Pride and Prejudice. A Novel
London, The Gresham Publishing Co., [circa 1900].
Octavo, xxiv, 392 pages plus a title leaf printed in red and black and 6 full-page line illustrations by Chris. Hammond.
Royal blue cloth lettered in gilt on the spine and front cover, with a superb two-colour Art Nouveau design by Talwin Morris on all three surfaces of the cover; cloth lightly marked and slightly bumped; free endpapers lightly tanned; edges a little tanned and slightly foxed, with minimal foxing to the textblock; an excellent copy.
The lengthy introduction (19 pages) is by William Keith Leask. The artist identified as 'Chris. Hammond' is Christiana Mary Demain Hammond (1860-1900). 'Like Jane Austen, Chris Hammond never married and lived with her sister, also an artist. As a woman working in a predominantly male industry, she abbreviated her name to help her to secure work - a successful ploy, as she went on to become one of the most productive illustrators of the 1890s' ('Jane Austen's House', online). She was 'the first identifiably female illustrator of Jane Austen's novels, illustrating three Austen titles for two publishers. And that when compared with other members of the Cranford School, Hammond's Austen illustrations are on the whole more serious, less whimsical, and more visually surprising than Thomson's or the Brocks' (Loosey, Devoney: 'The Golden Age for Illustrated Austen: From Peacocks to Photoplays' in 'The Making of Jane Austen', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017). The artwork in the book is dated 1898; Hammond died unexpectedly on 11 May 1900, aged only 39, and this posthumous publication would appear to be the last book she illustrated. Talwim Morris (1865-1911), architect and designer, not least of books: he 'was the head of Blackie & Sons Art Department from 1893-1909.... He first came to graphic design in 1891 when he took a job as an art sub-editor for the magazine "Black & White". Morris took a modern approach to his book cover designs; his designs extended the influence and reach of the Glasgow Style. He used decorative and symbolic elements in his designs rather than the typical pictorial style of the time. His designs were tailored to their markets, and it was his designs for The Gresham Publishing Company that were the most elaborate' (National Trust for Scotland, online).
Item #140417
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