#matrix 26

Wood Engraving Wednesday

Charles Tunnicliffe

Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979) was a renowned naturalist artist and a prolific illustrator of books. Known for his accuracy and precision, Tunnicliffe worked in several media, including painting, intaglio, relief prints, and scratchboard, but it was wood engraving that really showcased his graphic sensibilities.

Today we highlight an early wood engraving of his (with detail), The Chartley Bull, engraved in 1939 and printed in an edition of 12. The print shown here was reproduced in the article “Publishing with Tunnicliffe” by former publisher at Gollancz and Heinemann David Burnett, published in Matrix 26, Winter 2006, pp. 132-136, and printed in an edition of 760 copies by John and Rosalind Randle at the Whittington Press in England. Our copies of Matrix are a donation from our late friend Jerry Buff (1931-2025).

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Wood Engraving Wednesday

Rachel Reckitt

Shown here are five of the original 16 wood engravings that were produced by British printmaker and sculptor Rachel Reckitt (1908-1995) that were intended for a new edition of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss to be published by Paul Elek in 1951. But as Hal Bishop, former curator at the Exeter City Museum, observes:

Paul Elek went into liquidation and Reckitt's finest illustrative work was never to appear. . . . Fortunately Reckitt had taken an edition of six prints from each block, which allowed all sixteen to be exhibited to the first time in 1997. Shortly afterwards the blocks themselves came to light . . . .

As it turned out, to make the blocks in a time of post-war austerity, Reckitt had to sacrifice four of her large previously-engraved blocks, which were cut up and the new images for Mill engraved on the back. The bottom four prints shown here were reprinted as an insert to Hal Bishop’s article “Lost and Found, Rachel Reckitt's wood-engravings to The Mill on the Floss” in Matrix 26, Winter 2006, pp. 58-61. The first image, Maggie Reading, was printed on the dust jacket of the magazine. Click or tap on the image descriptions for the titles of each print.

Matrix 26 was printed in an edition of 760 copies by John and Rosalind Randle at the Whittington Press in England, and is a donation from our late friend Jerry Buff (1931-2025). In 2010, Whittington Press published Lost and Found as a limited-edition book of 225 copies with all 16 engravings for The Mill on the Floss printed from the original blocks along with reconstructions of the palimpsest images engraved on the reverse side of the blocks, and including Hal Bishop's full account of the story of these twice-used woodblocks.

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Wood Engraving Wednesday

HELLMUTH WEISSENBORN

The painter, illustrator, and wood engraver Hellmuth Weissenborn (1898-1982) was a German exile who fled to the United Kingdom in 1939, where he became a successful book illustrator, freelance graphic artist, and private press publisher along with his wife Lesley Macdonald. When Weissenborn died, Macdonald donated all of his wood and Perspex blocks to John and Rosalind Randle’s Whittington Press. These blocks have been used extensively by the press over the years.

The first 7 images shown here are hand-colored prints from Weissenborn’s blocks printed at Whittington for a broadside titled Malá Zahrada Vysázená pro Matrix 26 Hellmuthem Weissenbornem, printed on handmade Czech Velké Losiny paper in 2006 in an edition of 80 copies. Another uncolored version of the broadside was folded into the Whittington Press’s journal for printers and bibliophiles Matrix 26 for an article by Amsterdam bookseller Willem Keizer on the “Hand-made Paper from Velké Losiny” printed in an edition of 760 copies, Winter 2006, pp 113-118.This issue also includes an article by William Waterhouse on the Weissenborn family, “Musicians and Graphic Artists: the Weissenborns of Leipzig and London,” pp. 159-164.The last three images include wood engravings from Matrix 26 by Helmuth Weissenborn.

Our copies of both the broadside and the journal Matrix are another generous donation from our friend Jerry Buff.

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Monday Motivation Owl

Two weeks ago we presented a #Feathursday post that featured original wood engravings by British naturalist artist Charles Tunnicliffe that were reprinted from a collection of blocks preserved at Oriel Ynys Môn art museum in Anglesey, Wales, and tipped into the article “Publishing with Tunnicliffe” by David Burnett, published in Matrix 26, Winter 2006. To help motivate your Monday, today we present another Tunnicliffe wood engraving of a Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) from the same article. The first printing from this wood engraving appeared in Mary Priestley’s 1937 publication A Book of Birds, published by Victor Gollancz.

The calm, far-seeing demeanor of this owl reminds us during these trying times to Keep Calm and Carry On.

Our copies of Matrix, published by John and Rosalind Randle at their Whittington Press, are another donation from our friend Jerry Buff.

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