Tag: Frank Reynolds

The Journey’s End

Today I scanned the last dozen tipped in colour plate illustrations by Frank Reynolds from Hodder & Stoughton’s 1913 limited edition of Charles Dickens’s ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ Details about the artist feature in my post ‘Not Done With Pickwick’

As I did yesterday I have included the lines of text that each of the following paintings depicts with the gallery image that can be accessed by clicking on each one individually. With the titles below I have indicated the three exceptions that carry no such references.

‘THE WAYFARERS’

‘MRS JARLEY’

‘SALLY BRASS’ (No lines of text)

‘LITTLE NELL’

‘FLIGHT’ (No lines of text)

‘MR AND MRS QUILP’

‘NELL’S GARDEN’

‘THE MARCHIONESS’ (No lines of text)

‘CRIBBAGE’

‘AWAY WITH MELANCHOLY’

‘THE FIGUREHEAD’

‘NEAR THE JOURNEY’S END’ (No lines of text)

This evening we dined on lamb roasted slowly enough to provide crisp skin while retaining tender meat; equally crisp Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, and parsnips; carrots, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

Home For Dinner?

In my post ‘Not Done With Pickwick’ I featured Frank Reynolds’s colour plates from Hodder & Stoughton’s publication. For a similar reason I scanned a batch of this artist’s work on ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’.

My copy is the limited edition of 1913, signed by the artist: No. 112 of 350. This is not what booksellers would call a fine example.

Although it is vellum bound, it lacks its silk ties and is rather grubby and a bit warped on the outside. These end-papers would probably have been repeated at the back of the book, but seem to have been replaced by blank sheets at a later date. The illustrations are pristine and remain protected by the original tissue.

‘THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP’

‘KIT’

‘DICK SWIVELLER’

‘QUILP’S WHARF’

‘DICK SWIVELLER AND SOPHY WACKLES’

‘KIT AND HIS MOTHER”

‘SAMPSON BRASS AND QUILP’

‘MESSRS CODLIN AND SHORT’

‘LITTLE NELL’

Frank Reynolds’s exquisite paintings speak for themselves. Clicking on each of these individual illustrations will reveal the lines of text to which they apply.

I paused here so that we could go for a forest drive, and will take up the task again tomorrow.

We began with a visit to Shallowmead Garden Centre where Jackie had seen an owl on her last visit that she could not resist. She just had to go back and buy it. For some reason she came out of the shop with three.

Cattle on the road slightly impeded our departure from Norleywood.

Several calves crossed a stream to join the adults and they all set off down the road, making me hope any driver coming round the bend would have their wits about them.

Donkeys on the road approaching East End tempted me out of the car.

This enabled me to investigate the woodland with its reflective pools;

its mossy banks, fallen trees, and fungus on a mossy stump.

Bare branches were silhouetted against the changing skies;

catkins swung from others.

While I was occupied with this, Jackie noticed that the donkeys may have been returning home for dinner.

The skies, constantly changing, beamed over Beaulieu.

This evening we dined on more of Jackie’s flavoursome sausages in red wine; creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots, and firm Brussels sprouts, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

Not Done With Pickwick

I’m not done with Pickwick yet.

On another dismally dank day I spent some time scanning the contents of

Here is the front cover

and here the title page.

The publishers have not dated the weighty volume, but Mr Reynolds’s illustrations are dated 1910. The book consists of extracts from Charles Dickens’s comic novel beautifully illustrated by another of my favourite artists.

I reviewed The Folio Society full version in yesterday’s post without revealing the story; I hope it will not give too much away by captioning each of these paintings with the title printed on the tissue protecting the tipped in chromolithographic plates. I will omit the explanatory lines that accompany these titles.

MR PICKWICK (Frontispiece)

MR TUPMAN, MR SNODGRASS, AND MR WINKLE

MR ALFRED JINGLE

ON THE ROCHESTER COACH

THE BULL INN, ROCHESTER

MR JINGLE ARRAYED IN MR NATHANIEL WINKLE’S SUIT

THE PICKWICKIANS SET OUT FOR DINGLEY DELL

MR WARDLE

SAM WELLER

MR JINGLE AND THE SPINSTER AUNT

MR PICKWICK UNDERGOES A TRYING EXPERIENCE

MRS LEO HUNTER’S PARTY

A PLEASANT DAY

MR PICKWICK’S ROMANTIC ADVENTURE

THE ELDER MR WELLER

MRS WELLER AND MR STIGGINS

MISS ARABELLA ALLEN

THE FAT BOY

THE PICKWICKIANS DISPORT THEMSELVES ON THE ICE

MR BOB SAWYER AND MR BEN ALLEN

MR SERJEANT BUZFUZ

SAM WELLER ATTENDS A SELECT SOIREE

MR JINGLE IN THE FLEET

THE UNTIMELY DOWNFALL OF THE REVEREND MR STIGGINS

This is what Wikipedia tells us about the artist:

‘Frank Reynolds (1876 in London – April 1953) was a British artist. Son of an artist, he studied at Heatherley’s School of Art.[1]

Reynolds had a drawing called A provincial theatre company on tour published in The Graphic on 30 November 1901. In 1906, he began contributing to Punchmagazine[1] and was regularly published within its pages during World War I, noted for his anti-Kaiser illustrations in Punch.[2] A collection of 199 of his illustrations is in the Punch archives.[3]

Peggotty and young David Copperfield, art by Frank Reynolds 1911

He was well known for his many illustrations in several books by Charles Dickens, including David Copperfield (c1911),[4] The Pickwick Papers (c1912) and The Old Curiosity Shop (c1913).[2] He succeeded F. H. Townsend as the Art Editor for Punch.[1]

He was also a prolific watercolour painter and was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours from 1903. He continued to illustrate in black and white or in colours all his life. He became known in the 1930s and through the Second World War for characters called The Bristlewoods.[1]

One of his more notable works is entitled Jingle.’

This evening we dined on baked ham, creamy mashed potatoes; piquant cauliflower cheese, crunchy carrots, and tender runner beans with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2018.