Back + Forth is a visual narrative. There is no text in this 187 page novel, only linocuts, printed in black, grey, or sepia. It is a true wordless novel, where the reader gathers personal meaning from the images. This process in itself creates the words that encompass what is (and will be) a very personal tale. It seems that the artist has specifically drawn the image for the frontispiece. The inclusion of the letters ‘B + F’ reiterate in a very simple way the title, thereby connecting it back to the whole book.]]> Marta Chudolinska]]> Books]]> Hunting of the Snark (first published in 1876) contains illustrations by celebrated American artist Peter Newell (1862-1924). Newell mainly worked for Harper & Brothers Publishers (think Harper’s Bazaar), but was also well known for his comics, and writing and illustrating children’s books. Newell is in good company with the other famous illustrators of Carroll’s works, John Tenniel (1820-1914) for Alice, and Henry Holiday (1839-1927) for The Hunting of the Snark.]]> Lewis Carroll]]> Books]]> Tristam Shandy, Laurence Sterne has the ‘hero’ quote from William Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty (1753). Obviously delighted with Hogarth’s work, Sterne wrote a letter: ‘I would give both my Ears…for no more than ten Strokes of Howgarth’s witty Chissel, to clap at the front of my next Edition of Shandy.’ In the second edition (1760), Hogarth’s image of Trim reading the sermon appeared as a frontispiece with reference to the text at ‘Vol. 2, page 128.’ In this edition of 1782, the text reference has gone, leaving only the succinct ‘Frontispiece. Vol. I’ at top; no doubt a helpful reminder to the binder. Joseph Collyer (1748–1827) engraved this image; the first was done by Simon François Ravenet (1706- 1764), one of Hogarth’s assistants.]]> Laurence Sterne]]> Books]]> Description and travel]]> Jesuits]]> Kircher, Athanasius, 1602-1680]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Illustrations]]> Prints]]> China]]> Seventeenth century]]> Description and Use is described as a ‘puff’ piece that was written for orrery, globe, and instrument manufacturer, Thomas Wright in the mid-18th century. Fundamentally, the book is an instruction manual on how to use your orrery or globe. Fortuitously you can buy one – as depicted in the frontispiece – from Wright’s apprentice and successor, Benjamin Cole (1695-1766). At the rear of the book is a list of items available for purchase at Cole’s ‘Orrery, near the Globe Tavern, in Fleet-street’.]]> Joseph Harris]]> Books]]> John Nalson]]> Books]]> Paradise Lost. Produced in folio format for the first time, and ‘adorn’d with sculptures’, the publisher no doubt wanted to make a ‘splash’ for one of England’s greatest poets. William Faithorne (1616-1691) was a painter who had done portraits of notables such as Oliver Cromwell, Queen Catherine, Cardinal Richelieu, and Thomas Hobbes. Previously used for the History of Britain (1670), his more kindly portrait of Milton (1608-1674) was re-worked by Richard White, a prolific English engraver.]]> John Milton]]> Books]]> Essay on the First Book of T. Lucretius, its first appearance in English. The frontispiece was designed by Mary, Evelyn’s wife. Evelyn had training as a draftsman and he must have given her some instruction on composition. Although the head in profile in the wreathed medallion is supposed to be Lucretius, it is, as commentators have noted, very much like Evelyn himself.]]> John Evelyn]]> Books]]> Sculptura (1662), which contained the first announcement of the art of mezzotint, and which was the first book on the history of engraving published in England. This work also contains an allegorical engraved frontispiece designed by Evelyn himself and engraved by Abraham Hertochs, the Dutch engraver. Evelyn’s seated girl represents the Graphic Arts; Geoffrey Keynes, his bibliographer, called the image ‘painfully banal’.]]> John Evelyn]]> Books]]> Travels to China (1804) recount an early Western visit to that country, but it is also the first book on China to be illustrated by aquatint, a process that gives tonal effects to an image, like a wash of watercolour. William Alexander, also a member of the expedition, drew the portrait of ‘Van-ta-gin’ that forms this very colourful frontispiece. It was engraved by Thomas Medland (c.1765–1833), who also executed the other four aquatint illustrations in the book.]]> John Barrow]]> Books]]> Faust (first published in 1808).]]> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]> Books]]> Dodona’s Grove (1641). Its later use raises a question of plate ownership.]]> James Howell]]> Books]]> la manière anglaise. One English master was Charles Turner (1774-1857), who specialized in portraiture. Here he has worked his magic to form a frontispiece of ‘Mrs Siddons’ after a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence.]]> James Boaden]]> Books]]> Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen. Figures 1 to 6 show the ‘particles from the blood of different animals’ magnified 400 times. The very detailed steel plate was produced by copper and steel engraver Henry Adlard (1799-1883), who worked in London. Professionally he was held in high regard and was often employed as an expert witness in trials of forgery and deception.]]> J. Müller (Translated by William Baly)]]> Books]]> Book of Household Management: ‘The coloured plates are a novelty not without value.’ This colourful lithographic frontispiece depicting cherries, apricots and peaches, grapes, oranges, and other such delectables, conveys at least the food side of her 1861 classic. As seen from the sub-titles on the title-page opposite the frontispiece, the book also contains information ranging from the ‘cook’, ‘valet’, and ‘maid-of-all-work’, to ‘sanitary, medical and legal memoranda.’]]> Isabella Beeton]]> Books]]> Ian Rogerson]]> Books]]> Illustration of books]]> Middleton, O. E. (Osman Edward), 1925-]]> Portraits]]> Hotere, Ralph, 1931-]]> Reproduction permission courtesy of Ralph Hotere.]]> Image]]> Still Image]]> Illustrations]]> Ink drawings]]> Pen works]]> Art]]> Nineteen seventies]]> H. G. Wells]]> Books]]> Giovanni Stringa]]> Books]]> Giambatista Verci]]> Books]]> Argonautics is a frontispiece – it is labelled as such. The scene most probably depicts Jason leaving Queen Hypsipyle and the island of Lemnos. The engraving from the artwork of one ‘W. Hamilton’ is by Charles Grignion (1721-1810). After training in Paris and London, Grignion embarked upon a career as an historical artist and engraver. His early style is characterised as ‘energetic’, ‘elegant’, ‘bold’ and original’; the ODNB describes him as having a ‘light draughtsmanlike style in the French tradition’. Engraving well into his 80s, Grignion’s style suffered with old age and he died in poverty. Despite this, he is thought to be the ‘Father and Founder of the English School of Engraving’.]]> Francis Fawkes]]> Books]]> Catalogue of the Pepys Library, Vol. III Prints and Drawings (1980). Pepys, like others at the time, did not differentiate between ‘frontispiece’ and engraved title-page; they lumped them together. Special Collections has 14 identified ‘frontispieces’ owned by Pepys. The 1653 Elzevir edition of Bacon is no. 36, described by him as ‘three male figures standing round a globe on a pedestal (with title).’]]> Francis Bacon]]> Books]]> Edward Kimber]]> Books]]> Present State of England in 1669; another two editions followed in the same year. The book is a record of every aspect of English society, and described as a ‘strong monarchist panegyric’. Over 30 editions were printed within 100 years, and each editon's frontispiece engravings represented a change, or not, of monarch. In 1684, Charles II (1630-85) was king after the Restoration in 1660. He is flanked by the two men who filled the highest-ranking offices in the Kingdom: on the left William Sancroft (1617-93), the Archbishop of Canterbury (left), and on the right, Francis North, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, who holds the purse in which he keeps the actual Seal.]]> Edward Chamberlayne]]> Books]]> Present State of England fell to one of his sons, John (c.1668-1723). In 1704, Mary II’s sister and William III’s cousin, Anne, had been Queen for two years. Here she is in the frontispiece for the twenty-first edition. Her portrait was engraved by eminent English artist, Robert White (1645-1703), and was possibly a reused plate since the volume was published after his death. White was a prolific engraver, producing over 400 images during his career, including a portrait image of Queen Anne’s husband, Prince George of Denmark.]]> Edward and John Chamberlayne]]> Books]]>