DOI issue:
Special winter-number 1896-7
DOI article:Pennell, Joseph: Robert Louis Stevenson illustrator
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17298#0343
Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrator
17 Heriot Row, and the poster reproduced on page 23
announces the volume with no uncertain voice,
while the title page explains, " it was only by the
kindness of Mr. Crerar of Kingussie that we are
able to issue this little book, having allowed us to
print it with his own press when ours was broken."
But either the printer or the press had been so
Today is published by S. L. Osbourne & Co
A
Second Collection Of
MORAL
EMBLEMS.
By
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
E lit ion da Luza, tall papar, (extra fine) first
impression. Price 10 psnce.
Popular Elition, for the Million, small paper,
cats slightly worn, a great bargain, 8 pence
NOTICE!!!
A literary curiosity. Part of the M. S. of
'Black Canyon.'' Price Is, 6d.
Apply to
SAMUEL OSBOURNE & Co
Buol Chalet (Villa Stein,) Davos.
FACSIMILE OF POSTER FOR
"A SECOND COLLECTION OF MORAL EMBLEMS
much improved that the typographical results in
this volume are not so astonishing or amusing.
The Blue Scalper, by Stevenson, is also advertised,
but I have never seen a copy of it. There is
another volume by Mr. Osbourne, The Black
Canyon. A copy of this, I think, is in the posses-
sion of Mr. Gosse, who, by the way, was good
enough to give me the volumes which I own.
There are also, belonging to Mr. C. Baxter,
some prints, apparently for an unpublished work,
The Pirate and the Apothecary, three designs—
20
"three scenes" they are called—and an historical
composition, Lord Nelson and the Tar, reproduced
on page 22, without any superfluity of text. The
books were all written by Stevenson and Lloyd
Osbourne, illustrated mainly by Stevenson, and
engraved, it is announced in one of them, by the
whole family. There is a charming conclusiveness
in Stevenson's printed descriptions of the making
of the volumes which will prevent any wild dis-
cussion by future bibliographers ; for example, he
says in Not I :
The printer and the bard
In pressless Davos pray
Their sixpenny reward.
The pamphlet here presented
Was planned and printed by
A printer unindented,
A bard whom all decry.
The author and the printer,
With various kinds of skill,
Concocted it in Winter
In Davos on the Hill.
They burned the nightly taper,
But now the work is ripe ;
Observe the costly paper,
Remark the perfect type.
The work was begun in February and finished in
October 1SS1, and, with great appropriateness, is
dedicated to R. and R. Clark by S. L. Osbourne,
the printer. The volume ends with an apology for
The smallness of the page
And of the printer.
Even Stevenson is forced to admit that accidents
can happen in the best regulated amateur printing
offices. But he knows how to turn them to
poetic account. In The Graver and the Pen there
is a poem called The Foolhardy Geographer (see
illustration page 24)—the hero is shown seated with,
The howling desert miles around,
The tinkling brook the only sound,
*■ * * *■ *
On potted meats and princely wines,
Not wisely but too well he dines.
After this he falls asleep, and soon
Shall trumpet tidings through his nose.
Alack, unwise, that nasal song
Shall be the ounce's dinner-gong !
But the story told, a postscript is added :
A blemish in the cut appears,
Alas! it cost both blood and tears.
The glancing graver swerved aside,
Fast flowed the artist's vital tide !
And now the apologetic bard
Demands indulgence for his pard.
Talk about the use of white line. It is really
17 Heriot Row, and the poster reproduced on page 23
announces the volume with no uncertain voice,
while the title page explains, " it was only by the
kindness of Mr. Crerar of Kingussie that we are
able to issue this little book, having allowed us to
print it with his own press when ours was broken."
But either the printer or the press had been so
Today is published by S. L. Osbourne & Co
A
Second Collection Of
MORAL
EMBLEMS.
By
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
E lit ion da Luza, tall papar, (extra fine) first
impression. Price 10 psnce.
Popular Elition, for the Million, small paper,
cats slightly worn, a great bargain, 8 pence
NOTICE!!!
A literary curiosity. Part of the M. S. of
'Black Canyon.'' Price Is, 6d.
Apply to
SAMUEL OSBOURNE & Co
Buol Chalet (Villa Stein,) Davos.
FACSIMILE OF POSTER FOR
"A SECOND COLLECTION OF MORAL EMBLEMS
much improved that the typographical results in
this volume are not so astonishing or amusing.
The Blue Scalper, by Stevenson, is also advertised,
but I have never seen a copy of it. There is
another volume by Mr. Osbourne, The Black
Canyon. A copy of this, I think, is in the posses-
sion of Mr. Gosse, who, by the way, was good
enough to give me the volumes which I own.
There are also, belonging to Mr. C. Baxter,
some prints, apparently for an unpublished work,
The Pirate and the Apothecary, three designs—
20
"three scenes" they are called—and an historical
composition, Lord Nelson and the Tar, reproduced
on page 22, without any superfluity of text. The
books were all written by Stevenson and Lloyd
Osbourne, illustrated mainly by Stevenson, and
engraved, it is announced in one of them, by the
whole family. There is a charming conclusiveness
in Stevenson's printed descriptions of the making
of the volumes which will prevent any wild dis-
cussion by future bibliographers ; for example, he
says in Not I :
The printer and the bard
In pressless Davos pray
Their sixpenny reward.
The pamphlet here presented
Was planned and printed by
A printer unindented,
A bard whom all decry.
The author and the printer,
With various kinds of skill,
Concocted it in Winter
In Davos on the Hill.
They burned the nightly taper,
But now the work is ripe ;
Observe the costly paper,
Remark the perfect type.
The work was begun in February and finished in
October 1SS1, and, with great appropriateness, is
dedicated to R. and R. Clark by S. L. Osbourne,
the printer. The volume ends with an apology for
The smallness of the page
And of the printer.
Even Stevenson is forced to admit that accidents
can happen in the best regulated amateur printing
offices. But he knows how to turn them to
poetic account. In The Graver and the Pen there
is a poem called The Foolhardy Geographer (see
illustration page 24)—the hero is shown seated with,
The howling desert miles around,
The tinkling brook the only sound,
*■ * * *■ *
On potted meats and princely wines,
Not wisely but too well he dines.
After this he falls asleep, and soon
Shall trumpet tidings through his nose.
Alack, unwise, that nasal song
Shall be the ounce's dinner-gong !
But the story told, a postscript is added :
A blemish in the cut appears,
Alas! it cost both blood and tears.
The glancing graver swerved aside,
Fast flowed the artist's vital tide !
And now the apologetic bard
Demands indulgence for his pard.
Talk about the use of white line. It is really