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Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case I, Shelf 190

Quarles' Emblems

Book Illustration
1860 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Border, in the top centre of which, is an hour glass, surmounted by an orb, flanked by a bird's and a bat's wing with acanthus leaves, tudor roses and orb like motifs forming the sides of the border.

Proof of border framing book illustration E.877-1998 for 'Emblem IX' opposite 38 p. of 'Book The First. The Invocation' for the 1861 edition of 'Quarles' Emblems'. W. Harry Rogers drew on wood for this engraving to be made by a wood-engraver.

'Emblem IX' 'The world passeth away, and all the lusts thereof.' - I JOHN II.17


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleQuarles' Emblems (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Wood engraving on laid paper
Brief description
Proofbook illustration to 'Quarles' Emblems', 1861, wood-engraving by W.Harry Rogers.
Physical description
Border, in the top centre of which, is an hour glass, surmounted by an orb, flanked by a bird's and a bat's wing with acanthus leaves, tudor roses and orb like motifs forming the sides of the border.

Proof of border framing book illustration E.877-1998 for 'Emblem IX' opposite 38 p. of 'Book The First. The Invocation' for the 1861 edition of 'Quarles' Emblems'. W. Harry Rogers drew on wood for this engraving to be made by a wood-engraver.

'Emblem IX' 'The world passeth away, and all the lusts thereof.' - I JOHN II.17
Dimensions
  • Height: 23.2cm
  • Width: 16.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • WHR (Signature; In a heart shape above the vase in the bottom of the border.; wood-engraving; ink)
  • 'FRUSTRA / QUIS STABILEM / GRADUM / FIGAT IN ORBE' (Textual information; Latin; Lower sides of border.; wood-engraving; ink)
    Translation
    frustra = in deception / quis = anyone stabilem = steady / gradum = step / figat = fastened orbe = bereaved
  • Book I - 9 (Unknown; Top centre of sheet of paper.; handwriting; pencil)
Credit line
Purchased with the Assistance of the Friends of the National Libraries
Object history
Historical significance: These book illustrations are part of the W.Harry Rogers Archive and to quote the information on the archive provided by 'RW' on 6 February 1998 on the registered file 1997/1476:-
'It is extraordinarily rare to have this kind of documentation at this level of production for the middle decades of the 19th century. The fact the (sic) the state of the designs ranges from rough sketches to finished drawings and proofs allows the pieces to document the design process very closely.'
Production
The date '1860' on the proof for the book illustration E.867-1998 and '1859' on the border E.890-1998 suggests that the proofs were drawn on the wood-engraving block in 1859 and 1860 for the 1861 edition of 'Quarles' Emblems'.
Subject depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Engen, Rodney K. 'Dictionary of Victorian Wood Engravers'. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1985. 223 p. ISBN 0859641392
  • Houfe, Simon 'The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists'. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Baron Publishing, Antique Collectors' Club, revised 1981 437 p. ISBN 0902028731
  • Ball, Douglas 'Victorian Publishers' Bindings.' London: The Library Association, 1985. 90 p. and 155 p.
Collection
Accession number
E.878-1998

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Record createdNovember 26, 1999
Record URL
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