Salome by Oscar Wilde, Published

This edition of Oscar Wilde’s Salome: A Tragedy in One Act, features sixteen provocative illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. It was published by John Lane and the Bodley Head in London and New York in 1907. Beardsley’s illustrations are photomechanical line block reproductions in pen and ink in an Art Nouveau style. Illustrations are featured in full-page reproductions, adjacent to the text, and are characterized by black and white massed shapes. Beardsley’s illustrations provide a stylized, symbolic visual commentary to Wilde’s play. This edition succeeds Wilde’s original publication of Salome in 1894, which Wilde intended to have the play put on at the Palace Theatre in London. However, the play failed to debut as a result of the British Examiner of Plays’ censoring efforts due to the text featuring biblical characters and perverse notions of religion and sexuality. This scandal was furthermore compounded by Wilde’s 1895 public indecency trial, which significantly hindered not only Wilde’s career, but Beardsley’s as well because of the popular associations between them as a result of this text.

Source:

https://beta.1890s.ca/wilde_bio/

https://archive.org/details/salometragedyino00wildrich/page/n11/mode/2up

http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/salome.html

Laurence and Clemence Housman Move into Pembroke Cottage

Laurence Housman and Clemence Housman spent much of their lives side by side. They attended school together and it naturally followed that they would pursue similar careers in the fine arts and literature. Their shared residence at No. 1 Pembroke Cottage in Kensington became the centre of their activity in the Women's Suffrage Movement. 

Kensington had a reputation for their suffrage activity. The Kensington Society encouraged feminist discourse, giving way to two branches of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) as well as a branch of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), a militant suffrage group.

Laurence and Clemence Housman began supporting the WSPU in 1908. Their cottage quickly became a centre for suffrage movements. In 1910, the Suffrage Atelier (founded by Laurence and Clemence) made Pembroke Cottage its headquarters. A WSPU banner was made there, suffragettes boycotting the 1911 census took refuge at the cottage, and suffrage craft work was produced there. The Housman's background in the fine arts and literature proved useful to promoting the women's suffrage agenda.

Annancy Stories Published

Frontispiece for Pamela Colman Smith's Annancy Stories

This collection of stories, titled the Annancy Stories, is written and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. It was published by R.H. Russell New York in 1899. 

This work is a collection of stories from Jamaican Folklore which includes 26 full pages of illustrations and numerous textual decorations.

The illustrations were in black and white, however her hand coloured prints showed signs of great promise as mentioned in an 1899 article. Furthermore, her illustrations mirror common bold caricature drawings in which she is able to give equal authority to both her texts and visuals.

Although published during the Victorian period, Annancy Stories is notable for its non-victorian and non-British illustrations. Instead, the collection of stories use the relationship of text and image in order to emphasize on themes of West Indies Folklore. The style of the illustrations are not commonly found in Victorian Literature which makes this book unique to the time period. 

The "Anansi" is spider-like Jamaican Folklore figure that is reoccuring in the book and is considered a god of all knowledge of stories. Pamela uses this figure in order to further distinguish her work from other works of the time period. 

Annancy Stories was published alongside four other books from Smith, which were reviewed very positively. Although critics noted that her works were not well known, they felt Smith’s work held great potential for the future.

Source: Denisoff, Dennis. “Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951),” Y90s Biographies, edited by Dennis Denisoff. Yellow Nineties 2.0, General Editor Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019, https://1890s.ca/smith_bio/ 

Contributed to by: Mark Dasilva, Yousef Farhang, and Patricia Lucreziano 

House of Joy Published

The House of Joy

The House of Joy was written and illustrated by Laurence Housman in 1895 and published by Kegan Paul, Trench Trubner & Co. The House of Joy is a collection of adult fairy tales and were often given as Christmas gifts. Housman's original method of illustration was pen and ink and was later reproduced for the public masses through line-blocking, which was a type of photo processing technology that was popularized in the 1890s. The book consists of 10 illustrations at the beginning of each tale and each story is dedicated to a woman or girl. The illustrations in the House of Joy are proleptic in nature, meaning they anticipate events. For example, the tale, The Prince With the Nine Sorrows, on page 16, illustrates a boy lying on the grass looking up in distress at 9 beautiful maidens. Right away the reader can make the connection between the title and anticipate that the image is showing what is to happen later in the story with this prince. Housman cleverly uses both images and text to engage and deepen the readers understanding of his work.

Information gathered came from the primary source, House of Joy, 1895.

By Alessia Dickson, Alicia and Melissa.

Oscar Wilde Arrested

Photograph of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas

Oscar Wilde was arrested in London and charged with the crime of gross indecency. The arrest came after Wilde lost a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of having sex with men, which was then a criminal offense in England. Wilde lost the libel case because the judge deemed the evidence supported the Marquess's claim. In fact, WIlde's lover at the time, Lord Alfred Douglas, was the Marquess's son, the translator of his controversial play, Salome. At the time of his arrest, Wilde was carrying a yellow-covered French novel, mistakenly identified in the press as The Yellow Book. This misnomer resulted in the firing of Aubrey Beardsley as the magazine's art editor. Beardsley was associated with Wilde through his decadent illustrations for the play, Salome, but was not otherwise involved with the author.

Goblin Market by: Christina Rossetti with Illustrations by Laurence Housman

Goblin Market title page by Laurence Housman, London: 1893

The edition of Christina G. Rossetti's Goblin Market that includes illustrations by Laurence Housman was published originally in 1893, about thirty years after the edition that included Dante Rossetti's illustrations. It was known that Housman closely studied the illustrations of Dante Rossetti before creating his twelve full page images and several textual decorations. This is extremely noteworthy because of the direct comparisons that can be made between both Gabriel Rossetti and Laurence Housman’s editions. Dante Rossetti's edition only contained two full page images, whilst Laurence Houseman's contained twelve. Housman was the one to create a fully illustrated version of the poem, notably, thirty years later. Christina Rossetti had actually requested Housman to refer to her brothers’ illustrations of the goblins. With that being said, it presents to us that Dante Rossetti’s illustrations were the illustrations that Christina herself resonated with the most and what she felt reflected her poem the best. Thus, leading Housman to study Dante’s work in the original publication and illustrations to then create a new edition, fully illustrated, in Christina’s lifetime in which fit her vision.

Source: Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen. Christina Rossetti and Illustration : A Publishing History, Ohio University Press, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/lib/ryerson/det....

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Published

Image from The Man with the Twisted Lip

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of literature's most famous recurring characters and a staple in the mystery genre. Arthur Conan Doyle has crafted a series that has stood the test of time and cemented its place amongst literary canon. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was published on October 14th, 1892, by The Gresham Press and George Newnes as a collection of short stories containing over 100 images. In essence, Doyle’s work has been responsible for creating much of the conventions that are a staple of the mystery genre. Between 1887 and 1927, Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six stories with Sherlock Holmes. All the short stories appeared first in The  Strand magazine before eventually being published as book editions. Without question Sherlock Holmes is a classic literary figure, and his iconic look has played a large role in his historical staying power. Sidney Paget, the illustrator responsible for the work in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, played an essential role in the creation of the Sherlock Holmes that we know today. Paget used a photomechanical half-tone method of illustration that is directly responsible for the sketch style that defined the series’ illustration. What’s significant about Paget’s illustration is that he created these drawings entirely based on Doyle's references to Holmes’ dress. This is important because it speaks to the notion of the artist and author as separate bodies, each interpreting the text in their own individual way.

Source: victorianweb.org 

Submitted by: Simon Mancuso, Alexandra Monstur and Marina Arnone 

The Were-Wolf Published in Atalanta: A Magazine for Girls

White Fell

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. The Were-Wolf is a Gothic work of fiction, and is often read as a feminst text. 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 publication in Atalanta magazine is crucial to a feminist reading - considering the fact that it was a magazine for women, the text itself containing a female werewolf character changes the way that it is read.

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, https://editions.covecollective.org/edition/were-wolf

Publication of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass

Lewis Carroll publishes Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There,(1871) the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). In this novel, Alice finds another world of nonsense and fantasy, this time by climbing through a mirror.

Articles

Jean Little, “Algebraic Logic in Through the Looking Glass”

Civil suit against Edward John Eyre nullified

Appeal before the Exchequer Chamber of the civil suit brought by Jamaican citizen Alexander Phillips against ex-Governor of Jamaica, Edward John Eyre, for assault, battery and false imprisonment during martial law from October 13 to November 13, 1865 at Morant Bay, Jamaica, results in the upholding of the Jamaica Assembly’s Indemnity Act for military and administrative actions under martial law, nullifying Phillips’s right to sue Eyre in English courts. Image: Photograph of Governor Edward John Eyre, circa 1870, by Henry Hering. The Caribbean Photo Archive. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

Edward John Eyre acquitted

3 June 1868 saw the last, unsuccessful action against Edward John Eyre. This was the final effort by the Jamaica Committee to prosecute ex-Governor of Jamaica Edward John Eyre under the Colonial Governors Act for abuse of power in imposing an extended period of martial law during the 1865 Morant Bay rebellion; the case is sent forward to a grand jury, but Eyre is not indicted. Image: Photograph of Governor Edward John Eyre, circa 1870, by Henry Hering. The Caribbean Photo Archive. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Articles

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

Second Reform Act

On 15 August 1867, the Representation of the People Act, 1867 (also known as the Second Reform Act), received the royal assent. This act increased the electorate of England and Wales to approximately one man in three, theoretically including substantial numbers of working-class men. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Janice Carlisle, "On the Second Reform Act, 1867"

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Carolyn Vellenga Berman, “On the Reform Act of 1832″

Elaine Hadley, “On Opinion Politics and the Ballot Act of 1872″

Herbert F. Tucker, "On Event"

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

Trafalgar Square demonstration

Major Reform League march and demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London on 11 February 1867.

Related Articles

Sarah Winter, “On the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica and the Governor Eyre-George William Gordon Controversy, 1865-70″

Hyde Park demonstration

Hyde Park Demonstration of the Major Reform League on 23 July 1866. After the British government banned a meeting organized to press for voting rights, 200,000 people entered the Park and clashed with police and soldiers.

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Peter Melville Logan, “On Culture: Matthew Arnold’s Culture and Anarchy, 1869″

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Cholera Epidemic

The last cholera epidemic is conventionally termed “of 1866” as that was the period of the highest mortality. The epidemic arrived in Britain in September 1865 and ended in November 1866.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"

Birth of Laurence Housman

Black and white portrait photograph of Laurence Housman, November 12, 1915. Wikimedia Commons

Laurence Housman was born on July 18, 1865 in Bromsgrove, England, the sixth of Edward and Sarah Jane Williams Housman's seven children. He was exceptionally close with his older sister Clemence Housman (1861-1955). Their eldest sibling was the poet and classical scholar A.E. Housman (1859-1936). Laurence attended art school— primarily book arts— in London with Clemence, who mastered wood engraving. His exceptional version of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market (1893) led to his involvement at The Bodley Head, where he designed and illustrated many books of poetry and fiction. Here, he also collaborated with Clemence, making illustrations which she would then engrave, including those for her story,The Were-Wolf, published in1896. By 1900, declining eyesight ended his illustration career, but he was also a prolific and controversial playwright. Laurence Housman lived as an outspoken suffragist, pacifist, socialist, and homosexual advocate for sexual tolerance and freedom (Oakley, Inseparable Siblings).

Lewis Carroll Photographs the Rossetti Family

Rossetti Family Photograph taken by Lewis Carroll

This photograph of the Rossetti family was taken by Charles Luttwidge Dodgson, later  known as Lewis Carroll, the author of the Alice books. An  Oxford mathemetician, Dodgson was also an avid amateur photographer. In the fall of 1863, Dodgson took a series of photographs in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's back garden at 16 Cheyne Walk in London. This photograph shows Dante Gabriel Rossetti standing, at left; his sister, the poet Christina G. Rossetti, seated on the step; their mother, Frances Lavinia Rossetti, seated next to her; and another sibling, William Michael Rossetti, standing at right. Missing from the picture is the other Rossetti daughter, Maria Francesca. The Rossetti children are in their early to mid thirties in this photograph. At the time the photograph was taken, Dante Gabriel was a celebrated painter and a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite movement; Christina Rossetti was a critically admired poet and author of Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), which her brother had illustrated; and Lewis Carroll had written, but not yet published,  one of the most famous illustrated books of the Victorian period, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), with numerous wood-engraved pictures after John Tenniel's designs. Carroll admired both Christina's poetry and Dante Gabriel's design for her book, and had been reading Goblin Market on the famous day he took the Liddell sisters for an outing on the river and began telling them the story of "Alice's Adventures Underground," July 4, 1862.

Goblin Market and Other Poems Published

"Golden curl by golden curl," title page for Goblin Market

Goblin Market is a Victorian narrative poem written by Christina Rossetti and illustrated by her brother Dante Gabriel. Rossetti felt that the collaboration with her brother was crucial to her overall work, that she deliberately delayed the publication until Dante Garbiel’s illustrations were ready for press. He designed a total of two illustrations, the frontispiece and title page, for The Goblin Market. Both images were pressed using wood engravings, evoking the pre-raphaelite designs popular during the 1860’s. The passages appeal to the senses through vivid descriptions of colours, textures, aromas and taste. Critics assigned the poem to various general categories over the following decades and throughout the twentieth century. It was first viewed as a fairytale but was later viewed as an allegorical piece. Feminist critics often analyzed the poem’s social commentary on gender relations and the relationship between two sisters. Later in the nineteenth century, readers, reviewers, illustrators, and composers began to focus on the poem’s powerful aesthetic qualities. Its sensuous patterns, religious images, and social implications inspired the focus of school studies and as well as musical settings and performances. The power of its visual images, and the two wood-engraved designs by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the poem’s first publication, turned to evoke numerous artistic interpretations, ranging from stained glass windows to gift books.

Curated by Kisha Rendon, Joseph Pereira, and Payton Flood

Public Domain; source: COVE Goblin Market edition by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Antony Harrison

Death of Elizabeth Siddal

Elizabeth Siddal Self-Portrait (c. 1853-54)

Elizabeth Eleanor Rossetti (formerly Elizabeth Siddal) died of a laudanum overdose at 7:20 a.m. on 11 February 1862 at 14 Chatham Place. Image: Elizabeth Siddal self-portrait.  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art.

First Black Newspaper in the South

L'Union, the first Black Newspaper in the South, is published in 1862. The newspaper expressed oposition to white racism and asserted their rights to self-determination. It was not easy for Blacks to publish newspapers in the south at this time. Many newspaper were short-lived and copies were not preserved for historians.

Cornhill Magazine founded

First issue of Cornhill Magazine appears on 1 January 1860. Cornhill was the most famous of the new generation of shilling magazines, emphasizing illustrated fiction and a family audience

Articles

Linda K. Hughes, "On New Monthly Magazines, 1859-60"

Christina Rosetti Volunteers at the London Diocesan Penitentiary

Advertisement for the London Diocesan Penitentiary

Early in the year of 1859, Christina Rosetti began volunteering at the London Diocesan Penitentiary, otherwise known as the Highgate Penitentiary, due to its location within the district of Highgate, London. As denoted by an advertisement for the house from an 1860 edition of the newspaper, The Morning Post, this penitentiary was an "establishment for fallen women of every grade." More specifically, many of the women under its care had previously worked as prostitutes. The reform house inculcated these women with religious principles and fitted them with the abilities to complete domestic tasks expected of the typical Victorian woman, in an attempt to reform and reintegrate them back into English society. What is of note concerning Rosetti's work volunteering with this organization is that it is concerned entirely with reinventing the fallen women - essentially, women who have used sex work as a means of income. Instead of ostracizing them (as was common within Victorian society, due to prostitution being seen as a moral ill), the penitentiary was attempting, in a sense, to redeem these women. With this in mind, it is easy to recognize the religious parallels between Rosetti's volunteer work, and her work "Goblin Market", which, at its most basic interpretation, is a poem about a sister saving her sibling, who has committed a grave sin by consuming forbidden goblin fruit.

Principle Sources:

London Diocesan Penitentiary Newspaper Clipping

Christina Rosetti Biography

Christina Rosetti: A Writer's Life

Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857

On 28 August 1857, passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857. The Act legalized divorce and protected a divorced woman’s property and future earnings. The grounds for divorce for men was adultery (in legal terms, criminal conversation), for women adultery combined with bigamy, incest, bestiality, sodomy, desertion, cruelty, or rape. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Kelly Hager, “Chipping Away at Coverture: The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857″

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Jill Rappoport, “Wives and Sons: Coverture, Primogeniture, and Married Women’s Property”

John Tenniel’s “The British Lion’s Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger”

On 22 August 1857 Punch published John Tenniel’s “The British Lion’s Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger” as its “Large Cut” for the week. Image: John Tenniel, “The British Lion's Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger,” _Punch_ 33 (22 August 1857): 76-77. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, “The Moxon Tennyson as Textual Event: 1857, Wood Engraving, and Visual Culture”