COVE

While Laurence focused on drawing, Clemence Housman studied wood engraving at Miller’s Lane City and Guilds School in South Lambeth.  Clemence learned engraving in a segregated classroom for women taught by Charles Roberts, a skilled engraver; Roberts also taught the craft to Charles Ricketts, Charles Shannon, and T. Sturge Moore in a class for male students. It was while she was a student that Clemence invented the story of The Were-Wolf, telling it to the women in her wood-engraving class to entertain them while they worked.

Clemence Housman’s The Were-Wolf was published in book form by The Bodley Head in January of 1896. This publication allowed Housman’s story to reach audiences that it hadn’t through its 1890 publication in the Christmas number of Atalanta magazine, a periodical for young girls. The Bodley Head introduced The Were-Wolf  to New Women, aesthetes, and other book lovers who bought and appreciated John Lane’s selection of books in “belles lettres.” It was Clemence’s younger brother, Laurence Housman, who initially gave her access to The Bodley Head, as he worked for the publisher as a book designer and illustrator. Clemence’s wood engravings for The Were-Wolf, which The Bodley Head published along with her story, were after Laurence’s drawings (Kooistra, “Clemence Housman’s The Were-Wolf: Querying Transgression, Seeking Trans/Formation”). The edition was well-received by critics, with one reviewer describing it as “half fairy tale, half allegory, and displaying qualities of imagination and invention that are hard to seek in any other recent book of the kind that I have come across” (“Our Monthly Parcel” 92).

The Were-Wolf was written by Clemence Housman and originally illustrated by Everard Hopkins for the December 1890 Christmas number of the Atalanta periodical literary magazine. Aterwards, the 1896 edition was illustrated through a collaborative effort between Housman and her brother Laurence Housman. Clemence wood-engraved the six featured illustrations and title page and bindings for the book following the designs created by her brother. The book was published through Housman’s connection to publisher John Lane at The Bodley Head. The Were-Wolf is a Gothic work of fiction with a total of 6 illustrations in the second published edition of the book, including the decorated title page, and an illuminated initial which were all designed by Laurence Houseman. Initially Clemence Housman created “The Were-Wolf” to entertain her wood engraving class, it was initially received as a feminist text due to the central character being female and a were wolf . The first edition was published in 1890 with illustrations done by Everard Hopkin. She later collaborated with her brother Laurence Housman and published the second edition in 1896 where she herself did the wood engravings for the title page along with the illustrations.

By: Mila, Alicia and Andrea

Source: Housman, Clemence. The Were-Wolf (1896), illustrated by Laurence Housman; wood-engraved by Clemence Housman. Were-Wolf Digital Edition edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra et al, COVE Electronic Editions, 2018, editions.covecollective.org/ed…

The foundation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies was formed in 1897. Interestingly, the Queen herself denounced this association by stating her opinion that women have no place in voting.

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