ILLUSTRATOR F. W. FAIRHOLT AND SIR JOHN EVANS

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V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 37, September 13, 2020, Article 16

ILLUSTRATOR F. W. FAIRHOLT AND SIR JOHN EVANS

Bob Van Arsdell writes:

"I just published an article on my website that may be interesting to numismatic book collectors and authors.

"Sir John Evans' "Coins of the Ancient Britons" was published in 1864 with illustrations by F. W. Fairholt. Recently, Fairholt's copy of the book surfaced in the inventory of an antiquarian bookseller in Detroit, Michigan. The book was a presentation copy from Evans to Fairholt, and has several letters from Evans tipped into the front endpapers.

"The letters give an idea of the working relationship between an author and an engraver in the 1850s. The plates in the books are all woodcuts. Evans ran into delays when he was promised an sketch of a coin and it didn't show up on time. Work had to stop on a plate until he could track down the missing sketch or the coin, itself. You couldn't cut-and-paste with woodcuts."

Thanks! Here's an excerpt, but see the complete article (and others) online. -Editor

Fairholt appears to have pasted a note from Evans with a coin sketch and findspot details on the front pastedown. On the first side of the first free endpaper, he tipped-in a four-page letter from Evans dated 1860, and onto that another two-page letter from the same year.

These additions give some idea of the working relationship between Evans and Fairholt. Evans mentions the difficulty of obtaining images of coins. This caused delays in completing the work. Fairholt had to cut the images into wood, so every image had to be secured before a plate could be cut. There was no possibility of inserting a coin after the cutting was done. If the images spilled over onto the next plate, delays in cutting that plate would occur. One can see Evans instructing Fairholt to cut parts of a plate, but then to stop and see if a promised image was forthcoming. It was a far cry from today's electronic methods in which images can easily be moved around, inserted and sized to fit a space.

The letters also give some appreciation for the friendship between Evans and Fairholt, with Evans inquiring about Fairholt's health and giving advice about medicines and cures. Fairholt would succumb to tuberculosis in 1866. He did not make any annotations in the book Evans gave him.

Evans' correspondence with Fairholt – note on pastedown
Transcription:

(sketch of obverse)
Æ (AE ligatured)
Found at Brettenham Norff.
Rev – (sketch of reverse) – or something to that effect
Equus podagrensis (?) of the Maternalists (?).
But see cast.

The bronze coin sketched by Evans in the note appears on Fairholt's plate G as number 12. It was deleted from Mack's 1953 catalogue and subsequent writers have not firmly restored it to the British series. Symonds 1990b lists another example (number 5 in the 1990 article), but is uncertain whether it's British or Gaulish. Hobbs 1996 includes it as number 402 on plate 17 as "Early Uninscribed Bronze" but without further speculation about its likely origin. The type needs further research.

To read the complete article, see:
Letters to Fairholt (https://vanarsdellcelticcoinageofbritain.com/articles-numismatic_ccb3/van_arsdell_2020c_ccb3.html)

Bob also passed along these useful articles on woodcuts and wood engraving. Thanks! -Editor

To read the complete articles, see:
Woodcut, engraving, or what? (https://collation.folger.edu/2012/02/woodcut-engraving-or-what/)
Woodcut & Wood Engraving (http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~fa106x/Wood/wood.htm)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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