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Quarles' Emblems

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

Rectangular border of grotesques with an escutcheon at top centre, containing a spade coiled around which is a snake . At the bottom of the border is an orb in the form of a cage containing a skull flanked by bat's wings on a cream-coloured sheet of laid paper.

Proof of border which frames the book illustration E.860-1998 opposite 'Emblem II.' 'Book The First. The Invocation.' 10 p. for the 1861 edition of 'Quarles' Emblems'. W. Harry Rogers drew on wood for this engraving to be made by a wood-engraver.

'Emblem II.' 'Then when lust hath conceived, it bringesth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. James I.15.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleQuarles' Emblems (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Wood engraving on laid paper
Brief description
Proof of border of book illustration for 'Quarles' Emblems', 1861, wood-engraving by W.Harry Rogers.
Physical description
Rectangular border of grotesques with an escutcheon at top centre, containing a spade coiled around which is a snake . At the bottom of the border is an orb in the form of a cage containing a skull flanked by bat's wings on a cream-coloured sheet of laid paper.

Proof of border which frames the book illustration E.860-1998 opposite 'Emblem II.' 'Book The First. The Invocation.' 10 p. for the 1861 edition of 'Quarles' Emblems'. W. Harry Rogers drew on wood for this engraving to be made by a wood-engraver.

'Emblem II.' 'Then when lust hath conceived, it bringesth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. James I.15.
Dimensions
  • Height: 22.5cm
  • Width: 16.5cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'TERRA AER / IGNIS AQUA MALUM CREVIT UNICUM MALUM' (Latin; Top left and right of top border and bottom left and right of bottom border and centre of bottom border.; wood-engraving; ink)
    Translation
    earth air fire water Evil will beget only calamity
  • WHR (Signature; In bottom left of border.; wood-engraving; ink)
  • Book 1. 2 (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'.
Bibliographic references
  • Ball, Douglas 'Victorian Publishers' Bindings London: The Library Association, 1985, 156 p.
  • Engen, Rodney K. 'Dictionary of Victorian Wood Engravers'. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1985. 223p. 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
Collection
Accession number
E.861-1998

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Record createdNovember 19, 1999
Record URL
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