dedication is dated “ ist Aprill, 1888.” Engraved by Swain. 1888. KING JAMES’ WEDDING | AND OTHER RHYMES | By J. SANDS | With Illustrations by Charles .Keene Harry Christie, etc. | Arbroath ; T. BUNCLE | 1888. [( 8 -|- X 6 |), xiv + 102 pp.] The book contains 13 illustrations by Keene. Mr. Layard says that those facing pp. 22 and 72 are portraits of the author. Photo-engraved by Dawson. 1890. THE CLOISTER AND | THE HEARTH | A TALE OF THE MIDDLE AGES | by | CHARLES READE, D.C.L. I [Picture] | A New Edition | with Eight Illustrations by Charles Keene | UonlJOn I CHATTO and WINDUS, Piccadilly | 1890. [8vo ( 7 -|- X 5), vi -f- 509 pp. and 32 pp. catalogue.] Keene illustrated the story with fifteen designs on the occasion of its appearance in Once a Week in 1859, in a shorter form, under the title of “ A Good Eight.” Seven of them (engraved by Swain) are here reproduced, with one other. The former appear respectively on pp. ill, 131, 171, 191, 231, 254, 273, vol. i. of Once a Week. The latter, appearing on the title-page of the book, represents a man in fifteenth century dress, kneeling to right, and a man leaning on a stick seated by a woman to left. Messrs. Chatto and Windus inform me that they possess the blocks of the pictures that Keene did for “ A Good Fight.” This edition was reprinted in 1894. 1891. CATALOGUE | OF A | COLLECTION OF DRAWINGS | by THE LATE | CHARLES KEENE | WITH A PREFATORY NOTE \ by CLAUDE PHILLIPS. | EXHIBITED AT | THE FINE ART SOCIETY’S. | 148, New Bond Street, W., | London. | 1891. [8vo (8f X 5I), 32 pp. and paper cover.] The cover contains the additional information, “Exhibition, No. 85,” and “Price, 6 d.” There are four illustrations. A drawing of Punch seated smoking, appears vis-d-vh with the last five lines of the title-page, and is reproduced on the cover. The remaining illustrations include a study for “Robert” (see title-page of the first series) in reverse, a study for a comic military picture, and a group of studies for a picture of Punch, nailing up a placard inscribed “Gone Abroad.” In the Catalogue of a similar exhibition of Keene’s work, held at Manchester, the same preface and reproductions were employed. At the Gallery of the Fine Art Society, 251 drawings were exhibited. 1892. The I Life and Letters | of | Charles Samuel Keene | by | George Somes Layard. | London : | SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED. [ IBuilStan’S ?ij0Ul8U | Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. | 1892. [8vo (9 X 6j), xxii + 463 pp., and 30 full-page plates.] The book contains 84 illustrations, including nine portraits of Keene, reproductions of photographs by Elliott and Fry, and Mr. Horace Harral, a drawing by S. Read, two sketches by Mr. H. S. Marks, R.A., the oil-painting by Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A., two sketches by himself in letters, and a Punch picture. Several of his original water-colours and other artistic works were here published for the first time. The first hundred copies (or so) sent out contained a footnote on p. 74, which was erased in every subsequent copy. A second edition appeared in 1893. There is also a large paper edition of the “Life and Letters,” limited to 250 copies. The I Life and Letters | of | Charles Samuel Keene | by | George Somes Layard. | London : | SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, AND COMPANY, | LIMITED, | St. Dunstan’s House, Fetter Lane, | Fleet Street, E.C. | 1892. Of this title “Charles Samuel Keene,” “ Sampson Low, Marston, and Company,” and “1892” are rubricated. [pto (9I- X 7 j) xxii + 463 pp. and the plates.] In this edition nearly all the illustrations are on India paper, and there arc four extra illustrations which are only found in this edition, facing pp. 1 1 5, 195, 333, 425. Two of these are portraits of Keene, and one is a coloured facsimile of a suggestion by Mr. Crawhall for a Punch subject. 288 LIST OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES KEENE. 1894. PEN DRAWING AND | PEN DRAUGHTSMEN. | THEIR WORK AND THEIR ME | THODS A STUDY OE THE I ART TO-DAY WITH TECH | NICAL SUGGESTIONS | by JOSEPH PENNELL, | Lecturer on Illustration at the Slade School University College. | [Device by R. A. BELL — A Woman Writing.] | MACMILLAN and COMPANY, | London and New York. | mdcccxciv. [Demy 410 x 9), a photogravure frontispiece, xxxvi -1-461 pp. and blank reverse, R. and R. Clark’s device and blank reverse.] The first edition appeared in 1889. Two drawings are printed — the first a Punch subject, the second an unpublished drawing of a lady working at sewing or embroidery. Mr. Pennell understands that it is a portrait of Mrs. Edw^ards, done in the late ’fifties or early ’sixties. The first edition only contained one drawing by Keene — viz., the Punch subject already alluded to. 1895. THE HISTORY OF | “PUNCH.” | By | M. H. SPIELMANN. | With Numerous Illustrations. | CASSELL and COMPANY, Limited, | LONDON, PARIS, MELBOURNE. \ 1895. | All rights reserved. [8vo (9 X 6), xvi -I- 592 pp. and 16 pp. catalogue.] The title-page is copied from the ordinary edition. There was also an 'tdition de Luxe. The w'ork contains a portrait of Keene by J. D. Watson, which, with “Torturing the Bagpipes” (a drawing by the former artist, engraved for the first time by J. Swain), appeared originally in Black and White, during Mr. Spielmann’s art directorship of that paper. They are reproduced here, Mr. Spielmann thinks, from electros of the original blocks. Keene’s last drawing — the portrait of his dog “Frau” alias “Toby” — also appeared for the first time in Black and W^hite during Mr. Spielmann’s art directorship. The block was re-made in a smaller size for “The History of Punch.” An illustrated letter from Charles Keene to Tom Taylor appears for the first time in the book, and the humorous drawing for the index (a clown throwing lettered blocks at an old man) is from an original possessed by Mr. Spielmann — a sketch for the wood-block. The same design, but with alterations, appeared in Punch. A second edition of the book (the third thousand) was provided for within a month of its first appearance, the first edition being sold out the day after publication. 1895 - MODERN ILLUSTRATION j By jOSEPH PENNELL, Author of | “ Pen Drawing and Pen | Draughtsmen,” Etc. | [George Bell & Son’s Device.] | London : GEORGE BELL & SONS, York Street, | Covent Garden, & New York. | mdcccxcv. [8 VO (7J X 5'|'), xxvi -t- 146 pp., imprint of Chiswick Press with blank reverse, 2 pp. blank, and 93 full-page illustrations not included in the text.] The book contains two unpublished pen-drawings by Keene, a study of a gentleman paying at a bar, and a study for “The Little Duck,” published in Punch, printed from blocks by Clarke and Dellagana respectively. 289 O O m t ‘ 4 4 . ♦ / Jt ( > n 4 i ^ ►