Book Reviews 401

Simon Cooke. Illustrated Periodicals of Such artists as George du Maurier, John the 1860s: Contexts & Collaborations. Everett Millais, Frederick Sandys, and Middlesex, England: Private Libraries Frederick Walker worked directly with Association; New Castle, Del.: Oak George Murray Smith, publisher of The Knoll Press; London: British Library, Cornhill Magazine, and with John Cassell 2010. 228p. alk. paper, $75 (ISBN (The Quiver) and James Hogg (London 9781584562757). LC 200947859. Society). Samuel Lucas, editor of Once a This handsomely printed and profusely Week, was a notable exception to the gen- illustrated book provides insight into the eral practice of editors serving merely as complex processes involved in illustrating middle-managers. Artists were expected British periodicals of “The Sixties”—that to develop drawings that adhered strictly is, the period roughly from 1855 to the to the directives of their employers, who mid-1870s. Published to entertain and did not hesitate to reject submissions or instruct middle-class readers, periodicals to seek new talent. Some artists, includ- of this period contained serialized nov- ing Charles Keene, were adept at varying els along with historical pieces, poetry, their style to meet the requirements of and articles of general interest. Among each commission. His work for Lucas in them were The Cornhill Magazine, Good illustrating novels by George Meredith Words, London Society, and Once a Week. and Forrest Reid demonstrated not only Acknowledging that other scholars have his versatility but also his ability to en- paid close attention to these magazines’ hance the literary impact of the works illustrations as art, Simon Cooke chooses themselves. to emphasize the dynamic collaboration The dynamic among authors, artists, of publishers, editors, artists, authors, and and engravers varied according to the engravers who were involved in produc- personalities involved. Editor Lucas dis- ing appropriate illustrations for specific couraged collaboration between authors literary works. and artists, but publisher Smith fostered In developing context for the book, the such relationships. Writers could be very author explains how the illustrations of demanding in specifying aspects of the il- this period differed from those created lustrations for their books. Charles Reade earlier in the nineteenth century. Whereas dominated Robert Barnes, a relatively such artists as George Cruikshank had unknown illustrator, as he developed pic- employed art as social satire in creating tures for Reade’s novel Put Yourself in His prints or illustrating books, the artists of Place. On the other hand, novelist George the Sixties worked in a more academic Eliot freely cooperated with the highly re- style to produce realistic drawings that garded Frederic Leighton as he illustrated were “both escapist and satirical, highly her book, Romola, which was serialized moral and overwhelmed with a sense in The Cornhill Magazine. Engravers, who of archaic dreaminess.” Although they assumed the complex task of duplicating, found ways to express their creativity in insofar as possible, illustrators’ drawings producing illustrations of a more modern on blocks of boxwood and then creating nature, these artists ultimately followed electrotypes from these woodcuts, had the wishes of their employers as they cor- mixed results in pleasing the artists with related their drawings to passages of text. whom they worked. Whereas Frederick In successive chapters, Cooke explains Sandys took a confrontational approach the relationships between the artists and in working with the engravers Dalziels the publishers, editors, authors, and en- Brothers, George du Mauier had a posi- gravers with whom they worked. Publish- tive relationship with Joseph Swain, who ers usually exercised tight control of the engraved his illustrations for M.E. Brad- process of illustrating their magazines; don’s book Eleanor’s Victory, a book that some dispensed with editors altogether. appeared in Once a Week during 1863. 402 College & Research Libraries July 2011

In explaining these complex relation- Cooke’s solid scholarship, which is ships, Cooke provides insights that will based on many years of collecting and be valuable to the fields of librarianship, studying nineteenth-century British print history, and literary criticism. A sur- periodicals, artists’ drawings and proofs, prising number of libraries in the United plates, original correspondence and States have solid holdings of some of the business records, published memoirs, magazines discussed in this book. The and an extensive number of secondary author’s ideas should aid scholars who sources, builds on his related articles, study the magazines to understand their which have appeared in Brontë Studies, illustrations in new ways—not the least of Thomas Hardy Journal, Victorians Institute which is the manner in which some of the Journal, and Victorian Periodicals Review. illustrations enhanced the quality of the The book is enhanced by the inclusion literary works in which they appeared. of an appendix containing annotated One only wishes that Cooke had paid at listings of the principal periodicals, least passing attention to how the British publishers, editors, artists, and engrav- periodicals he discusses relate to those ers, and by a select bibliography and published during the same period in the index.—Maurice C. York, East Carolina United States. University.