A Beuk o’ Newcassel Sangs.
Newcastle-on-Tyne: Mawson, Swan, and Morgan, 1888. First edition. The ALS from Joseph Crawhall reads, “I send two volumes asking the acceptance of Miss Levick and yourself – and wish you all the happiness which has fallen to my lot during 37 years. With all kind regards, very sincerely yours…” Ethel Levick was Thomas’ wife. With illustrations by Joseph Crawhall on nearly every page, all printed in black: headpieces, tailpieces, a full-page map of Newcastle, and numerous vignette portraits. With music and lyrics throughout. A very good copy inscribed by Crawhall’s nephew Thomas Fothergill W. Crawhall-Wilson (dated 1891), with an ALS by Joseph to Thomas (also 1891). Publisher’s light blue paper boards, quarter buckram, with coat of arms on upper board. Large illustration of bridge printed in black over entire lower board. Lettered in black on spine. Foxing to first and last few leaves and to edges. Small quarto. [1, list of subscribers], xi, 131 pp. Item #17032
Joseph Crawhall II (1821 – 1896) was a wood engraver from Newcastle whose humorous artwork often parodied and honored the culture of his home city. He began his career in illustration in 1859 with The Compleatest Angling Booke and went on to illustrate over two dozen books over the next thirty years, five of which were printed by the Leadenhall Press. Crawhall also wrote and illustrated for Punch between 1873 and 1890. Though his work often went uncredited, Felver describes his artistic contributions to Punch as “comic drawings of genius” (p. 29). Crawhall was inspired by medieval manuscript illustration, Thomas Bewick, and Japanese printmaking, but his individual style and charm were well established by the time he illustrated his Beuk o’ Newcassel Sangs. In Joseph Crawhall: The Newcastle Wood Engraver, C.S. Felver quotes a contemporary review of the Beuk that reads: “The great charm of Mr. Crawhall’s book is the character and individuality he has given to it himself. The author’s grotesque illustrations, which are unquestionably his own, which nobody has imitated, and which nobody can expect to rival, impart to the book its quality and value,” (p. 79).
T.F.W Crawhall-Wilson (1857 - 1899) was the son of Crawhall’s brother Thomas and his wife Fanny P. Wilson.
Price: $500.00