Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/128

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NOTES AND QUERIES, [n s. vm. A. i 6, in& but no continuation appeared. The 'Handbook of Fictitious Names,' p. 147, refers to the discontinuance. 'Blythe Hall' (anonymous) begins on p. 49, with a good illustration by Gilbert; in fact, some of his best were done for this tale. It concludes on p. 348 with the name of the author, P. B. St. John.

'Quadroona' begins anonymously on p. 337, but finishes (vol. xxiv. p. 410) 21 Feb., 1857. with the initials P. B. St. J. 'Harding the Money Spinner,' by Miles Gerald Keon, begins on p. 353, and concludes at vol. xxv. p. 186. It was republished in 1879 in three volumes. Keon died in 1875 at Bermuda, where he was Colonial Secretary.

In vol. xxv. p. 113 (25 April, 1857) begins 'Madame de Marke,' ending on p. 273 anonymously. On p. 289 (11 July, 1857) 'White Lies,' by Charles Reade, begins, and ends (in vol. xxvi. p. 213) 5 Dec., 1857. On p. 209 'The Flower of the Flock,' by Pierce Egan, begins, and concludes (vol. xxvii. p. 145) 8 May, 1858. On p. 161 Egan's 'Snake in the Grass' begins with a fine cut by Gilbert, and ends in vol. xxviii. p. 237.

On 27 Nov., 1858 (vol. xxviii.), begins 'Too Late,' by Miss Marguerite Power, with an editorial flourish about her (which, however, does not say that she was a niece of the Countess of Blessington), and the announcement that it will be "copiously illustrated by John Gilbert" (p. 224). This is the first editorial mention of his name I have come across, and it will be noticed that it does not occur until after the account of him in The Art Journal in 1857. 'Too Late' concludes on p. 276 of vol. xxix. In this volume begin Sir John Gilbert's splendid illustrations to Sir Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe.' Of these there are seventeen, the last being 16 July, 1859, though 'Ivanhoe' was not finished until 5 Nov., 1859 (vol. xxx.p. 270). Gilbert Was evidently proud of his 'Ivanhoe' illustrations, as for the first time the information is given "drawn by John Gilbert," and several are initialed. What was the reason the illustrations to 'Ivanhoe' were stopped? The name of the engraver, W. Gorway, is, with one or two exceptions, signed to all Gilbert's drawings in The London Journal.

On 22 Oct., 1859 (vol. xxx. p. 233), begins Egan's 'Love me, leave me not,' with Gilbert's illustrations, concluding vol. xxxi. p. 412.

On 26 May, 1860 (vol. xxxi. p. 321), Gilbert illustrates 'Laura Etheridge,' by Mrs. Southworth, concluded 29 Sept., 1860 vol. xxxii. p. 611).

On 14 July, 1860 (vol. xxxii. p. 433), begins 'The Wonder of Kingswood Chase,' by Egan; concluded 6 July, 1861 (vol. xxxiv. p. 17), in which number Gilbert also has the first-page illustration to 'Eudora,' by Mrs. Southworth, which was concluded 12 Oct., 1861 (vol. xxxiv. p. 252). In this and vols. xxxv. and xxxvi. Gilbert also illustrated 'Imogen' and 'The Scarlet Flower,' both by Egan. At the end of the volume is an announcement that J. F. Smith's "tales" are being republished with John Gilbert's illustrations.

In 1863 (vol. xxxvii.) Gilbert illustrated Egan's 'The Poor Girl,' but it was occasionally illustrated also by others. I am unable to find any illustrations by him after this, but for some time his style was so well imitated—though in a more careful and less slap-dash manner—that the prints would deceive the ordinary reader. I may particularly mention those of Keeley Halswelle, an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and refer, for example, to a beautiful cut of his in the Journal on 6 Sept., 1863 (p. 153).

Stiff, the proprietor of The London Journal—out of which he was making 10,000l. a year—gave Halswelle about 800l. for one of his pictures. So little seems to have been thought of Gilbert's work as a factor in selling by the publishers that it was not until 1888 they put his name on the titles of the reprints. I may say that the reprints are inferior in every way to The London Journal—partly because the paper is not so good, and the illustrations are not from the woodblocks, but process reproductions.

his 'Life' of Milton, Masson has given a history of the times which is quite misleading, as well as ill-informed, about the statistics of the output of the press, and press legislation and history. Of this Masson's description of the trial of the