Tag: Hodder & Stoughton

The Story Of Hamlet

Having decided to take a physical rest today I gave my brain a workout with this work.

Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (born Nov. 21, 1863, Bodmin, Cornwall, Eng.—died May 12, 1944, Fowey, Cornwall) was an English poet, novelist, and anthologist noted for his compilationof The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1900(1900; revised 1939) and The Oxford Book of Ballads (1910).

He was educated at Newton Abbot College, Clifton College, and Trinity College, Oxford, where he became lecturer in classics (1886–87). In 1887 he wrote Dead Man’s Rock, the first of several novels of Cornwall and the sea. From 1887 to 1892 he worked in London for a publishing firm and as assistant editor of The Speaker. A number of short stories that he contributed to it were reprinted in book form as Noughts and Crosses (1891), the first of a dozen similar volumes. In 1892 he settled at Fowey, the small Cornish port that appears in his stories as “Troy Town.” He was knighted in 1910 and in 1912 was appointed King Edward VII professor of English literature at Cambridge and also elected a fellow of Jesus College. (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arthur-Thomas-Quiller-Couch)

On the year in which he received his knighthood, he introduced

with “The Story of Hamlet” which details in erudite and fluent modern prose of his time the tale of Shakespeare’s timeless eponymous masterpiece. In more than 20 pages, he clarifies all the dramatis personae, their roles, their relationships, and their characters; he describes their actions, their locations, and their influences; finishing up with observations about the Scandinavian source material upon which our playwright is thought to have based his work. It would be extremely helpful in conveying an understanding of the play for any newcomer.

My first edition was presented with a fine copper plate inscription to “Tristan With love From J. A. R. Decber 25th 1910”.

Well past a century old, the outside of my book bears signs of ageing in the spine, but its inner core is unharmed, except for slight creasing of two of the tipped in colour plates, each of which is protected by undamaged tissue.

The frontispiece is paired with the title page above, the left side of which shows the edge of the the protecting sheet.

As demonstrated by these colour plates, W. G. Simmonds was a master of the golden age of book illustration. Similar edges of the protectors are shown in this gallery of images.

The last page of each Act is decorated with a drawing by the artist; each sheet of tissue bears a similar illustration and lines from the play relevant to the specific colour plate.

This evening we all dined on Jackie’s wholesome sausages in red wine; creamy mashed potatoes; firm carrots, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts; and tender green beans, with which I drank Reserva Privada Chilean Malbec 2022

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.