144
NOTES AND QUERIES. [iis.x.
SIR JOHN GILBERT, J. F. SMITH, AND
'THE LONDON JOURNAL.'
<See US. vii. 221, 276, 375 ; viii. 121, 142; x. 102.)
As to the illustrations in the Guildhall volumes, I presume Sir John Gilbert had no time to put them in order, so gave them loose, just as they were.
However, the collection came into the hands of Mr. Bernard Kettle, the Guildhall Librarian, and its value was certainly not under-estimated, for they are nicely laid down and bound by Zaehnsdorf. But Mr. Kettle is under the disadvantage of not having been born fifty years before he was, so as to have a personal knowledge of the first appearance of each print. I have checked more than once the following list, a,nd in doing so I have become more than ever in love with these splendid illustrations the delight of my youth, and my admiration in old age. As these two volumes are by far the handiest means of reference for any one who wishes to get an idea of Gilbert's fictional work in black and white, I have made out a short summary of their con- tents. From all the prints the names of authors have been cut off, and there is no date or reference to the numbers in which the illustrations appeared. Mr. Bernard Kettle has now paged the volumes right through.
The first volume contains prints to the following tales :
1. ' The Flower of the Flock ' (1858), p. 1.
2. ' The Wonder of Kingswood Chace ' <1860), p. 14.
3. ' Imogen ; or, The Marble Heart ' <1862), p. 36 all three by Pierce Egan.
4. ' Stanfield Hall ' (Smith's name cut off and without date [1849]), p. 58. As with the other tales, there are .only a few of the illustrations.
4A. There follow cuts from a story unnamed, which was, in fact, ' Stanfield Hall,' continued under the sub - title of ' Cromwell ; or, The Protector's Oath,' begun 11 May, 1850.
5. ' Masks and Faces ' (1855), p. 77.
6. ' The Will and the Way ' (1852), p. 98. .(See also No. 16.)
7. 'Temptation' (1854), p. 112.
8. 'Love me, Leave me not' (1859), by Pierce Egan, p. 126.
The second volume begins with
9. 'Eudora' (1861), p. 146.
10. ' Brandon of Brandon ' (1859), p. 156 ; and
11. ' The True and False Heiress ' (1855), p. 164 all three by Mrs. Southworth.
12. ' The Double Marriage,' with eiuht illustrations by Gilbert (1857), p. 173.
13. ' The Snake in the Grass,' by Egan (1858), p. 177.
14. 'Woman and her Master' (1853), p. 181. To this story there were fifty-three as fine illustrations as were ever drawn by any artist full of life and interest and variety of character. All are in the Guild- hall Collection.
15. A plate of ' Hercules and the Cretan Bull,' after a piece of sculpture in tho Great Exhibition, Dublin, without date, but from The London Journal of 16 July, 1853. I can hardly believe this is Gilbert's work : it is too inferior. It may be com- pared, for example, with a similar engraving of sculpt ure, by another artist, in The London Journal of 27 May, 1854.
16. One cut ' The Duel ' from ' They Will and the Way.' (See No. 6 above). The London Journal, 11 Dec., 1852, vol. xvi. p. 209.
17. An illustration of a supper scene, with nine figures, from ' Kenneth: a Romance- of the Highlands,' by G. W. M. Reynolds, p. 210. After considerable trouble I have* eventually found this in Reynolds's Miscel- lany (see my list).
18. 'The Poor Girl,' byEgan(1862), p. 211, and one on p. 236, misplaced after No. 19.
19. ' The Scarlet Flower,' by Egan (1802), p. 225.
20. ' Ivanhoe ' (1859), p. 237, with seven- teen (the full number) illustrations.
21. ' White Lies,' by Charles Reade (1857), p. 254, with fourteen illustrations.
22. 'Too Late' (1858), p. 263 (see 11 S. | viii. 122). Several of these cuts have " drawn by John Gilbert " printed after the subject, but I presume he stopped this.
23. 'Laura Etheridge ' (1860), p. 2 The last illustration to this tale has wards of thirty figures, showing that if Gilbert got a congenial subject he did not spare himself, as he could easily have chosen a simpler incident.
24. The second volume (pp. 282-94) finishes with twenty-four illustrations to ' The Snake in the Grass,' by Egan (1858).
RALPH THOMAS.
(To be continued.)
