International studio (59.1916)

Wood-blocks

aided by pupils. They unfold to collectors, for the
first time, a host of blocks in every department
of illustration; fables, animals, birds, fishes, vig-
nettes, tail-pieces, angling and heraldry, including
numerous blocks engraved for publishers in all
parts of England, among them Thomas, Hall and

inson Crusoe,” and others not as generally known.
(Block io.—The meaning of this block has been
lost, but it was evidently executed for something
having relation to Shakespeare and other things.
It happens to be a block that has never been used.)
Another interesting feature of this collection

Elliott, Mitchell, An¬
gus, Clark and the
Bewicks.
(Block 9.—This
block is interesting be¬
cause it belongs to the
period in English illus¬
tration called The Ro¬
mantic Period, and is
well worth studying in
this respect.) The
blocks of Gay’s Fables,
published in 1779, the
History of Quadrupeds
in 1790, and a History
of Birds in 1797 were
illustrated by a large
number of the speci¬
mens in the Armstrong collection of Bewick wood-
cuts. There are also many examples that have
never yet been printed from.
Vying in interest with the Bewick group is the
captivating array of blocks illustrating children’s
books. No division of the entire Armstrong col-

is a series of blocks
of Old London Cries as
found in a quaint old
ballad entitled “Lon-
don Lyck Penny” or
luck-penny, by that
prolific writer, John
Lydgat, a Benedictine
monk who lived about
the middle of the fif-
teenth century. A
sample of the cries of
London, as daily exhib-
ited in the streets for
centuries thereafter are:

“ Sixpense apeck pease,
Rare Marrowfat pease, ’ ’
“ A croat a pound,
Black-heart cherries round and sound.”
Addison said, “There is nothing which more as-
tonishes a foreigner, and rights a country squire
than the cries of London.”
The historical history to be acquired from the


9

lection engenders
quite the wealth of
charm claimed by
these quaintest of
cuts, disclosing the
customs and dress
of the childhood in
pre-Victorian days.
There are few, if
any, more interest-
ing pursuits than
the retrieving of
old children’s
books, but this col-
lection contains
many blocks of


block 8

wood-blocks in this
portion of the col-
lection is especially
valuable as a record
of the daily life of
the time, and will
serve as a source
of historic value for
many a day. The
cuts are of a me-
chanical order and
there are copies of
the same illustra-
tions, though often
differing in treat-
ment, constantly

books that are entirely unknown. The original
blocks that were used in the first copies of many
of the old favourites of children are included in
the Armstrong collection.
There are the first blocks used to illustrate
“ASsop’s Fables,” “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Rob-

reappearing. Noteworthy in the Armstrong col-
lection is one of the beautiful Kelmscott borders,
by William Morris, which is the only one out-
side of the collection in the British Museum.
(Block 11.—This is another block which has
never been used. It is one of a series representing

xciv