Erewhon, or, Over the Range

1923

Special Collections PR4349 B7 E6 1923. Reproduced by permission of the Robert Gibbings Estate and the Heather Chalcroft Literary Agency

London: Jonathan Cape

In 1914 Gibbings enlisted in the army and joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers as a second lieutenant. By May 1915 he was fighting in Gallipoli. At the end of June he was hit by a piece of shrapnel that went right through his neck and lodged in his arm. He recovered from his injuries but the horrific sights and experiences of WWI affected Gibbings for years to come. In 1919, after being invalided out of service, Gibbings married Mary ‘Moira’ Pennefather. In 1923 Gibbings, with a young family to support, was pleased to receive his first commission to illustrate Samuel Butler’s Utopian satire Erewhon (1872). Using the tools of a wood engraver – tint-tools, spit-sticks, scaupers and gougers – Gibbings produced 38 woodcuts for the book. He was disappointed with his work.